The Fourth Fota Liturgical Conference First Session

Special Report

William A. Thomas
The Fourth Fota Liturgical Conference was held in Cork from the 9th to the 11th of July this year-entitled Benedict XVI and the Roman Missal. Opened by His Eminence S.R.E. Raymond Cardinal Leo Burke, Prefect of the Signatura Apostolica and chaired by the eminent Professor D. Vincent Twomey, S.V.D who is a member of the Ratzinger Schulerkreis and a highly respected and distinguished Catholic Theologian. Not only did Cardinal Burke present a paper as did Professor Twomey but there 13 other Professors with impeccable credentials that each presented papers of the highest standard and specificity to an enthralled audience made up of Clergy and lay people alike. Among the other speakers were Dom Cassian Folsom OSB, founding prior of the Benedictine monastery of Maria, Sedes Sapientiae in Norcia. Dom Cassian was also vice rector of the Pontifical University of San Anselmo in Rome. He is considered to be a world authority on the Roman Missal and who gave a remarkable presentation on the History of the Roman Missal. Quoting from sources dating back from 1570 to 1962 Dom Cassian was able to show how the Missal had changed due in part to reform on behalf of the Roman Pontiffs although many changes came about because of errors in translations, the accuracy of the original Latin texts, the correspondence to historical moments, the simplifications of the rubrics and the norms for publication. In his study of the Roman Missal in the light of Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI who is the Pope of the liturgical reform of the reform movement Dom Cassian states that the goal of the Pope is that both liturgies, that is the extraordinary form and the Novus order of Pope Paul VI will have the goal for Catholics to believe in the same way. Quoting Pope Benedict XVI, Cassian states that there must be a hermeneutic of continuity between the old and the new and that the Pope wants to fuse both to one worship and fuse the two diversities together. Stating that the new liturgy was in effect a breach and rupture precisely because there was no hermeneutic of continuity, Cassian says that it caused enormous harm to the faithful. The starting point of the Roman Missal which began with fasting and penance have been excluded in the new rite and so

there are currently two ways of believing in God, two expressions, two theologies, two spiritualities of the worship of the One God. Stating that the old Missal is not a museum piece, Cassian says it is active and alive and that Summorum Pontificum does indeed now recognise both expressions but he says the 1970 missal was a break with tradition. Professor Twomeys presentation was Verbum Domini on the Word and Rite in Ratzingers Sacramental Theology. Stating that the text on the liturgy is least problematic because of the Primacy of God he says that when God is no longer the focus of our attention everything else loses identity. Citing sources from the Second Vatican Councils Sacrosanctum Concilium Professor Twomey states that the Council Fathers did not see then, (when speaking on the liturgical changes that have taken place,) that this would in fact end in schism. The mentality then was concentrated on the words of institution of the Eucharist, that is the matter and form, after that everything else was up for grabs he said. Orthodoxy said the Professor is the right way to glorify God. The standard of all the papers that were presented was extraordinarily high, and the response from the conference delegates was very positive. Quoting from the works of Cardinal Ratzinger Why do we believe Professor Twomey continued the New Testament cannot be fully understood without the Old Testament, and likewise without the Roman Missal, the new liturgy cannot be understood. Dom Paul Gunter OSB, a consulter of the Office of the Liturgical Celebrations at the Vatican gave his presentation entitled Sacerdos Paratus based on the historical development of the Roman Missal. Tracing the Missal from 1570 to 1970 he states that the Churchs law of prayer corresponds to the Churchs law of faith. Dom Paul, a Benedictine monk of Douai Abbey gave an impressive paper on the understanding of liturgy in both Greek and Latin cultures, and their points of convergence and divergences. Stating impassionedly that Latin is the language of the Church, he also said that the 1962 Missal needs to be updated for among other things the inclusion of the Saints, however others would not accept change whatsoever. Professor Mark Dooley who has just published a wonderful book entitled Why be a Catholic gave his presentation based on the notions of beauty, and the longing for holiness and the sacred the good of a contemplative is beyond our ability to measure, because he opts for the extraordinary over the banal. Stating that there had to be proper liturgical dress, actions and architecture Professor Dooley said that the priest who dresses badly refuses to put on Christ while beautiful vestments and holy signs reflect the beauty of the Risen Christ. Going on, he said that in this age of rupture there is a process of dumbing down the liturgy, which make the liturgy boring, simply because all the empirical senses are engaged in Catholic liturgy. He went on to say that we have failed to engage not only the beauty of the liturgy but the architectural beauty, or lack of it in our churches. The afternoon conference began with Cardinal Burkes paper entitledJusDivinum which is based on the right relationship between God and His creatures. Sacred Liturgy

he said is the highest expression between God and man. Quoting Cardinal Ratzingers works he said that the life of man is one of looking for God and given a life in such a way as to give glory to God- God has a right of a response from man but when that right is dissolved the structures collapse. Cardinal Ratzinger concludes he said saying that when human affairs are so ordered that there is no recognition of God-then there is a belittling of man, and that is why in the final analysis worship and law cannot be completely separated from each other. Continuing passionately Cardinal Burke said that God has a right to a response from man, to man himself, and when that right of God totally disappears-the order of law among men is dissolved because there is no cornerstone to keep the whole structure together. Speaking on the 10 Commandments as Jus Divinum the Cardinal said that sacred Scripture tells us about the temptation of man who was led away from God by a lie, a lie told by Satan. The first three Commandments give man the possibility of redemption through the worship of God in Spirit and in Truth for the sanctification of the people, by loving God, not taking His name in vain and by keeping the day of the Lord Holy. This then establishes the right relationship or Jus Divinum with God. The Sabbath rest is the sign of the Covenant between God and man. Quoting Ratzingers work on the Sacraments, the Cardinal said that the goal of creation is the Covenant and that Gods gift of Himself to man and mans response is by worship- failure to worship leads to idolatry- and the act of idolatry and mans refusal to love God leads to mans worship of himself. The right kind of worship leads to the right kind of human existence in the world he said quoting Ratzinger again worship gives us a share in heavens mode of existence in the world of God, and allows light to fall from that divine world unto ours. The Holy Fathers reflections on the Lex Orandi and Lex Vivendi points to the fundamental importance of the study of the Jus Divinum in its relation to sacred liturgy for a right understanding of our life in Christ, in the Church and in the world the Cardinal concluded. Professor Dieter Boehler S.J who is a professor of Exegesis and Old Testament at Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt presented his paper on the Churchs Eucharist. Speaking on the reflections of Pope Benedicts axiom Without its Old Testament heritage, Christian liturgy simply cannot be understood. Using Pauline theology he informs us that Saint Paul does not relate the Last Supper to that of the Jewish Passover as found in First Corinthians 11- but instead relates it to Israels minhah which were vegetable sacrifices in the Old Testament worship system. He went on to say that eating was a sacrificial act and compared to Churchs Eucharist to the Cereal Offering and the Passover meal. To conclude his paper having traced the origins of communion between God and His people as found in both the Old and New Testaments especially in Leviticus 24: 5-9 he admonished that celebrants themselves must consume both the body and the blood-the Holy Sacrifice- in order to perfect the sacrifice, otherwise it will be imperfect. Another member of the Ratzinger Schulerkreis and member of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter is Professor Father Sven Leo Conrad whose paper centred on the liturgy as a transcending movement in the mind of Joseph Ratzinger. Quoting the Pontiff, the Professor stated that heaven opens itself to us during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass- and

when we realise this then we can give authentic worship. The orientation at Mass should be towards the Cross and by so doing we move from the profane to the Holy. There was a lamentation at the fact that the ritual vesting of the priest in the sacristy has vanished, although no instruction to abolish it was ever given. In both Eastern and Western Liturgies said Professor Conrad, quoting from Father Pius Parsch (+1954) said there are vesting prayers that should be said as the priest vests beginning with the ritual washing of the hands, then placing the vestments like the amice, alb, cincture, stole and chasuble, each having its own short prayer, which ultimately helps the priest to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice according to the sacred tradition of the Church as found in both the oral and written traditions. The afternoon session began punctually with the very distinguished Father Professor Uwe Michael Lang, and as with all of the sessions, were recorded by EWTN television networks. Father Lang is author of several important books on the liturgy including his most recent publication The Genius of the Roman Rite: Historical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspectives on Catholic Liturgy. Father Lang is an official of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. In his presentation he spoke of the use of language that is sacred language versus common language. Stating that Saint Augustine used a common language when writing his works Civitas Dei he was recommended by Saint Ambrose of Milan to begin reading the bible and to acquaint himself with sacred language. Augustine impressed as he was saw that he had to learn and speak a new language that of sacred scripture Father Lang told the conference. Stating that trilinguism was in fact a myth that is Hebrew, Greek and Latin as sacred languages of the liturgy Father Lang emphasised that Saint Isidore considered them necessary for exegetical purposes, but Latin, especially Christian Latin in a specific way helped organise ritual and worship and indeed community living according to certain conditions. In the various translations of the Roman Missal which were used to express theological ideas and to form the faith of the people. Father Lang quoting the various translations of the first Roman Canon Te igitur, clementissime Pater gave various translations but stated that the ICEL translations were bad translations and thus tended to change the context and meaning. Father Professor Manfred Hauke who is president of the German Society for Mariology and full member of the Pontifica Academia Mariana Internationalis gave his talk on the basic structure of the Eucharistic Celebration according to Joseph Ratzinger. Quoting Renz, he says that the purpose of the Eucharistic sacrifice is union with God. The proper terminology he says is the sacrifice rather than the term Eucharistic Celebration, because the orientation of the Holy Sacrifice is towards God. Quoting the catechism of the Catholic Church he says that the altar, around which the Church is gathered, represents the two aspects of the same mystery; the altar of sacrifice and the table of the Lord- Saint Ambrose says that the altar represents the Body of Christ and the Body of Christ is on the altar- the liturgy thus expresses this unity of sacrifice and communion in many prayers (CCC 1383, p.312, I-1182) The structure of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a meal said Professor Hauke, but the sacrifice does not emerge

as structure but remains hidden in the mysterium. The most important work of Ratzinger on the theology of the liturgy is entitled, closely following the example of Guardini, The Spirit of the Liturgy. In his introduction he writes: One of the first books I read after starting my theological studies at the beginning of 1946 was Romano Guardinis first little book, On the Spirit of the Liturgy-this slim volume has contributed decisively to the fact that the liturgy-was discovered once more as the animating center of the Church and as the center of Christian life. It had the effect that people wanted to understand the liturgy from its inner form [Gestalt] as the prayer of the Church, a prayer moved and guided by the Holy Spirit himself, in which Christ himself unceasingly becomes contemporary with us, entering into our life. Professor Hauke continues Ratzinger thus shares the approach of Guardini in disclosing the liturgical form of the Churchs prayer, but at the same time he is not uncritical of Guardinis remarks concerning the basic structure of the Holy Mass. The starting point of our discussion is the appearance of a devotional book by Guardini in 1939, entitled Meditations before Mass (Besinnung vor der Feier der heiligen Messe). This work goes back to a series of short meditations held by Guardini for young people from 1930 to 1932 at Castle Rothenfels in Bavaria. According to Guardini, every authentic liturgical action contains a basic structure [Grundgestalt] which supports it and which gives to it its specific life. The sacraments, especially, are no mere apportionments of divine gifts, but life events, constructed according to the essence of man, whose soul expresses itself in the body, and whose body is formed by the soul. Form [Gestalt] is the manner in which the human essence is alive. Therefore one of the most important tasks of liturgical education is to reveal as clearly and as vigorously as possible the interior structure of the divine events. So what is the basic structure of the Mass? It is that of the meal. In support of this thesis, said Hauke, Guardini refers especially to the Last Supper, and then continues: The supporting structure of the Mass is the meal. The sacrifice does not emerge as structure, but remains behind the whole. In this way, it is not pushed back. Already in the history of religion, every cultic meal, or even ultimately every meal, depends on it. The animal that should serve for food must be immolated, properly speaking, before the altar, because blood and life belong to God. From the altar, from the hands of the Lord, man then receives the immolated victim and uses it as nourishment. Applied to the Mass, this means: Its structure is the meal; behind it not as structure, but as reality, as fountain, as condition is the sacrifice Other Professors who presented papers were Professor Helmut Hoping who has had the chair of dogmatic theology and liturgy, at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany since 2000 and since 2008 is the Dean of the faculty of theology there. His paper concentrated on the Ordo Missae of 1965 that is the Latin-German altar missal and the liturgical renewal. Professor William Mahrt of Stanford University is also President of the Church music Association of America presented his paper, some of which he actually sung to the delight of delegates. He said that the proper musical instrument for proper sacred music is the organ and not the guitar, or drums or something even worse, and that the Church was no place for the profane or banal but solely for the sacred. The conference came to a close with 3 distinct papers from

Professor Caitrona O Dochartaigh who spoke on the development of vernacular devotional vocabulary in early Medieval Ireland. Professor Lauren Pristas of Caldwell College in New Jersey presented her work on the post Vatican II revision of the collects of the Roman Missal. The final submission came from Professor Janet Rutherford who made an outstanding contribution to the conference in her paper The Anglican Patrimony: What it is, and what to do with it.? Overall this was a most wonderful conference, an eye-opener for all Catholics especially those who place great value on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and its proper orderings and rubric. Todays man has made a sorry return to Divine Love for all that God is doing for him. The priests who should have been leaders have dishonoured God by their blemished sacrifices, especially when they treat the mass with contempt and adopt it to their own personality. This conference proves that good and proper liturgy becomes a pure oblation, a truly Holy Sacrifice pleasing to God and setting man on his right relationship with God. Bad liturgy deforms the faith and a deformed faith deforms society, make it ugly, void and arid. Let us hope that the Fota conference continues to inspire others, to educate others on the wonders and profundity of the Sacred Liturgy given to us as Cardinal Burke quite rightly said as a Gift from God. Delegates to the conference were invited to various liturgies from Pontifical First Vespers and Pontifical High Mass both celebrated by Cardinal Burke in the beautiful church of Saints Peter and Paul in Cork city, where there were other celebrations in the extraordinary form including the celebration of the first mass of newly ordained priest Canon Matthew Joseph Thermed of the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest, and who imparted his first blessings to the congregation afterwards. The kindness and graciousness of the Parish Priest of Saints Peter and Pauls Father Patrick McCarthy, was noted by all, and no doubt will be mentioned in dispatches. He is a true friend of the Church and this newspaper, the Catholic Voice salutes him- Ad Multos Annos!