From Petrus we learn more about Archbp. Piero Marini’s new book. (My translation).
Now Msgr. Piero Marini takes aim: "The Roman Curia against the Second Vatican Council"
VATICAN CITY – In a book published for now only in English and presented on Friday in London, [Archbp.] Piero Marini, who for 20 years until last October filled the role of Master of Ceremonies, explains how, in his words, the liturgical reform desired by the Second Vatican Council was held hostage and progessively buried by the Roman Curia. The volumen, A Challenging Reform, was printed by the Liturgical Press and presented to the public in Westminster, in the residence of the Cardinal in London, Cormac Murphy O’Connor, before a strong group of Vatican dignitaries, among whom were also the Nuncio in Great Britain, [Archbp.] Faustino Sainz Monuz. The event is covered on the internet site of the National Catholic Reporter. "The liturgical reforms (of the Second Vatican Council) was not understood or applied only as a reform of some rituals, Mons. Marini said during the presentation. "It was the basis and inspiration for objectives for which the Council was convoked." "The objective of liturgy," he continued, … was nothing other than the objective of the Church and the future of the liturgy and the future of the Church." …
There is more, but I am feeling ill.
He does understand something: Change the liturgy, and you change the Church.
To which we respond….
That National Catholic Reporter article is by non other than my friend the nearly ubiquitous fair-minded former Rome correspondent for the ultra-lefty aforementioned weekly, John L. Allen.
Allen reminds us of how Marini (I) engineered the female shaman’s limpia rite exorcism of Pope John Paul II in Mexico during the ceremony for the canonization of St. Juan Diego.
The article concludes:
In coming weeks, Marini and company will be on the road in the United States to promote A Challenging Reform. Projected dates include:
- Feb 11-12: Boston College
- Feb 13: Catholic Theological Union in Chicago
- Feb 13-15: University of Notre Dame
- Feb 15-17: New York and the United Nations, with a luncheon hosted by America magazine
Most of these appearances, [Jesuit Fr. Keith] Pecklers said, will be “invitation-only” because of limited space or the nature of the event. Ironically, despite the fact that Marini has served in the Vatican for 40 years, there are no present plans for an event in Rome.
Father,
I hope that you recover soon.
Do you feel ill from discussing Archbishop Marini, or from microbes?
Get better and God bless you
+ JMJ +
Happy Advent, Father—
In Mr. Allen’s article, he writes: “Marini makes no effort to hide his sympathies. From the start, his is a tale of courageous and resourceful reformers, particularly Bugnini and Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro of Bologna, struggling against an intransigent Roman Curia determined to defend its own power as well as the liturgical patrimony of Trent.”
Archbishop Marini is making it difficult to maintain Christian charity here. At least from the perspective of entering the Catholic Church out in the parishes of the U.S. (27 years ago), it’s really hard to see where anyone was trying to defend the “liturgical patrimony of Trent.” Where, even in Rome, could one find the TLM or traditional sacraments, or, for that matter, the use of Latin in any liturgical context during the 1970s and 1980s? How can it be heroic to get your way 99% of the time? (Although that 1%–Pope Paul’s refusal of Archbishop Bugnini’s proposal to formally abrogate the TLM—may be decisive in the end.)
However one judges the fruits of the liturgical changes of that era, there is little doubt that they were forced on all of us by the liturgical establishment led by Archbishop Bugnini’s Concilium, and that anybody from Cardinal to layman who stood in the way (one of the most poignant examples being the shabby treatment of Cardinal Ottaviani) was simply marginalized or ignored.
I don’t know about the workings and the bureaucratic struggles between the Bugnini (and later Marini) and the Congregation for Divine Worship. What I do remember from that time period are 1) good words from the CDW or even the Pope, but words only, 2) successful actions by the “progressives”—the latest abuses implemented by the “liturgists” who ignored the good words from the get-go, and 3) the tendency of the Popes to sign documents that told us why this latest innovation was a bad idea and contrary to the good of the Church, but allowed the innovation to continue.
If Mr. Allen and others are reporting correctly, it seems that Archbishop Marini is stretching history a bit in his book.
Perhaps, though, this is all the more reason to be grateful to Pope Benedict and thankful to Almighty God for being allowed to witness the beginnings of the Church’s movement back to her liturgical traditions.
In Christ,
Whatever respect I had, at least objectively speaking, for the service of the Archbishop to the Church, I am disappointed to say, has ended. Instead of retiring gracefully from his former post – he has taken the route of the Gumbletons, Trautmans, and Martinis of this world by effectively accusing anyone who is faithful to the genuine decrees of Vatican II, especially our Sovereign Pontiff, as being opressors and traitors. Considering the proximity he had to two Pontiffs and the fact that he is still a member of the Curia, this is a shameful betrayal and we should earnestly pray for someone like this, in charity.
Fr. Z.,
Realize that the work you do in transmitting the Pope’s initiatives and perogattives to us, the laymen, in the English-speaking world does a ton of good. BXVI is intent on a grassroots revival (look at the language of Summorum), and we are responding. All we need are channels of communication we can trust (like WDTPRS), and the Pope’s message gets out.
Marini may have his views on how the liturgical renewal should progress, but that responsibility has been taken out of his hands. I wish him well, and pray that he will have a nice, quiet retirement after his busy time in the Vatican.
EJ,
What did you expect from the Archbishop?
Happy Advent.
It seems that Archbishop Marini wants to maintain his influence on liturgical matters at all costs. Now that he is not any more the Papal MC, he writes a book about his own vision of the liturgical reform, and goes everywhere to promote it.
Until when must we tolerate hearing about him? Can’t he just quietly retire? Let it go, Your Excellency. It is over!
Thank God Springfield, Missouri is way to small a backwater town for the Great Marini to make an appearance! He would have many devotees here.
Dear Father Z., I hope you feel better…I’m feeling a bit ill myself.
Look, folks, Archbp. Marini is free to speak his piece from his own perspective. The more he talks, the better understanding we have of what they were trying to do in those days, for good or other.
“The more he talks, the better understanding we have of what they were trying to do in those days”
This is actually the most intriguing aspect of the book, for me. Conspiracy theorists purport to have the inside scoop on what was going through the mind of Bugnini in those days, but understanding things from the perspective of a confidant is infinitely more reliable.
I may buy this book solely for this reason.
I just finished reading the book and I found it very boring.He simply states different meetings and who was there.He never goes into the history as Bugnini does in his memoirs. The Consilium was the good guy and the Congregation of Rites and the Curia the bad guys.It is all so self serving.What amazes me is that although only four bishops voted against Sacrosanctum Concilium yet many more than 4 were arrayed against the Consilium because they were opposed to the Council acording to Marini. Marini repeats the story of Bugnini being fired from the Lateran and his job in the liturgy commission (along with Lercaro) which Cardinal Stickler also said.Pope John XXIII was reigning then.Marini does not mention Pope John but he does mention it was Pope Paul who brought Bugnini back.
Fr. McAfee: Thanks for that brief run down. I would still be interested in the book. I put it on my Amazon wish list… if that isn’t oxymoronic irony I don’t know what is.
I guess I would take a used copy. As a matter of fact, I would prefer one: let’s keep his royalties low.
Do we have evidence that Archbishop Bugnini was a freemason?
God bless you
dan,
what does it matter? Bugnini denied it to his dying day, and no evidence is public. What could we hope to gleam from such a disclosure?
For what its worth, a blog (the new liturgical movement?) recently had a post in the combox from a priest who claims he was told by a Monsignore at Vatican II that most of the Bishops there did’nt have a clue what was going on. Not enough Latin to understand the documents. He says most of them hung around the coffe bars installed in the Vatican and only turned up to vote. Spent the evenings playing cards! The actual business of Vatican II was left to the “expert advisors”.
No way of knowing how accurate this account is but it could explain why so many Bishops went along with the reforms without seeming to understand why they were happening.
RichR,
We would glean that a member of a condemned organisation authored the Novus Ordo Mass.
Kyrie Eleison.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that the cover photo is taken from Castel Sant’Angelo and is of a hole in the battlement for a cannon. Look where it’s aimed. Sometimes one can tell a book by it’s cover?
Anyway, Piero Marini & Co.’s day is done.