Reynold Hillenbrand: The Reform of the Catholic Liturgy and the Call to Social Action by Robert Tuzik

Abstract

95 Book Reviews liberation theology to illustrate Ratzinger’s predilection for culture and aesthetics is one unfortunate parallel. Although Ratzinger never developed a systematic response to the problem of history in the realm of ontology, Rowland has successfully mined the vast corpus of Ratzinger’s work, which she describes as “seminal interventions in theological debates thrown up by pastoral crises” (1), to highlight both his criticisms of postmodernity and his theological response to its most pertinent challenges. Rowland argues that Ratzinger’s pontificate aims to heal “the fractures of the sixteenth century and offer a sustained intellectual response to the nihilist wing of nineteenth century Romanticism which reached its extreme in the Nazi death camps” (154). By confronting nihilist Romanticism with “the Catholic wing of the Romantic tradition” (23), Benedict seeks to heal the crisis of culture with its only possible remedy: the timeless spiritual vigor of Christianity. David G. Bonagura, Jr. Seminary of the Immaculate Conception Huntington, NY Robert Tuzik Reynold Hillenbrand: The Reform of the Catholic Liturgy and the Call to Social Action Chicago/Mundelein IL: Hillenbrand Books, 2010 xi + 226 pages. Paperback. $22.00 In this biography of Monsignor Reynold Hillenbrand (19051979 ), Father Robert Tuzik offers an important look back to the relatively recent past in the hope of speaking to the present age. Priest, pastor, seminary rector, social justice advocate, leader of the Liturgical Movement in the Archdiocese of Chicago, and namesake of the publisher of this volume, Hillenbrand remains relevant more than thirty years after his death. Reynold Hillenbrand: The Reform of the Catholic Liturgy and the Call to Social Action (hereafter RH), a revised version of Tuzik’s doctoral dissertation (1989), is a welcome addition to the history of liturgical renewal leading to the Second Vatican Council; it stands as a clear reminder of the necessary connection between worship and social justice. RH consists of nine chapters, divided into two parts. The first part, “The Historical Evolution,” is the more properly biographical portion of the book, tracing Hillenbrand’s formation and activities in four chronological chapters. The second part, “Hillenbrand’s Liturgical Theology: Influences and Development,” is more thematic, and 96 Antiphon 15.1 (2011) explores such topics as social justice, lay spirituality, and parish life. Tuzik has crafted a balanced assessment of his subject: “a genuine apostle, a man who believed the Gospel, preached what he believed, and practiced what he preached,” while also demonstrating “abrasive , inconsistent leadership” (90). Ultimately, Tuzik can write that Hillenbrand “had a fruitful ministry. Yet, like all people, he had his drawbacks. By stubbornly holding to one methodology… he eventually lost his position as a leader of the Modern Church during the post-conciliar era” (187). RH is very clearly written, even though at times (particularly in the first part of the book) the prose has a utilitarian feel to it. Its clarity is due, in no small part, to the excellence of the archival research presented here. Tuzik has mined a great wealth of data to present much hitherto unpublished material from the hand of this important liturgical reformer. History is less concerned with the collection of facts than with their arrangement. For all the details that Tuzik has packed into RH, he might have availed himself of more sources published since his 1989 dissertation. Keith Pecklers’ The Unread Vision: The Liturgical Movement in the United States of America: 1926-1955 (Liturgical Press, 1998) and Kathleen Hughes’ The Monk’s Tale: A Biography of Godfrey Diekmann, O.S.B. (Liturgical Press, 1991) would have been welcome additions to Tuzik’s substantial and otherwise thorough bibliographies. RH has been published at an important point in the contemporary life of the Church. Hillenbrand, guided particularly by Pope Pius XI’s encyclical Quadragesimo Anno (1931), worked diligently in the context of the Great Depression for a synthesis between liturgy and social justice. Even in 1956, as this connection was being increasingly set aside in the United States, Hillenbrand continued to argue that “the fact that the Mass is an action should drive us to apostolic action. Otherwise, we leave our religion, and the greatest thing it has, Mass, in the realm of the ‘purely spiritual,’ with no resulting action” (108...