Liturgical Observations on the Second Vatican Council by a Forgotten Catholic: The Old Catholic Observer’s Perspective on the Liturgical Developments at the Second Vatican Council

Abstract

At the Second Vatican Council liturgy proved to be of paramount importance, both for council fathers and observers. This paper explores the observations made by the Old Catholic observer (and his substitutes) at the Second Vatican Council concerning both the liturgical practice and discussions about the renewal of the liturgy. It demonstrates that the three men involved are keen participators in the liturgical life at the council: they seek to relate this life to the direction that the council is taking, both devotionally and ecclesiologically, and they attempt to consider it in relation to the Old Catholic liturgical and ecclesiological tradition, while noting mutual convergence with the ecumenically composed 'liturgical movement'. The paper uses new source material, in particular the personal papers of the primary Old Catholic observer, the Dutch seminary professor Peter J. Maan (1913-1993), rector of St. Gertrud’s Cathedral, Utrecht. Comments by his two substitutes, the German professor Werner Küppers (1905-1980) and the Swiss priest Herwig Aldenhoven (1933-2002), are also included into this study.