...and furthermore

I had to put aside my blogging this week to attend to some urgent matters in the temporal sphere.

The other interesting thing about the small changes to the Roman Rite is how they were presented. I dont know about other parishes, but in our parish the emphasis was that these were very small changes, they wont hurt anybody, and that there was a counselling service available. Obviously local Church authorities have perceived that there is some risk that some people will be psychologically damaged by the greater reverence. This is backed up by the rubbish that I read in the Catholica group of heretics (I havent bothered to even link it - you can find for yourself)

This is in enormous contrast to the 1960s when the heart was ripped out of people's belief and practices, with no explanation except that these were old practices and people need to be re-educated. This certainly had an impact on people (certainly not me as it all happened before my time tho I remember Communion in the hand being introduced). The greater impact was that to the "collective unconciousness" (to use a Jungian concept) where the shock waves are still reverberating across the planet.

This brings me to the conclusion that liturgical change in the local Church is almost impossible, and will probably only happen over generations. It can only happen from the top as was seen from the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum.

In the local Church I certainly cannot see the Reform-of-the-Reform being implemented as people seem to have a totally different (and largely protestant) view of the Eucharist. Liturgies of the Extraordinary Form and the Reform-of-the-Reform variety do attract strong and vibrant faith communities as is seen in Brisbane, but these communities will remain largely small. What happens in the wider suburban parishes of St Nowwhere's of Calamvale when the older generation dies off and support for these local churches fizzles to a few of the our generation I do not know. Some will survive and some will fold I suppose.

This too is the reason why people shop around for parishes (as I do). They are looking for a parish that matches their cultural view of faith and where their faith journey is at that particular time. The time in which people were anchored to their parish church by proximity are over. If there is change to how the church is organised I think that this will be the most immediate trend in the future baecause it has already started. The establishment of a "personal parish" at Ss Trinita' dei Pellegrini in Rome run by the FSSP is an example. It is interesting tha tht eFSSP are actually proving to be trend setters rather than followers.