However small.
This very post, therefore, is to record one such instance. It came as a welcome surprise and perhaps also an eye-opener for anyone who witnessed the fleeting moment that occurred in the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral early on December 25th, 2014 (our bet is that not many did - and that not too many others have been made aware of it).
But first some context.
It was especially good to hear of even the smallest positive sign given last Christmas by His Grace, the Most Rev. Malcolm McMahon OP, the ninth Archbishop of Liverpool. For as later posts will make clear, Liverpolitanus' considered view, even by the end of 2014, was already one that felt justified in being distinctly anxious, and not a little confused, about the first eight months of the new archbishopric.
 |
That continues to be the case a further five months on, now that we're some 13 months into the Archbishop's leadership. That said, we're also well aware that the coming months (perhaps even by Christmas 2015) may (emphasis) actually bring significant glad tidings for those attached to the former liturgical traditions in the Archdiocese of Liverpool (we'll put it no more strongly for now).
And as also stated elsewhere, Liverpolitanus has always been well aware that certain parts of the Traditional circles in this Archdiocese have unwaveringly maintained an air of optimism throughout the last 13 months about what the future holds for this beleaguered see under His Grace – certainly as far as the pre-conciliar liturgy is concerned, anyhow. We're reserving judgment. It's hard to put a figure on the proportion of Traditionalists who have always expected good developments in this archdiocese since His Grace arrived in May 2014. A decent guess, though, is that they just about hold a majority. However, if it is a majority, then it's a slimming one. Because to put things into a truer perspective, there was once (and recall that we're only talking about 13 months here) a widespread optimism – possibly held by over 90pc of those attached to Tradition in this Archdiocese – in the opening weeks and months of His Grace's tenure. Again, this was not without justification, as will also be shown later. The original 10pc nay-sayers, who were always sceptical about what lay ahead, warned that optimistic majority – Liverpolitanus readily admits to being part of that early positivity – not to get carried away and to await the first negative signs. Sure enough, as the weeks and months passed, it started to look like the pessimists had called things correctly. As said, more of that in a future post. Safe to say, though, that in pretty quick time – less than half a year – His Grace lost the confidence of a sizeable chunk of Traditionalists in the Archdiocese of Liverpool (Liverpolitanus is not sure that the rest of the Traditional scene in England & Wales has realised that many in these parts have long since stopped riding the crest of the initial wave of optimism).
So, with context hopefully set, let's return focus to Christmas 2014.
What was it that our sources informed us about that came as such a welcome surprise and that we hold should at least be recorded here under the charity of giving credit when it's due (and possibly strengthening the view of those remaining optimists amongst archdiocesan Traditionalists)?
Well, it may sound a small matter but we're not about to casually dismiss it.
It concerned a very visible – hidden-in-plain-sight for many – reverence made by His Grace during the sung (choir and congregation) Latin Credo during the Novus Ordo (NO) Solemn Midnight Mass of the Nativity.
First things: many may correctly point to an already obvious positive insofar as the Credo was at least sung in Latin at an NO Mass to begin with. Quite. However, this has been so at the cathedral's NO Solemn Midnight Masses of the Nativity for many years (indeed most of the cathedral's Sunday NO Solemn Masses for as long as can be remembered). As, of course, should be the case (but we take our positives where we find them!). It has also always been a rubrical aspect of the cathedral's NO Solemn Midnight Mass of the Nativity that the printed A5 "missalette" booklet (produced, bespoke, for every Solemn Mass celebrated at the cathedral) clearly instructs all to kneel from the words et Incarnatus est (one of the two occasions that the General Instruction on the Roman Missal [of 1970] indicates that this reverence should be performed each year – the other being on the Feast of the Annunciation...presumably because this Mystery is less ineffable throughout the rest of the year!). Accordingly, at Christmas 2014 this fitting action was followed by all as punctiliously as ever...with one noticeable distinction. For at that moment in the Credo, His Grace, positioned atop the so-called presbyterium upon which is his cathedra, promptly turned and knelt – as indeed did one of the two deacons flanking him – ad orientem (only liturgically speaking, for he was facing north-east geographically – just to stave off any pedantry). He eschewed a posture versus populum as had been the case with his immediate predecessors, again for as long as can be remembered, and indeed as has always been assumed by those involved with the cathedral's liturgy to have been the precise "congregational" point of such a "cathedral in the round": i.e. to create a circular and unbroken community.
In other words, to use the phrase used by those so resolutely opposed to ad orientem liturgy, His Grace "turned his back" to the congregation. However fleetingly. But we'll put it a far better way: he turned to face Our Lord, Really and Truly Present in the tabernacle of the Blessed Sacrament which he usually has his back to, situated as it is to the north of the cathedral floorplan (and which theoretically should be visible to all who enter via the main south entrance of the mother church which is reached via a magnificent flight of some 60 or so steps from ground level).
Incidentally, despite the Modernist architecture of Liverpool's Catholic cathedral, there is still a discernible and logical theology regarding the siting of the Blessed Sacrament chapel (leaving aside its truly bizarre overall design - we'll get on to that one at a later point, too!): for that aforementioned grand staircase leads from the south side street up to a grand porch which, in turn, has clear sight lines right into the nave and to the main altar (see below) sited at the centre of the cathedral, above which is a circular baldacchino in a Crown of Thorns design. Directly beyond this, one should be able to clearly see (always assuming one knows what to look for) the Blessed Sacrament Chapel and tabernacle at the furthest north-eastern point (the yellow-hued space beneath the organ pipes).
One can barely make out the tabernacle any longer, however. For it has been obscured for decades by the raised podium (presbyterium) upon which the previous Archbishops' thrones (and other clerical seats) have been situated (that brownish protrusion you can see - in the image above - which appears above the sight-line beyond the main altar), and not to mention the twin 20ft vertical loud speakers and the two choir stalls behind the sanctuary which also block certain viewpoints depending on where one is positioned in the circular church. Those original, intended-to-be-uninterrupted, sight-lines have, ironically, been further obscured by His Grace since May 2014 – but with best of intentions. And credit where due on this matter, too. For rather than being enthroned (the cathedral's liturgists insist he was installed - like a kitchen cabinet) as Archbishop on the awful Habitat-esque leather armchair as used by his two immediate predecessors, he has (very appropriately) seen fit to restore an older, high-back throne (bearing his coat of arms) the type of which you'd expect to be, and want as (or should do) the cathedra for your Archbishop. You can see the throne here - on the cover of the Archdiocesan magazine, the Catholic Pictorial, heralding His Grace's arrival in May 2014 (the whole edition is available to read via Issuu).
So, His Grace turned ad orientem and knelt and faced – albeit immediately towards the back of his throne – very symbolically towards the Blessed Sacrament. Maybe some with sharp eyes wondered what he was doing. The catechetical lesson he was giving, however, and the example set, from his very cathedra, should have been clear for all to see. Certainly it was a re-assuring gesture.
The Archbishop, then, at that fleeting point in the Credo, in facing the same way as those souls in the cathedral pews, was truly setting an example of leading his flock from the front; Shepherding those present towards the Almighty, like Moses leading the Israelites faithfully ranked behind him out of exile and towards the Promised Land. Traditional Catholic liturgy, hey? Not difficult to fathom is it?
Of course, His Grace's very pointed reverence will have clashed strikingly with the overtly anthropocentric appointment of the interior of the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. But perhaps he was keen to stir a few minds last Christmas.
Much like he certainly did on Maundy Thursday in the very same place...although quite negatively, which will be the subject of another post.
Yes, we've got some backlog to clear.
Anyway, let not that passing Christmas 2014 instruction of His Grace go unrecognised.
