Quantum Leap, or The Loophole Effect on Liturgy

 

 

A couple of months ago, I posted Here a loophole, there a loophole...., I expressed concern over the manner in which ambiguous language in Canon Law, Mass rubrics, the GIRM, and the documents of the Second Vatican Council is interpreted.

For the progressive, ring-master style of "presider" over the "gathering," ambiguity becomes a loophole through which personal initiative anticipates desired change, i.e., a personal agenda is imposed upon worship, in this case.

For the orthodox priest or deacon, ambiguity demands interpretation in the light of tradition just as our popes have been saying for...well...forever, really.

Obviously, there's no problem in an orthodox approach to ambiguity. There are no "what now?" or "what the...?" moments during Mass.

The other approach is a different beastie. Whether one refers to it as liberal, progressive, modernist, humanist, or neo-whatever, this approach to ambiguity gives rise to what I've come to think of as the "quantum physics loophole effect," correctly confused with "wormholes" as portrayed in a few of my favorite sci-fi programs, notably Farscape, and Dr. Who. The common thread in "wormhole theory" is the idea of instantaneous travel to distant destinations of, usually, imprecise determination. In other words, once you're sucked into a wormhole, there's really no sure way of knowing exactly where you're going to come out. Even The Doctor is imprecise in his wormhole travels, and of all sci-fi heroes, one would think he'd be the one to have a grip on this.

The "loophole effect" has no place in Catholic worship. It constitutes a rupture with all that comes before it, and as far as what comes after, loopholes only lead to more loopholes. Much like the sci-fi quantum physics theories of wormholes folding space upon itself to eliminate distance and, therefore, time from travel, the "loophole effect" on the liturgy bypasses, and thereby rejects, the authentic development of worship in the Catholic Church. The Loophole Traveler anticipates a liturgy, and sometimes even a church, that is not prescribed by tradition or documents from any of the councils. With single-minded purpose and intention, mostly involving their own versions of "pastoral care," "ecumenism," "active participation," or the "new evangelization," Loophole Travelers experiment.

Time and time again, they stride into the loophole with every manner of innovation, fabrication, and novelty imaginable, and while they most definitely have a destination in mind, they never, ever arrive.

Why?

Because they seek a future Church which cannot exist.

By traveling outside of tradition and essentially denying the guidance of the Holy Spirit through the centuries, they cut off the branch on which they are sitting.

A future based on abusing ambiguity is no future, it's only a man-made experiment, a loophole with no end.