Critical Discussion of Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi - Essay Example

 Theology 1 Running Head: Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi LEX ORANDI, LEX CREDENDI: CRITICAL DISCUSSION The Latin adage, “lex orandi, lex credendi” will always have a special place in Catholic theology and practice because it contains one of its central principles. It is literally translated as “the law of prayer is the law of belief” but there are disagreements as to how this should be properly translated. One such translation is “what people pray, they believe” (Pepinster, 2004). The Classicists insist it should be “the law of belief is the law of prayer” (Toon 1992). Another is“so we believe, so we pray” (Ditchingham Report 1994). But personally for me, the most cogent translation is “the Church prays as the Church believes” (McNichol 2007). Extrapolating this further, the most apt axiom should be “lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi” or “the law of prayer or worship is the law of life” and this is because “how we worship reflects what we believe and determines how we will live (Fournier 2005). There’s no way for prayer to be disentangled from belief because when we pray, we raise our hearts and minds to God and during that spiritual and mental immersion, we are able to access the supernatural truth about our belief and only then can we claim that we are true believers (O’Brien 2002, p.169). The adage “lex orandi, lex credendi” had been one source of dissension among theologians. As illustrated hereinabove, there is discord in the translation. Since the Church’s Theology 3 prayers are expressed in its liturgy, particularly in sermons and hymns, where the faithful also contribute their own personal prayers, the liturgy is the lex orandi. Theology is obviously lex credendi because its purpose is to encapsulate dogmas that the faithful may believe. The first salvo of dissension was thrown when Prosper of Aquitaine argued that the Church’s prayer is the source and thus determines Theology. The implication therefore, is that what was prayed for by the faithful, must necessarily be taught as Theology (Hohenstein 2008). Contradictory to this is the classicists stand that the law of belief determines the law of prayer (Toon 1992, p.1). This connotes that the whole liturgy and all the sacraments must be prescribed by what was written in theological texts. If this is so, the liturgy is condemned to be rigid, repetitive and boring and thus subject to rejection by a portion of the faithful who would be dazzled by the wide dimension of freedom of worship by some Protestant sects. The Catholic Church realizing such pitfalls repeatedly convened ecumenical councils to thresh out the problems and hammer out meaningful changes to the liturgy. The Council of Trent, thus reformed the Missal and the Breviary. More earthshaking was Pope Paul VI’s Novus Ordo Missae. For the first time the concept of “lex orandi, lex credendi” was subjected to a complete overhaul as it is now viewed as “the Church prays as the Church believes”. Pope Benedict XVI in his Summorum Pontificum explained that the liturgy of the Mass Theology 4 has to “be renewed and adapted to our needs of our time” and “translated into the various languages of the world”. He further clarified that the Roman Missal and the renovated Missal (in the vernacular) are “two expressions of the Church’s ‘Lex Orandi’ and will in no way lead to a division in the Church’s ‘Lex Credendi’ (Pope Benedict XVI 2008). Pope Benedict XVI intoned that this current view of the Church do not abrogate the use of the Roman or Latin Missal. The term “the Church believes as she prays” is further elucidated by the fact that “when the Church celebrates the sacraments, she confesses the faith received from the apostles” . Furthermore, the sacraments themselves “express and develop the communion of faith in the Church” (Vatican). The term is also convertible to the “Church prays as she believes”. According to St. Augustine, belief might be more or less convertible with praise (Candler 2006, p.52). The winds of change indeed have enveloped the Catholic Church. But more and more people have missed the traditional liturgy, which connected the modern Church to the religious practices of its patriarchs. They longed for the solemnity and the upliftment of the soul and spirit that the traditional Latin Mass and hymns effected on the worshippers. The milieu, the mood, the tableau, the priestly habiliment placed the Latin liturgy way above the rest of religious sects’ as there is a different spiritual experience and a unique sacred character. They contended that it Theology 5 was the Latin language that bonded the muti-cultural, polyglot Catholics all over the world. Stripping the Catholic Latin liturgy and hymns from the Mass and thus destroying the original ‘lex orandi’, placed the Catholic liturgy on the level of Protestant liturgies. Soon, we will have difficulty distinguishing both. By being too innovative and by going overboard in its attempt for all the faithful to “be led to that full, conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations (Sacrosanctum Concilium p.14), the Church has been reproached for being iconoclastic and destructive of its cherished beliefs and traditions, its lex credendi. By demolishing its lex orandi, it has razed also its lex credendi. This is contrary to the intent of Pope St. Pius X who declared that for the faithful to ‘actuosa participatio’, they should “ be made to sing Gregorian chant as a congregation (Tra le Solicitudini). Many faithful missed the Latin hymns, which were like hymns of angels from heaven. Notably missed were the Kyrie , Agnus Dei, Alleluias, Credo .. With the removal of the traditional hymns that expressed the faith of generations of faithful come also the removal of a part of the Church’s lex credendi. They also maintained that the Protestants never left the Church because of its lex orandi but for other varied reasons. The New Rite of the Roman Mass blazoned by Pope Paul VI in 1969 intended that the fixed or unchanging parts of the Mass be in Latin, while the variable parts be in the vernacular. The rationale was that “since the use of the mother tongue…may be of great advantage to the people, the limits of its employment may be extended: (Council of Trent). But the intention was Theology 6 not to eliminate Latin liturgy because with that the Church would be shorn of its lex orandi and lex credendi. Another innovation that affected the lex credendi was the turning back from the altar towards the congregation by the priest in the Mass, which is supposed to be an offering to God and not to men. The contention that the “priest is turning his back on the people” is ridiculous because the priest is not an entertainer. Both are offering and celebrating the Mass for the triune God and both must face one direction i.e. to the altar. The then Cardinal Ratzinger himself, wrote that the priest and the people together must “face the same way in a common act of trinitarian worship” (Ratzinger 1986, p.140). Another horrific innovation is the transferring of the location from the center of the altar to some other church nook of the tabernacle. Even in the days of Moses, the tabernacle had always occupied central importance and location. This is already an eradication of the church lex credendi. Curiously, Vatican Council II never permitted it and in fact declared that the Church should “be concerned about the worthy and dignified placing of the tabernacle” (Vatican Council II). Defenders of the New Rite however, maintained that with the change in the lex orandi, there is no such change in the lex credendi because the amendment is merely formal. The Vatican Council II declared that “Christ’s faithful, when present at the mystery of faith should not be there as strangers or silent spectators” Theology 7 (Sacrosanctum Concilium par.48). They admit that the changes may antagonize but that “has nothing to do with loosening of doctrine or dogma” (Ryan 2004). It is permitted by Vatican Council II. What is basic is that Christ is present in the proclamation of gospel in the liturgy (Casey 2005). It is also ecumenism that dictated such and the desire to remove anything that impedes or makes the faithful feel ill at ease. Moreover, according to Father Annibale Bugnini because the Liturgy nourishes the Church’s life, it must therefore remain dynamic and not be permitted to stagnate. The Mass in the vernacular and the priest facing the people fosters a sense of greater unity as a community. These liturgical changes have created tensions within the Church as they drove a wedge of dissension . Luckily, no separatist movement has ensued and this was because Pope Benedict XVI explained that the Roman rites were never abolished and could be utilized if a majority of the faithful in the locality request for it. Such tension made Pope Benedict XVI strengthen his resolve to compromise. Today, several churches now offer masses in Latin and have the priests facing the altar. Among them are St. Josaphat in Detroit, St. Mary’s in Cincinnati and St. John Cantius in Chicago (Clark 2007). It really is a pity if liturgical reforms be the cause of enmity within the Church because such is not the real problem but the “reconciliation and mutual reintegration of liturgy, theology and piety” (Schrmemann 1990, p.42). Theology 8 REFERENCES Candler, Peter (2006). Theology, rhetoric, manuduction or reading scripture together on the path of god. William B. Eerdman’s Publishing. Casey, Damien (2005). Liturgy matters. Australian Ejournal of Theology. http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/research/theology/ejournal/aejt_4/casey.htm. Casey, D & Hall, G & Hunt,A (2004). Foundations of Christian Faith. Social Science Insight, March 28, 2007. Press: Victoria. Clark, Anthony (2007). The Latin Mass: old rites and new rites in today’s world. Ignatius Council of Trent Ditchingham Report (1994). Faith and order on worship. World Council of Churches. http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/who/vilemov-06-e.html. Fournier, Keith (2005). Lex orandi, lex credendi. As we worship, so we will live. Third Millenium, LLC. Catholic Online. Hohenstein, Charles (2008). Lex orandi, lex credendi:cautionary notes. Wesley Center for Applied Theology. McNichol, Hugh (2007). Lex orandi, lex credendi. Catholic Online. http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=4135. O’Brien, Dennis (2002). The Idea of a Catholic University. University of Chicago Press. Pope St. Pius X (1903). Tra le Solicitudini. Beholdenyourmother.wordpress.com/-75k. Pepinster, Catherine (2004). The draft order of the Mass. The Tablet, editorial. May 22, 2004. Pope Benedict XVI (2008). Summorum Pontificum Motu Proprio Datae. Sancta Missa. Canons Regular of St. John Cantius. Ratzinger, Joseph (Pope Benedict XVI). (1986). The Feast of Faith. Ryan, Tom (2004). Foundations of Christian Faith. Australia Ejournal of Theology. Issue 3, August 2004. Sacrosanctum Concilium. December 4, 1963. www.adoremus.org/sacrosanctumconcilium.html-112k. Toon, Pe6ter (1992). Lex orandi or lex credendi. The Machray Review. http://www.prayerbook.ca/library/machray/issue2/machray2g.htm. Schmemann, Alexander & Fisch, Thomas (1990). Liturgy and tradition. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press. Vatican (2008). The catechism of the catholic church. http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/pzslela2.htm. Read More