The comments come in a warning from Archbishop Roger Houngbédji O.P. of Cotonou.

He has observed many "unruly" liturgical celebrations during his seven years as head of Benin's largest Catholic diocese.

Houngbédji has reminded priests, deacons, consecrated persons and laity of the archdiocese of numerous points concerning the attitude that should be adopted during the liturgy, particularly Mass.

"The practice of sometimes proclaiming liturgical texts or singing the responsorial psalm from a cell phone is prohibited" he told them.

In addition, he said that all "untimely movements" during the liturgy - particularly during the sign of peace - should stop.

Dress suitably for liturgy

Clothing was another issue on which the archbishop laid down the law.

His instructions said that people in the assembly should be careful how they dress for liturgy.

"Avoid, as far as possible, outfits that are too brightly coloured, too conspicuously printed or too imposing in shape.

"Skirts and dresses should be of decent length and not too tight.

"Similarly, revealing tops, crop tops that expose the chest, stomach or back, shocking tattoos, aggressive piercings and ripped jeans are contrary to the spirit of the liturgy."

Better homilies, music

Houngbédji is especially concerned about the quality of homilies in the archdiocese.

Priests in his diocese must "avoid vague and abstract homilies as well as useless ramblings that risk drawing attention more to the preacher than to the substance of the Gospel message" he told them.

Houngbédji also gave instructions to the archdiocesan liturgical commission members.

They must "work to remove tendentious songs from the liturgical repertoire" he told them.

He also reminded the one million or so Catholics of Cotonou that closing speeches are forbidden during the liturgy for funerals.

The only exceptions are words of thanks, which the presider must make.

"At Mass and before dismissal, no civil or military authority and no well-known benefactor of a parish community, whatever the importance of the services rendered, may speak publicly."

Reforms needed

Houngbédji, who was appointed archbishop in 2016, says the reforms he has propagated are necessary.

"Liturgical celebration cannot be content with unbridled ritual ordering, still less with individualistic attitudes left to the arbitrariness of each person" he says.

He says the instructions he has issued are based on observations he has made during pastoral visits throughout the archdiocese.

"Among the many questions I've been asked by the various parish communities is the question of harmonising liturgical gestures and practices" he says.

He says he has been "repeatedly challenged by Catholics on the urgency and necessity of working towards a better understanding of the faith and its proper celebration in the liturgy".

Maurice Hounmènou, the priest who heads the archdiocesan Commission for Liturgy and Sacred Art, notes the rise of liturgical personalism.

Hounmènou says this attitude has led to introducing "all kinds of prayers and devotions, testimonies, and so forth" into the Mass.

Source

• La Croix

The above experience is not valid for all Catholics in New Zealand, especially those from India and South Eastern Asia, where Catholicism is hundreds or thousands of years old. One reason for this distinction is that they come from sacral cultures.

In a sacral culture, everyone is a believer in a deity, and cultural norms are framed by religious practice. Individuals are included or excluded based on their cultural religiosity and religious practice, which may or may not have any depth in personal belief. The dominant expression of sacral cultures in contemporary parishes is the hyper-devotionalism linked to an underdeveloped penitential approach to faith that is still priest-centric. Clergy and laity in this construct see no absolute need for synodal thinking.

Thus, the issue of non-engagement in the Liturgy and the life of the parish is predominantly one for indigenous New Zealand Catholics of all ethnicities. In this group, we see a growing separation between their capacity to worship and the capability to symbolise. We see this in the internal struggle with religious symbolisation in funerals and school masses.

The capacity to worship and the capability to symbolise

The distinction between the capacity to worship and the capability to symbolise is evident at funerals. Capacity is the larger concept, the maximum amount something or someone can do or contain, and capability is the extent of someone's or something's ability.

The breakdown of the relationship between capacity and capability to symbolise creates a tension between what we—the Church—want to say through our liturgical rites and what the family wants to say as it uses the rites. As a result, having a say becomes a conflictual experience. Who has the more significant say or, the greater "right" to speak: us through our rites or the family through their need?

We see this tension in school masses and the growing awareness that many schools need to use a liturgy of prayer rather than a Mass when they gather. Whereas once Catholic schools were defined by established norms of cultural Catholicism, now they are increasingly defined by pre-catechetical teaching and prayer. Religious Education is being replaced by pre-catechumenal evangelisation that focuses on the scriptures, not the sacraments.

As a result of the change in New Zealand Catholics, we can no longer presume that the capacity to worship and the capability to symbolise exist in the same person to the same degree. Nor can we presume that people want to symbolise as we would like them to, using our ritual language. Thus, the tension we experience is real, personal and existential. It challenges our presumptions of when liturgical rites should be celebrated and by whom they should be celebrated. It calls forth a response from the Catholic community to this situation.

Bridging the gap between the capacity to worship and the capability to symbolise was once the job of cultural religiosity and cultural or customary rituals. Baptism, for example, was both a ritual act of worship and a cultural or customary act of the family. Many still want this when they ask for a family or "private" baptism and avoid a Sunday Mass or group baptism.

In schools, liturgies have become a delivery system of prayer, song, community and scripture fit to the capacity and capabilities of the people present. This is not a dumbing down but a growing up on our part, as we recognise that people need to be met where they are. It means we need to use the framework of evangelisation and conversation when we act liturgically.

Some may see this as exclusionary; I see it as an honest attempt to respond to a person's or a group's spiritual/faith development. Discernment is called for.

Accepting that the frameworks of catechesis and sacramental mediation are beyond some people is not surrender to a secular cultural demand, though it is to take cognisance of it as the dominant culture forming New Zealand Catholics and Catholics in New Zealand.

It alerts us not to impose the Sacred Liturgy on people because that is what we want them to have or because we lack the liturgical imagination to think with an evangelising mind. When we do this, we devalue the Liturgy and cheapen the currency of Grace. Consequently, our response must be careful, generous and creative because evangelisation, catechesis, and the Liturgy are gifts that need to be given at the right time and in ways appropriate to the people they are being given to.

• Joe Grayland is a theologian and a priest of the Diocese of Palmerston North. His latest book is: Liturgical Lockdown. Covid and the Absence of the Laity (Te Hepara Pai, 2020).