Religion: Crisis of Immutability

Everything has been ordained by tradition and now you want to change it all, complained Vatican Prefect of Sacred Ceremonies Archbishop Enrico Dante. The prelates of the Second Vatican Council were indeed talking of change, and change in the basic area of the church’s public worship.

Reforming the liturgy means in essence revising the solemn, tradition-laden Mass that has stood basically unchanged for 400 years. The structure of ritual is so elaborately linked* that any change is likely to become a crucial change. If Latin were dropped, for example, it might be natural also to drop plain chant, which is awkward in most other languages. “In the last four centuries,” says Jesuit Liturgist Hermann Schmidt, “the ideal has become immutability. Certainly God is immutable; but we are men, and we cannot always express ourselves the same. This is a crisis of immutability.”

At the heart of the crisis is Latin, the language of the Mass and the language of the council. In exquisite Latin, some prelates have been arguing for the introduction of the vernacular, while others—such as Cardinal Mclntyre of Los Angeles—have in halting Latin painfully defended the ancient language. The arguments of those who favor keeping Latin stress unity, tradition, and the great precision that it provides. Said militant Latinist Francis Cardinal Spellman: “No matter where you go on the face of the earth, the Latin Mass is a sign of Catholic unity.” Other supporters argue, according to the official summary, that “because of its concrete phraseology of legal terms, Latin is particularly suited for theology and dogma.”

Negro Spirituals. “What has this to do with the Mass?” replied one U.S. bishop. “The Mass isn’t a law course; it’s a prayer.” Those favoring liturgical reform emphasized the necessity of relating the Mass to the people, beginning with the use of a language that the people understand. They argue that unless worshipers can participate in the service, the Mass becomes “mere devotionalism.” Liturgy, warns Jesuit Schmidt, “will not exercise any influence on the mass of the people if it is divorced from modern civilization and from the existing social situation.”

Although introduction of the vernacular is the most important change proposed by the reformers, many bishops also want to shed some of the “accidental accretions” that were incorporated into the liturgy, in some cases as much as a thousand years after Christ. The reformers argue that some of the symbolism and ceremony that was meaningful to a 12th century Roman is lost on a 20th century African. Mission priests have asked to use more native music and dances as part of the rite; an American liturgist even suggested the use of Negro spirituals in some services. “The Gregorian chant is splendid,” said one English bishop, “but the church is neither a theater nor a conservatory of music.”

Extending Decentralization. The debate on liturgy might last until Christmas, but most observers believe that the council’s final statement will permit the introduction of the vernacular into some parts of the liturgy. Just as important, the council is likely to give the power of decision on liturgical reform and experimentation to local bishops—or national councils of bishops—who now have to appeal to the Vatican for permission to deviate from the ritual. In the past few years, the Vatican Curia has authorized the use of the vernacular in the liturgy of a dozen countries—but only after specific requests and patient appeals.

In this sense, the issue goes further than liturgical reform, since the principle of decentralization of authority, if approved in liturgical matters, could logically be extended to other decisions now in the hands of the archconservative Vatican Curia. Against that possibility Egidio Vagnozzi, conservative Apostolic Delegate to the U.S., urged a gathering of the world’s Papal Nuncios to oppose liturgical reforms and “fight for the Curia.”

*Parts of the Mass: Prayers at Foot of the Altar, Introit, Kyrie eleison, Gloria, Collect, Epistle, Gradual and Alleluia or Gradual and Tract, Gospel, Credo, Offertory, Lavabo, Secret, Preface, Sanctus, Canon (including Memento of the Living, Consecration, the Elevation of the Host and Chalice, Anamnesis and Memento of the Dead), Pater Noster, the Fraction, Agnus Dei. Pax, Communion, Postcommunion, Dismissal, Blessing, and Last Gospel.