It occurs to me that people who hear that Pope Benedict considers it "of great urgency" to ensure that the liturgy is celebrated in a way that is in conformity to the teaching and practice of the Catholic Church might wonder why it's that important. "Why," one might ask, "can't a community that likes rock bands, clapping, banners, and the vestments featured here be permitted to do that freely without restriction? After all, the pope doesn't have any real restrictions on those who want organs and chant."
The issue here is not, however, primarily one of tastes, style, and preference. It is a matter of methodology. The Holy Father is concerned that the Neocatechumenal movement has distanced itself from the regular practice of the Catholic Church most especially by having their Masses outside of dedicated Sacred Space and focusing strongly on Saturday evenings rather than Sunday as the primary focus of their liturgical life.
There are also some matters about the liturgical, shall we say, innovations of some in the Neocatecumenal movement. These could manifest themselves into theological issues because, as we know, lex orandi, lex credendi.
What is at issue here is not so much whether the Extraordinary Form will replace the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, nor is it the future of pop/rock oriented praise music at Mass. It's deeper than those questions and worth a lot more of our time.
Pope St. Gregory the Great and Pope St. Pius V both dealt with liturgical fidelity in a way that we sometimes might question. On the one hand, it's great to think that the Church has a unified Rite worldwide. At the same time, however, there were traditions which were worthy of retention at the time of Trent. Pope Gregory saw that there was great diversity in the musical and liturgical life of the Church. Unity can still allow diversity. The issues we need to avoid are things like removing "our" Mass from the whole of the community.
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