Heading west for good liturgy: 'Middle Ages not normative,' LA group says - Includes a related article on the text of Los Angeles' Cardinal Roger Mahoney's letter on the celebration of mass

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 24, 1997 by Leslie Wirpsa

During the keynote, Trautman stressed that "those who want to turn back the clocks are few, but vocal." Setbacks, however, he said, "can never be an undoing of the work of an ecumenical council of the church." Those who reject liturgical reforms, he added, "do so because of our past failure to provide an adequate catechesis."

He defined Mahony's letter as "a renewed catechesis on the nature of liturgy" that "gives hope to all liturgical ministers."

Mahony also acknowledged the tensions and difficulties of liturgical renewal in the letter. "So difficult have been these first efforts that some seem ready to declare it a failure, an embarrassing mistake of Vatican II. Others would say we have come as far as was intended, so let us hear no more of liturgical renewal. And yet others call this task meaningless in light of the great need for the church to throw itself into causes of justice and peace," the document states.

Affirming the Second Vatican Council as one of the "finest graces of the just-ending century," Mahony invites the faithful to take ownership to make Sunday liturgy the center of parish life through the "full, conscious and active participation" of all. Trautman, in his address, pointed out that this is no easy task in "a culture that dislikes community celebration -- in a culture that promotes individualism, a Lone Ranger mentality -- in a culture indifferent to transcendence and mystery -- in a culture that seeks an entertainment model with the assembly as audience and ministers as performers."

At one point he asks, "How do we teach Eucharist as a meal to families who rarely eat together?"

In Los Angeles, achieving full participation of parishioners through the liturgy means embracing cultural diversity. "Liturgy is alive. It must have flesh and blood and spirit.... It must speak to this people, here and now," Mahony states in the document. "We do not need more mechanical implementation in response to liturgical directives any more than we need a liturgy that seems to be of the presider's own making."

Liturgy, Mahony stresses, should "take on the pace, sounds and shape that other cultures bring," adding that "homogeneity and comfort are not gospel values." He demands communion, however, within cultural diversity.

Trautman added to Mahony's list that youth should be integrated into all aspects of church life and that music is the key to attracting youth to the Lord's table. "We need Eucharist to have the sounds and beats that attract young people's ears," he said, eliciting widespread applause.

Trautman said that the city's rich cultural and ethnic mix has forced Los Angeles to the cutting edge of liturgical renewal. "Cultural diversity makes people more open to accepting a living liturgy," he said. "When people fight it, it is because of fear." Los Angeles, the largest diocese in the United States, serves more than 3.6 million Catholics from 102 different ethnic communities. Mass is said on any given Sunday in 55 languages.

Workshop participants at the conference recognized the immensity of the task outlined in the pastoral letter. One leader said during a large session, "Yes, he's dreaming." Then she sent small groups off to figure out "how we get from here to there." Trautman had quoted Brazilian Bishop Dom Helder Camara: "When one dreams alone, there is only a dream, but when we dream together we have the beginning of reality."