When the solemnity of Mother’s Day falls on the Ascension of the Lord, which takes precedence?
Archive for category Inculturation
Restoring the Subculture
May 1
By Russell Shaw
“On the whole, I believe, liturgy done in any acceptable style by people who combine faith with good taste is likely to turn out well. And it will well serve the worship needs of American Catholics in the new Catholic subculture now starting to take shape.”
Article 40 treats the situation in which a more “radical” adaptation would be needed and seems to foresee a “bottom-up” form of inculturation in which one begins with the religious practices of a given culture and attempts to find in them vehicles for Christian worship.
In a remarkable departure from earlier practice in which almost all regulation of liturgical practice for the Roman rite was controlled by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, with a few issues left for the determination of a local Ordinary, here the Council Fathers relegate to territorial bishops’ conferences the competence to deal with issues of liturgical adaptation, presumably because they would have first-hand experience concerning how liturgical sign systems would best communicate the meaning of the gospel in the cultures in which they live.
The Council Fathers state that all revised liturgical books are to provide opportunities for cultural adaptation of the liturgy, especially citing the way in which the rituals are structured and the rubrics guiding ritual action.
Contacts from Argentina tell me that Missa Criolla is the Pope’s favorite Mass and was a favorite gift for him to give visitors to Argentina.
CNN has this story on a priest in China’s underground Church. There is a lot of footage of the liturgy, which seems quite interesting and raises two questions.
“If my God is there in front of me, I want to be able to display my joy dancing energetically: that’s what believers do in Africa.”
This story from the Guardian invites a scornful pile-on, but I think it might also prompt thoughtful reflection on how we set limits to inculturation and how we adapt liturgy to circumstances. Send to Kindle:
This morning’s Washington Post has an interesting article on the growing popularity of Kirtan, a form of Hindu chanting, among the spiritual-but-not-religious set.