Archbishop Nienstedt releases first pastoral letter

Our local archbishop has released his first pastoral letter, and chosen to do so on the liturgy. I suppose part of his emphasis coincides with the first use of the new Roman missal this weekend. Most of us are dreading what this missal will do to our experience of the liturgy. Of course, as Nienstedt points out, our “experience” should be the least of our concerns. I can’t help thinking that the hierarchy’s complete refusal to consider people’s experiences is yet one more step towards their irrelevance, but perhaps they will yet change their approach. As an alternative, I recommend Gail Ramshaw’s approach.