The Spirit of the Liturgy

In this issue of StAR, a slew of modern scholars and commentators weigh in on the state of worship in the Catholic Church: the impending renewal of and ponderous obstacles to faithful liturgical worship, sacred space, and sacred music. Released just before Benedict XVI promulgated Summorum Pontificum, and set in continuity with once-cardinal Ratzinger’s The Spirit of the Liturgy, which is itself in conversation with Romano Guardini’s work of the same name, this issue sits atop the crest of the post-Vatican II liturgical controversy. As such, it represents a number of faithful attempts to reconcile the old, the new, and the future of the Church’s worship.

Theme Articles

A Juggler on a Tightrope:

Benedict XVI and the “Tridentine” Question

Fr. Thomas M. Kocik

Observations on Latin as a Liturgical Language

Fr. Uwe Michael Lang

Incarnating Mass:

Rediscovering the Liturgical Beauty of Christian Architecture

Matthew G. Alderman

Liturgy, Tradition, and Authority

Alcuin Reid

Sacred Music and the Hermeneutic of Continuity

Michael E. Lawrence

The Importance of the Liturgy and the Liturgical Form

Shawn Tribe

General Interest

Fenestrae Coeli:

The Art of Tommy Canning

Jef Murray

Face to Face:

Susan Treacy interviews Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Part II

Regular Features

Editorial

“The Spirit of the Liturgy”

Joseph Pearce

New Poetry in English

Andrew Huntley: “The Sickened Roses”

Donald DeMarco: “Social Conditioning”

Riley’s America, “Dear Friends Across the Water”

Patrick G. D. Riley

Musica Donum Dei, “Palestrina and the Spirit of the Liturgy”

Susan Treacy

The Cave Wall

Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Views and Reviews

Claude Barthe: “Beyond Vatican II: The Church at a New Crossroads”;
CIEL: “Liturgy, Participation and Sacred Music: Proceedings of the Ninth International Colloquium”.
Reviews by Shawn Tribe
Aidan Nichols, OP: “Hopkins: Theologian’s Poet”.

Review by Donald P. Richmond