A Problem of Exculturation

Stephen P. White of Catholic University reflects on the difference between inculturation of Catholic liturgy in places formed by other forces and the West, where the culture was formed precisely from the Roman Rite.

“While incorporating deeply ingrained traditions, history, and culture into the liturgy is encouraged as “healthy inculturation” in some parts of the Church, the same impulse to incorporate the deepest cultural and spiritual heritage of the Latin West into liturgy is treated very differently.

“The result has been a sort of acute exculturation in the West, whereby the Church is left struggling to find something – anything – that might serve as a suitable replacement for the deepest roots of her own culture.”

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