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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brave, loyal, critical traditionalism, March 23, 2007
The news that this book has been brought back into print by Roman Catholic Books is very good news indeed, for it is a seminal work which has done much to expose the extent of discontinuity in the post-conciliar reform. It stands alongside Archbishop Bugnini's own book, The Reform of the Liturgy, as essential reading - though Gamber is certainly the more accessible of the two.
Gamber's book is in fact two books. The first examines the overall work of the changes made to the liturgy in the 1960's. He sees the question of whether or not the changes were an organic development as crucial. His conclusions speak for themselves: "Obviously, the reformers wanted a completely new liturgy, a liturgy that differed from the traditional one in spirit as well as in form; and in no way a liturgy that represented what the Council Fathers had envisioned, i.e., a liturgy that would meet the pastoral needs of the faithful" (p. 100). Gamber is clear and unequivocal: a large mistake has been made with regard to the liturgy, unprecedented in the Church's history.
However, it would be wrong to align Gamber with traditionalists who draw a line at 1962, 1955, or even earlier, beyond which all change is anathema. Gamber is a critical liturgical historian, as shown by his precise and detailed discussion of the question of which way the liturgy should be celebrated, which comprises the second book in this volume. (A more recent and comprehensive treatment of facing east, including a critical evaluation of Gamber's contribution, is to be found in Fr U.M. Lang's Turning Towards the Lord.)
Gamber's concerns are historical, doctrinal and pastoral. He readily accepts the appropriateness of vernacular readings, and even of the pruning of some of the later accretions to the Traditional Roman Rite (Psalm 42 from the prayers at the foot of the altar, the Offertory prayers, the last Gospel). These prudential decisions can be argued about, as they were at Trent. But he staunchly defends traditions integral to the Roman Rite throughout its history, e.g., facing eastwards and the Roman Canon, and deprecates "the cold breath of realism [that] now pervades our worship" (p.13).
Gamber speaks frankly of the destruction of the Roman Rite after the Council, the last example of which can be found in the Ordo Missae promulgated in 1965 as the reform called for by the Council. Significantly, Archbishop Bugnini dismissed this 1965 reform as insufficient because its alterations were merely "peripheral", insisting that "radical" changes were what was needed.
It is Gamber's brave, loyal `critical traditionalism' that gives such importance to his writing. His theses are well documented, and his research is impressive. One hopes more of his writings will be made available in translation.
After reading Gamber (and also Bugnini) it is difficult if not impossible to maintain an uncritical acceptance of the new liturgy, even when it is celebrated devoutly and with the right intention. When we recall the doctrinal importance of the liturgy (lex orandi, lex credendi), we realise that the question of how we worship is central to our faith. What then is to be done?
"What we need today ... [are] bishops like those who in the fourth century courageously fought against Arianism when almost the whole of Christendom had succumbed to the heresy. We need saints today who can unite those whose faith has remained firm so that we might fight error and rouse the weak and vacillating from their apathy," writes Gamber (p.113). At tall order, certainly, but not beyond the possibilities of Divine Providence.
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29 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent analysis of reasons behind the crisis of liturgy, January 25, 1999
By A Customer
Monsignor Gamber earns really all the praising words written about him and his work. One can easily see his experience in this subject which is and has been a very delicate one in the postconciliar Church.Gamber shows clearly what went wrong in the liturgical renewal of pope Paul VI: the forced use of a new liturgy, lectionary and calendar planned and published without much respect for the tradition of about 1600 years of natural development of the liturgy; the turning of the altar without any real historical or scientific support etc. Monsignor Gamber's book is a necessity for all those who want to have adequate information about the liturgical tradition of the Catholic Church and for those who say there is nothing strange in the way the liturgy - especially the Holy Mass - is celebrated today.
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4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Traditional but not Definitive, June 16, 2008
Perhaps the most disappointing thing about Gamber's book is that I failed to see any specific justification for abrogation of the reform as he is advocating. Certainly, there are comments such as "the new mass is a break with the tradition," assertions and insinuations that the new mass is the reason the churches have been emptied, liturgy must grow organically rather than by committee, and an emotive appeals to those who came of age with the Tridentine Rite. But all of these things are ultimately unsubstantiated claims that leave many questions themselves: how is this liturgy a break with tradition, how were the Tridentine reforms any less than growth by committee, is the new rite the only reason that the churches have emptied (let alone the primary reason), and what of those of us who have come of age with the new mass, now in celebration for nearly fifty years?
I can sympathize with Gambler on a number of points, not the least of which would be the reform of the new mass to bring it in to closer harmony with what was envision by Decree on the Sacred Liturgy and the end of a multitude of abuses in the name of "pastoral sensitivity." But I don't think this book makes the case that we necessarily need to return to the old mass, nor do I think it is, as some reviewers have stated, a positive advocate for the reform of the reform inasmuch as removal of the reform. I say the latter since at least some of the elements of the new mass that Gambler specifically opposes (including mass versus populum and the entirety of the rite in the vernacular at least some of the time) are permitted under the Decree
Gambler is a positive advocate for the "traditionalist" position, and he does so without having to stoop to the level of hearsay against the drafters of the new missal, but he is by no means the moderating voice some would make him out to be, at least not in this book.
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