I was at the closing luncheon, and somebody asked me which liturgy of the Colloquium I liked best. He liked the Ember Day service the best. I liked the very first, the English OF, as an example of what was possible in the world we live in. And that question got me thinking. about speed of change.

Let me give you an example from my sordid past. Wiccans like to have pagan festivals where they can camp together and do witchy things. Pagan money is as green as any other, and campground operators don’t mind renting as long as it doesn’t create other problems for them. So the elders of the community tell everyone, “Don’t freak the mundanes”, because if the locals see a bunch of weird people running around, they’ll make trouble for the camp operator. So of course, folks go to get ice and beer in black witchy regalia, a big horking pentagram around their neck, full facial and digital jewelry, glitter and Goth-style eye shadow, etc. . Their idea is to be out and proud…”We’re here, get over it.”, to bring about a widescale acceptance even if the local result means they’ll need to find a different campground next year.

I think we need to ask whether we are freaking the mundanes.

I don’t know what kind of liturgy the Epiphany folks are used to. If they’re a vigorously Reform of the Reform parish, they might have adapted to us easily, and none of the following would apply. From what I saw, I suspect that is not the case. I also don’t know how much explanation they got the previous week. But if they were expecting a generic OF Mass, and got a Latin OF mass running into double overtime, there’d be some culture shock, for sure. Not just the liturgy per se…but is it SOP there to kneel to receive Communion?

Several people at my table noted verbalized negative reactions from parishoners. Their opinion was that folks should just “deal with it”. They will deal with it…they’ll be the equivalent of the folks complaining to the camp operator, the township trustees, the police. We may want to go back to Duquesne some day (I hope so). We want to leave a good impression, both of ourselves and of our movement. Those seeing this liturgy might well think, “They want to overturn Vatican II!” And by my reading of the documents, they’d be right to think that. We are a church united in orthodoxy (womynpriests and political abortion promoters excluded), but the CMAA is not orthopractic to American Catholicism…that’s the whole point, to change praxis! But that means moving the Overton Window without stepping outside it . Are we doing that in the liturgies we share with a normal congregation? I’ll go to the barricades for the Ordinary in Latin, and for the Propers. The Collects and the Eucharistic Prayer? Notsomuch. Ultimately, it’s their house. We’re respectful of the building, because it’s ours too. But are we carefully wiping our feet, and then getting snooty with the host?

Now, when we’re doing our own thing, we can be as extreme as we wanna be. Consider the Saturday liturgy. This is about the only context where you’ll find a sung Ember Day mass. We don’t even expect people to observe Holy Days of Obligation unless they’re moved to a Sunday, so we certainly don’t expect them to attend Mass on an Ember Day. And those who would are serious enough that they can roll with 5 lessons, chant, and the rest, all in Latin. So why not do it?

Things are finally changing; we have hope. The danger is that we’ll get cocky. “Pride goeth before a fall, and a haughty spirit before destruction”. I hate to use the “p word” (pastoral), because it’s generally used to mean, “Don’t ever do anything that somebody might have an opinion about”. A shepherd leads the sheep, but doesn’t get so far out in front of them that they can’t see him…that’s ultimately the same as letting them wander away without guidance.

I don’t have any fixed idea of what our strategy should be; maybe aggressively mainstreaming traditionalism is exactly what we need to do. But I think they question needs to be asked. Comments?