Critical Mass: "Is there need of a new liturgical reform?"

This was the final question posed in an interview with Abbot Christopher Zielinski, of the Olivetan Abbey of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Pecos, New Mexico. His response is a summation of the growing call for a liturgical counter-reformation (a "reform of the reform," as once termed by the former Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI). A text of the interview can be found at The New Liturgical Movement. The answer to the above question is thus:

I believe that the Dogmatic Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium was a response to a widely held conviction that the liturgy needed a reform. The Council Fathers were seeking to bring out the community aspects of the mass, as well as make it more effective in teaching the truths of the Catholic Faith. Unfortunately, the theological necessity for a continuity in the underlying doctrine and structure of the celebration of the Mass in its preconciliar and post conciliar forms had undergone a rupture or break with Tradition. That is what we are dealing with today. The Second Vatican Council clearly called for some modest reforms in the liturgy, but it intended them to be organic and clearly in continuity with the past. The Old Rite becomes a living treasure of the Church and also should provide a standard of worship, of mystery, and of catechesis toward which the celebrations of the Novus Ordo must move. In other words, the Tridentine Mass is the missing link. And unless it be re-discovered in all its faithful truth and beauty, the Novus Ordo will not respond to the organic growth and change that has characterized the liturgy from its beginning. This is what should be prompting many of us to the founding of a new liturgical movement which will be able to give back to the liturgy its sacramental and supernatural character, and awaken in us a faithful understanding of the Catholic Liturgy.


Sunday Liturgy at the Benedictine Monastery of Abu Ghoush, Israel.

Today is the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, one of the days upon which the "motu proprio" was supposed to be released. At least that was the word on the street -- again. As evening falls in Rome, and with the date having come and gone, all bets are now on Holy Thursday, which is on the fifth of April this year.

I'm not holding my breath, are you?