In the current (August/September) issue of First Things, Father Richard John Neuhaus writes ("While We're At It," pg. 72):
Back in 1974, the Murphy Center was looking for a name for a new publication dealing with liturgy. They tried out this and that and finally settled on Hucusque, which means "up to this point." It seems that Hucusque is the first word of the preface to the Carolingian Supplement to the sacramentary sent in 791 by Pope Hadrian at the request of Charlemagne. An abbot named Benedict supplemented the pope's book with adjustments to the devotional practices of the people of Charlemagne's empire. "Up to this point (hucusque) we have reproduced the pope's Mass book as it came to us from Rome. What is printed from this point on is not Roman, but represents those areas which are necessary to celebrate the liturgy in this part of the world." The Murphy Center is now the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, and the folks there have revived Hucusque under the more transparent title of Assembly: A Journal of Liturgical Theology. It is a sprightly and informative publication aimed at renewal through the reappropriation of tradition. [My remark: "renewal through the reappropriation of tradition" is Fr. Neuhaus's elsewhere-used description of 'ressourcement'.] And we really have had enough of liturgical innovations that treat the received tradition as being normative only hucusque. (To subscribe to the new journal, write Liturgy Training Publications, 1800 North Hermitage Ave., Chicago IL 60622. $15 per year.)
Are any of our readers familiar with this new publication? If so, would you kindly share your impressions of it?
