“Plumber’s Work!” : Romano Guardini and Petrus Tschinkel on the Liturgical Reform

Pius Parsch

The Augustinian Canon Pius Parsch (1884–1954), of Klosterneuburg Abbey outside of Vienna, was among the greatest lights and most influential partisans of the Liturgical Movement in the mid-twentieth century. His classic work The Church’s Year of Grace appeared in many editions in Europe and in two English editions in the United States. While it is streaked with some of the poor scholarship and excessive antiquarianism of the original Liturgical Movement, this multi-volume set is generally regarded as a worthy successor of Dom Guéranger’s The Liturgical Year and Cardinal Schuster’s The Sacramentary, and an essential resource for anyone seriously interested in the traditional Roman rite. Romano Guardini (1885–1968), from the same generation, also contributed many valuable books that aimed to help Catholics better understand and assimilate the riches of the liturgical tradition, such as his short but powerful book Sacred Signs.

Parsch and Guardini both dabbled in unauthorized experiments that, in retrospect, look like anticipations of the Novus Ordo, such as celebrating versus populum and with the vernacular. Later liturgists have been only too willing to invoke them as forerunners of the new liturgy that emerged in the late sixties. It is therefore important, for the historical record, to document that one of Pius Parsch’s closest and most devoted students, Petrus Tschinkel (1906–1995), was not at all enthusiastic about the final result of the liturgical reform, and relates a first-hand experience of Guardini speaking of it in a highly dismissive manner.

Petrus Tschinkel (photo from 1958)

We are fortunate to have access to this information by way of an interview that Dr. Rupert Klötzl of Una Voce Austria conducted with Fr. Tschinkel on April 15, 1992, at Stift Klosterneuburg bei Wien. The interview was recorded and transcribed (those who are interested in either may contact me directly).

At one point Fr. Tschinkel says to Dr. Klötzl:

Pius Parsch, das kann ich sagen, wäre mit den Veränderungen der nachkonzilaren Ära in keiner Weise einverstanden gewesen. Das ist nicht das, was er gewollt hat. Jawohl—in der Muttersprache. Das ist aber alles. Aber nicht die Messe als Mysterium—als eine Wirklichkeit hic et nunc, jetzt und hier. Und die wundervollen Perikopen so gewählt, daß sie Mysterienbilder sind für das, was sich jetzt ereignet. Das war sein Anliegen.

Pius Parsch, I can say this, would not have agreed in any way with the changes of the postconciliar era. This is not what he wanted. Yes—[liturgy] in the mother tongue. But that is all. But not [changing] the Mass as a mystery—as a reality hic et nunc, here and now. And the wonderful pericopes chosen so that they are “mystery pictures” for what is happening now. That was his intention.

St. Gertrude, Fr. Parsch’s parish

A little later Fr. Tschinkel expresses his own view, which aligns with that, apparently, of Guardini:

Und diese liturgischen Formen, nach dem Zweiten Vaticanum, ist ein reiner Leerlauf: nur Texte, Texte. Von einer inneren Haltung keine Spur, vom Mysterium auch nicht. Guardini, wenn Ihnen der Name etwas sagt, den ich sehr verehre. Ich habe, das ist viele Jahre her, da hat Guardini noch gelebt, einen Priester aus München auf Besuch gehabt in St. Gertrud, der wollte St. Gertrud studieren, und da habe ich ihm gesagt - das war gleich nach dem Konzil - ja, ich habe ihm gesagt, wissen Sie, wie Romano Guardini zu den neuen Texten steht? Da sagt er, ja, das kann ich Ihnen sagen. Ich komme sehr oft mit ihm zusammen, und wie er die neuen Texte bekommen hat, hat er sie lange angesehen, ... und dann hat er zu mir gesagt: Klempnerarbeit!

And these liturgical forms, after the Second Vatican Council, are nothing but idling: only text after text. No trace of internal disposition, no trace of mystery either. Guardini—if the name means anything to you, I adore him—many years ago, when Guardini was still alive, I had a priest from Munich visiting St. Gertrude, who wanted to study St. Gertrude, and I said to him—it was right after the Council—yes, I said to him: Do you know how Romano Guardini feels about the new [liturgical] texts? He says: Yes, I can tell you that. I meet him very often, and when he got the new texts, he looked at them for a long time... and then he said to me: “Plumber’s work”!

The German word Klempnerarbeit means work done in a hasty, slipshod way, with inadequate care, and botched results. The reference to a hack plumber doing a mechanical job carries the implication that the reform of the liturgy was approached like the fixing, cutting, adapting, or welding of pieces of metal pipe, rather than as a subtle work of skill on a delicate living reality that would require holiness, discretion, and learning. Klempnerarbeit might also convey in this case a lack of aesthetic value in the misnamed “reforms.”

Fr. Tschinkel then translates Guardini’s German word into colloquial Viennese:

Ja, ich würde als Wiener sagen: Pfuscherarbeit. So ist das. Die Texte sind gewählt ohne irgend einen Zusammenhang mit dem Mysterium. Es war Pius Parsch sein Anliegen, dem Volk das Mysterium nahezubringen—jetzt und hier sich das ereignet durch die Realpräsenz Christi in der Eucharistie. Das ist Religionsunterricht. Ja, und dann muß ich sagen: In dem Punkt ist Lefebvre sicher ein Retter. Er wird eine Zukunft haben. Wäre nicht das erste Mal. Jeanne d’Arc wurde als Hexe verbrannt, später heilig gesprochen. Athanasius exkommuniziert—der große Kirchenlehrer.

Yes, as a Viennese, I’d say botched work. That’s the way it is. The texts are chosen without any connection to the mystery. It was Pius Parsch’s concern to make the mystery accessible to the people—now and here it happens through the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This is religious education. Yes, and then I must say: In this point Lefebvre is certainly a savior. He will have a future. Wouldn’t be the first time. Joan of Arc was burned as a witch, later canonized. Athanasius excommunicated—the great teacher of the Church.

According to a friend of mine in Vienna, Pfuscherarbeit means not only sloppy work but illegal work. Fr. Guardini, to the extent that he saw what was happening before his death in 1968, wrote it off as Klempnerarbeit; Fr. Tschinkel, heir to Fr. Parsch, concurred that the Bugnini reform was Pfuscherarbeit.

In the interview Dr. Klötzl also mentions Dr. Erwin Hesse, who from 1946 to 1979 was the pastor of the (current) Oratorian church in Vienna, St. Rochus. Fr. Tschinkel talks about his fondness for Fr. Hesse and their agreement with Lefebvre’s action to preserve traditional liturgy and doctrine. Fr. Hesse, in fact, taught some classes for the SSPX. It is important to realize that we are dealing here with people who studied and followed Pius Parsch — who, so to speak, inherited his mantle.

It seems to me that this is the intellectual and spiritual environment out of which we should understand Joseph Ratzinger to have emerged, as witness his elegiac remarks in the Foreword to Alcuin Reid’s book The Organic Development of the Liturgy:

The Liturgical Movement had in fact been attempting to . . . teach us to understand the Liturgy as a living network of Tradition that had taken concrete form, that cannot be torn apart into little pieces but has to be seen and experienced as a living whole. Anyone who, like me, was moved by this perception at the time of the Liturgical Movement on the eve of the Second Vatican Council can only stand, deeply sorrowing, before the ruins of the very things they were concerned for.

I would like to thank Mag. theol. Dr. med. Rupert Klötzl of Vienna, who conducted the interview with Fr. Tschinkel and sent me the transcript, for permitting the use of the quoted material and of the photos. The entire interview of 5,000 words deserves to be translated (any volunteers?).

A newspaper article from 1962, showing Fr. Tschinkel (his name is misspelled in the caption) celebrating Mass versus populum -- a favorite pseudo-antiquarian pasttime. With the wisdom of hindsight, Fr. Tschinkel later regretted the haste with which debatable theories were turned into premises for major liturgical change.

Visit Dr. Kwasniewski’s website, SoundCloud page, and YouTube channel.

Upcoming Book Launch, Lectures, and Panel Discussion with Dr. Kwasniewski in Vienna

An announcement to any NLM readers who might be able to make it to the Karlskirche in Vienna on Passion Sunday, April 2: Una Voce Austria is sponsoring an afternoon's lectures and panel discussion for the Austrian launch of the German edition of Resurgent in the Midst of Crisis. (The book will be also be launched in Germany at the Liturgische-Tagung in Herzogenrath two days before.)

Full information may be found in the two images below. The lectures will be in German while the panel discussion will be conducted in English. After a break, a special Viennese form of the Solemn High Mass, the Five Minister Mass, will be celebrated.

Una Voce Austria Interview with Cardinal Burke

In an English-language interview on Gloria TV with Una Voce Austria, recently transcribed, His Eminence Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke spoke about a variety of issues facing the Church today. What I appreciate most is the Cardinal's beautiful reflections on Catholic life as it used to be and his sober assessment of the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council. It can be tiresome to hear people go on about "how bad things were before the Council" and "how much we needed the Council." Sure, there were problems, and no one can deny it; did we ever expect the Catholic Church on earth to be free from problems? Is the fallen human race ever free of problems? But what men like Cardinal Burke help us to see is that, in fact, things were a great deal better, in general, before the Council, and that we are still very much in a rebuilding and recovery mode right now, like emergency workers after a giant earthquake or tsunami strikes.

Here are some excerpts:

          Q. Your Eminence, you grew up before the Second Vatican Council. How do you remember those times?
          A. I grew up in a very beautiful time in the Church, in which we were carefully instructed in the faith, both at home and in the Catholic school, especially with the Baltimore Catechism. I remember the great beauty of the Sacred Liturgy, even in our little farming town, with beautiful Masses. And then, I'm of course most grateful for my parents who gave me a very sound up-bringing in how to live as a Catholic. So they were beautiful years.
          Q. A friend of mine who was born after the Council used to say, "Not everything was good in the old days, but everything was better." What do you think about this?
          A. Well, we have to live in whatever time the Lord gives us. Certainly, I have very good memories of growing up in the 1950's and early 1960's. I think what is most important is that we appreciate the organic nature of our Catholic Faith and appreciate the Tradition to which we belong and by which the Faith has come to us.
          Q. Did you embrace the big changes after the Council with enthusiasm?
          A. What happened soon after the Council - I was in the minor seminary at that time, and we followed what was happening at the Council - but the experience after the Council was so strong and even in some cases violent, that I have to say that, even as a young man, I began to question some things - whether this was really what was intended by the Council - because I saw many beautiful things that were in the Church suddenly no longer present and even considered no longer beautiful. I think, for instance, of the great tradition of Gregorian Chant or the use of Latin in the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy. Then also, of course, the so-called 'Spirit of Vatican II' influenced other areas - for instance, the moral life, the teaching of the Faith - and then we saw so many priest abandoning their priestly ministry, so many religious sisters abandoning religious life. So, there were definitely aspects about the post-conciliar period that raised questions.
          Q. You were ordained a priest in 1975. Did you think that something in the Church had gone wrong?
          A. Yes, I believe so. In some way, we lost a strong sense of the centrality of the Sacred Liturgy and, therefore, of the priestly office and ministry in the Church. I have to say, I was so strongly raised in the Faith, and had such a strong understanding of vocation, that I never could refuse to do what Our Lord was asking. But I saw that there was something that had definitely gone wrong. I witnessed, for instance, as a young priest the emptiness of the catachesis. The catechetical texts were so poor. Then I witnessed the liturgical experimentations - some of which I just don't even want to remember - the loss of the devotional life, the attendance at Sunday Mass began to steadily decrease: all of those were signs to me that something had gone wrong.
          Q. Would you have imagined in 1975 that, one day, you would offer Mass in the rite that was abandoned for the sake of renewal?
          A. No, I would not have imagined it. Although, I also have to say that I find it very normal, because it was such a beautiful rite, and that the Church recovered it seems to me to be a very healthy sign. But, at the time, I must say that the liturgical reform in particular was very radical and, as I said before, even violent, and so the the thought of a restoration didn't seem possible, really. But, thanks be to God, it happened.
          Q. Juridically, the Novus Ordo and the Traditional Latin Mass are the same rite. Is this also your factual experience when you celebrate a Pontifical High Mass in the new or the old rite?
          A. Yes, I understand that they are the same rite, and I believe that, when the so-called New Rite or the Ordinary Form is celebrated with great care and with a strong sense that the Holy Liturgy is the action of God, one can see more clearly the unity of the two forms of the same rite. On the other hand, I do hope that - with time - some of the elements which unwisely were removed from the rite of the Mass, which has now become the Ordinary Form, could be restored, because the difference between the two forms is very stark.
          Q. In what sense?
          A. The rich articulation of the Extraordinary Form, all of which is always pointing to the theocentric nature of the liturgy, is practically diminished to the lowest possible degree in the Ordinary Form.
          Q. The Synod on the Family has been a shock and sometimes even a scandal, especially for young Catholic families who are the future of the Church. Do they have reasons to worry?
          A. Yes, they do. I think that the report that was given at the mid-point of the session of the Synod, which just ended October 18th, is perhaps one of the most shocking public documents of the Church that I could imagine. And, so, it is a cause for very serious alarm and it's especially important that good Catholic families who are living the beauty of the Sacrament of Matrimony rededicate themselves to a sound married life and that also they use whatever occasions they have to give witness to the beauty of the truth about marriage which they are experiencing daily in their married life.
          [...]
          Q. Most practicing Catholics in an average parish in Western Europe and the U.S. are those who were baptized and catechized before the Council. Is the Church in these countries living from her past?
          A. I think that my generation, for instance, was blessed to grow up at a time in which there was a strong practice of the Catholic Faith, a strong tradition of participation in Sunday Mass and the Sacred Liturgy, a strong devotional life, a strong teaching of the Faith. But in some way, I believe, we sadly took it for granted, and the same attention was not given to pass on the Faith as we had come to know it to the success of generations. Now what I see it that many young people are hungering and thirsting - and this already for some time - to know the Catholic Faith at its roots and to experience many aspects of the richness of the tradition of the Faith. So I believe that there is a recovery precisely of what had been for a period of time lost or not cared for in a proper manner. I think that now there is a rebirth at work among the young Catholics.

(Read more here.)