Mass Markets and the "Liturgical Long Tail"

Abstract

Mass Markets and the "Liturgical Long Tail" Stephen Bullivant (bio) ABSTRACT This article offers a social-scientific perspective on the theme of "Liturgical Reconciliation: That They May be One." Specifically, it presents a positive case, on pastoral and evangelistic grounds, in favour of liturgical diversity. This argument applies equally to individual parishes and broader—e.g., deanery, diocesan, national, Church-wide—levels. Different, concrete factors influencing church/congregation growth or decline are delineated, and the rationale for applying economic models to thinking about pastoral life is explained. The paper introduces the concept of "the liturgical long tail," and argues for its disproportionate importance for ecclesial vitality. KEY WORDS Church growth, liturgical diversity, economics of religion, long tail, Catholic INTRODUCTION And just as, whereas stubble is naturally destructible by fire . . . if a man . . . encloses it with a quantity of asbestos, the substance said to be an antidote to fire, the stubble no longer dreads the fire, being secured by its enclosure in incombustible matter; in this very way, one may say, the body . . . [having] put on the incorporeal Word of God, no longer fears either death or corruption, for it has Life as a garment, and corruption is done away in it. —St. Athanasius of Alexandria1 [End Page 1] I present the above quotation, wherein a saintly Church Father likens Christ to asbestos(!), for two reasons. The first is simply that if, as may well be the case, you find nothing else of insight, interest, or entertainment in this paper, you will at least have gained this memorable nugget of theological trivia. (This is, I venture, a rather greater reward than some papers applying social-scientific theory to liturgical matters offer to their readers.) The second is that, over the coming pages, I will deploy a number of models and metaphors for thinking about Catholic pastoral life which people of good will can sometimes find off-putting, if not outrightly offensive. But if a Doctor of the Church can use a flame-retardant chemical to explain how, in the Incarnation, Christ clothes humanity in his eternal-flames-retardant nature, then I hope that some of my own metaphors, used for exploring links between liturgical diversity and church vitality, may be granted a prima-facie benefit of the doubt. I also note here that St. Thomas Aquinas argues, in the Summa's first few pages, that since we cannot but resort to "verisimilitudes and figures" when discussing divine matters, it is better to draw our analogies to "material things" that are furthest from the things we are trying to explain.2 This is to avoid our metaphors being misunderstood as literal descriptions. Hence no one comes away from De Incarnatione thinking that the divine nature is really a white powder with some odd properties (though they do get an analogical inkling of how the Incarnation might make possible our salvation). So too, I trust, no one will come away from this paper thinking that I really believe diocesan bishops to be area managers of Domino's Pizza. Disclaimers aside, the purpose of this article is to present a social-scientific sidelight on the theme of "Liturgical Reconciliation: [End Page 2] That They May be One."3 Specifically, I will present a positive case, on pastoral and evangelistic grounds, in favour of liturgical diversity. This will apply both to individual parishes, as well as (and more importantly) at the broader—e.g., deanery or diocesan—levels. This is important, since it may be tempting to suppose that greater ecclesial unity might best be fostered by increased liturgical uniformity. But even if that were the case, it is important to recognize the significant pastoral collateral damage that would likely accompany it. It would also, as I shall briefly explain below, be inimical to the liturgical and ecclesiological vision set out in Sacrosanctum Concilium. To make my case, I will take what is known as an economic approach to thinking about religion. While this theoretical perspective has a long history (note, for example, how many of Jesus' parables elucidate the Kingdom of God by analogy to the primary business concerns—vineyards, fishing, agriculture—of his own day), it owes much of its modern inspiration...