Fr. George Rutler on Piero Marini's Challenging Reform

Diogenes on Catholic World News has this to say about Fr. George Rutler's First Things review of Piero Marini's work, A Challenging Reform:

The Liturgist's Lament

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Father George Rutler is not a big fan [of Piero Marini and his book], however, and his acerbic review of the Marini book for First Things blasts gaping holes in the arguments that the author uses to justify his divergence from accepted liturgical norms. ("Marini is not a slave to the Principle of Non-Contradiction," Father Rutler notes.)

Archbishop Marini wants to revive the excitement that he, at least, apparently felt during the era of liturgical experimentation that followed Vatican II; he is contemptuous of those who harken back further to the traditions of bygone centuries. Father Rutler wants to know "why nostalgia for the 1560's is inferior to nostalgia for the 1960's, except for dentistry."

The Marini book is an apologia for the work of professional liturgists over the course of the last four decades. Not surprisingly, then, the archbishop is now on tour, promoting his book and rallying the spirits of his fellow liturgists-- who might otherwise be depressed by the trend toward liturgical sobriety under Pope Benedict XVI. Their day has come and gone, their work has lost its luster, the people in the pews are bored with their latest shenanigans. Still you can't expect the liturgists to go quietly, because...

'The blithe obliviousness of many experts to damage all around them is, nonetheless, breathtaking.'