By Anthony Barich
National Reporter
DIOCESES need to devote more resources to liturgy to ensure quality is maintained, Josephite Sister Carmel Pilcher told The Record at a national gathering of liturgists in Perth last week.
Sr Pilcher, liturgy director for the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle and consultant to the Australian Bishops’ National Liturgical Council, said that while a recent survey revealed most dioceses have liturgy councils as Vatican II recommended, only about a dozen liturgists would be officially employed by dioceses around Australia, while many, including most delegates at last week’s conference, are volunteers.
She said that over the years, she has witnessed the “whittling down of the number of people who are able to be employed as liturgists, due to finances and a shift in priorities”.
“If we could get a tiny amount of staffing that Catholic education gets, for example, we could make a difference,” she said.
Fr Peter Williams, director of the Australian Bishops’ National Liturgical Office, told The Record that after the Second Vatican Council there was a greater focus on liturgical renewal.
At the time, he said, the Church was better resourced and financed, so liturgy offices were established. As priorities changed, some Bishops made decisions for financial reasons to prioritise other areas.
“With the new Missal there will be a refocus again on the liturgy, which is the heartbeat of the Church; if it isn’t beating … well, there are problems. There could be a requirement of expansion of liturgical resources,” he said.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Canberra-Goulburn told the conference at Perth’s Novotel Langley Hotel on 5 February that he wants liturgical studies to be more rigorous, and that “there is no substitute for a thorough knowledge of the texts, and there is no short-cut to it”.
“The purpose of liturgical renewal of Trent and Vatican II completing it is new energy for mission,” he said.
Reflecting on Archbishop Coleridge’s comments on the standard of liturgy around Australia, Sr Pilcher conceded that “many of us (liturgists) would say we’re only scratching the surface of what the (Second Vatican) Council intended, and that’s partly because we’re short on the ground with liturgy officers.”
Mercy Sister Adele Howard, who interviewed many of the priests and Bishops from around the English-speaking world for the One Body One Spirit in Christ resource to assist the faithful understand the new translations, said liturgists will be crucial in the process.
“As liturgical leaders, the best people will be the ones who grasp the depth of the opportunity of this new translation and run with it for the sake of the people in the parish and faith communities, and will bring the richness of their own liturgical scholarship, experience and spirituality, which will give them the ability to implement these new translations that people will find positive, engaging and deeply spiritual.”
Sr Pilcher said a major challenge for liturgists around the country and in the near future is the significant number of young people who “don’t even have a Catholic culture as such, don’t have the language or the understanding of ritual that some of us grew up with”.
The answer, she said, is an awareness-raising, encouraging families and listening.
“Diocesan officials need to get to know the area and recognise where parishes are coming from and what the needs of the community are,” Sr Pilcher said.
Her survey of diocesan liturgical operations, conducted every two years, also revealed the need for the development of a comprehensive and interactive national website, which she confirmed is now being developed. This website, the survey respondents said, needs to offer easy access to documents, resources, useful commentaries, relevant links, music and web-based resources, available Australian professional personnel and their areas of expertise, courses and study programmes, an e-bulletin and a forum for advice from qualified liturgists. They stressed that such a website would only remain relevant if properly resourced.
The survey findings also recommended a national network to foster communication and support for liturgists, and the development of an association of Catholic liturgists similar to those for Canon lawyers, Scripture scholars and theologians in Australasia.
It also urged stronger links with academic institutions offering liturgy and sacrament courses. Sr Carmel said that the shortage of priests is an issue which especially impinges on liturgists in Australia, which has led to many lay liturgists being trained to lead Sunday services.
The large influx of overseas priests – brought in to top up the needs of the Church in Australia – also bring with them, she said, a “great possibility for enculturation and challenges to assist them to worship with us when they’ve come from another country”.