Despite the strong emotions unleashed by changes in liturgy, not all our differences over liturgy are equal. The fact is our differences over liturgy come in many shapes and sizes.
Many differences over liturgy, for example, are really about the psychological preferences of individual people. Such preferences remain subjective and personal. There is no right or wrong, good or bad -- these are differences we should all be prepared to live with.
People also have aesthetic differences over liturgy, rooted in different ideas of beauty and taste. Mostly such differences are purely subjective and negotiable, yet I believe there is such a thing as "bad taste."
Then there are cultural differences. These vary, not from individual to individual, but from place to place and people to people. Most of us are creatures of our own culture, and are not totally at ease with liturgy rooted in a vastly different culture. But our discomfort does not make it "bad liturgy." It simply means Catholicism is for all cultures, not just my own.
There are also differences rooted in history, and especially in historical shifts. Any historical shift requires adaptation, and some people resist any change. But the historic motives behind such changes usually outweigh personal preferences.
There are, of course, practical differences about how well historic changes get implemented. But implementation mistakes make a strong case against bad implementation--not against change itself.
This can get into subtle differences over the "pastoral effectiveness" of liturgy. Liturgy is not entertainment, and the Eucharist’s validity does not depend on the quality of its performance. But the way liturgy is performed can shape its power to affect people's lives. This involves a lot of judgment calls, where people of good will can differ -- but those judgments still must be made. For example: will the proposed new translation’s awkward language, grammar, and unscriptural references make things better or worse?
So far I’ve only noted differences based on preferences, but there are also differences over principles, and some of these are not negotiable at all. I see people debating three types of principles.
First, there are liturgical principles. These are official norms for distinguishing good (proper) and bad (improper) liturgy. Most norms are very general: Vatican II's liturgy document, for example, calls 12 times for "active participation" without getting into specifics.
Second, there are theological principles. These define the meaning and value of our worship--the very nature of liturgy, rooted in our core beliefs as Catholics. So, for example, when Vatican II declares that liturgy is the "public worship" offered by the Body of Christ to God, it leaves little room for dispute or debate. People may prefer a more solitary style of worship, and may even be permitted it under some conditions--but they have no basis for claiming their preference is a better way.
Third, there are "spiritual" principles--and here everyone agrees in principle but not in practice. No one doubts, for example, that liturgy should be "reverent," "solemn," and should impart a sense of "mystery" and the "sacred." The trouble is, people define these terms in varied, often arbitrary ways. Calling for liturgical "reverence” is common sense, but limiting that to "kneeling" is an arbitrary construction. Who is to say what our actions symbolize? The overwhelming bulk of human actions have no intrinsic symbolic meaning until someone assigns one--and if someone chose these meanings, someone can also change them.
St. Augustine gave best advice for dealing with our differences:
In necessary things: Unity;
In questionable things: Liberty;
In all things: Charity.
It may be that our theological and liturgical principles provide necessary grounds for a unified yet global Catholic liturgy, but in a Catholic tradition with 23 authorized rites, most other differences leave lots of room for freedom to follow our preferences. In any case, none of our differences justifies a failure of charity.
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