Edmund J. Siedlecki
Making the New Liturgy Work More than hvo thousand 7Jeople at Chicago's First Liturgical Conference concluded that the liturgy is alive, well and maturing.
"After Ten Years, Liturgical Decadence" concludes Leo J. Hines (Commonweal, October 26, 1973). He prefaces his article with these observations: "In the ten years since the liturgical reforms proposed by Vatican II have been effectuated a variety of consequences have ensued. One, the joyous celebration in the vernacular so long advocated by liturgists such as Gerald Ellard, S.J ., who led the way to the reforms, had become a reality. Two, that joyous celebration is often vulgarized by meretricious hymns of the most offensively pietistic and reactionary kind and songs of love and affection that are totally devoid of religious allusion, never mind significance. Three. there has been a headlong flight of intellectuals from the liturgy if not from the Church entirely, and much of this is due in part to an unwillingness to participate in a Rotarian (Michael Novak's recent word) enthusiasm. Four, the revival of plain chant, so conspicuous a feature of the early days of liturgical reform in the '30s and '40s, is now a dead issue, except for a rare church like St. Paul's in Harvard Square where a highly cultured congregation joins with an accomplished liturgical director, Theodore Marier, in keeping alive many of the musical treasures of the Catholic past .. Five, not uncommonly, amateur guitarists have replaced professional musicians as the leaders 105