Societas Liturgica Presidential Address 2021

Abstract

The 2021 Congress of Societas Liturgica found the Society operating in new territory, as it embarked on its first online gathering. The presidential address sought first to acknowledge the pressures and difficulties experienced in different ways by participants all over the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. It went on to reflect on the Congress theme—Liturgy and the Arts. While enormous practical and financial limitations have been placed on the arts, including the liturgical arts, in recent times, new possibilities have been discovered. These include new ways of paying attention, not least, thanks to digital means. While some worshipping communities may choose to abandon many of the elements of pre-pandemic liturgy, others will continue to draw on the riches of tradition. In these conditions, there is a need for the kind of intelligent openness that both recognizes the potential for transformation in ordinary things and makes space for the transformative power of extraordinary things.