Catholic Sensibility

Trust me: it really is a myth. FrMichael in the comment box below asked about the "Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions, NAPM, magazines like Worship and Ministry & Liturgy, the BCL, diocesan liturgists, NPM, OCP, GIA, LTP, and the like" being a figment of his imagination. They're not imaginary, though the perception of their power might be. The publishers listed have financial clout to a degree, but no more than OSV, Ligouri, Ignatius Press, or any of the youth or catechetical publishing vehicles. All of those operations generally dwarf the largest of the liturgy outfits. And if catechesis is your post-conciliar bugaboo, I'm afraid to say the liturgy folks are little better than bit players in this drama. In fact, it's often hard to get the liturgy and catechesis people on the same page. It's tough for liturgy people, too. We're mostly artists. We have strong opinions on stuff. I've been to the week-long conferences and workshops often enough to see the chinks in the armor of liberal unity. Liturgists infight more than Democrats. And that says a lot. "You are right in that the majority of liturgical decisions in a parish are made "in a vacuum" by priests. That vacuum exists because most priests are are educated by seminary liturgy profs fully immersed in the liturgical establishment." If so, these folks are fully supported by the seminary rector and bishops. But even among liturgy scholars, there is quite a difference of opinion on stuff: enough of a difference to engender debate in scholarly circles and give evidence in the wide variety of liturgical styles in parishes. You have Benedictine liturgy and Notre Dame liturgy and a bit of San Anselmo. You have musicians trained in a lot of ecumenical settings who align along a slightly different axis. And you have pastors and musicians likely trained at different places who will bring their own cocktail of worship style to the parish Masses. Then everybody has their own personal styles: what they will concede, and what they will never allow. Then you have at least a dozen homiletic services, most of which give you a host of ritual and music suggestions. Then as FrMichael reports, we have "Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (sic), Adoremus, and pre-conciliar texts to get a taste of the broader Roman liturgical tradition." If I had to pick a term for this, I'd say it looks more like a diaspora than an establishment. Maybe the diaspora is united in being anti-Tridentine, but it would be hard to say it's united in being anti-Latin. Taize has been very vogue for twenty years: an example of international gatherings in Latin long before the synod bishops caught on to the idea. "Unfortunately, in my observation most seminarians are too lazy to do outside research and are happy to make do with what they learn in class. For the most part, they are "heads full of mush" when it comes to liturgy, to quote a famous radio talkshow host." Yes. Most priests I know, therefore most seminarians (I presume), do not have liturgy as their area of passion or specialty. That's one reason why liturgists are hired in parishes. Even more parishes hire a musician of sorts. Most of those musicians, especially the one in smaller parishes, tend to have their own assortment of tastes, experiences, education, etc.. I do think that the vernacular/contemporary "cult" (if you will) has taken root in most parishes, not because it's been imposed by a liturgical cabal of publishers and organizations, but because the post-conciliar reform was embraced by most American Catholics. For the most part, that embrace has continued, supplemented by priests and lay people with more or less training, with a wide variety of experiences, and which has continued to be found fruitful by the majority of parishioners, despite the quibbles about style or personality. As for the publishers, it's become a market-driven thing. If Adoremus really thought the people were just longing for their hymnal, they'd pour money into a massive publicity campaign for parishes to buy their products, especially once the new Ordo Missae is published. I could be wrong, but I don't think anything like that will happen. FrMichael's sources will remain on the periphery, with a solid, loyal, but small clientele. Part of a wider catholicity.