In the AP story being sprayed around widely, you read (bold and numbers mine):
Some have worried about changing a fundamental rite of worship that is so much a part of Catholic identity, especially now.
1) Mass attendance has been declining and the 2) priest shortage has left a growing number of churches without a resident cleric.
Does anyone but me find the juxtaposition of these phrases amazingly ironic? Does anyone make a connection between…
a) changing the rites of worship and
b) the change in attendance of those rites and the
c) change in those who celebrate on behalf of the Christian people?
In fact, if you
i) change the actions and the words of the rites and thereby you
ii) change what people believe you consequently
iii) change what people are prepared to do about that belief.
There is a fancy Latin phrase for this, and you all know it. Simply put, there is a reciprocal relationship between how we pray and what we believe.
We need a good translation in keeping with Rome’s norms.
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Since we know that Bp Trautman (fishperson) was the likely source of the “background” comments there, it is irony in the extreme.
In effect, he proposes that the Church continue to self-administer cyanide.
This reminds me of a running commentary on a political site that notes newspaper headlines and stories that repeat the thought: the number of people incarcerated continues to rise, even though the number of crimes is declining. “Even though”! Maybe it’s relevant to the currrent situation in the Church that the changes to the rite we were used to PRECEDED the decline in attandance . r