Description of "Liturgy" at a prominent church in Mpls, MN
  • Dan F.Dan F.
    Posts: 205
    From the liturgy page on the website of said parish:

    Liturgy
    The communal celebration of the liturgy is the "source and summit" of the life of a parish. It is in the liturgy that we express who we are as Christians. It is in the liturgy that we continue to be formed in the ways of our Christian life. The celebrant of the liturgy is the entire community, from priest to parishioner, from musician to minister of hospitality.

    Also, here is the first choir listed on their Adult Choirs page:

    Assembly
    The primary minister of the liturgy and thus of liturgical music is the assembly, in all its diversity and with its specific ministers to serve them. In the preparation and execution of the liturgy every effort must be made to allow for the assembly to exercise its liturgical role as singers of the liturgy.

    Now, I agree that the liturgy is central to the life of a parish. However, isn't it the Eucharist who is the "source and summit" of our faith? Is correct to say that the liturgy is the "source and summit?"

    Also, isn't the priest the "primary minister" of the liturgy rather than the assembly? To what extent are these statements just plain heresy?
  • G
    Posts: 1,397
    I believe the phrase from Sacrosanctum Concilium was that the "sacred liturgy" was the source and summit of our faith, and some official documents also use the phrase "the Eucharistic liturgy" is the S & S of the Faith.

    Calling the Faithful "ministers" is just another example of the over-use and misuse of the term "minister."

    Donut minister, hymn-board-number minister, minister of rock salt, (a ministry only exercised in the winter...)

    I suppose the Assembly is the "celebrant" in the same way that Himself and I will be "celebrants" at a friend's birthday party later today...

    I don't know that any of these errors rise to the level of heresy.

    Save the Liturgy, Save the World
  • David Sullivan
    Posts: 355
    G, you're right, Sacrosanctum Concilium 10 said "Nevertheless, the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the fount from which all her power flows." ("Fount" here is the translation of 'fons'--another translation for this word is 'source'.)

    What I find lacking in the very anthropocentric statement Dan F cites is the omission of Christ as the primary actor in the liturgy. SC 7: "The liturgy, then, is rightly seen as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ....every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the Priest and of his Body, which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others. No other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree."

    In contrast, the statement quoted refers to the parish 'assembly' without specific--although probably implicit--reference to Christ. "...we express who we are..." With the understanding that Christ is the head and the Church is the body, it's just maybe okay. Without that understanding, which I think needs to be explicit, the statement is rather incomplete.
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    While not rising to heresy, these statements obscure Catholic teaching on the role of the priest and sacred music. Every mission statement is written in answer to a question. This one must have been "How do turn the Church into a democracy?" Answer: Make the priest just one of many and music a means of pandering to diverse groups.
  • Dan F.Dan F.
    Posts: 205
    Thanks for the references. I think these descriptions tend to put the cart before the horse, stressing the liturgy and the assembly without reference to the Euchartic Christ or the ordained priest. It was a jarring perspective to encounter, although not a complete shock to find.
  • dad29
    Posts: 2,217
    What I find lacking in the very anthropocentric statement

    ...which is the encapsulization of the term "horizontal" vs. "vertical." That's the core of the whole discussion of 'sacred music' v. 'folktunes music' (folktunes understood as analogy for the entire parade of .......stuff....which is au courant since 1970. It is what B-16 is attempting to reverse.
  • incantuincantu
    Posts: 989
    What "liturgy" do you suppose they're talking about? Compline, perhaps?
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