Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Notes from the 2016 Notre Dame Symposium 3: Popular Culture - What Can We Learn from It?

DORA TOBAR: "Popular Culture and Liturgy in the New Evangelization" 

Popularized cultures in North American church's evangelization scenario:

Secularized Spiritual Culture - more pervasive. Sacred is recognized in society but we in the church fail to recognize it as sacred. We need to make pact with it.
  • Spirituality without form - new age - trying to break free from tradition. Defines itself by contrast with established religiosity. People are thirsty for spiritual experience 
  • Spiritual spontaneity 
  • Search for wholeness and holistic integration with reality
  • Search for personal-existential relationship with the sacred
  • Feminine aspect of humanity and women's leadership 
  • Incarnational-existential relationship with divinity in a new integral cosmology(looking for a new cosmology that makes sense in our reality 
  • Creation-friendly religion (Pope Francis is trying to do this
  • Wholeness rather than an ideal human perfection
  • Integrality without dualism  
  • Inner consciences and discernment rather than hierarchical authority
  • Spirituality and real, concrete stories (religion as experiences of individual people
  • Authenticity before worldly powers
  • Sibling model of brotherhood rather than hierarchical difference 

New spirituality is not collective, but is a personal experience.  

Hispanic popular piety- characteristics result of centuries of intercultural dialog
  • Is magic - sense that is supra-rational and intuitive 
  • Is symbolic and rich in images (natural and supernatural) people want to touch God
  • Is emotional- exististential
  • Festive-theatrical 
  • Collective and politic religiosity identifies and unites them
  • Is natural cosmic religiosity- follows natural times and moments (bad when their is a new cosmology for new generation)
  • Family rooted tradition transmitted at home by mothers and grandmothers -issues arise when families no longer speak a common language between the generations.

Charismatic Hispanic Movement
  • Spiritual gifts (charisma) available to contemporary and ordinary Christians
  • Preachers -often women- give testimonies, not lectures
  • Music and invocations to pray allow everyone to participate
  • Rich in emotional and existential connection - many bodily expressions are involved
  • Worship is centered on establishing wa personal connection with God

Lot of commonality between these three spiritualities. All are outside the temple, all rely on the Holy Spirit...

Charismatic movement engages more in renewed experience of faith than traditional devotions.

For younger Hispanics raised in modern cosmology,  traditional symbols don't make sense.

See EG 123,  EN  48, AAS 68 popular religiosity 

Popular religiosity has much to teach us, has missionary power.  EG 124

Nw evangelization has - Pope Francis (in common with popular religiosity)
  • Incarnational-sympathetic commitment with human pain 
  • Not message to pass but personal encounter with JC
  • Joy and festive Attitude mark the style 
  • Discerning and openness is pastoral attitude
  • Jesus, with his Holy Spirit is primary agent EG 11.  & 49
  • Starts at intimacy with Holy Family
See SC 40!!!! If people cannot understand the liturgy in their culture, adaptations must be made

Question: Should we do more Liturgical catechesis or should we make liturgical language more accessible to today's people's cultural range of comprehension?

Inculturation is not simply adaptation is dialog that allows people to fully and consciously participate in the liturgy. Pastoral suggestions:
  • Happy popular beauty connect liturgy with heart and soul of the people 
  • Personal-exististential language in preaching is essential
  • Listen to the Spirit








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