Sunday, July 3, 2011

The importance of liturgy

A short disclaimer: This is not posted for reasons of polemics. I'm not trying make any statement beyond the importance of tradition found within the liturgy (as compared to this).

14 comments:

  1. That was something else. In all fairness, not all Catholic Masses are like that (though an unfortunately large chunk are), but I don't know of any Orthodox Liturgies where the deacon dances his way to the altar with the Gospel. Whew.

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  2. Yes,the Ethiopian Orthodox dance. Of course it is beautiful because it is organic and natural for their culture. The LA Mass is just silly, like elderly liturgical dancers and the rest...
    Daniel Nichols

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  3. This year's Los Angeles RE Congress Mass was even worse:

    http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2011/06/will-this-show-go-on.html

    I wonder what Abbot Nicholas (of Holy Resurrection Monastery) thought of the whole thing. He was one of the main concelebrants in this year's Mass.

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  4. The announcer is the worst. Is it worship, or a sporting event? It's like watching golf.

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  5. I imagine a little bile came up into the back of his throat as he watched this...

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  6. i am disappointed to see this posted on this blog. i usually enjoy this blog, thinking that it is fair and not caught up in the "polemics" that orthodox and romans get hung up on.

    i know the blog owner did not create the video but by posting it, it seems he agrees to it style?

    by that i mean, it is a cheap shot at making the its point, and its point could have been made in a more rational and respectful way.
    to compare a solemn patriarchal liturgy in Russia of Good Friday with a closing mass of a large youth gathering in Los Angeles is just not a level playing field. if it wanted to be fair it could have compared it with the Good Friday liturgy at St Peters on Good Friday. Oh, but it is more fun to take the low road?
    It is always sad when christians cannot show respect and decency in their dealings with one another. I know this goes both ways, but it is so sad to see it so often in religious blogs....i had hoped this blog was an exception.

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  7. I think you misconstrue my point in posting. I'm not a triumphalist. I don't post horrible vestments, wallow in the use of oversized puppets or clown outfits, or speak against modern music. My point was that liturgy matters. If you compare that idea to say the below post from today you can see the divide between a traditional understanding of liturgy and liturgy as a loose framework to be filled in with what might be found to be exciting, novel, or liberating.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/jul/04/anglicans-american-episcopal-church

    But, to take your point more directly, let me add a little disclaimer to the top.

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  8. thank your for your response Josephus and i can see your point (somewhat)
    but it does not seem to be the point of the video. from the first question it ask why dont orthodox convert to rome? here's why!

    anyway, i do appreciate your blog and its tone. God Bless!

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  9. Patrick,
    I'm pretty certain that video was made by a Roman Catholic, and not an Orthodox trying to take cheap shots. I thought the question was a little presumptuous, in itself, but as the Orthodox have no television station of their own here, or probably in any western nation, I think it's safe to assume that this was a Roman Catholic acknowledging the deficiencies of his own church's tradition.

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  10. Josephus, I read that article, and it's funny: I actually agree with him on getting rid of the pews and the organ; it's just I think his idea of worship and mine are very different. :)

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  11. It must be said that there is a major error: the Catholic service is not a "pontifical liturgy."

    I do think it would be more fair to compare the Muscovite paschal triduum with the Roman triduum. However, the real problem isn't between Rome and Moscow. The problem is the average parish in your average city. Your average ROCOR holy week looks much like Moscow's, though certainly lacking some grandeur. Yet your average Catholic holy week looks almost nothing like the Roman version of the same. It is a tragedy.

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  12. Yo Yo Gabino brother blessed. We be the true church!. Give me an AMEN!!. Come on we clap on Good Friday, that's because it's Good!!. Ya dig!!.

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  13. That was not a Catholic Mass.I bet every rubric in the book was broken there.Totally invalid.

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  14. Not according to Rome and the USCCB Red Bane!. As Catholic and "VALID" to them as the Tridentine Mass and Divine Liturgies. And equally as reverent in their eyeballs. "Spirit" of V2 flowing in the Roman Rite. Now you can see why most of us speak of a crises in the Church, particularly the Roman Rite.

    Here is another one for you.
    http://gloria.tv/?media=175168

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