What is wrong with the hierarchy? They're done dismantling the liturgical and theological tradition of the Latin rite, so now they're moving on to dismantling the tradition of the Eastern rites? Are these guy completely and totally BLIND? Have they NOT seen the adverse results that said liturgical 'renewal' brought on their own church? And I find it very much condescending. Even to this day, far too many Latin rite bishops are upholding the notion that Eastern Catholics need to conform themselves the Latin rite practice, that their own traditions are not worthy of being kept. Hence you see the depths of 'reform' that have overtaken Maronite and Ukrainian Catholic parishes. (Female servers and lectors,modern ICEL-style liturgy, overly casual or irreverent servers/priests, some Maronite parishes even have guitars in them.)
And I don't think that there's any evidence that the terrible Latinisations that have already been forced on the faithful of these other rites has done them or their jurisdictions any good, but just like Vatican II, the hierarchy forces them through anyway with little to no care about what the faithful want, or about respecting the tradition of the rites.
In my opinion, what I think Eastern Catholics ought to do is the very same thing that Pope Benedict XVI is advocating for the Latin church: Return to their own tradition.Give up the modern accretions and return to their own rites, and the full rites, not abbreviated ones, or rites edited for comfortability with the modern mind.Eastern Catholics are in a kind a limbo now, because many of them have become so latinised that they only very vaguely resemble anything other than the Latin rite. They seem a bit lost, and I suppose it's because discarding those traditions was discarding a part of their very selves. A recovery of their true liturgical and theological tradition seems better in my opinion, than becoming glorified Roman Catholics.
*Sigh* It's this blatant disregard and disrespect for tradition in deference to modern thought and modern practice that makes me so embarrassed to be called "Roman Catholic."
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It is certainly unfortunate, and a sign of further separation between the Eastern Catholics and their Orthodox counterparts. There is anecdotal evidence of a trend towards liturgical renewal in at least the Slavic Orthodox churches (I can't speak for the others because I don't know) but this generally takes the form of greater faithfulness to the ustav rather than altering what we have to conform to some modern ideal.
So abbreviations and omissions which have become common practice over the centuries are being reduced or at least re-examined. Things that had become rare outside of the monasteries - such as the appointed troparia being sung between the Beatitudes, Psalm 33 being sung after Communion, the Kathisma (appointed portion of the psalter) at Vespers being read in full - are now increasingly found once again in the parishes. The separation of Baptism from the Eucharist, which has so long been the custom that it has been enshrined in our books, is being corrected in some dioceses with the restoration of the Baptismal Divine Liturgy. Liturgical oddities, such as serving the Holy Saturday Vesperal Liturgy of St Basil, prescribed for 4p.m., in the morning(!) for the desperately pressing pastoral reason of arranging more time for putting flowers in church for Pascha are becoming less prevalent.
I think much of it comes from the love that both western converts and Slavic people have for St John of Shanghai and San Francisco, who was popular during his earthly life but has become astoundingly so since his glorification in 1994. He did not mince his words when stating his position on these matters and the lasting effect of this cannot be underestimated.
'The divine services in their composition contain all the fullness of the dogmatic teaching of the Church and set forth the path to salvation. They present invaluable spiritual wealth. The more fully and precisely they are fulfilled, the more benefit the participants receive from them. Those who perform them carelessly and who shorten them by their laziness rob their flock, depriving them of their very daily bread, stealing from them a most valuable treasure. The shortening of the services which comes about through lack of strength must be done wisely and performed circumspectly in order not to touch that which should not be tampered with.' - St John
Our Eastern Catholic friends should pay heed.
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