Peter Jones wrote:To suggest that liturgical preferences reflect civil political preferences is a non-starter for me.
Without wanting to sidetrack this thread even further (although I must confess that I'm not sure what exactly it's about), I would agree with Peter on the whole.
However, there are some notorious cases where liturgical and civil preferences have been undeniably linked, as in the case of Archbishop Lefebvre and his followers. For Lefebvre, the Tridentine rite was a banner-waving exercise on behalf of his right-wing social aspirations which wanted, among other things, to put a king back on the French throne two centuries after the French Revolution.
A practice that I would categorise as malurgy is the insertion of a lengthy verbal presentation into the Mass at the beginning of the Concluding Rites. However, worthy the cause this is not the place for it to be plugged.
Oh, you are so right! GIRM 90 says that the Concluding Rites begin with "brief announcements, should they be necessary" (my underlining). To that, I would add matey introductions of the "Good morning everyone {reply from all..} - I am Father Fred and I would like to welcome you all here on this lovely morning." talk-show host type. GIRM 50 says "After the greeting of the people [ie the Sign of the Cross/The Lord be with you etc], the Priest, or the Deacon, or a lay minister may very briefly introduce the faithful to the Mass of the day."
As John Baldovin put it (in Reforming the Liturgy) - imagine how incongruous it would be for a priest to begin the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom with a "good morning everyone..." type of introduction. Why do we accept it in the Roman Rite?
Well, he can put them in his parish newsletter or (as I saw recently and was impressed with) just before the start of Mass - or in the service booklet/sheet.
Nick Baty wrote:So if he can't make longer announcements at the beginning, and he can't make them at the end, just when does he make them?
Even important matters can be expressed briefly. However, what I had in mind when originally posting, is the kind of formal presentation given by a third party before the Concluding Rites. The strategy was clearly to ensure that people stayed for the presentation by using (abusing?) the Concluding Rites of the Mass as a kind of 'security cordon'.
The Mass is the Mass: it surely is not a meeting, a workshop or an advertising slot.
Are you thinking of things like the SVP Appeal when done by the parish group leader? I personally have no problem with that sort of thing - liturgy is meant to lead its participants to help bring about the Kingdom, isn't it? A specific invitation can't be a bad thing, surely? Trying to remember the name of the Russian theologian who wrote about the liturgy after the liturgy - connecting life and worship (another bit of non-catholic phraseology, I'm afraid.)
alan29 wrote:Trying to remember the name of the Russian theologian who wrote about the liturgy after the liturgy - connecting life and worship (another bit of non-catholic phraseology, I'm afraid.)
Alexander Schmemann is the liturgical theologian.
And Life and Worship was at one time the name of the Society's journal, by the way!
alan29 wrote:Trying to remember the name of the Russian theologian who wrote about the liturgy after the liturgy - connecting life and worship (another bit of non-catholic phraseology, I'm afraid.)
Alexander Schmemann is the liturgical theologian.
And Life and Worship was at one time the name of the Society's journal, by the way!
Thanks. Isn't "Life and Worship" also something to do with the WCC?
