{"id":11292,"date":"2018-10-08T16:49:26","date_gmt":"2018-10-08T22:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=11292"},"modified":"2018-10-08T16:49:26","modified_gmt":"2018-10-08T22:49:26","slug":"what-does-it-mean-to-divinely-renovate-the-liturgy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/10\/what-does-it-mean-to-divinely-renovate-the-liturgy.html","title":{"rendered":"What does it mean to “Divinely Renovate” the liturgy?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/p>\n

A bit of context:\u00a0 last week, the Archdiocese of Chicago hosted a \u201csummit\u201d<\/a> for all its priests and other parish staff (deacons, pastoral associates, etc.) during which Fr. James Mallon presented his parish renewal program, Divine Renovation.\u00a0 The person who pointed me to this said that it was his understanding that Cardinal Cupich intended for each parish to adopt this program, which had me immediately wary that a program in use by a small number of self-selected parishes could be scalable, especially if imposed on parishes rather than freely adopted by them.\u00a0 I asked around on Facebook and heard further skepticism, especially with respect to liturgy, which was characterized as \u201cit means adopting Praise and Worship music.\u201d\u00a0 So I borrowed the book which outlines the program and principles, aptly named Divine Renovation<\/em>, to find out straight from the horse\u2019s mouth what\u2019s up, and will be blogging about this over the next couple days.\u00a0 (I need to hurry, though, as I need to give the book back!)<\/p>\n

The first half of the book, more or less, is the \u201cwhy\u201d of it.\u00a0 What should Catholics be about, in the end?\u00a0 Too many Catholics, he writes, see evangelism as the \u201cjob\u201d of the clergy.\u00a0 They might not voice it, but their mindset is still that of the \u201cpray, pay, and obey\u201d model, even if they would object that they don\u2019t get told what to do.\u00a0 He also rejects the mindset typified by the (mythically-attributed) St. Francis quote of \u201cpreach the gospel at all times and, if necessary, use words,\u201d that is, the idea that we hear so, so often, that no one really needs to say to anyone awkward and uncomfortable words such as \u201cI believe that Jesus Christ is the source of our salvation,\u201d but that we can do our evangelizing duty well enough by just being good enough people that others will say, \u201cgosh, X is so nice, I wonder what motivates her.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, it is not an either\/or<\/em> situation, it is both\/and,<\/em> and both\/and<\/em>\u00a0is a sound Catholic principle.\u00a0 The witness of life must come first, but it must lead to the word of life being proclaimed.\u00a0 (p. 29)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He also writes of false gospels that must be jettisoned to proclaim the true gospel.\u00a0 As a former Lutheran, the one that most resonated with me was Pelagianism, that is, the heresy that we earn our salvation, and that \u201cJesus\u2019 saving act was to give us an example of pure love that could be imitated\u201d (p. 62).\u00a0 Mallon asserts:<\/p>\n

I believe that most churchgoing Catholics have been so deeply impacted by Pelagianism that they really do not grasp the fundamental message of the Good News of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 How many times have I heard Catholics say something like \u201cIf anyone deserves to be let into heaven, she does . . .\u201d?\u00a0 . .\u00a0. I remember about eight years ago being at a funeral of a parishioner.\u00a0 A brother priest preached on the text from John 14:6, where Jesus says, \u201cI am the way, and the truth, and the life.\u201d\u00a0 This priest told the people that Jesus was not the way to God in an exclusive sense, but in the sense that he showed the true way to live life through his loving example (p. 68).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What\u2019s the consequence of this attitude?\u00a0 Not the version that I grew up with, some notion that God\u2019s standards are surely so high that without salvation through Jesus, we\u2019d all go to hell.\u00a0 Instead, for neo-Pelagians, salvation is earned by simply avoiding doing \u201creally, really bad things,\u201d which means that any notion of \u201cthe sheer audacity of God\u2019s mercy\u201d is also lost.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t feel any particular need to have been saved, you likewise don\u2019t have any joy at having been saved.<\/p>\n

Mallon then gets into the \u201chow,\u201d and here I\u2019ll just discuss the first part, the liturgy (since that\u2019s as far as I\u2019ve read).<\/p>\n

As a further preface, Mallon is a fan of the concept that I\u2019d first read about as a part of (some) evangelical churches:\u00a0 \u201cbelong before you believe,\u201d that is, without watering down Catholic doctrine, we should nonetheless welcome into the community those who don\u2019t (yet) believe as we do, and those who don\u2019t (yet) behave as we\u2019d like them to behave.<\/p>\n

So his first objective is this:\u00a0 \u201cgiving priority to the weekend.\u201d\u00a0 Given that most Catholics encounter the parish at weekend masses, the first priority among parish staff should be to make this a \u201cwow\u201d experience.\u00a0 If \u201cthe Eucharist is to be a foretaste of [the wedding] banquet\u201d of the Kingdom of God, then great efforts should be taken.\u00a0 The notion that mass should last one hour, no longer, should be jettisoned.\u00a0 Visitors should be welcomed, both in the literal sense of being welcoming to them, and more broadly, with a welcome center and\/or other ways to provide information to them about the church, and means for them to register as parishioners.<\/p>\n

And, yes, music is a significant part of his \u201cprogram.\u201d\u00a0 He does advocate for \u201cpraise music\u201d but with a much broader meaning than the \u201cpraise and worship\u201d music with lyrics projected on screens, and the praise bands that come up for regular mocking on the Babylon Bee.\u00a0 This is one type of music that he supports, but alongside traditional music that has stood the test of time.\u00a0 In either case, the music should meet the standard of \u201cbeauty\u201d and should be focused on praising God, rather than praising the community.\u00a0 (He doesn\u2019t say so, but I suspect such Gather<\/em>\u00a0standards as \u201cAll Are Welcome\u201d, \u201cGather Us In\u201d, \u201cI Myself am the Bread of Life\u201d would fail this test.)<\/p>\n

Hence, he does not, as I had initially understood from the first conversation, mandate that everyone switch to \u201cpraise music.\u201d\u00a0 At his home parish, there are two masses with a praise band, one with traditional hymns sprinkled with chant and Latin and smells & bells (and not at some early-morning, old-people\u2019s mass, either, but at 11:15), and a fifth with \u201ctypical parish hymnbook offerings.\u201d\u00a0 All these masses have choirs rather than just cantors.<\/p>\n

But \u2014 look, my own parish has a \u201cpraise band\u201d at one of the masses.\u00a0 And the congregation, for the most part, listens just as passively as they do at the other masses.\u00a0 How do you get them to sing?\u00a0 Partly, he says, it\u2019s about having actual hymns of praise, and having a congregation which actually feels the \u201cjoy of salvation\u201d (p. 122), but he does actually prod them and take a look at this<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0At the beginning of Mass, once I reach the presier\u2019s chair, if we are singing a hymn of praise and it looks as if half of the church is attending a ventriloquist convention, I will invite the congregation to go back and sing a refrain again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Holy ****!\u00a0 Can you imagine that?!<\/p>\n

And if a parish, if my<\/em> parish, misunderstands him entirely and thinks his message is \u201call praise band, all the time,\u201d well, that\u2019s a problem.<\/p>\n

He also calls on priests to jettison the \u201cshorter is better\u201d mindset on homilies.\u00a0 His homilies are 15 \u2013 20 minutes, and are very carefully prepared.<\/p>\n

Which means that, quite honestly, so far, I like what I\u2019m seeing, though I\u2019m still wary of what\u2019s coming up next (preview:\u00a0 small groups!).<\/p>\n

Readers, if you have any experience with this program, please share it!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image:\u00a0\u00a0https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/blue-sky-building-cathedral-city-880697\/<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bit of context:\u00a0 last week, the Archdiocese of Chicago hosted a \u201csummit\u201d for all its priests and other parish staff (deacons, pastoral associates, etc.) during which Fr. James Mallon presented his parish renewal program, Divine Renovation.\u00a0 The person who pointed me to this said that it was his understanding that Cardinal Cupich intended for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1086,1083],"class_list":["post-11292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-church-renewal","tag-divine-renovation"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat does it mean to "Divinely Renovate" the liturgy?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A bit of context:\u00a0 last week, the Archdiocese of Chicago hosted a "summit" for all its priests and other parish staff (deacons, pastoral associates, etc.)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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