Interview with Cardinal Francis Arinze
Faith Drives His Zeal for Liturgy
by Sabrina Arena Ferrisi
(Page: 1 of 4)
National Catholic Register
May 2-8, 2004
Register Correspondent
 Cardinal Francis Arinze is prefect of the
Congregation of Divine Worship and the Sacraments, the Vatican body that just
released a major document attempting to correct abuses in the
liturgy. He spoke to Register correspondent Sabrina Arena
Ferrisi in Rome about his life and work.
What kinds of liturgical abuse is your congregation
hoping to curb?
Examples of liturgical abuse are anything connected
to the celebration of Mass that is not according to the approved rites.
Individuals can invent all kinds of things once they leave the
approved rites.
The general approach is that the liturgy is the public
worship of the Church. It is not an area where individuals do their own thing,
feed the people with the latest production of their over-fertile imaginations. This
would do damage to the faithful and the liturgy. Sometimes it shows a lack
of faith.
Some abuses make the Mass invalid. For example - nobody
did this - but suppose a priest says, "I don't like wine at all. I am going to use
Coca-Cola." From the point of view of theology, it would not be Mass at all. If he
didn't use bread made from wheat but uses bread from cassava or wine from the palm
tree and not from the vine.
These are abuses that affect the validity of the
sacrament. But there can be abuses that do not make the sacrament invalid. Like if
a priest begins Mass by saying, "Good morning. Did your favorite football team win?"
That's banalization. Everyone would recognize
that.
Suppose in preaching it is no longer on the Gospel and
our faith but on politics. Or suppose he says, "I do not like these vestments. I
think I will use my overcoat." Or if he says, "I do not like some of the words in
the book, I am going to invent my own prayers. I composed these myself
last night."
When it comes to the issue of liturgical dance, it seems
many papal celebrations have some form of dance. Which kinds of dance are appropriate
and which ones aren't?
In the last analysis, the bishops of each country must look
into this matter. It is not cut and dried. There are many rites: Ethiopian, Byzantine,
Greek, Armenian, Coptic, Chaldean, for example. The Latin rite has not traditionally
known dance. If you say "dance" to anyone in Europe, I leave it to you to see what comes
to their mind. They will say, "That has nothing to do with the liturgy. When we want to
see a dance, we don't go to Mass. We go somewhere else." It is a
cultural thing.
Continue article on next page
Return to start of article
to top of page |
