Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas: What’s Really Needed for a “Eucharistic Revival”? 

Our American bishops, rightly concerned about the widespread loss of faith in the Most Holy Eucharist, have launched a three-year “Eucharistic revival.” All the teaching, preaching, and programs in the world, however, will avail little to nothing if we don’t address the root causes of the unbelief, namely, that the signs and symbols of the Sacred Liturgy no longer support the teaching.  So herewith is a “modest proposal” to reverse this problem.

Loss of Latin: The Council Fathers opened up the possibility for greater use of the vernacular (e.g., in the Scripture readings, prayer of the faithful), but they were quite clear that Latin should not only be retained in the liturgy but that the faithful ought to be able to respond to the Latin prayers and sing the venerable Gregorian chants.  Every major religion retains a place of honor for a sacral language, lest the pedestrian override the sacred. Banishing Latin has also contributed to the “balkanization” of parishes as various ethnic groups split off into their separate communities. …