The Liturgy and Fr. Genaro Diwa

Why Fr. Diwa is in this, you'll learn later.

Read on.

From the Vatican Insider

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Liturgy was one of the main concerns of Pope Benedict’s pontificate. But with the election of Francis the priorities have clearly changed, shifting the focus of the Church from its internal concerns to the world and especially those many who live at its “periphery.”

Yet, the Bishop of Fréjus-Toulon, Dominique Rey, wants to reassure those Catholics who think that the moment for “liturgical renewal” – a shorthand definition for a return to a more solemn style of celebration hopefully ushered in by Benedict’s legalization of the pre-Second Vatican Council Latin Mass – is now over.

“Instead of anxiously wondering what Pope Francis personally thinks about every liturgical detail, we would do better to get on with the work we ourselves have to do,” he said in a recent interview with Vatican Insider.  [great quote!]

Bishop Rey is the main organizer of Sacra Liturgia 2013, a major international conference on liturgy that will take place in Rome June 25-28, bringing together a wide range of renowned scholars and churchmen, including Cardinals Ranjith and Burke and monsignor Guido Marini, the papal master of ceremonies.

Bishop Rey, what do you hope to achieve with this conference?
Sacra Liturgia 2013 will promote and continue the liturgical renewal desired by the Second Vatican Council, and emphasise the fundamental role of the liturgy in Christian life. I hope that it will show that the liturgy is the “source and summit” of all the Church’s activity, especially of the New Evangelisation.  [I'd rather trust these guys than the likes of Fr. Geny Diwa and Fr. Godwin Tatlonghari whose brand of liturgical renewal is the laicization of the liturgy, by giving too much emphasis on the role and active participation of the laity and inculturation rather than the role and active participation of the priest in the Mass!]

I hope that the Conference will underline this and support better formation in and celebration of the liturgy in the future. That is why I have invited prominent cardinals, bishops and liturgical scholars to share their expertise with us. [Mind you!  The late Fr. Anscar Chupungco was not invited in this conference nor are his students like Frs. Diwa and Tatlonghari, nor are the liberal liturgists from the US!] And of course we will celebrate the liturgy in both forms―both have riches to give us―because before we talk about the liturgy, we need to be liturgical ourselves!  [But for Fr. Diwa who spent all of his talk at the Liturgical Conference at the Mall of Asia Arena, the Extraordinary Form is inferior!  Yeah.  He trashed the Old Mass.  He thinks he knows better than Benedict XVI!  Yet he calls for obedience!  Ugh!]


Pope Francis has been criticized for his distinctly different liturgical style from Pope Benedict. Is this criticism fair? What do you respond to these critics?

Many bishops and priests have different ‘styles’ but all of us who are called to be ordained ministers of the Church promise to celebrate the Church’s liturgy as it has been handed on to us. [Because the Liturgy is of the Church and nobody's property that they can just do whatever pleases them like the inculturated Mass of Fr. Chupungco!] Pope Benedict showed us this, as did Blessed John Paul II and so too today does Pope Francis. The Holy Father is a different person to his predecessor: we should not expect him to be identical to Pope Benedict. But Pope Francis celebrates the liturgy of the Church, as handed down to us, with dignity and beauty. [No liturgical dancers!  No altar girls!] I thought that the Mass and procession for the feast of Corpus Christi yesterday evening was very beautiful and an excellent example for us all. I have concelebrated at his morning Mass: that too was beautiful and correct.

With so many problems ailing the Church today in its relation with the world (lack of vocations, the sex abuse scandal, financial troubles, decline in the number of believers in the West...) does it make sense to focus on a very intra-Church issue such as liturgy?  [great question!  I have heard a lot of priests writing about the over emphasis on the liturgy and should focus more on the other problems confronting the Church.  Not surprisingly, those priests who do not want the focus on the liturgy are the very same priests who don't care much about the liturgy and has done little to nothing at all about the other problems confronting the Church.  Yeah.  Nothing but lip service!]

All of these are very important questions and we need to address them seriously and systematically. But if I do not have the proper relationship with Christ, if that is not where I begin―just like Pope Francis begins his day with 7.00am Mass―then I do not have the correct foundation in my Christian life to deal with the issues and problems facing me and facing the Church today. [Sad truth is that most of those who are active in the social action ministry are they themselves not found to have a deep prayer life.  Oh believe me.  I have seen a lot of them!] The quality of my Christian life and my ability to carry out my mission in the world are based on my relationship with Christ, which is begun liturgically in Baptism and strengthened and nourished by the other sacraments and liturgical rites. We have to have good foundations if we are going to build!


Do you think the path of liturgical renewal set out by Pope Benedict can continue under Francis? How?

The Sacred Liturgy was one of the great themes of Pope Benedict’s pontificate, and he did much to teach us about the ars celebrandi and to allow the riches of the old liturgy once again to be available freely. We owe him a lot, and in some ways our conference will be a tribute to his work. Pope Francis does not have to do Pope Benedict’s work all over again. He can put his energies into making progress in other areas.  [Uhm...ok.]

It’s important, too, that we realize that each Pope doesn’t have to do everything himself or repeat every document of his predecessors. Liturgical renewal is our task, in the dioceses and the parishes and even in the family. Instead of anxiously wondering what Pope Francis personally thinks about every liturgical detail, we would do better to get on with the work we ourselves have to do.


With the Ordinariates, Summorum Pontificum, a renewed role for Oriental Churches etc. the fact that the Roman rite is only a part of the Church's liturgical diversity is more and more evident. What do you think of this evolution?

We’ve had liturgical plurality throughout the Church’s history. [Honestly, even those in Theology don't know that there is such a thing as Eastern Catholics.] Perhaps we have been a bit too fixed on vernacular modern liturgy in recent decades and need to remember that our unity in faith in Jesus Christ allows for different forms of liturgical expression. [And you won't be surprised to know that Fr. Diwa usually talks about the Novus Ordo being the "superior" liturgy. Yeah, he does that even though Pope Benedict says that both the Ordinary and Extraordinary forms are both equal expressions of the lex credendi.]  The riches of these traditions are real and valuable to us today, just as modern developments such as the wider use of the vernacular are. We don’t need to have “liturgy wars”. What we need is to be properly formed and able to encounter Christ in the Church’s liturgy correctly celebrated so that we can witness to Jesus Christ and his truth in the Church and world of the twenty-first century. I hope that Sacra Liturgia 2013 will contribute to that.

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Fr. Geny Diwa is being dishonest in how he attacked the Extraordinary Form of the Mass in his talk during the Liturgy Conference at the Mall of Asia Arena.

He confuses the faithful with his lies about the Old Mass.  Instead of enriching the faith of the people, he drives a wedge against those who are devoted to the Old Mass, to those who are devoted with the New Mass.

He does a great disservice to the Church!

Shame on you!