Ahead of the Year of Faith and the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Benedict XVI has taken the opportunity to explain why he saw a need to introduce his own liturgical renewal after the Council – what some have labelled his “reform of the reform.”
In a video address (full text) to participants of the International Eucharistic Congress that concluded in Dublin on Sunday, the Holy Father noted “many misunderstandings and irregularities” subsequent to the Council’s liturgical renewal. Instead of increasing “active participation” of the faithful, he observed, the revision of liturgical forms remained at the external level.
“Hence much still remains to be done on the path of real liturgical renewal,” he continued. “In a changed world, increasingly fixated on material things, we must learn to recognize anew the mysterious presence of the Risen Lord, which alone can give breadth and depth to our life.”
The Pope’s emphasis on the need for further renewal laid the basis for his expected reflections on the clerical sex abuse scandal in Ireland.
He began by underscoring how the Mass and the Eucharist have shaped Ireland, spreading the Good News of God’s love and forgiveness “well beyond your shores,” and leaving “a great history of faith and love.”
But Ireland, he said, had been “shaken in an appalling way by the revelation of sins committed by priests and consecrated persons against people entrusted to their care.” Instead of showing them the path towards Christ and bearing witness to his goodness, “they abused people and undermined the credibility of the Church’s message,” he said.
“How are we to explain the fact that people who regularly received the Lord’s body and confessed their sins in the sacrament of Penance have offended in this way?,” he asked. “It remains a mystery. Yet evidently, their Christianity was no longer nourished by joyful encounter with Jesus Christ: it had become merely a matter of habit.”
The Pope added that the Council was “really meant to overcome this form of Christianity”, to rediscover the faith as “a deep personal friendship with the goodness of Jesus Christ.”
He called on the Lord to again bestow on the faithful the power of the Holy Spirit, as he breathed the Holy Spirit on the first apostles, “and so help us to become true witnesses to his love, witnesses to the truth.”
“His truth is love,” he said. “Christ’s love is truth.”
The Holy Father concluded by announcing the next International Eucharistic Congress will take place in Cebu, in the Philippines, in 2016.
Video courtesy of Salt and Light TV
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Personally, I enjoy watching the video of the Holy Father reading his observations on the important topic of liturgical reform/renewal. But I can’t help wondering if he doesn’t think to himself: “I know how to write. They know how to read. Is the youtube video really necessary?” But that may just be a reflection of my own attitude.
“How are we to explain the fact that people who regularly received the Lord’s body and confessed their sins in the sacrament of Penance have offended in this way?,” he asked. “It remains a mystery. Yet evidently, their Christianity was no longer nourished by joyful encounter with Jesus Christ: it had become merely a matter of habit.”
I love and pray for our Holy Father. And I also have tried to learn as much as I can about his life experience and vocation. There is the fact and question of his membership in a Hitler directed youth group during formative years. “How are we to explain the fact that people who regularly received the Lord’s body and confessed their sins in the sacrament of Penance have offended in this way?,”
Paz y Bien, Rolando, OFS.
Rolando,
If memory serves me correctly the pope did not attend many youth sessions. Those he did attend he did not engage himself. I do not think the Hitler youth programs had much influence on him at all. Yet when he deserted (he could not fight for the Nazis) he had walked a very long way with an injured arm to get home. When he finally arrived hungry, tired, and anxious to see his parents, mass was in progress. He waited outside on the step until mass was finished. When asked why, he said he refused to disrupt the liturgy. He knew the focus would go to him if he entered the church and the attention of the people would be drawn away from the liturgy to himself. Instead he waited outside. He was a very young man maybe 18 even at this age he was very sensitive to Liturgy. Not the behavior of someone who would be twisted by Nazis formation.
Plus his father was a high ranking police officer who kept relocating each time the Nazis began to influence his department. He finally resigned completely because he could not work for the Nazis under any circumstance. This information is disclosed in the interview style books by Peter Seewald, “Salt and Light” and “Light of the World.”
Hagiography and history are essential elements of our human story. Again, I love and pray for our Holy Father Benedict. I have also learned some of his biography and have read much of his writing. He was elected to be our Vicar of Christ, but he was first baptized as our brother in, with and through Christ. I cannot love him more or less. I can only and do love him as my brother, and as all of God’s daughters and sons, a favored child.
Paz y Bien, Rolando, OFS.
Mr Rolando Rodriguez, SFO:
And I also have tried to learn as much as I can about his life experience and vocation. There is the fact and question of his membership in a Hitler directed youth group during formative years.
As a student of the Holy Father’s life you should know that his membership in the Hitler Youth was involuntary, that all young men the Pope’s age were automatically enrolled into the Hitler Youth by the State and later drafted into military service.
You should also know and that, at considerable risk to his life, the Holy Father deserted the Nazi Armed Forces.
You should further know that even a cursory glance at the Holy Father’s published works show a fierce anti-totalitarianism.
God bless
Richard W Comerford
“How are we to explain the fact that people who regularly received the Lord’s body and confessed their sins in the sacrament of Penance have offended in this way?,”
How would the Holy Father know they “regularly…confessed their sins in the sacrament of Penance”?
My experience as a Catholic, extending from before Vatican II, indicates that a major cause of the problem is that priests and bishops ceased going to confession. Catholic schools used to teach that confession is required and appropriate only if you are in the state of mortal sin, and almost nobody ever commits a mortal sin. I think the older generation among us remember this (I mean after Vatican II). Catholics were also taught in Catholic school that we don’t need to go to Mass on Sunday and shouldn’t go unless we “get something out of it.” So today only 20% of US Catholics still go to Mass on Sunday, and I think it’s lower in Ireland.
@Bill Sockey: “Catholics were also taught in Catholic school that we don’t need to go to Mass on Sunday and shouldn’t go unless we get something out of it.”
Whew! this took my breath away. How old are you and what Catholic school did you go to? I am 85 & went to Catholic Grade School and we were taught to go to Confession and Holy Communion every Sunday and the Nuns were there and knew who did not. Also my children went through Catholic Grade and High School, granted the oldest is now 60 but never have we been told such a thing. I really am curious as to your age group. “Remember thou, keep Holy The Sabbath Day” One of the ten Commandments. Granted some people may have a good reason for not going on Sunday, but to be taught that in a Catholic school? Was that the late 70’s?
Sue, agree with your comment. I’m 57 and I was taught to go to Confession even if you don’t have mortal sins. I went to Catholic school in the 60’s and was taught by nuns. I agree with Bill that most priests today don’t stress going to Confession. They focus on receiving the Eucharist but never explain that you should not be in the state of mortal sin before receiving.
Better to go to Mass because you want to, not because you have to. This makes it holy.
It is normal for kids to be interested in wearing the costumes that will make them look like their favorite characters in stories. http://www.flowergirldressforless.com/
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