Trautman on the Synod
Just got the jump for this week's America. It's a special edition for the Synod on the Eucharist, which begins next Sunday, 2 October.
The top piece comes from Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, chairman of the BCL -- the USCCB's Committee on the Liturgy. And, guess what, he makes some good and solvent points.
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The top piece comes from Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, chairman of the BCL -- the USCCB's Committee on the Liturgy. And, guess what, he makes some good and solvent points.
[The Instrumentum Laboris for the Synod] fails to recognize real issues facing the church in the contemporary world.He's right.
The document speaks, for example, of “shadows in the celebration of the Eucharist,” citing “a neglect by the celebrant and the ministers to use proper liturgical vestments and participants’ lack of befitting dress for Mass,” “an inadequate catechesis for communion in the hand,” “the scant architectural and artistic quality of sacred buildings and sacred vessels” (No. 33) and “the use of the communion plate...the keeping of the tabernacle key in a secure place” (No. 39). The list goes on.
These are hardly the burning issues of the day. While they are supposedly examples of “a weakened sense of the sacred in the Sacrament,” they could all be addressed by enforcing the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, the authoritative document on the correct celebration of the Eucharist. There is no need for 250 bishops from all parts of the world to incur great financial cost and loss of time from their local churches to ponder these insufficiencies.
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posted by Rocco Palmo at 15:51
5 Comments:
Wow. Bishop Trautman seems to put a price on the Holy Eucharist, the source and summit of our Catholic Faith. Interesting.
He's dead-on right. If you're going to bring the world's bishops together (and I'm not convinced Trautman thinks it's a bad idea) give them something substantive to discuss and discern, not a prepared document of items already seemingly decided-upon.
It wouldn't surprise me if the pope permits a good bit more open discussion on what the bishops think they really need to effect better liturgy.
And a worldly caution: few countries are better off liturgically than the US. Our issues are not the issues for the rest of the world, and vice versa. But our bishops need a forum to keep things improving, not wait around for some of the others to catch up.
pazdziernik:
"Wow. Bishop Trautman seems to put a price on the Holy Eucharist, the source and summit of our Catholic Faith. Interesting."
No. He seems to be putting a price on a Synod that might prove to be overly concerned with minutiae. He would appear to prefer just a bit more gravitas than what it is being demonstrated in the document he's quoting.
Sounds about right...
Trautman is a ninny and lives in the world of antinomianism--except, of course, such will not be tolerated by HIS subjects.
It does not require extraordinary perception to hear the pouting and prissiness in his "comments." After all, it's Trautman's own personal BCL which has been slapped in the chops by this Synod's agenda.
So NyahNyah is his response.
No surprise.
Well, Trautman's probably right that this Synod is a waste of time and money. On the other hand, if it wasn't, he wouldn't like it either.
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