Correspondence: Rembert Weakland, the Middle East & Islam
CORRESPONDENCE To the Editors More Remberts, please "O rare Rembert Weakland!" I exclaimed to myself after reading his irenic Janaury 11, 2002 article, "The Liturgy as Battlefield." This...
...We are not without objective criteria for discerning whether a particular work of art fosters or obstructs the divine-human encounter...
...Self-defense "An Unholy Land" leads with the assertion that "the war Israel is fighting against terrorism is not the same war the United States is fighting...
...Israel is not blameless in the world...
...The writer is professor emeritus of history at Villanova University.iter is professor emeritus of history at Villanova University...
...THOMAS MORE, C.F.X...
...Even if, as Weakland argues, there is a direct link between Edmund Bishop's work and the ideas expressed in Sacrosanctum concilium, Bishop's own thought belies the values of his Victorian culture...
...Nevertheless, it would not be strange if the archbishop numbered me among the "restorationists" he seems to fear...
...Of course Arafat rejected it...
...Significantly, its real title is the "Congregation of Divine Worship...
...Nor is the United States...
...You went on to encourage the United States and other willing states to take a proactive stance in bringing about a cease-fire, invoking sanctions if necessary...
...Continued on page 4) CORRESPONDENCE (Continued from page 2) (For a fine example in the field of architecture, see Thomas McElligott's Buildings and Spirituality [1998] dissertation at the Graduate Theological Union...
...How large...
...The "restorationist" rejection of contemporary art forms indeed misses the point...
...First, can it really be true that "Enlightenment rationalism" had "nothing to do" with Vatican II's call for "short," "clear," and repetition-free ritual...
...Was this lamentable affair the result of religious hatred...
...At a Catholic seminary I attended in Northern California, the joke about the school's evening Eucharist was, "Whose rite is it today...
...I suspect that many (myself included) who express discontent with ICEL translations, with some current liturgical music, and with the ceaseless effort to make the liturgy ever more efficient-excising all nonfunctional moments of worship-would refuse to countenance the "restorationist" agenda (particularly the re-elevation of a "superior" clergy caste...
...Inclusion & participation Regarding Archbishop Weakland's article, we need to be careful that we don't get bogged down in building a museum church that appeals only to an elitist minority...
...Cheers Let us give vigorous applause to Archbishop Rembert Weakland for his fine article...
...One would be hard-pressed to find such a descriptor of liturgy in patristic or medieval writings...
...One single prescribed form of liturgy cannot possibly serve all these needs...
...Timely surrender resulted in terms and relative safety, even among religious opponents...
...Only in the most pagan of senses, for example, attempting to appease the deity, is liturgy "practical...
...It was only half a loaf...
...Bad works of art are...
...There are later records of other survivors...
...Those groups are, in part, religiously motivated...
...One need only go to Israel and travel the West Bank to see that aggressive war has a severe price, for both the winners and losers...
...The primary elements are Christ present in the gathering of the assembly, the proclamation of the Word, and the act of Eucharist, which includes both consecration and the reception of Communion...
...mike evans Anderson, Calif...
...The archbishop urges "catechesis," not "reform," to amend this weakness...
...JEROME F. DOWNS San Francisco, Calif...
...Israel's last offer did not include giving up expropriated Palestinian water rights, any right of return, or any indemnity for individual pieces of property...
...Those groups are, in part, religiously motivated...
...rev...
...The Palestinian-Israeli problem could be solved by Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank and the removal of most of the Israeli settlements...
...Our policy toward Israel has blinded us to the real problem...
...He is a bright man, clearly in touch with the tradition...
...and I hope he would think the same about me...
...But can that teaching take root if the language, gesture, time, and music of our worship mute that eschatological reality...
...Pace David Burrell (Correspondence, January 11,2002), what occurred at Jerusalem in July 1099 was not "the Crusaders' systematic extermination of Jews, Muslims, and Orthodox Christians...
...What I fear about his approach is epitomized in a repeated lacuna in his article...
...Of what or whom are we afraid...
...peter m. j. stravinskas Mount Pocono, Pa...
...Plurality means people of various ages and capabilities (including disabilities), people of many cultures and languages, and local communities, which range from the remote and destitute to the urbane and sophisticated...
...This is not true...
...By insisting on an agreed-upon use of their tax dollars, Americans would send a message of hope to the many Israelis pained by the cruelty of their government's actions in the face of human suffering...
...My favorite example of how poor translation can de-es-chatologize is ICEL's rendering of Psalm 24, which begins: "God owns this planet / And all its riches...
...On the other hand, one needs to remember that resistance to the bitter end was most unwise in siege warfare...
...1099 & all that In a debate that will always be difficult to keep civil, accuracy is important...
...Very appropriate was his reference to our present Holy Father: "Pope John Paul II on several occasions developed the theme that the document on liturgy anticipated the constitution on the church, Lumen gentium, seeing a close connection between the two...
...Artistic idioms are not the problem...
...The periodic Israeli statements about "withdrawal" are misleading...
...Liturgy, after all, is itself the master catechist...
...He went on to say that the American people object to the use of their tax dollars for the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza...
...The citizens of Israel, a representative democracy espousing cultural ideals essentially congruent with our own, are being subject to random attacks directed against innocent civilians by groups maintaining that the country itself has no right to exist...
...Each time he refers to the Roman dicastery charged with oversight of liturgical affairs, he speaks of the "Congregation of Worship...
...Hence, local adaptations, under the leadership of local conferences of bishops, should be the "normal" way of defining liturgical guidelines...
...MICHON MARIE MATTHIESEN Petaluma, Calif...
...The "restorationists," Weakland details, lament the absence of a vivid es-chatological dimension in contemporary liturgy...
...WALTER DEBOLD South Orange, N.J...
...Recently, Daniel Kurtzer, the American ambassador to Israel, voiced what has long (Continued on page 22) CORRESPONDENCE (Continued from page 4) been whispered: In as much as American tax dollars are spent by the Israeli government, the American people have a right to involve themselves in Israeli policy...
...I hope his enlightening demarcation of the "restoration" project will also encourage restraint on the part of litur-gists who are quick to cast into the restorationist camp any probing critic of contemporary liturgy...
...MARK ROBSON New York, N.Y...
...Weakland's assessment invites further reflection...
...Authentic dialogue is preempted by such defensive and inaccurate labeling...
...Let us spend our energies in helping to support the artists, musicians, architects, and liturgists who work so diligently to make our worship alive and beautiful...
...Finally, Archbishop Weakland warns that "restoration" theologians are promoting a "pluralism" in the celebration of the church's ritual, a necessary ploy to legitimate the retrieval of rites they desire...
...In part, it clearly was...
...We "restorationists" are committed to returning a divine or transcendental dimension to the Sacred Liturgy, which many in the archbishop's camp have blissfully left behind...
...Sharon's grandstand play in going to the Temple Mount and proclaiming Israel's "continued sovereignty" over it is the cause...
...There was a massacre of no mean proportions, certainly...
...But, if the Israeli military response is to be considered morally equivalent to the suicide bombings that prompted it, then what can be said of our bombing of and incursion into Afghanistan...
...Divine' worship I have often remarked that it scares me (and probably would scare Archbishop Rembert Weakland as well) that, during each episcopal conference meeting, I find myself agreeing with him on at least one issue...
...BRO...
...REV...
...The atrocities of September 11 were random attacks directed at innocent civilians by groups maintaining that the United States, the root of all evil in the world, should be destroyed...
...BERNARD F. RILEY Broomall, Pa...
...The inclusion and participation of the laity and the nonordained in so many aspects of the liturgy and Catholic life have transformed the church worldwide...
...No wonder the original occupants are revolting...
...Here, too, it appears that the liturgical "revisionists" are driven by their own concept of "church...
...In their hearts, Israelis know that it is their responsibility to lead the way out of this miserable abyss...
...For modern parallels, one might reflect on the Soviet capture of Berlin in World War II or our own deployment of the atomic bomb against Japan...
...For example, Bishop defines the Roman rite as marked by "practicality...
...Liturgy is the primary source of all Catholic life and catechesis...
...Take a hard look As an American Catholic living in Israel, I am in agreement with your December 21, 2001 editorial, "An Unholy Land," in which you urge the United States to shift from its unswerving support of Israel to a more neutral position with regard to its dealings with both Israel and Palestine...
...Reading the article, one could recall that a few months ago, when the newspapers published the archbishop's plan for the renovation of the Milwaukee cathedral, the difference between him and his critics was, at root, theological: What the church is ought to govern the way the edifice functions...
...Yet we must always strive for more meaningful and well-planned worship that truly takes the people of God closer to grace-filled lives in their communities...
...The archbishop writes that it is time to "objectively and scientifically" reflect upon the renewal begun at Vatican II...
...Is it not also time to adjudicate the ritual art, music, and worship space of our reformed rite-rather than dismiss the task with a defeatist "de-gustibusl...
...Liturgy is no longer the sole province of the ordained few, but has taken on vital significance for all those who plan, assist, and preside...
...Obviously, the conflict in the Middle East is much too complicated to treat fully in short editorials and letters...
...This well-balanced piece breathes a spirit of peace and moderation, as well as the gentle and calming spirit of Rembert's Benedictine heritage-a spirit which, if imitated in the public forum, would replace "the heightened and unfortunate rhetoric" that currently prevails on both the "renewal" and the "restoration" sides of the controversy...
...Louisville, Ky...
...The struggle during the past thirty years or so has been over making our liturgy relate to those it is meant to serve rather than being an esoteric experience only for the enlightened...
...When Weakland speaks of the issues of plurality, he must mean to include more than alternative rites and the use of the vernacular...
...If this article were to be assigned reading in our seminaries, it might serve to bring this issue to the surface...
...But this does not negate their right to considered self-defense any more than it does ours...
...I found myself smiling wryly at this point, for in some ways a "pluralism" already exists without a return to pre-Vatican II sources...
...The Egyptian governor and his bodyguard were allowed to depart unharmed...
...Indeed, this is the very nub of the problem...
...I cannot pray in these words without despair, for creation and its hoped-for transformation have become a commodity, and God a worldly citizen with private property...
...Further thought Many thanks for Archbishop Rembert Weakland's provocative piece on the agenda of liturgical "restorationists...
...Israel must withdraw if the world is to have peace...
...The rampage of troops, following the storming of a city that had refused to surrender, was a common military phenomenon...
...Israel took the land by force and occupies it...
...Not that we have found the final answer to all liturgical issues...
...Israel also reserved the right of extraterritoriality for its citizens who remained in the West Bank...
...mary b. safrai Kfar-Saba, Israel Grandstand play The editorial, "An Unholy Land," states that "[Yassir] Arafat is responsible for the current intifada...
...We need more Remberts on both sides...
...No one knows for sure...
...Indeed, good catechesis-especially mystagogia-will help...
Vol. 129 • February 2002 • No. 3
