FIUV Papers published as Lulu book

I am delighted to announce that the Introduction and first 13 FIUV Position Papers, all of which have been published here in the course of 2012, can now be purchased hard copy from Lulu, the print-on-demand publisher.

Just to remind everyone, these papers address specific aspects of the 1962 Missal, in order to articulate the value of these points of the ancient liturgical tradition. The purpose is to inform the debate about the ancient liturgy in general, and about the 'Reform of the Reform', and particularly the debate about possible revisions to the 1962 Missal. The papers seek to defend the tradition with reference to magisterial documents wherever possible, and while the papers are short (less than 16oo words) they are quite heavily footnoted, with a lot of quotations in Latin and English to back up the argument. We have covered issues such as altar girls, communion on the hand, celebration ad orientem, the use of Latin and silence, and the use of the Vulgate (as opposed to the Neo-Vulgate); they discuss the issue of adding Prefaces to the 1962 Missal, and how the Extraordinary Form can contribute to the 'new evangelisation', and a number of other topics. You can view the full set here as downloadable pdfs, but if you want to give them to an open-minded priest or friend (for Christmas, perhaps?) then you can buy this inexpensive, attractive and slim volume (125 pages).

His Excellency Archbishop Thomas Gullickson, Apostolic Nuncio to the Ukraine, who has often commented on this blog and has written guest posts here (here and here), reviewed three of these as they came out, on his own blog, Deo Volente: The Manner of Receiving Holy Communion, the Vulgate and the Ancient Latin Psalters, and the EF and Western Culture. He has very kindly agreed to endorse the book as a whole, and I paste this in below.

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From Archbishop Thomas Gullickson.

I think I would have enjoyed writing additional reviews [on the blog] and could have weighed in much more heavily on behalf of a project which has enjoyed my favour since I first became acquainted with it, namely The FIUV Papers on the Liturgy, which discuss specific issues concerning the 1962 Missal. The Papers have become one of the pillars of the internet presence of the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce.

The genius of the 13 papers, to my mind, is that they do indeed teach and quite comprehensively, offering important lessons about why we need to focus more or better on the very real issue of what to do about the rupture in the continuity of our liturgical tradition which has come to be and not through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. As important as it may be to get about the business of repairing, I find the work done by these papers to be of a prior importance to any decision about "reforming the reform" or "rebooting" after choosing a restoration point and establishing principles for the organic development of a restored Roman Rite. The FIUV Papers on the Liturgy really grapple with what the Holy Father calls the mutual enrichment of the two forms of the Roman Rite.

Without wanting to be a reductionist about assessing their worth, let me say simply that reading and ruminating over the FIUV Papers on the Liturgy could serve as a marvellous primer for anyone, clergy or laity, on how to address what often ends up being controversial, doing so in a very different and respectful manner.