Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Archbishop Burke Discusses the Remedy of Liturgical Abuses

In his ongoing discussion of the Vatican Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, Archbishop Burke discusses liturgical abuses and their remedies. He notes:
....a liturgical abuse is, in fact, "a real falsification of Catholic liturgy." Constant vigilance is required against such falsification and, when it occurs, it must be corrected. It makes no sense for the Church to acknowledge serious wounds inflicted upon her sacred worship by us without providing us, at the same time, the effective remedy to treat the wounds.

The weighty responsibility for the correct celebration of the sacred liturgy belongs to the priest and bishop. The instruction quotes St. Thomas Aquinas, who declared in his Summa Theologica:
"The vice of falsehood is perpetrated by anyone who offers worship to God on behalf of the Church in a manner contrary to that which is established by the Church with divine authority, and to which the Church is accustomed" (n. 169).
I know it might be viewed as wishful tihnking, but perhaps, with God's grace, some of those who continually engage in illicit changes of and additions to the sacred liturgy, might be moved to heed the words of His Excellency...

Complete article is here.

No comments: