Active participation or mere activity?
Jeffrey Tucker, Sacred Music Correspondent at the New Liturgical Movement has given great service to the Church by his tireless promotion of properly liturgical music in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary forms of the Roman Rite. An outstanding article which summarises the problem with the celebration of the Ordinary form to be found in most parishes is: No More Roadblocks.
As he rightly points out, if you go to the choir practice area of many Churches, you will find a sheet that looks like this:
Setting: CreationTo take just one example: what is meant to be sung at the beginning of Mass is the Introit; and Vatican II gave pride of place to Gregorian Chant for liturgical music. Most people will only ever hear the Introit sung at Mass celebrated according to the usus antiquior. At English Masses, they will not hear the Introit in English set to Gregorian Chant or even in some modern musical form. Instead, they will get an "Entrance hymn" chosen to suit the "theme" of the Mass or the season, or because it is one that people know and enjoy.
Pro: random hymn
Off: random hymn
Com: random hymn
Rec: random hymn
Imagine suggesting that the Entrance hymn be replaced by the Introit - perhaps sung in English according to one of the psalm tones to start with. One of the most likely objections will be that the people cannot participate.
This leads to a deeper question concerning the nature of liturgical participation. From Pope St Pius X onwards, there have been calls for active participation - culminating in the call of Sacrosanctum Concilium for the full, conscious and active participation of the people.
Notice, however, that "participation" implies that we are participating in something. What we are meant to be participating in is the Sacred Liturgy. The hymn "Holy God we praise thy name", or "Colours of Day" - take your pick - is not a part of the Sacred Liturgy. If such a hymn is chosen in preference to the Introit, nobody is actually participating in the Sacred Liturgy: people are simply singing a hymn that they like (or at least that somebody likes or thinks that other people should like.)
Has not "active participation" given way to mere activity?
10 comments:
You've hit the nail on the head again Father. That is exactly how our PP reacts when we suggest moving the liturgy closer to the Holy Father's model. He's a good and holy priest, but has had the importance of 'participation' so ingrained in him that it over-rides his own traditional tendencies.
Father accurately puts his finger on the problem :
Nowhere in the original (Latin) documents is "activity" encouraged or even mentioned.
When I was a youngster, in the years before Vatican II, (but many, many years after Pius X !) we all, I hope, participated in the liturgy without indulging in "activity".
As far as I can see, this was "actuosa participatio", but not in the modern sense of "doing things".
Either there is a misunderstanding of [or a deliberate misuse of] the phrase "actuosa participatio".
Or there is a complete misunderstanding (and I think in many places this is so,) of the word "liturgy"
Or both.
Apologies in advance for cluttering up your comments with Anglo-Catholic anecdotes. In some parishes which have good choirs, and have always loved plainchant, it is the custom for both to be done: an entrance hymn, and then a Gregorian introit.
Often, the procession doesn't actually begin until halfway through the hymn, in order to ensure that the end of the introit coincides roughly with when the priest has finished greeting the altar.
Attendance at Mass in the Extraordinary Form has led me to a much deeper appreciation of what "active participation" can and should really be. Too often now the Ordinary Form, with all its "vocal" participation, "feels" (I wish I had a better word for this) like inane babble.
The above paragraph makes me giggle, actually, because a few years ago I would read similar thoughts from others and think, "Well that's all well and good but I'll never understand this TLM business." Just goes to show how God really can bash through one's thick skull when He sees it necessary.
Mr. Tucker does an excellent job. He seems to have boundless energy, enthusiasm and optimism for what he does. Bravo!
To me, active participation means 'staying awake with the Lord through His Passion and Sacrifice on the Cross', ie - being attentive during Holy Mass.
Nothing puts me off more than banal and infantile hymns/songs, clapping, pew-jumpers and back-slappers during the sign of Peace, the start of loud and trivial jibber-jabber even before the Priest has left the Altar at the end of Mass. This can all be summed up as 'mere activity' which is as far away from actively participating in the Mass as you can get because it is utterly meaningless and can be done anywhere else, at any time other than during Mass.
People who really want to 'Actively Participate' should try to discern whether their desire might in fact mean a calling to the Priesthood or to Holy Orders of another kind, even a Third Order if the persons age is a consideration. Now that kind of active participation would be genuinely useful and is to be encouraged. Vocations YES - clericalized laiety NO.
PS - and PLEASE leave the Sacred Liturgy to our Holy Priests.
Some of these comments can often disturb me somewhat. I feel that there is sometimes a tendancy to pamper to those views which we presume to be held by His Hermaneuticness.
My personal belief is that we should all try to embrace the celebration of Holy Mass in all it's forms, and show respect for the many people who gain so much from each of the different forms of celebration.
As a means of introducing the faithful to the Introits in the Ordinary Form, I would recommend "Hymn Introits for the Liturgical Year" by Christoph Tietze, published by Hillenbrand Books. ISBN 1-59525-011-5. The author has provided hymns based on the Gradual psalms. It was lovely to have the people sing, at Christmas Midnight Mass, the wonderful words of Psalm 2: You are my son, today have I begotten you... Why have the nations raged, why do the peoples plot vain things. A little explanation in the homily had to be given.
I see this work as an important step on the way to implementing the GIRM as far as the antiphons are concerned.
An afterthought.
Some very interesting comments here. I was particularly struck by Puella's useful comment on "vocal participation". While this is all very well in its way (as long as there's not too much of it), I wonder if this was the thinking behind the introduction of the so-called "dialogue" Mass. I remember when they started it in England in the 1950s. It positively put me off my prayers. Oh, we all "joined in" the Leonine prayers, but that was after Mass, and I don't remember feeling we were participating any more fully by being "vocal". No, people shouldn't feel, or be made to feel, they are not participating fully if they don't "join in". Very bad theology, in my opinion.
As to George's spendid comment, I can only "Amen" !
People who imagine that the sitch is any better in Italy might have a shock. I went to Christmas day Mass in the local parish in Santa Marinella, the little coast town where I live, just an hour north of Rome. It wasn't bad, for a Novus Ordo, even had a little Latin in it. The recessional, however, made me burst out laughing: "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby.
No one in Santa Marinella has ever dreamed of a white Christmas.
Extremely well-put, Father.
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