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As I wrote last week, the unchanging truth of the Church is represented anew each generation. It is not so much that truth changes, but the way in which the Spirit moves in the Church—the responses to the times—that dictate the presentation of the unchanging truth.
One of my pet peeves, quite possibly the thing that irritates me the most, is a hyper-traditionalism that is completely preoccupied with what has come before and is unable to see the movement of the Spirit in the present. While this issue has been in the Church before, there is no greater example of this that the sedecavante-tendency of many well-meaning traditional Catholics. In what follows, I would like to reflect upon this errant tendency and call it out, proposing a way forward that is in harmony with the Tradition but does not deny the genuine movement of the Holy Spirit in the Church in the last 65 years.
Since the fallout of the post-Vatican II period, many people in the Church have rightly been frustrated in the less-than-Catholic approach to Liturgical action, moral certitude, and doctrinal clarity. I agree with and sympathize with many of these tendencies. I agree that the Liturgy is the meeting point of Heaven and earth in which the Son of God is offered to the Father in a representation of Calvary. It is in this act of Divine worship that we participate, on earth, in the eternal banquet feast of Heaven. With a proper understanding of the Liturgy in mind, it is clear that the way we worship matters; the sacred music matters, the art matters, and our posture matters. We have a duty to offer right worship to God.
It is clear that in the period following Vatican II, the Church, at best, lost its guiding star. When stating this, it is important to distinguish between what is essential and what is non-essential in the Liturgy. First, it is critical to remember that the “regulation of the sacred liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church”1 and that “the liturgy is made up of immutable elements divinely instituted, and of elements subject to change.”2 This means that there are elements of the Liturgy which are unable to be changed, such as the consecration of the Eucharist, and there are elements which can legitimately be changed under the authority of the Church. So, while there are certain elements of the “New Mass” that some traditional-minded Catholics might not like, that in no way invalidates or even insinuates that the Liturgical renewal was not a genuine development of the tradition and not in harmony with what came before.
I propose that a true Catholic response is one that acknowledges the tradition and reverences it, but is open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in the Church. This openness, particularly in the Liturgical renewal of Vatican II, involves a genuine submission of will to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Church. It is not good enough to be dissatisfied with the changes and pout and wish for what was before. The Catholic response is to submit to the Church, trust the workings of the Holy Spirit in an Ecumenical Council, and trust in the genuine tradition since. One might look to the example of Pope Benedict who continuously advocated for a hermeneutic of continuity as opposed to one of rupture. The Catholic response can only be one of the former tendency. The Holy Spirit moves in the Church. He moves particularly in the workings of an Ecumenical Council. The genuine teachings of an Ecumenical Council must be the movement of the Spirit. If they are not, we have an Ecclesiological crisis on hand because either Our Lord was wrong when He said “the powers of death shall not prevail against it,” (Mt 16:18) or the Church we are seeing is not the Church that Christ established. I would tend to say that the Council was a legitimate movement of the Spirit in the Church.
Finally, as the title suggests, I believe the way forward is not backward but forward. The Holy Spirit works in the Church like a small stream. A stream never stops moving. Sometimes its movement is silent because the storm above drowns out its sound, but it is always moving, always carrying along the living fish that call it home. Other times it is louder, when the calm summer morning is silent and the peaceful sound of running waters fills the air. But the steam is always moving, always dictating the banks around it; moving land here, moving sand there. It never stops. The Holy Spirit moves in the Church analogously to this.
The Church exists in history. It is a historical Church. The Holy Spirit moves, directs, and guides the Church through history. The world of the 2nd century is not the world of the 12th nor the 21st. The Church responds to the needs of the time by listening attentively to the voice of the Spirit. But the Spirit always moves forward. It is not Catholic to reject the inspiration of the Spirit in the present because you do not like what has been developed. It is not Catholic to reject the teachings of an Ecumenical Council and seek to go back to a romanticized period that you think is idyllic. As Church history tells us, no time is idyllic. Do not be stuck in the past and miss the action of the Holy Spirit in the present.
Often when I was in seminary, I was criticized for embracing the post-Vatican II Church. I was once called a heretic because I dared to say the Church doesn’t interpret the book of Genesis literally. It is this tendency, a distrust of the present, that closes us off to the mystery of the Spirit in history. The Spirit is alive and active now. The Spirit has not stopped guiding the Church in the second millennium, and He will not stop guiding Her in the future.
A genuine openness to the Spirit involves a trust in God. All we need to do is be open to what God has in store for us. We can ask questions and criticize legitimate issues as they crop up such as the misinterpretation of elements of Sacrosanctum Concilium. But what we cannot do is seek a return to the past. The Holy Spirit has led the Church to the present. It is in the here and now that the Spirit is asking us to conform ourselves to Christ and to preach the Gospel to this generation.
Second Vatican Council, "Constitution on The Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium” 4 December, 1963. https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html. 22 (hereafter cited as SC).
SC 21.
Seems Jesus said a lot of things that go beyond the mass and liturgical wars. Things like “I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you should also love one another. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples: if you love one another". And "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in their midst". And "And I say to you: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against it".
These things and many more make me believe no matter what, Jesus is always available to those who approach Him like little, hungry, children.
Peace be with you all 🙏
Well-stated, brother! Excellent article!