The countdown has begun. 2009 is here, and the implementation of the new General Instruction of the Roman Missal and the Ordo Missae is around the corner. You can still find the White Book version of the OM on the website of the US Catholic Conference. There you can see the significant differences between the translation we’re currently using, and the one we’ll be using in the future, and be able to imagine some of the challenges that this implementation will present.

Perhaps the most important aspect of our approach to this implementation project will be the thoughtfulness with which we prepare for it. First, we need to be very conscious of the differences between our world and the world in which the original post-conciliar liturgical  changes took place. People who lived through those transitions were, in one sense, all in the same boat. If they were church-goers—and a majority were, they had experienced the Latin Tridentine liturgy.  Together they moved from incomprehension or limited comprehension to understanding of and participation in the prayers. Bit by bit, most put down their rosaries and prayerbooks to participate vocally in the Eucharist.

Today’s “church” world is quite different. Most of the folks in our pews now have no memory of that transition: they were too young or not even born in the sixties and earlier seventies. Like some of my own generation whose sense of history only extended to the Church of the 1950s, newer generations know only the new liturgy. The shortsightedness that can accompany either view has its own challenges. Ritual change is always difficult.

Which brings us to a second issue. Unlike the generation in the 1960s that received the liturgical changes that emanated from Vatican II, this generation is much less likely to accept this change simply because it has come from ecclesial authorities. In his article “The changing face of the Catholic Church in Canada,” (p. 6) sociologist David Seljak makes this difference clear: “The ability of bishops and priests to define the religious life of parishioners has seldom been weaker.” The researcher Michael Adams, who has been tracking attitudinal changes among Canadians for many years, indicates that with every new generational cohort, the acceptance of patriarchal styles of authority continues to drop. The argument from authority is unlikely to be effective with many people. At the very least, we can expect that these changes will not be automatically accepted.

How can we proceed, then? Those of us who can should remember what happened—and didn’t happen—when liturgical changes were introduced after Vatican II . Many people recall how little explanation or catechesis was offered. Some say that they are just beginning to understand now what liturgy is all about, thanks to courses, workshops, and other possibilities for continuing formation. In other words, our liturgical renewal has been built on shaky foundations. As we prepare to renovate our “liturgical house,” we will need solid foundations on which to build.

As this new year begins, let’s resolve to become very intentional about building these foundations. People hunger for meaning— and for meaningful religious experience. Yet many—three generations, if not four—simply don’t know the basics of our sacraments and sacramental symbols. Without these basics, meaning-making—forging deep, significant connections with the mystery of God—is virtually impossible. Help people enter into the meaning of texts, gestures and actions by effective reflection on the mysteries we celebrate. Let’s resolve to help all participants understand the basics of what we’re doing, and why, when we come to Eucharist.

Let’s start that catechesis now. How? Start with the Sunday homily. The GIRM (41) permits preaching on the liturgy. At all the Masses on the Sundays when your community celebrates baptisms, preach on the baptismal identity that gives us our right and duty to participate in the liturgy. Christian Initiation, General Introduction enumerates about fourteen different aspects of baptismal identity, each of which has a number of facets. The parish liturgy committee can explore these facets and how they might be best developed. You’ll probably have enough for several years’ worth of monthly reflections—ongoing, foundational catechesis on baptism.

Using the same permission from the GIRM, select another (different) Sunday a month to preach on the liturgy. Again, the liturgy committee can help plan this process. If you want to coordinate with the scriptures of the Sunday, a topical listing such as that found in Appendix 4 of Michael Clay’s A Harvest for God might help. Or, simply choose some part of the liturgy—the communion rite, for instance—and reflect on it once a month at all the Sunday Masses. (If you choose the communion rite, you’ll get lots of help in this year’s Celebrate!, since we’re featuring a different element of it in each issue. There will certainly be enough material for twelve.) Mine the GIRM, for theological insights. Keep connecting with contemporary experience, and with the broad spectrum of the Church’s teaching and wisdom.

Building a foundation isn’t easy, and restoring one—slipping it under an existing building—is even tougher, but it’s necessary to ensure that our ongoing work of liturgical renewal will bear fruit.