Vatican congregation to emphasize liturgical music, art
  • miacoyne
    Posts: 1,805
    Vatican City, Nov 14, 2012 / 02:45 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- With the Vatican's approval on Nov. 14 of its restructuring, the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments will shift its focus more intensely on art and liturgical music...


    In his letter, the Pope wrote that these all must be in accord with the Second Vatican Council's “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.” Overlooking that 1963 document has allowed for the post-conciliar trend of building unedifying churches and filling them pop-influenced music.

    http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-congregation-to-emphasize-liturgical-music-art/
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,192
    Might we at last have some hope for improvement? I truly hope so.
    Thanked by 2tomboysuze benedictgal
  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,501
    It can't possibly get any worse!
  • miacoyne
    Posts: 1,805
    It's good to have the office that focuses on liturgical music, but it is also important for me to hear what the Pope says about the 'pop-influenced music.'
    We know that the parishes actually have to work towards what the Vatican is focusing on. It is sad to see many people in my parish have good intentions and desires to obey Magisterium, but use their musical talents in a different direction than what the Church desires.
    Thanked by 1tomboysuze
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,978
    Those of us around since Vatican II can only ask, "Church, what took you so long?"
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen francis benedictgal
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    "It can't possibly get any worse!"

    Oh yes it most certainly can. You must be blessed with an optimistic imagination. The blessing for people who are blessed with the pessimistic imagination is that they can always imagine things being worse, way worse. Which is why many pessimists can actually handle bad chapters better in some ways than many optimists.

    In any event, I would not get my hopes up too much about this new curial sub-office. Even the best staffed, most urgent offices in the Curia move far more slowly and consensually than folks in the Anglosphere would prefer.
    Thanked by 3Gavin IanW Andrew Motyka
  • IanWIanW
    Posts: 762
    The secretary of the CDW, The Most Reverend Archbishop Arthur Roche, does have a background in the arts – he was a finalist in the North of England Figure Skating Championships in 1973. More to the point, when he was Bishop of Leeds the music department of his cathedral developed considerably. It not only provides fitting music for the liturgy and place; it also has an active educational program, with 42 school choirs, five boys' choirs, five girls' choirs and a choir school. On the other hand, he was responsible for the national liturgical bureaucracy for some years in England and Wales, but never really got to grips with it; so I'm not sure how he'll do in Rome.
    Thanked by 1tomboysuze
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,477
    "It can't possibly get any worse!"


    "Just when I started to think 'It couldn't get any worse,' I realized that it already had."
  • bgeorge77
    Posts: 190
    This is maybe good news, but probably not. Pessimistically, this will be just one more desk in the Vatican offices, which will issue infrequent and unread missives, until the day it is staffed by the reincarnation of Bugnini ("Oh how'd he get here! Oh Pope Conservitivimus, how could you be so blind" etc) and then they'll issue the proclamation "In el Spiritus Vaticani Two..." which will replace the GR with the Gather hymnal and that will be ball game.

    What matters is the actual factual in practice liturgical example set by the Pope, and that's it. No dicastery really matters.
  • IanWIanW
    Posts: 762
    Well, I would not be so quick to take the Ultramontane position, if I were you, bgeorge77. The faith is transmitted through Holy Tradition (as doubtless CharlesW will aver). That includes many elements and actors, including the Holy Father, other clergy of all seniorities and positions, and the laity. The sponsoring body of this comment board is a case in point. It's good to see a broad momentum build for the continuity of tradition. That's the way for it to not just survive, but to take root and flourish. Lack of care for these things results in the difficulties of the last 40 odd years.
  • Andrew Motyka
    Posts: 946
    What matters is the actual factual in practice liturgical example set by the Pope, and that's it.

    You couldn't be more wrong. What the Holy Father practices in his liturgy may be a good guideline as to how he interprets the documents (that is, if he actually had any input into the planning of his liturgies at all; a big if). It does not, however, carry any weight at all regarding proper practice.

    If the pope had puppet Masses tomorrow, would you consider that more important than what the documents actually call for? You're extending the pope's authority much farther than it actually goes.
    Thanked by 1francis
  • bgeorge77
    Posts: 190
    You misread me. I'm not saying that what any pope might do is good liturgy (seems to be the opposite, lately). I'm telling you that its what the pope actually does that sets the direction for liturgical practice in the world, not what he says or what some bureaucrat says.
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