Marini's book on liturgy: The future of the liturgy is the future of Christianity

John Allen Jr. has a long piece up on Piero Marini, including the launch of his book recently in London: Marini's book on liturgy: The future of the liturgy is the future of Christianity.

It is a relatively sympathetic reading from Allen.

What is of greatest interest for me in all of this is not so much Marini's personal judgements, but rather his personal accounting of the way the liturgical reforms were handled. Take for example this summation coming from Allen:

"Marini makes no effort to hide his sympathies. From the start, his is a tale of courageous and resourceful reformers, particularly Bugnini and Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro of Bologna, struggling against an intransigent Roman Curia determined to defend its own power as well as the liturgical patrimony of Trent."

Putting aside personal judgements as to whether they were "courageous" or rather misguided and operating upon some problematic principles, the documenting of these battles is most important, particularly in the light of our own day as people ask the question of what the Fathers of Vatican II actually intended.

The struggles mentioned as in the above may possibly provide some further insights into just such issues as that.