Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. I for one would welcome a huge measure of Anglo-Catholic influence in restoring reverence, devotion and beauty to Catholic liturgies, which are often execrable (except for my rather traditionally liturgical-minded parish).
I would be interested to know how orthodox Anglicans feel about this.
This article echos many of the things that my Roman Catholic in-laws tell me was lost in their Church since Vatican II. Of course, I'm in no position to comment on the accuracy of those statements, only that I'd have to agree with many of the outside observations made here.
Having grown up Catholic, post Vatican II, it always seemed to me that something was missing from the Mass as conducted in my town. The liturgy was downplayed - almost as if it was embarassing. All of the men would stand at the back, near the door, and none of them would ever sing. The teenage girls and the younger women would often walk about in outrageously loud high-heels. Twenty percent of the congregation would process directly from the communion rail to the parking lot, so as not to be caught up in the traffic after the service.
The first time I attended an Anglican Service, everyone sang, and dressed and processed reverently (this was before the pink triangle replaced the cross) and leaving early simply wasn't done. The liturgy was beautiful, and amidst this beauty and reverence, meditation and prayer were wonderful.
I pray that Pope Benedict XVI will inspire the RC Church to reclaim its wonderful liturgy!
Ping!
I like Anglo-Catholics but I do have to say it bugs me that these types of articles, well-meaning as they are, tend to take the worst of the worst examples of American Catholic liturgical abuse and apply it to all of Catholicism.
It's a problem, no doubt, but the whole Church is not engulfed by it, and acting as if were so is insulting to the many good parishes and priests out there.
What I find irksome about articles having the general thesis that "the Catholic church is having problems with liturgy and devotional piety" is that they tend to lump all Catholics and parishes together. The article omits mention of the eastern Catholic churches entirely, and tends to lump all Roman Catholic parishes together.
There is an incredible amount of variety that exists within the Catholic church. I've seen Roman Catholic parishes, both TLM and NO, that are both exceptionally devout and have a beautiful liturgy. I've also seen the same in the eastern Catholic churches. While I agree with the author in that Catholics can learn a lot from the high Anglicans, I get the sense that he needs to get out more and see some of the more glaring exceptions to his thesis.