invites you
to the international conference
Pope Benedict XVI and the Sacred Liturgy
to be held in Budapest
from 21st to 24th August 2008
Pope Benedict XVI, as the Successor of St Peter, considers one of his most important duties to promote the holy and worthy celebration of the liturgy and, if necessary, even to act in its defense. This attention of the Pontiff, as is well known, is manifested not only in fostering the liturgy introduced after the Second Vatican Council and in condemning its abuses and distortions, but is also related to the restoration of the legitimate use of the traditional Roman liturgy celebrated throughout the centuries to the spiritual benefit of great many souls.
This solicitude of the Holy Father urged many people to improve their liturgical practice as well as to make efforts to recognise the true values of the liturgy and to be immersed in its internal and external treasures. As a consequence, thinking about and caring for the holy liturgy has been awakened everywhere in the Church, including Hungary, and has lead both to the re-examination of our present attitudes and to the searching for future perspectives. At the same time, one cannot deny that in some particular churches the efforts of the Vicar of Christ are being met with negligence or even with opposition. In many places there is an unfolding passive resistance against the revival of Catholic traditions and against the new legislation which supports it: the Pope’s words of warning finds deaf ears, the rules of canon law are being concealed or even violated. We think that the churches of Central Europe are also obliged to examine their conscience, to try to immerse in the liturgical spirituality proposed by the Holy Father and to ensure that bishops, priests and the faithful become more aware of the tasks they are facing.
A good means to increase such attentiveness are the scholarly gatherings held all over the world, always accompanied by the celebration of the holy liturgy in the worthiest way under the given conditions. Considering all this, the St Augustine Liturgical Atelier of Hungary turns with love in Christ to all Catholic priests and lay people in Hungary, Central Europe or anywhere in the world who are deeply concerned about the liturgy and the aspirations of the Holy Father, asking them to convene to a meeting which gives occasion to learn these efforts more thoroughly, to confirm mutual intellectual and spiritual contact and to pray together for the noble task of instaurare omnia in Christo.
In this sense we ask you to read carefully the following programme, to support the gathering with your presence and to do everything, beyond your own application, to make it known in your local church environment. In order to achieve this, we beg you to make use of the channels of personal private interaction as well as the available tools of social communication, especially written and electronic media, meetings of the ecclesial communities, spiritual exercises or similar events.
Speakers and their papers will include:
Robert A. Skeris
Theology of worship and of its music: From Joseph Ratzinger to John Paul II to Benedict XVI
Thomas M. Kocik
The “reform of the reform” in broad perspective: Re-engaging the living tradition
R. Michael Schmitz ICRSS
Culture and detail: The mystery of liturgical life
Zoltán Rihmer
Law and liturgy: The perils and prospects of a difficult relationship
Lauren Pristas
Septuagesima and the post-Vatican II liturgical reform
Laurence P. Hemming
“I saw the New Jerusalem”: On time in the liturgy
Miklós István Földváry
The variants of the Roman rite: Their legitimacy and revival
Sven Conrad FSSP
Die innere Logik eines Ritus als Maßstab liturgischer Entwicklung
Alcuin Reid
The liturgical reform of Pope Benedict XVI
Helmut Hoping
Danksagende Anbetung. Die heilige Liturgie und die Einheit der römischen Messe
László Dobszay
The perspectives of an organic development
There will also be a 2 hour round table discussion on the topic of: Efforts and experiences in renewing the liturgical life.
This will include the following participants:
Sven Conrad FSSP (Köln, The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter)
Dennis Kolinski CJC (Chicago, Canons Regular of Saint John Cantius)
Mindaugas Kubilius (Vilnius, AD FONTES Lithuania)
R. Michael Schmitz ICRSS (Chicago, Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest)
Guillaume de Tanoüarn IBP (Párizs, Institut du Bon Pasteur)
Péter Ágoston Ullmann OPraem (Gödöllo, St Augustine Liturgical Atelier)
The registration deadline for this conference is May 15th, 2008. To register for the conference or other question, see the conference website.
