Is a Menu approach to liturgics wise?

Father Michael Johnson: There are some, of course, who will point out that there was considerable liturgical diversity in the early Church – and therefore, why is such diversity not possible and even desirable today? There was indeed considerable liturgical variation from one pl ace to another in ancient times. The reason for this was the simple fact that the average person never got more than 25 miles from his place of birth and communications from one place to another were slow and difficult. Under such circumstances, liturgic al diversity was a natural development and hardly a problem. Today, by contrast, we live in what has been called a “global village” where communications are instant and American families often move several times, from one state to another, while their chi ldren are growing up. Everything in our environment argues for greater uniformity in liturgical practice.

The Priest. A Newsletter for the Clergy of the Diocese of San Francisco. Issue No. 5, May 1996