EXCLUSIVE Cardinal Arinze: Manner of celebrating the liturgy ‘shows what we believe’
The Nigerian cardinal issued a renewed appeal for clergy to adhere to liturgical reverence, since the liturgy gives witness to the practice of the faith.
VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Cardinal Arinze has highlighted the great need for reverence in the liturgy, warning that if priests invent new or unlawful aspects of the Mass themselves then they “damage” the Church.
The Church’s liturgical life is intimately linked to the practice of the faith, as summarized by the phrase “lex orandi, lex credendi” – the law of faith is the law of belief. For Francis Cardinal Arinze, former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, this element is key, since a Mass which is poorly celebrated with irreverence, abuses or personal whims can turn people away from the Catholic faith.
Arinze, consecrated at the age of 32 to become the world’s youngest bishop at the time, has a storied career as a diocesan bishop in his native Nigeria, before being brought to the Vatican in 1984 for a long and distinguished service in the Roman Curia.
Created cardinal in 1985 at the age of 52, he was Prefect of the Secretariat for Non-Christians (now Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue) from 1984 to 2002, then Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship between 2002 and 2008.
Now aged 93, the cardinal still keeps an active presence in Rome and in Africa, although he mostly stays out of the media focus since his retirement from the Curia.
The full interview is found below.
Michael Haynes: Your Eminence, the liturgy teaches us so much about the faith just by its very nature and we see that particularly in different times of the liturgical year. How do the Easter liturgies especially teach us about the faith and especially help us enter into the mystery of redemption?
Cardinal Francis Arinze: You are right. We learn a lot from the liturgy, and Holy Week is particularly rich. The words, the actions and the sacraments, they are very eloquent. They are great helps towards participation in the Christian life. If a person is attentive to how the Church speaks and prays, especially this week, the person will catch to a great extent the Christian spirit and what Christianity is all about.
In a way we could say that if a person didn’t know about Christianity at all, but attended our Holy Week celebrations and followed what was read, what was preached, what was celebrated, what was received, the person would have got the heart of what Christianity is all about. It is eloquent.
Haynes: That ties into this beautiful phrase that we have, the “lex orandi, lex credendi,” the law of prayer and the law of faith. But how is it, do you think, that perhaps in Africa we see so much vitality in the Church, whereas in the West we see sometimes a loss of reverence or a loss of practice of the faith?
Cardinal Arinze: There’s plenty of room for opinion here. Also [for] experience, depending on what group of Christians one may have experienced in one country or in another. Because a greater part of Africa, especially south of the Sahara, received the faith in the last 200 years.
You would expect therefore that those who received the faith a thousand years ago – like Poland or two thousand years ago like Italy – that there would be some pluses and minuses. As an individual, a custom also can mean also a bit of tiredness in general and general culture also influences behavior as Christians.
A general approval or a general disapproval would be harsh and unrealistic. So that perhaps you have seen congregations in African countries and they generally show more participation, liveliness than general in Europe, let us say.
If you have a group of Europeans and you bring a basket of bananas at the offertory procession and a group of Africans do something similar, then the Africans are likely to sing more or wave a little right and left, not a dance, but a type of participation of soul and body, which is more lively. The Europeans would be what the African considers more restrained. Part of it is cultural influence on everything else. But the general statement sweeping would be unfair to both sides.
Haynes: Perhaps the European restraint has made us sometimes ashamed, I think, to be Catholic. Maybe in modern culture, being Catholic is seen as not being in keeping with the changes of modern society.
Cardinal Arinze: Here, general culture influences religious practice. Let us say, if I am in Nigeria, I go to the airport, I wear the cassock and zucchetto as bishop, and the people expect that, and in the airport the officials are more interested in the blessing they ask me to give them than in looking at my passport. So that’s part of general culture influencing action. Even Muslims ask for a blessing, ask me for blessing in Enugu in Nigeria in the airport.
But if I were traveling in Berlin or in London, I would not wear the cassock and the zucchetto in the airport. Part of it is a general cultural influence and how it is done in that country. In that now one has to be careful, otherwise one becomes a fundamentalist too easily in condemning or even in approving.
It is true that in our normal behavior, especially when we come to celebration of the sacred mysteries, there should be much more restraint and not allowing culture to overrule religious devotion, respect, prayer.
So it is true therefore that if we celebrate well, our way of celebration shows what we believe. In that sense, it is true. Lex orandi, lex credendi. And also it shows that if a priest is careless at Mass, then if a person was there who didn’t have the Christian faith, that priest would have given a very bad presentation of Christianity because he has not celebrated in a way that shows what we believe.
Haynes: Often today we talk about the crisis in the Church and the liturgy, and Pope Leo has also referenced the issue of liturgical abuses shortly after his election. And we do see the liturgy, rather than being the summit of the Church’s life, sometimes it can be a battleground or sometimes a performance.
Given your experience as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, how would you say the Church can promote reverence and lessen the chance of any liturgical abuses?
Cardinal Arinze: You are right. You have touched a very sensitive point. Anyone who has a share in the celebration of our faith should be aware of the seriousness of the matter.
In that sense, those who have key roles in the celebration of the sacred mysteries have greater responsibility.
We have respect even for the anthem of a country. You notice the soldiers, not only the soldiers and the police, how they stand at attention, but also even priests. Therefore, the way we celebrate the sacred mysteries should be most respectful, showing our faith, so that if a person who didn’t know what Christianity was all about, were to be there and look at us in a very quiet and discreet way, then that person should be able to wonder that this must be something very serious that these people are celebrating.
Let us give the example: the priest has a key role in the celebration of the Mass, but if he behaves wrongly, if he introduces into the Mass parts that are not approved, or he removes parts that are approved, he does damage to the Church. Even though his intention may have been good, perhaps he thought, “I want to make the Mass interesting. I want, as some say, to make it more personalized” – mistake. He’s wrong.
How do you make the anthem of your country more personal, more personalized? The words are fixed. You are not allowed to put in another phrase just because you are an expert in the language. How much more in the sacred mysteries? Which means, whoever has a key role in the celebration of the sacred mysteries should be aware of the seriousness of the matter and carry it out with a sense of maturity, with a sense of seriousness, with a sense of respect.
I would even say with a bit of common sense. Although sometimes you see that sense is not common. What some are able to do to damage the sacred liturgical celebration – it becomes very serious.
That’s what the Holy Father is speaking about, and of course, he’s right. If only all of us would listen to him, we would be better.