Breathtaking
Posted by: tony on 12/23/2008 03:36 PM
Updated by: tony on 12/23/2008 03:36 PM
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Expires: 01/23/2009 12:00 AM
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That is the only word that comes to mind when reading Todd's latest missive at Catholic Sensibility:
Second, the institutional Church isn’t too keen on knowledge and competence, either. Did you catch the resumes of the new and immediate past heads of the CDWDS? Scripture, fundamental theology, CDF, interreligious dialogue. Liturgy expertise as bishops. One might equate bishops and liturgy experts with journalists and religion experts.
What do the bishops know about liturgy? Besides being priests for a goodly number of years and celebrating Mass daily and multiple times on weekends. There a big red book on the altar. It's the cookbook for liturgy. You open it up, you read the black and you do the red. You hire a competent music director to select the music, and you check it out to make sure it is close to the days readings (or you simply follow the outlines in the latest musical selections of OCP and GIA).
If you are of a more traditional bent, you have a "cookbook" that contains the Latin, and you use chant for the music.
So I'm wondering what a bishop needs to know to be competent at litugy? I supposed if you have readers and dozens of EMHCs, there might be a little coordination required, but a volunteer sacristan can take care of that nicely.
However if you have to know what kind of makeup is required for a certain holy day's "Clown Mass", or you have to coreograph the liturgical dancers cavorting around the sanctuary, or maybe have the proper rainbow banners to match the rainbow vestments for the GLBTQ Mass, then an advanced degree in "spirit" of Vatican II liturgy might be required.
This shows an amazing level of hubris with regards to the qualifications of our Holy Spirit filled shepherds, and there is a certain level of "lay clericalism" that I find amusingly ironic.
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