SL 33 (2003) 223-39 Klaus Gamber and the Post-Vatican II Reform of the Roman Liturgy by John F. Baldovin* Several hundred meters from where I sit, a Solemn High Mass according to the Missal of Pius V (the so-called Tridentine Rite) was recently celebrated at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome by the Cardinal Prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy, Archbishop Dario Castrillon de Hoyos. He was joined by six other cardinals, among them Archbishop Jorge Medina Estevez, former Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacra- ments. The recitation of the rosary preceded the Mass in a church that was filled with some three thousand people. Some reflection is clearly needed with regard to the fate of the liturgical reform. The implementation of the renewal of the liturgy mandated by Vatican II's Consti- tution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) in the late 1960s has inspired a heated debate over the nature of liturgical theology, history, and pastoral practice. The recent exchange between Pierre-Marie Gy,O.P., and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger with regard to the latter's book, The Spirit of the Liturgy, demonstrates that this debate shows no signs of coming to a conclusion in the near future.' For some time I have sensed the need for a sober assessment of the post-conciliar critics of the liturgical reform and renewal and so have embarked on a series of essays to provide (what I hope will be) a balanced critique of the critics." One of the most vocal critics of the post-Vatican II liturgical reform was the Regensburg scholar, Monsignor Klaus Gamber (1919-1989). Gamber co-founded and served as director of the Institute of Liturgical Science where he published a number of distinguished *The Revd Dr John F. Baldovin, S.J. (jbaldovin@wjst.edu), is Professor of Historical and Litur- gical Theology at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. This article was written while he was on sabbatical in Rome. I Pierre-Marie Gy, "Is Cardinal Ratzinger's L'Esprit de la Liturgie Faithful to the Council?" Doctrine and Life 52 (2002) 426, English translation of an article that originally appeared in La Maison-Dieu 229 (2002); Joseph Ratzinger, "The Spirit of the Liturgy or Fidelity to the Council: A Reply to Pierre-Marie Gy, a.p.," Doctrine and Life 52 (2002) 494, English translation of an article that originally appeared in German in Gottesdienst 36:13 (2002). 2 See John F. Baldovin, "Catherine Pickstock and Medieval Liturgy" in Clare V. Johnson, ed., Ars Liturgiae: Worship, Aesthetics and Praxis: Essays in Honor of Nathan D. Mitchell (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications 2003) 55-74. 223