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| Solemn Mass at Bendigo Cathedral for Christ The King - Australia |
Catholicism in Asia and in particular Southeast Asia is a great mystery to me and indeed for many Europeans and Australians. I have noted among my co-religionists that thoughts about these areas are infrequent and even rare.
Understandably the North Americans, are more inclined to concern themselves with what their brethren in Latin America are doing before casting their thought towards Asia. Certainly, it seems reasonable to suggest that Australia and New Zealand should be keenly aware and interested in what their neighbours are up to.
My experiences of the church in Asia are limited but perhaps more than many. Indeed I have noted that the faith is quite vibrant in some areas, and the laity conduct themselves with great reverence, however the liturgy that I have experience is almost universally poor (by which I mean that there is little or no attempt to adhere to the rubrics and the music is banal) and certainly not transcendent. Most of the Churches have been badly reordered with little respect for heritage - the liturgy is reverent as far as it goes but utterly bland some priests seem to regard themselves as a cast who may dispense with the rubrics that they regard as unnecessary without any respect for the right of the laity to have a liturgy that is
received rather than spontaneously achieved.
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| The will of the donors not respected. |
Perhaps worst of all is the music. The "Praise and Worship" genre has spread like wild fire - not as statement against truly sacred music like chant and polyphony but rather because it is accessible particularly for those who have little or no skill and because it has an "upbeat" happy feel about it. Of course this "upbeat" or happy feeling is incapable of variation thus the same music might be used on Easter Sunday as it might at a funeral or a wedding.
Is this simply a copying of all the worst aspects of current Western mis-practice? Or a lamentable misapplication of the Conciliar liturgical reform it's aftermath imposed upon a people who are naturally disposed towards a culture of docility towards those in authority rather than confrontation? Sadly the two are not mutually exclusive. At this stage there does not seem to have been as great a loss of faith as in the West, but indifferentism and even syncretism are on the rise.
Below are some photos of The Church of St Louis in Taiping is typical of the re-orderings that one sees in most places - all the side altars removed, the high altar removed and replaced with a liturgical wall and the a new altar placed close to the top step. The Sacrament is relegated to the side and the walls adorned with overhead projector screens to allow participants to join in the loud and heavily microphoned music - never mind the beautiful acoustic designed for singing gregorian chant.
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| High Altar replaced by a wall and a forward altar |
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| Empty spaces where altars once where |
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| Screens drawing attention away from the mysteries |
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| Altar wall serves a a billboard for diocesan events |
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| The outside of the building retains its integrity |
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| A fusion of styles based on the Romanesque |
One thing is certain if you believe the church's great adage "Lex orandi, Lex credendi" (
The way of praying gives rise to the way of believing) then you may expect to see the imminent demise, in a short space of time of what the missioners of yesteryear had toiled over and so diligently achieved as instruments of the Holy Ghost. I hope, and pray that it is not so and that under the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Ghost a genuine an authentic expression of the Catholic faith will be restored with all of it's inherent richness of tradition and the challenges which it casts before the faithful?
