REDISCOVERING OUR CATHOLIC LITURGICAL IDENTITY

 

The phenomenal proliferation of Christian denominations in recent years has not been without positive and negative impact on the mainline Christian churches, especially the Catholic Church. Particularly in the area of Sacred Liturgy, we can observe that some Pentecostal forms of worship are making inroads into our Catholic Liturgical Assemblies. However, such practices have not been approved by the competent authority of the Church. The danger of such phenomenon is that we are losing touch with our Catholic identity and liturgical traditions, and that liturgical praxis risks to be an arbitrary decision of each Presider. Thus, care must be taken so as to rediscover and preserve our Catholic identity in the midst of the countless Christian denominations. 

In effect, we cannot gainsay the fact that there is a religious competition among the emerging Christian denominations for membership, popularity or other reasons. The way of worship of the Pentecostal denominations has been chiefly used to “draw” members out of the mainstream churches, whose way of worship is considered, though erroneously, monotonous, minister-centred, dull and non-participative. The worship pattern of the newly emerging Christian denominations involves praise and worship ministration, preaching, spontaneous prayer with speaking in tongues, healing and deliverance sections, prophecies, etc. 

In this perspective, in their attempt to be “charismatic” priests, or to impress the Lay Faithful, or to prevent mass exodus from the Catholic parishes, some priests give in to an indiscriminate imitation of the Pentecostal and charismatic pastors. Thus, some features that are creeping into the Church include theatrical dancing, excessive and indiscriminate use of holy water and holy oil, over-gesticulation of the priest during homily (preaching), clapping after homily, allocating time for testimonies, creating shortcuts for liturgical rites, etc. For instance, the singing of the Gloria hymn during Holy Mass is gradually turning into a praise and worship section, while the prayer of the faithful (bidding prayers) is turning into an intercessory prayer section where the people offer spontaneous prayers sometimes accompanied with shouts and speaking in tongues.

This way, like the emerging Christian denominations, our celebrations are becoming highly emotional and a kind of religious entertainment. As a result, we are losing the sense of liturgical silence during our celebrations. Again, some popular songs whose sense does not correspond to the theology of the Church are being adopted in our liturgical celebrations. The Final Doxology is substituted by a popular song which has little in common with what the Missal has provided. Though these may be relevant to our contemporary religiosity, their excesses become liturgical aberrations and abuses that must be avoided.

We must, therefore, encourage our people, especially the youth, to appreciate our Catholic way of celebrating the Sacred Mysteries and communing with the Triune God. This endeavour demands effective education of the Lay Faithful so as to help them understand what we believe in and celebrate, how and why we do so. As much as possible our explanation of the Catholic beliefs and practices must be supported by Sacred Scripture. 

Besides, the methodology of the initiatory catechetical praxis needs to be reformed making it more biblically oriented. Moreover, the Christian formation of Catholics must not stop at the reception of the Sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation and First Communion). In this vein, bishops, priests and seminarians must be actively and effectively involved in the initiatory and ongoing catechesis of Catholic faithful, instead of leaving it to the catechists alone. 

Priests may frequently update their knowledge of the liturgical tradition of the Church and be circumspect in applying the liturgical norms and principles to satisfy the pastoral needs of the people in a Catholic way. This means that the priests must be true and authentic Catholics in the first place. This also requires of them to be conversant with the liturgical rubrics which are designed as guidelines or directives for liturgical celebrations. This must be done keeping in mind the juridical, theological and pastoral dimensions of such rubrics. Knowledge of the General Introduction of the Roman Missal as well as the theology and Praenotanda (introduction) of the Sacraments or Rites to be celebrated cannot be overemphasized. 

In definitive, there are two extremes that we must avoid: conservatism and liberalism. Though the windows of the Church are to be opened for fresh air to come in, not every air may be allowed to make inroads into the Church. For the polluted air may suffocate our Catholicity; otherwise, how will our Catholic Liturgy be in the next decade?