New direction on liturgy in Chicago
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
NCR Staff
In a move with potentially far-reaching consequences for the
direction of liturgical renewal in the United States, Cardinal Francis George
has created a new academic institute on liturgy in the Chicago archdiocese.
The institute will be located at the archdioceses University
of St. Mary of the Lake -- Mundelein Seminary. Designed to attract students
from across the country and overseas, it will have teaching, research and
publishing components, and will be staffed by three to five professors of
liturgy and the sacraments.
Though rumors have circulated about the institute for months,
those involved in planning say a formal announcement is still a few weeks
away.
George has also relocated Chicagos diaconate and lay
ministry programs to Mundelein, in what several sources described as an attempt
to ensure that everyone involved in training ministers is on the same
page.
Fr. John F. Canary, the rector at Mundelein, told NCR the
liturgy institute responds to a need expressed by students and dioceses for a
greater emphasis in liturgical studies on sacramental theology -- not just
rituals and their history, but the theological meaning of the sacraments.
Other sources in Chicago, however, told NCR that another
aim is to reorient the archdioceses liturgical institutions, which have a
reputation for a generally progressive approach to the reforms decreed by the
Second Vatican Council (1962-65).
Most pointedly, Chicagos Liturgy Training Publications
appears set be tied to the institute. The publishing house, whose materials are
widely used in parishes and dioceses across the country, is known for its
progressive editorial stance; in 1995, for example, it published the Psalter
(collection of Old Testament psalms) stripped of most masculine pronouns for
God. Catholic conservatives have long criticized that text.
In a letter in this issue of NCR, George raises questions
about that Psalter.
In part, the decision on Liturgy Training Publications reflects
Georges sense that a publishing arm is more naturally connected to an
academic institute than to a diocesan liturgy office. Sources involved in the
planning, however, said that steering the publishing operation in a somewhat
different direction is also part of the plan.
Gabe Huck, director of the publishing house, said that in early
November George told him no decision had been made about a connection between
Liturgy Training Publications and the institute, and that none would be made
without consulting the staff. He said he has had no communication from George
on the subject since.
Canary, however, said it is certain that there will be some
structural relationship between the institute and Liturgy Training
Publications.
Both the creation of the institute and the relocation of the
ministry programs have drawn fire for a lack of consultation.
Others wonder why George is creating his own liturgy institute
rather than supporting existing programs at facilities such as the University
of Notre Dame or The Catholic University of America.
George did not respond to requests for comment or to a faxed list
of questions from NCR.
George has hired Msgr. Francis Mannion as the liturgy
institutes director. Mannion is the founder of the Society for Catholic
Liturgy and the editor of its journal, Antiphon. For the past 13 years,
he has served as the rector of the cathedral parish in Salt Lake City.
In a 1994 article in America, Mannion described his
position on liturgical issues as recatholicizing the reform, in
distinction to the official reform that has dominated
implementation of Vatican II in the United States. He wrote that he wants to
restore a Catholic ethos to places of worship and cited Hans urs
von Balthasar, a favorite theologian of John Paul II, as notably
important to his outlook.
He told NCR, however, that he does not have a
restorationist agenda. In Salt Lake we have altar girls, we
have women eucharistic ministers, we offer the chalice to the people, he
said. Im not on some kind of far-right trip.
Canary said Mannion was hired less for his specific liturgical
views than for his experience as a pastor. Were going to be
preparing people for diocesan work, and Mannion has a good working knowledge of
diocesan ministries, Canary said.
Canary said the institute will have three tracks: a formation
program for men and women involved with liturgy at the diocesan level; studies
leading to a formal ecclesiastical degree in liturgy, called a licentiate; and
a masters program in liturgy extending across a full academic year plus
two summers of academic work. Students will have to be sponsored by a
diocese.
Both Canary and Mannion said that many bishops want their
liturgical personnel to have an academic background but dont feel they
can wait the two years it might take them to acquire a degree at other
institutions. The Mundelein institute, they said, will offer an
alternative.
The institute will act as a resource for the liturgical agencies
of the archdiocese, Mannion said. I dont want to usurp or replace
existing operations. I want to be a help to them, he said.
The model to use for this is not Hitler invading
Poland, Mannion said.
Given that the United States already has a number of
graduate-level liturgy programs, including one in Chicago at the Chicago
Theological Union, some observers have expressed doubts about the need for a
new institute.
It will be interesting to see who is attracted to it,
said Michael Driscoll, professor of liturgy at the University of Notre Dame.
Its not clear theres a huge demand out there.
Canary and others said that George believes the institute is
needed because existing programs do not stress sacramental theology.
Thats basically not true, said Fr. Raymond
Collins, former chair of the School of Religious Studies at the Catholic
University of America. Our program has always tried to keep the
systematic theology together with the liturgical concerns.
In the years before Vatican II, Collins said, most scholars
teaching the sacraments were book theologians with little knowledge
of the rituals or their history. After the council, he said, the pendulum swung
the other way. Both Catholic University and Notre Dame are making efforts
to bring them back together, he said.
Collins said the new institute comes on the scene when there is a
limited supply of both students and faculty.
With limited resources, the church would be better served if
it picked a few institutions and built them up, instead of multiplying
institutions and competing for a limited pool of talent, Collins
said.
Driscoll said Notre Dame is also seeking to strengthen its
approach to sacramental theology. Were in the process of doing some
hiring in this area, he said. Were committed to yoking
systematic theology to liturgy.
Fr. Gilbert Ostdiek, professor of liturgy at the Chicago
Theological Union, said sacramental theology is integrated into various
courses. We dont teach it in the classical seminary style of 40
years ago, but sacramental theology is part of the curriculum, he
said.
Since the Mundelein institute may compete with liturgy programs in
the United States and overseas, some observers claimed, a degree of skepticism
from these programs is to be expected.
Canary said he did not foresee the institute competing with Notre
Dame or Catholic University. He added, however, that he cannot anticipate
how attractive this may be.
Several sources in Chicago criticized George for a lack of
consultation.
I find it strange and offensive that a matter of this
magnitude could have come this far along without serious consultation with the
people involved with trying to bring liturgical renewal to the people of the
archdiocese of Chicago and beyond, Huck said.
A source involved in liturgical affairs in the archdiocese also
expressed frustration. Every liturgist in Chicago is miffed, the
source said. George has no sense of how offensive this is to people who
have given their lives to liturgy here.
Canary said that consultations were going on with the bishops who
feed students to Mundelein. The seminary draws students from 46 U.S.
dioceses.
Canary said that while he had heard interpretations
that the creation of the institute signals a philosophical shift, he feels it
addresses a real need and will come to be seen as a good
thing.
Others are less optimistic.
I think whats happening will be seen as Georges
indictment of the liturgical operation in Chicago, whether he intends that or
not, Huck said.
I think that the attitude of many in Chicago, pastors and
others, will be that while there are things in the diocese that need fixing,
this is not one of them.
Personnel in the diaconate and lay ministry programs also
expressed frustration over what they perceive as a lack of consultation.
There was a process, but it was in Georges head, said a
source in the diaconate program.
With 573 active deacons in 378 parishes, Chicagos diaconate
program is the largest in the world.
The cardinal wants everyone to have the same ecclesiology.
Hes worried that in some parishes today, you might have three or four
different visions, the source said.
Personally, Im not so sure thats a bad
thing.
National Catholic Reporter, January 28,
2000
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