“If the crisis of church life today is above all a crisis of liturgy, then the renewal of the church must begin with a renewal of the liturgy.”
Sound familiar?
This was the Swiss-born Kurt Card. Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity as quoted by the German section of Vatican Radio.
We’ve heard from Card. Koch before.
Here is a translation someone sent me for our convenience.
Allowing the Old Latin Mass is just “a first step” according to Kurt Cardinal Koch, an official of the Roman Curia. The time is however not yet ripe for the next steps Koch said on the Weekend in Freiburg. Liturgical questions are overshadowed by ideology especially in Germany. Rome will only be able to act further when Catholics show more readiness to think about a new liturgical reform “for the good of the Church.” The Cardinal spoke at a conference on the theology of Joseph Ratzinger, which also considered Ratzinger’s pontificate as Pope Benedict XVI. In July 2007 Pope Benedict decreed that Tridentine Rite Masses according to the Missal of 1962 may once again be celebrated world wide. The Missal of 1970 is however still the “normal form” of the Eucharistic Celebration in the Roman Church. Koch is the President of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. He tried to refute the charge that Pope Benedict is going against the Council in liturgical questions: “the Pope suffers from this accusation.” On the contrary, the Holy Father’s intention is rather to implement conciliar teachings on the liturgy which have been ignored up till now. Present day liturgical practice does not always have any real basis in the Council. For example, celebration versus populum was never mandated by the Council, says the Cardinal. A renewal of the form of divine worship is necessary for the interior renewal of the Church: “Since the crisis of the Church today is above all a crisis of the liturgy, it is necessary to begin the renewal of the Church today with a renewal of the Liturgy.
I’ve said it before. I will say it again.
There can be no renewal of any aspect of our Catholic lives and identity without first a revitalization of our liturgical worship.
Fathers, implement Summorum Pontificum in your parishes.
And read this.
