Q: What do the widespread liturgical abuses and the controversy of pro-abortion politicians receiving Communion indicate regarding perceptions of and respect for the Eucharist?All emphasis above is mine.
Father Neuhaus: There are two questions there. The great liturgical movement of the early 20th century, led by figures such as Henri de Lubac, Danielou, Virgil Michel and Martin Hellriegel, was formally embraced by the Second Vatican Council. Many of the liturgical "reforms" following the Council, however, departed radically from the vision of the earlier movement.
This is a very big subject with many parts, but the key problem, I believe, was the ascendancy of an instrumental view of worship. Liturgy was subjected to psychological and sociological criteria alien to the very meaning of worship.
The worship of God has no purpose other than the worship of God. While worship has many benefits, we do not worship in order to attain those benefits. The simple and radical truth is that we worship God because God is to be worshiped.
The earlier movement understood that we are to worship "in the beauty of holiness," as it says in Psalm 96. This engages the aesthetic dimensions of liturgy, including the dignity of language, gestures, ritual and excellence in music and the arts.
In many ways, Catholic worship has been destabilized and impoverished since the Council. Today, fortunately, more and more liturgical scholars and pastors are committing themselves to what is called "the reform of the reform." This is not to go backward but to carry forward the great vision of the liturgical movement that was, let us pray, only temporarily derailed.
As for the controversy about pro-abortion Catholic politicians receiving Communion, we must hope that the discussion started will continue. This is not just about pro-abortion politicians. It engages the much deeper question of the connection between "communion" and receiving Communion.
To be rightly disposed to receive the Eucharist is to be in communion with the Church, which includes faithful adherence to the Church's magisterial teaching. Especially in America where there is a multitude of Christian denominations, many Catholics have assumed the Protestant attitude that the local parish is simply their religion of choice.
The parish is the local franchise of the Catholic Church, much as they might patronize the local franchise of McDonald's. It is further assumed that everybody has a "right" to receive Communion, just as everybody has a right to purchase a Big Mac.
Obviously, this is a severe debasement of "communion" and Communion. In the Eucharist, we receive Christ and Christ receives us, incorporating us into his body the Church, which is, most fully and rightly ordered through time, the People of God in communion with bishops who are in communion with the Bishop of Rome.
To be rightly disposed entails confessing whatever in our lives contradicts or compromises that "communion" with Christ and his Church and then receiving absolution. Sadly, the sacrament of reconciliation has fallen almost into desuetude in many places, and certainly not only in the United States.
One, therefore, must hope that the election-year controversy over pro-abortion politicians will lead to a much more comprehensive renewal of Catholic understanding and practice with respect to authentic "communio."
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