Notes from the 2016 Notre Dame Symposium 4: Sociology - the Mobile Culture

MICHAEL MCCALLION: "Liturgy, Sociology and the New Evangelization" 

We have a communal relationship with the liturgy. 

The problem: we have to stay put in order to have community.  We have "collective effervescence" -  too much individualism.

What is the optimal level of social connectedness? 

We need communal relationship with Jesus.  But our first impulse is individualism and we have such mobile lives...   We live de-synchronized with friends and family.

What are the ways we create community in the liturgy?

Common repertoire of liturgical music is important. People in pews appreciate fewer songs. They don't sing if they don't know the songs.

It boils down to "Playing well" with the liturgy.

How do we evaluate if?

We need fewer meetings, more processions.

Pp 129 -133 in Tim I'malleys book. Eucharistic  center - Who's going to do this?  

We need better trained staff, more commitment to develop better liturgy

It's the music... people

The issue is upward social mobility. We move away... Makes it hard to form community.

Q & A:

Disses Rebuilt for breaking up community...

Architecture facilitates or hinders community

Balance -Needs to internalize faith and take it out into the homes personal and communal in balance.

NEXT NOTES: 5: "Liturgy, Formation and Evangelization"

With a Little Help from My Friends: The Grace of Community

Yesterday, I had all those good intentions about arriving for Mass on time, to sing with our choir. I had set my clock ahead for Daylight Saving Time, gotten up on time, spent my usual morning session on the internet to wake up and catch up on what was going on, and grabbed breakfast in plenty of time, but  my body apparently did not reset its clock.

Those with celiac disease know that sometimes you just can't leave the bathroom behind in the morning, no matter how hard you try.  Add to that, it was raining, traffic was a little slow and Mass at my parish actually started a couple minutes early, which is very unusual. To top it off, the side door closest to the choir area was, unexpectedly, locked, so I had to go around and come up from the back of church.

I slipped into the choir area just after the opening song ended, actually only one minute after the time Mass should have started. However, that meant I was unable to put my pyx containing my low-gluten host on the altar as was our usual protocol. I quietly resigned myself to receiving only the Precious Blood, so as not to cause a disruption.

What I had not anticipated was that my friends in the community care about me. At the offertory (we had silence yesterday rather than a song), the choir member closest to the sanctuary offered to take my pyx up, quietly, after Father came down the steps. Gratefully, I handed it to her. But then, the usher taking up the collection on our side came over and took the pyx, saying he'd take it up with the procession and hand it to Father with the gifts.

After he walked away, one of our other choir members leaned over to me and whispered, "You are very much loved." A bit overwhelmed, all I could say was "I guess I am, in spite of myself."  Grace. It happens.

Monday Morning Liturgists: It's Not so Easy to be Part of the Solution

A post by freelance writer William Bornhoft on the practice of "liturgy shaming" has been generating a lot of dialogue on social media. Bornhoft's post is excellent, calling people to task for posting on social media about liturgical abuses and holding them up to ridicule and uncharitable judgment.

What I am finding in the conversation is that some people are indeed openly frustrated with parish liturgy. Some have even gone so far as to approach a pastor with their frustrations, as Bornhoft suggests, and have been rebuffed.

This is not just related to the current conversation. There are entire groups dedicated to criticizing the liturgical abuse of others. Some bloggers do this on a regular basis, posting things derisively and inviting commentary. People are only too willing to pile onto those bandwagons.

In the absence of

• a pastor with good liturgical formation, an aptitude for liturgy, and time and energy to "direct" its component parts himself or at least to collaborate with those he has delegated to do so
• properly trained, knowledgeable staff or volunteers who take on the burden of preparation of the liturgy and training of its ministers
• adequately trained and aware ministers who serve the assembly of the people at Mass reverently and according to the rubrics and guidelines of the Church

people in the pews have every right to be frustrated with parish liturgy.

However, as someone who has served both as a liturgy director and as a liturgy committee member for almost 30 years, I find armchair liturgists rather frustrating.  It's all very well to criticize. But how about getting your rear end out of the pew to be part of the solution? Not so easy, eh?

If you think you know more about liturgy than the people who are putting it together, why can't you see that as a call for you to help? I'm not talking about coming in and "taking over" the liturgy committee in your parish. I'm talking about joining it respectfully, learning the ropes from the inside by first taking part in a liturgical ministry.Then, after your dedication is known, join in the work of putting the liturgy together, gaining the trust of others and gently encouraging renewed study of Church guidelines.  I'm talking about leading others by example, by studying the liturgy yourself and sharing what you have learned, allowing others to discover the way to better liturgy and inviting them to do better, rather than shaming them for their ignorance.

This is the true essence of Christian community - that each of us is called and gifted and that we care enough about one another to work together. It also means that we share our gifts instead of hoarding them and feeling self-righteous because we know more than others. Those who know more should teach and lead others, charitably.

Liturgy is "the work of the people" - ALL the people. To each and every one are given different  gifts that can be offered to support the liturgical prayer of the community. The road to liturgical improvement in your parish lies open to you, if you accept the challenge that you can help by sacrificing your time to work together with, not against your fellow parishioners who already give their time and talent to the community's worship. What gifts has God given you for the liturgy? How can you begin to share them?

Full Participation in the Body of Christ at Worship Matters

At one of our parish Masses every week for a few years, there was a mother and teenage daughter who always arrived as the opening song was ending, then stood, sat and knelt without ever moving their lips during the entire Mass.  As a regular cantor at that Mass, I had the opportunity to watch them, noticing because they so obviously looked bored and disengaged.

Right after the final blessing, they would slip out the side aisle before the procession of the ministers had even started down the aisle. Every week, the same thing. I often wondered why the mother continued to give such a poor message to her daughter about what it meant to part of the celebration of the Mass. I suspected it was most likely that is the model she had been given by her parents, or perhaps that there was resentment over the absence of the child's father.  The only positive thing I could say about the years I observed this was that the mother did bring her child to Mass - in body, if not in spirit.

Finally, one summer, they simply stopped coming. Most likely no one other than me noticed, because they had never talked to people around them before or after Mass, or connected in any way. (Unfortunately, our parish does not have a formal hospitality ministry.) Most likely, the girl got confirmed, or perhaps graduated from high school - Mom's responsibility to get her to Mass was over. So was Mom's attendance at Mass. Apparently, this was all about obligation.

Today, on the feast of Corpus Christi we  celebrate what it means to be a committed member of the "One Body" that is the community of faith - the Church. We also hear clues about what it means to participate fully.  The readings of the day provide some clues as to what this looks like.

We hear the unified voice of the people in the first reading:

When Moses came to the people
and related all the words and ordinances of the LORD,
they all answered with one voice,
"We will do everything that the LORD has told us."  (Exodus 24:3)

In the Gospel reading (Mark 14:12-16, 22-26) we hear more corporate actions from the disciples gathered for the Last Supper:

he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, gave it to them

Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them,
and they all drank from it.

Then, after singing a hymn,
they went out to the Mount of Olives.
All of this implies full participation, full engagement by all who are present. There are no watchers hanging around the margins, no mention of anyone not being part of this. (No "except so-and-so). No one with folded arms standing silently watching. Yet at Mass, sometimes that is what priests and cantors see during the people's responses and the songs.  When we meet this same community on the 2nd Sunday of Easter in our first reading from the Book of Acts, we hear "The community of believers was of one heart and mind..."  (Acts 4:32)

The biggest question in catechetical and liturgical ministry today is the growing lack of participation in the life of the Church.  Why do so many not feel like they are part of the community? The proof is all around us: families who never attend Mass, but drop off their children for a couple of years for sacrament preparation, then disappear. People who can't wait for Mass to be over, but leave after Communion - not realizing that an important part of the experience of Mass is to rejoice (in song) as they are SENT, not simply to leave.

We need to continue to explore all options to improve our outreach and evangelization from both the catechetical and liturgical sides of the Church. These ministries share the same fundamental issues. It's way past time for them to come together.  In 1997, the General Directory for Catechesis noted missing areas ("lacunae") in catechesis -particularly this in section 30:

— Catechesis is intrinsically bound to every liturgical and sacramental action.' Frequently, however, the practice of catechetics testifies to a weak and fragmentary link with the liturgy: limited attention to liturgical symbols and rites, scant use of the liturgical fonts, catechetical courses with little or no connection with the liturgical year; the marginalization of liturgical celebrations in catechetical programs.

This, along with good liturgical celebrations and parish hospitality that welcomes every person needs our attention NOW.  Statistics on attendance at Mass by Catholics continue to show a downward trend.  Despite shrinking resources and de-professionalization of lay ministry, (as I previously noted HERE) we cannot afford to allow the situation to get any worse. The growing dis-engagement of our people is a call for increased, not decreased resources to be devoted to catechesis and liturgy.

Winter Ordinary Time: Listening and Learning - Together

Winter has been unusually warm here in the area around Chicago, and even though we are finishing up January, the lack of snow and the pleasant days have made it somewhat  unlikely that this February will bring the usual rounds of "cabin fever" for those cooped up indoors.  The unusual weather has made it a little more difficult to capture the normal sensations I associate with winter Ordinary Time.  Here, this period of time normally has a touch of the ambiance of huddling with a group of friends around a warm fire while listening to the sharing of wondrous stories.  We take refuge from the cold and come to Mass to be among friends and to learn together what it means to be disciples.  

The period between the end of the Christmas Season and the beginning of Lent is a time to learn from the words and actions of Jesus. It is when we hear the Apostle Paul chiding us about how we are to live, and then hear the core stories of Jesus - actions, miraculous healings, discussions and more from his ministerial life among his disciples and the people of the places where he traveled.  It is a time to find out who Jesus is and what is essential and expected of us if we follow him.  As is always true, we do this in community, together.

In actuality, the weather doesn't matter - but the friends that we gather with do. The journey of faith that we share during the liturgical year is never simply "me and Jesus," but the shared struggle to learn and grow together - in the liturgy, in our parish activities, in our charity and service, in our catechesis, our sacrament preparation and in all the ways we are Church.  As we navigate these "counted days" of Ordinary Time up until Ash Wednesday, never forget the value of friends along the journey. It is truly a case of  never walking alone.