Narcissism, Priestly Style

With a swing of the thurible to Carl Olson at Ignatius Insight, he points readers to the following article on priests and narcissism:

Much of this change was long attributed to the “Spirit of Vatican II”, but in fact, our point is that the secular and narcissistic spirit of the times lies beneath these liturgical irregularities. This secular spirit, as described by Lasch, was explicitly self-indulgent and self-aggrandizing. The rationale of those who personalize the liturgy is clearly one that rejects the Church’s history and tradition — just as society in general has rejected its past. This is easily seen in the frequent neglect and sometimes even explicit disparagement of the Church’s liturgical tradition by those who should be most closely wedded to the Church — priests.

The article is a good read about how the underlying the narcissism of the wider culture has infiltrated its way into the ranks of the clergy. The authors (a father and son team, one a psychologist, one a brother and seminarian) point to the psychological aspects that help spur the advent of the 'happy, clappy Mass,' as some call it.