lodging an objection

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jul 12, 2007

We've already noted the dismay of Bishop Luca Brandolini over the Pope's motu proprio. But let's take a closer look:

• Bishop Brandolini is a former aide to, and proud disciple of, the late Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, a principal architect of the 1969 liturgical reforms. Brandolini now wears Bugnini's episcopal ring.

• Bishop Brandolini-- who would know-- charges that the motu proprio has undone Bugnini's work:

A reform for which many people worked, with great sacrifice and only inspired by the desire to renew the Church, has now been cancelled.

• But on the face of it that complaint is absurd, since the Novus Ordo liturgy will still be celebrated far more frequently than the old Mass. In what sense could one possibly say that the liturgical renewal has been "cancelled?"

• Pope Benedict made it clear, in issuing Summorum Pontificum, that his main goal was to underline the continuity of the Catholic liturgical tradition.

• If it was Bugnini's project to break away from the Catholic liturgical tradition, then one could begin to understand why the motu proprio undoes his work. And since the claim is otherwise incomprehensible,...