Beyond Pius V: Conflicting Interpretations of the Liturgical Reform by Andrea Grillo (review)

First published in 2007, Oltre Pio V was translated into English and released in 2013 as Beyond Pius V with an added fifth chapter in response to the issuance of Summorum Pontificum (July 7, 2007) and Universae Ecclesiae (April 30, 2011). Additionally, the original preface by Crispino Valenziano was replaced with an “American” edition preface.

Andrea Grillo, professor of liturgy at the Pontifical Atheneum Sant’Anselmo, provides a clear and logical approach toward the liturgical question in this 21^st century. With the sort of alarm a loving parent would have for an ailing child, Grillo matter-of-factly states that the ritual reforms and Christian formation stemming from the overall liturgical movement is at risk of being abandoned. He is not without his critics, but the point of departure is not necessarily in the assessment of the problem but in the proposal for the solution.

This past year witnessed a lively—if not heated—debate between Grillo and the noted liturgical scholar Alcuin Reid, the texts of which are easily found online.

For the sake of clarity it is important to recognize that both Grillo and Reid agree on several points including the avoidance of a liturgical-historical outlook that adopts the simplistic binary between a “dark age” and a “golden age” of liturgical practice. Also, both authors accurately describe as disappointing today’s minimal fruits of the Second Vatican Council in terms of the understanding of, participation in, and attendance at liturgical rites by the people of God. Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, both authors rightly hope for renewed emphasis upon liturgical formation of Christians since such a formation serves as the prerequisite for the active participation of the lay faithful outlined in both Mediator Dei and Sacrosanctum Concilium.

Disappointment in the fruit and fear of abandoning the project both serve as the impetus for Grillo’s current writing. And so we arrive at the point of departure: the path forward, the means by which a solution can be found. Grillo, who is not alone in this point, fears that the issuance of Summorum Pontificum and the consequent expansion of occurrences of the Extraordinary Form (and perhaps also the smaller expansion of the Ordinariate Use) only serves to distract from the important ongoing work of the liturgical movement today. Others, including Reid, place greater criticism at the reformed rites themselves and seek to focus instead on the guiding principles of the 20^th-century liturgical movement and those principles codified in the texts of the Second Vatican Council. In short, in answer to the question, do the reformed rites effectively transmit the faith and adequately inspire the modern worshiper, Grillo would heartily answer in the affirmative while others would answer with severe doubts.

Again, large agreement may exist with the diagnosis of the problem but tension exists over the path toward future vitality. Those who do not support or promote Summorum Pontificum, are concerned that the needed energy and focus for liturgical formation of hearts is distracted by a sort of “going back” to the Missal of 1962 and thus a loss of collective focus.

An important point of Grillo’s book that I hope takes on greater prominence in scholarly discussions and within the pastoral efforts of parishes and schools is that liturgical formation is as essential as liturgical research and ritual reform and that the first two stages of the liturgical movement make little sense without the third.

This third phase of the liturgical movement, in which we now live and Grillo reminds us was termed the “realistic” phase by Guardini, is as essential as the prior two stages. A distinguishing question can be posed: Is the fruit of the liturgical reform spoiled or is it simply unripe? Grillo aptly represents those scholars who answer the latter and does so rather convincingly. While disappointed in the broadened use of the Extraordinary Form the author demonstrates respect for the retired...