Mass Misunderstandings : The Mixed Legacy of the Vatican II liturgical Reforms

by Whitehead, Kenneth D.

• ISBN13: 9781587314964
• ISBN10: 1587314967
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-06-01
• Publisher: St Augustine Pr Inc

Summary

The first document enacted by the Second Vatican Council was its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, and the liturgical reform mandated by that document has probably had a greater impact on the average Catholic than any other action of the Council. That this liturgical reform has not in every respect been the unalloyed success hoped for by the Council Fathers, however, has only been grudgingly recognized. The liturgists and other Church officials responsible for implementing the reforms have had a vested interest in claiming success, even where there was evidence to the contrary. Nevertheless, the many and sometimes abrupt liturgical changes made were bound to affect long-established modes of worship and devotion - not to speak of the drastic move from Latin to the vernacular, which came shortly after the Council, and which necessarily entailed radical change in the Church's worship.

Author Biography

Kenneth D. Whitehead is a former career diplomat and federal government official who completed his federal career as an Assistant Secretary of Education in the Reagan Administration. His most recent book is: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic: The Early Church Was the Catholic Church (Ignatius, 2000); he is editor, most recently, of After 40 Years: Vatican Council II's Diverse Legacy (St. Augustine's Press, 2007).

Table of Contents

Pope Benedict XVI Decides to Revive the Traditional Roman Mass
The Pope Issues a Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum	p. 3
Why Did the Pope Issue Summorum Pontificum?	p. 9
What Does the Motu Proprio Provide For?	p. 17
Pope John Paul II and the Ecclesia Dei Commission	p. 24
Reactions to Summorum Pontificum	p. 30
Some Jewish Reactions Beside the Point	p. 37
But What about the Traditionalists?	p. 44
Will the Traditionalists Be Reconciled?	p. 53
What about the New Liturgy Then?	p. 65
The Liturgy Is Not the Only Problem	p. 70
Vatican Council II and the Reform of the Sacred Liturgy
Vatican Council II and Its Aftermath	p. 81
The Reform of the Liturgy	p. 90
Some Positive Features of the Church's Liturgical Documents	p. 98
Kneeling or Standing?	p. 105
Putting the New Rules into Practice	p. 111
The Tabernacle of the Blessed Sacrament	p. 119
Service at the Altar	p. 125
How "Altar Girls" Got Approved	p. 132
The Vernacular Liturgy	p. 139
Liturgical Translation	p. 150
"Inclusive Language"	p. 156
The New Vatican Translation Norms	p. 164
New Liturgical Leadership in the Church	p. 174
Resistance to Liturgiam Authenticam	p. 185
The End of the Process	p. 193
The Reform Stands in Spite of the Unintended Consequences
The Traditionalist Schism	p. 201
The Holy See Fails to Reconcile the Schismatics but the Door Remains Open	p. 209
A Resurgence of "Creative" Liturgies?	p. 220
The Reform Stands	p. 231
Selected Bibliography	p. 241
Index	p. 245
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