CIEL 2006 - Studying the Plurality of Rites and Legitimate Liturgical Diversity

Some of you may be interested to know that there is more information up about the CIEL 2006 conference to be held at Oxford University, Merton College.

Of particular interest to this CIEL delegate is the direction the conference will take:

"The conference will explore the diversity of the forms of the Roman Rite from its appearance as a specifically Latin Rite in the fourth century up to (but not including) the Second Vatican Council.

Speakers will be sought who will provide an overview of not only the liturgical development and diversity of the rite, but also the spiritual motivations for this development.

Some speakers will concentrate on areas of specific expertise -
the rites of the religious orders (Carthusian, Cistercian, Dominican, Carmelite, Order of Malta) or local manifestations - i.e. Gallican, Frankish etc., or even Diocesan - Lyons, Braga, Venice etc."

Understanding the legitimate diversity of liturgical rites within the Church is key I believe to correcting two extremes:

1) the modern, dissenting tendency toward a diversity which entails a rejection of rubrics and a failure to respect the integrity of the official texts of the missal(s); in short, the propogation of an illegimate diversity and a misunderstanding of what diversity really is with regards the liturgy.

2) the opposite extreme which forgets that there is such a thing as legitimate diversity and which, as such, can result in an approach to other liturgical rites as either somehow suspect, less Catholic, or plain undesirable as a general rule; this usually results in a tendency to absolutize/universalize particular aspects of the liturgy which may only be representative of a particular liturgical tradition (e.g. the complaint many Byzantine Catholics have against some Latin rite Catholics whom attempt to Latinize their traditions, or on the other hand, the tendency to not be generous where the classical Roman rite is concerned, or where the co-existence and compatibility of the classical Roman rite and the reform of the reform is concerned.)

A draft list of topics includes:

Pope Benedict XVI and the Liturgy

The Roman Calendar

Music proper to the Roman Liturgy

Liturgical Latin as a hieratic language

Organic development of the Liturgy

Liturgy and spirituality in the religious life

The Rite of Braga – origins and development

Genius of the Roman Liturgy, theological aspects

Developments in the Liturgy in the Holy Land and the Military Orders

Kiedricher Choral – musical diversity within the Roman Tradition

Roman Liturgy and popular piety

The Theological significance of the Classical Liturgies of the West