The first completed work of the Second Vatican Council was precisely the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium). For, as Pope Paul VI said: “The liturgy was the first subject to be examined and the first too, in a sense, in intrinsic worth and in importance for the life of the Church.”
In Malta, besides the Inter-Diocesan Liturgical Commission, we have the Secretariat for the Liturgy “to promote the liturgy in the parishes through Parish Liturgical Commissions”. I do not intend to enter into the merit of these parish commissions and how efficient or otherwise they are.
I just want to point out that in the Church there are individuals who, from time to time, perceive liturgical abuses in our churches and try to remove them but find no backing from the Secretariat for the Liturgy despite the fact that its primary aim is precisely to “promote the liturgy in parishes”.
Of course, not all complainants are right in their criticism, judgements and suggestions but all deserve at least a satisfactory answer from the Secretariat. Not to answer – to put it politely – demonstrates dormancy.
On one occasion, when I was hearing Mass in a parish church in the northeast of Malta, I noticed some serious liturgical breaches. After Mass, I approached a person who seemed to be one of the parish organisers and pointed out to him these irregularities. I was astonished by his answer: “In this church liturgical abuses are the order of the day.”
The Secretariat must have the liturgy at heart and see that the liturgical rules issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments are being observed. When it receives a just complaint, it should contact, under the direction of the Archbishop, whoever is responsible for such breaches.
The Secretariat represents the Archbishop within the remit of the liturgy. “It is the right of the Christian people themselves that their diocesan bishop should take care to prevent the occurrence of abuses in ecclesiastical discipline, especially as regards the ministry of the word, the celebration of the sacraments and sacramentals, the worship of God and devotion to the saints (Redemptionis Sacramentum).”