Thursday, March 07, 2013

Next Up, Sri Lanka?


'Liturgy and rites'...

From the Associated Press:
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — In one of his first appointments as pope, Benedict XVI picked a Sri Lankan archbishop to return to the Vatican for a top post overseeing the church's liturgy and rites. 
The choice of Malcolm Ranjith in 2005 rewarded a strong voice of tradition — so rigid that some critics regard it even as backward-looking. 
And it came as the church increasingly grappled with a critical question for the future: How much innovation can be allowed to cater to developing world congregations with fast-growing flocks? ... 
"The Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith's leadership quality is fantastic, excellent, and very specially the sermons," said Vijitha Ariyaratna, who works at a Colombo church. "The homilies are down to earth, they are simplified. I really admire him." 
Ranjith, however, has also earned detractors for his strong affinity for traditions in worship, such as the Latin Mass, that others have left behind. 
In 2009, he banned lay deacons from preaching in the Colombo archdiocese and required that Holy Communion only be offered to those kneeling and the communion wafer placed directly on their tongue — a style that has been abandoned by many parishes in the West.

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