A Possible Addition to One's Reading List

Stories of liturgical and musical malpractice abound. Where Catholics gather to lament the state of the Church, the game of choice is "Can you top this?"

It can be very funny, in a sad sort of way. The malpractice is evident not only in liturgical and musical antics but also in the bare ruined choirs of churches stripped to the austere specifications of "worship spaces " designed to facilitate the community's encounter with itself.

Encounter with the Other is a decidedly secondary consideration, if it is considered at all.

The tabernacle of the Real Presence is moved either somewhere off to the side or into a closet-sized space down a side corridor, as though to pose a challenge to those really determined to engage in eucharistic adoration.

Not for nothing are the church renovations of recent decades sometimes referred to as wreckovations. All this is painfully true, and there will no doubt be cause for legitimate complaint far into the future. . . .

An excerpt from Catholic Matters: Confusion, Controversy, and the Splendor of Truth by Fr. Richard John Neuhaus...

The game of which he speaks, "Can you top this?" is truly sad when one is discussing the numerous aberations during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. How glorious, though, is it when one is discussing a beuatifully adorned church where reverence is the order of the day and where Holy Mass is celebrated in a prayerful and pious manner? There are two ways to play ""Can you top this?"...Wouldn't it be nice if more were of the latter type?