A few weeks ago, we noted the excellent series on liturgy being written by Bishop Slattery of Tulsa and published in the diocesan paper. The Curt Jester has taken what I believe is the latest letter and, as he said, "freed" it from evil pdf format and offers it in a blogpost.

All of these ideas and corrections which I have offered these past weeks regarding silence, music and prayer may seem superficial given the great problems confronting the universal Church today and even considering what we must do as the local Church in Eastern Oklahoma if we want to bring the message of Christ to everyone here.

Not only may these issues seem superficial, but I am also aware that some may perceive me as being overly concerned with rubrics and the details of the liturgy, even to the point of missing the larger picture, judging my pastoral concerns as the preoccupation of a liturgical curmudgeon. But if I must defend myself, let me say that I insist on these points for the simple but profound reason that I am concerned lest our people be denied what is their proper inheritance, their birthright as Catholics, that is, the complete and correct understanding of the Mass as a real sacrifice by which they are given access to share in the unique, unrepeatable and all sufficient historic sacrifice of Christ on Calvary.

Distractions, the loss of silence and the various liturgical imbalances of which I have spoken are all partly to blame for a whole generation of Catholics who have gradually lost their understanding that the Mass is the true Sacrifice of Christ. But these problems are not the only reason why Catholics no longer see that there is an intrinsic and necessary link between the Mass and their salvation. As critical as these problems are, even more critical to us as a diocese as we respond to the Synod’s call for a restoration of the Lord’s Day is recovering our sense of personal sin which many of us seem to have lost.