We need both

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

During the Second Vatican Council and in the 40 years since its adjournment, two words have been used as shorthand to describe the council's aims of reform and renewal: ressourcement and aggiornamento.

Ressourcement, a French word, means a return to the sources. Aggiornamento, an Italian word associated with Blessed John XXIII, who called the council, means updating or modernizing.

These concepts are commonly viewed as polar opposites. They also are often seen as conservative (ressourcement) versus liberal (aggiornamento). And sadly, that's how they've often played out.

A better approach would be to see them not as either/or, but as both/and. When the latter approach has been used, we've had some of the greatest successes in the reforms spawned by Vatican II. Consider, for example, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. It restored, with modern modifications, the ancient practices of preparing and receiving individuals into the church. The result has been an enrichment in the faith and practice of the entire parish community as they journey with the Elect on the road to the Easter Vigil.

The use of the vernacular in the liturgy could also be seen as both ressourcement and aggiornamento since it involved both updating the way we worship and recapturing the reality that the Mass was originally said in the language of the people - first Aramaic, then Greek and eventually Latin.

Recently, there have been discussions in some circles of having the priest turn his back to the people during at least the consecration portion of the Eucharistic Prayer so that priest and people are facing the same direction. The aim would be restoring the idea of priest and assembly both facing East - the biblically symbolic direction of the Lord's coming. The problem with that idea is that it reflects a practice that started in the 4th century with the construction of large churches and the liturgical changes that followed. It certainly would not have been the practice in the small, intimate house churches used until then.

The best models we have for showing how to combine ressourcement and aggiornamento are Jesus and St. Paul. Jesus said he came not to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfil them. This fulfillment involved an updating - new wine in new skins - to capture both the spirit of the law and to set the bar higher - not just a covenant of laws, but a new relationship of love - for friend and enemy alike - in God.

St. Paul spoke of handing on the teachings he had been given, but also changed some basic practices, most especially in not requiring Gentile converts to Christianity to follow certain strict Jewish practices.

We, like Jesus and Paul, need to seek that balance so that we can bring about change while remaining true to our roots.