Environment

From the newest edition of Shared Visions:

In chapter 2 of their book Social Analysis: Linking Faith and Justice, Joe Holland and Peter Henriot, S.J. present three interpretative models of social change. They name them the traditional, liberal and radical models. Each has an underlying governing principle and highest value.

In the traditional model, the authoritarian principle is paramount, holding order and static resistance to change in high esteem. The liberal model is more managerial in its approach, emphasizing balance and evolutionary change. The radical model, meanwhile, is highly participative and values community. The authors do not shy away from articulating their own personal bias for the liberal model.

Holland and Henriot state that these models of change are operative within the Church just as they are within the socioeconomic and political arenas. The Church thrived while employing the traditional model in the 400 years between the Council of Trent (1545-1563) and the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). For the past fifty years, the liberal model has been the prevailing principle surrounding the reception of the changes of Vatican II, especially here in the United States. The radical model has found its widest acceptance to date in the Latin American Church of the late 20th century.

Holland and Henriot wrote their book in the early 1980s, but their analysis can easily be extended to consider the current liturgical changes coming to English-speaking Catholic parishes around the world on November 27, 2011 – the First Sunday of Advent. One major change that is coming with the start of the new liturgical year is an emphasis on a more literal translation of the words of the liturgy from the original Latin. You will notice that the language is more formal and much less colloquial as the shift is made from dynamic equivalence (where the aim is to express the general thought pattern of the original in clear English) to formal correspondence (which attempts to make more of a word for word translation from the Latin.)  Which of Holland and Henriot’s three models do you see most at work in such a change?

In considering the coming changes, much emphasis has been placed on the fact that Pope John Paul II called for the publication of a new Roman Missal and that the changes in the English Mass will put us more in line with our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters – among others – who have, for example, been saying “And With Your Spirit” rather than “And Also With You” in response to the priest’s greeting “The Lord Be With You” for generations.

Using this evidence as data, do you think the Church is in the midst of a transition from one model of social change to another?   If so, where do you see that change headed – from liberal to traditional?  Traditional to radical?  Radical to liberal?  Beyond the liturgy, what other evidence would you offer for such a change taking place in the Church?

Some of you serving this year in Latin America are experiencing the vibrancy of comunidades de base. Back in the early 1980s, the authors viewed these base communities as a shining example of the re-creation of Church envisioned there. Thirty years on, the proponents of these base communities have weathered some sharply worded rebukes for the political and economic policies they sometimes advocated along with their views on Church. Today, do you feel that these comunidades de base are on the margins of Church life or at the center of the Latin American Church? How does your answer compliment or contradict some of the evidence of a shift in models presented above?

The Pastoral Circle reminds us that our experience of these liturgical changes and the preceding analysis of them will not be complete without deep theological reflection and careful pastoral planning. The process reminds us that change is a constant of life. Why should our spiritual life be any less dynamic than that? Too fast for some and too long delayed for others, expect that this will not be the final word on changes in our liturgy. As Church leaders have proclaimed for generations, lex orandi, lex credendi – as the Church prays, so She believes.