School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemMass performances: a study of eucharistic ritual in Australian catholic culture 1900-1962( 2003)This thesis explores the performance of eucharistic ritual within Australian Catholic culture between 1900 and 1962, focusing specifically on the archdioceses of Melbourne and Adelaide. It forms part of an increasing interest within Australian Catholic historiography towards questions of spirituality and ritual practice. By paying close attention to a variety of 'eucharistic' rituals - the mass, extra-liturgical rituals such as Benediction and the Forty Hours' Prayer, efforts to encourage frequent communion and earlier first communion, eucharistic congresses, and various expressions of liturgical renewal such as dialogue masses and congregational singing - this thesis has sought to elucidate the nature of Catholic worship in Australia during the pre-Vatican II era. Using performance theory and, in particular, 'framing' theory, this thesis argues that while the basic form governing eucharistic ritual did not change, multiple ritual frames were operating which significantly altered and re-fashioned the nature of the ritual activity. Through the operation of these differential frames, eucharistic ritual became a powerful instrument in the Australian church's re-negotiation of modernity during the early-to-mid twentieth century. In particular, the thesis identifies two key paradigm shifts within Australian Catholic culture where eucharistic ritual played a decisive role. The first - the cultivation of an 'interior life' through which the church encouraged Catholics to separate from the world and give priority to securing a place in the world to come - began in earnest in the nineteenth century, but was most effectively continued in the twentieth century through the re-framing of eucharistic ritual as an inward-looking spirituality. This process was championed through two key movements: a 'eucharistic' movement which emphasised devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and an early liturgical movement linked to the pontificate of Pius X. The second key paradigm shift - the expression of a more 'explicit' faith - represented a complex development in Australian Catholic culture, evident from the late 1920s and 30s. On the one hand, the outward reorientation of the eucharistic movement, expressed principally through the staging of eucharistic congresses, represented a 'defensive offensive' in the cause of the interior life. In the context of growing alarm over secularism and communism, the church cultivated a more aggressive and triumphalist ritual culture. On the other hand, the outward reorientation of the liturgical movement witnessed the emergence of a more progressive and lay-centred approach to the church's apostolic mission in the world. Through active participation in the liturgy, the laity were called to share in the re-Christianising of society.