Fr Rutler on young people and the "reform of the reform"

The New Liturgical Movement has a great interview with Fr George Rutler that includes this good question and even better answer:

NLM: On the topic of the usus antiquior, many believe that
the spread of it into
parish liturgical life, or even just the fact of
priests learning about this form of the Roman liturgy can be a leaven for the
reform of the reform. Do you have any thoughts on this?

Fr. Rutler: The saying "a rising tides lifts all ships"
applies here. Learning about the usus antiquior can raise the general conscience
of parishioners to a clearer understanding of what worship is. Each age is
tempted to ape the current cultural milieu in its approach to God. The tendency
to make the Mass an ecclesiastical form of television entertainment is a mistake
of our day, but it is not more seductive than the inclination of an earlier
generation to make the Mass operatic. Pope St. Pius X tried to reform that by
his attention to Gregorian chant. Bad money drives out the good in every epoch,
and some of the worst elements in current liturgical life have just updated the
pietism of earlier times. From my experience, young people respond to classical
worship well, albeit at first with astonishment and bewilderment,
but their
response is healthier than that of some older people who lack the humility to
admit that their abandonment of authentic worship was a mistake. For those in
their twenties and thirties, the guitars and faux folksiness of the 1960's is as
archaic as the culture of the 1920's is to those in their sixties and seventies.
To recover the virile authenticity of true worship, I certainly prefer the
sacral language of the Latin texts but, more importantly, I think the "leaven
for the reform of the reform" would best begin with worship "ad orientem." The
psychological shock some may have when they realize the priest is not looking at
them when he prays can be a very good tonic.

(Seriously, that last line is one of the best lines thats ever lined.)

Youth ministry tactics in the Vatican

The time tested tactic of shaving a mohawk to get people to listen was employed at the Pentecost liturgy.

Forget the babies...what about the plants?!

As someone with a degree in horticulture, I just can't believe we're having this discussion while its questionable whether a baby in the womb has rights.

From the Weekly Standard (H/T Blackadder)

You just knew it was coming: At the request of the Swiss government, an
ethics panel has weighed in on the "dignity" of plants and opined that the
arbitrary killing of flora is morally wrong. This is no hoax. The concept of
what could be called "plant rights" is being seriously debated.

A few years ago the Swiss added to their national constitution a provision
requiring "account to be taken of the dignity of creation when handling animals,
plants and other organisms." No one knew exactly what it meant, so they asked
the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology to figure it out.
The resulting report, "The Dignity of Living Beings with Regard to Plants," is
enough to short circuit the brain.

A "clear majority" of the panel adopted what it called a "biocentric" moral
view, meaning that "living organisms should be considered morally for their own
sake because they are alive." Thus, the panel determined that we cannot claim
"absolute ownership" over plants and, moreover, that "individual plants have an
inherent worth." This means that "we may not use them just as we please, even if
the plant community is not in danger, or if our actions do not endanger the
species, or if we are not acting arbitrarily.

"The committee offered this illustration: A farmer mows his field
(apparently an acceptable action, perhaps because the hay is intended to feed
the farmer's herd--the report doesn't say). But then, while walking home, he
casually "decapitates" some wildflowers with his scythe. The panel decries this
act as immoral, though its members can't agree why. The report states, opaquely:
At this point it remains unclear whether this action is condemned because it
expresses a particular moral stance of the farmer toward other organisms or
because something bad is being done to the flowers themselves.

What is clear, however, is that Switzerland's enshrining of "plant dignity"
is a symptom of a cultural disease that has infected Western civilization,
causing us to lose the ability to think critically and distinguish serious from
frivolous ethical concerns. It also reflects the triumph of a radical
anthropomorphism that views elements of the natural world as morally equivalent
to people.

Turning your back on the kids...

Interesting article:

http://gkupsidedown.blogspot.com/2008/05/high-schoolers-facing-east.html

We had a similar occurrence with 7th graders after a confirmation retreat. At said retreat, much to the chagrin of Sr Pant Suit and Fr Bud from the GIA sponsored diocesan conference, we traded felt banners for sweet copes and arts and crafts time for an ad orientem mass (i.e. the priest was facing the same direction of the kids). Wait!...it gets worse...

Instead of a "trust exercise" we prayed the liturgy of the hours.

Instead of an "eco spirituality" talk we had the sacrament of confession available.

Instead of kids gathering around the altar in a circle we had orientation during liturgies, a schola leading chant in English and Latin, smoke, and even....::gasp::....bells!!!

In other words, we did what Vatican II asked.

So what was the outcome of the priest "turning his back to the kids?"

After explaining the whats and whys of ad orientem celebration and experiencing it (without bashing versus populum) they asked why on earth we do it any other way. They said that they felt even more connected to the actions of the priest and felt that they were all gathered before God in a more reverent atmosphere.

Amazing. 7th graders love oriented celebration. Good thing the new missal presumes oriented celebration which makes it easier to implement it.