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

Mahony quotes John Paul II's March 1997 address to the French bishops, which exhorts that liturgy not be "isolated from the rest of Christian life." As example of that effort, Mahony cites the "martyrdom" of the slain archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, who encouraged the faithful, through Eucharist, to "give our body and blood up to suffering and pain, as Christ did -- not for self, but to bring justice and peace to our people."

And, Mahony asserts, "Liturgical renewal must demonstrate how liturgy creates such Christians and such a church, and how the ever-struggling church makes its liturgy." Sunday liturgy should "be for the people of that parish the nourishment they need" and "the deeds of Word and Eucharist they cherish."

The letter notes that renewal, occurring when liturgists become "imbued with the spirit of the liturgy," is a timely subject "because liturgical practice in the church had, in many ways, ceased to be a source for such rich information."

Liturgy "is about the communion and radical equality of the baptized, their union in the Lord, their friendly sharing of ministry and life. It builds community by breaking open the meaning of God's Word for our everyday lives, and by gathering us as a family around the Lord's table. We do not choose between solemnity and festivity, between reverence and community. The vertical and the horizontal dimensions of liturgy must be held together to work for us."

Liturgy is not a relic of the past, but "must speak to this people here and now. We do not need more mechanical implementation in response to liturgical directives any more than we need a liturgy that seems to be the presider's own making."

Speaking here and now to the people of Los Angeles requires embracing unity and diversity -- no "us versus them" is allowed. "On Sunday we gather in one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Yet we are many.... We celebrate the diverse experiences, cultures and charisma that assemble around the one table." The list of the cultures and ethnicities is presented in the following order: "(W)e are predominantly from Spanish-speaking cultures ... but we embrace many Asian and Pacific Island cultures as well as the diversity of various African and European cultures."

Being Body of Christ in this context implies experiencing that diversity firsthand: "Every one of us needs to know by heart some of the music, vocabulary, movement and ways of thinking and feeling that are not of our own background. The larger society we are part of needs this witness."

Mahony invites the faithful to "imagine liturgies where the economic and racial segregations of our society are overcome." But this is "no melting pot. This is communion, communion means life together. Communion means we share and share alike, yet each person comes to the communion in the full stature of his or her culture."

This "striving for catholicity extends beyond ethnicity." Sunday liturgy "should be the one experience in our lives when we will not be sorted out by education level, skin color, intelligence, politics, sexual orientation, wealth or lack of it or any other human condition."