Bad liturgy weakens faith, two Vatican cardinals agree

(March 04, 2011) Two top Vatican officials have endorsed an Italian priest’s book that argues “liturgical abuses lead to serious damage to the faith of Catholics.” U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, the head of the Apostolic Signatura or the Vatican’s Supreme Court, joined Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship, at a press conference to release Fr. Nicola Bux’s book in Italian entitled, “How to Go to Mass without Losing Your Faith”. Father Bux, a consultant to several Vatican offices, emphasizes that the Eucharistic liturgy must be understood as the action of Christ, not that of the priest or the congregation. "If we think we are the centre of the liturgy, the Mass will lead to a loss of faith," said Cardinal Burke. Both the prelates strongly endorsed the idea that tampering with liturgical norms can cause harm to the understanding of the faithful, and undermine their relationship with the Church. “Participating in the Eucharist can weaken us or lead to lose our faith if we do not enter into it properly,” said Cardinal Cañizares.