 Vatican
II and Later Years"Christ accepted the curtailment of his life to achieve all: the infinite adoration of the Father, the restoration of the vast race of creatures of which he was a member… You do not come to the altar without a sacrifice of yourselves…” – Reynold Hillenbrand, 1966 |
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Hillenbrand and Vatican II Hillenbrand welcomed the reforms of the council, seeing the reforms of the liturgy as a formal recognition of the ideas he had been promoting for decades. Hillenbrand helped his own parish and others in the Archdiocese to understand the texts coming out of Rome. For years he served on the Liturgical Commission of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Though his mission to reform the liturgy had begun thirty years earlier, even in the very last years of  his
life he gave lectures at Sacred Heart parish entitled “The Main Themes of
Vatican II” and :The New Rite of the Anointing of the Sick.” Because
Hillenbrand had spent almost twenty years catechizing the parishioners of
Sacred Heart Parish, he implemented all of the Council’s changes as they
were permitted. Because of his long experience in studying and teaching the liturgy, Hillenbrand saw the liturgical reform of the Council less of a break with the past than a continuous process that had begun decades earlier. He began one lecture on the council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy by beginning with the reforms of Pius X, XI and XII. Though he emphasized that the word “participation” was mentioned 19 times in the new document, he made sure to insist the Council did not give unlimited freedoms as was claimed by some of the more zealous “reformers.” Always a loyal and devoted  churchman,
Hillenbrand opposed priests using their own unofficial translations,
deplored the lack of vestments, use of non-scriptural readings and
priests’ elimination of parts of the Mass they though irrelevant Dismissal
of papal authority and the possibility of scandal to the laity worried
always him greatly.Hillenbrand’s long view of the liturgy and staying near the heart of the Church in this liturgical meant that some thought him overly cautious, yet his approach has proved prophetic as the liturgical exaggerations of the immediate post-Conciliar years have moderated under the influence of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
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| Hillenbrand's Life of Mission Divine Life through the participation of the Mystical Body in the Liturgy Hillenbrand died in may of 1979, and like
many of the pioneer reformers of his generation, was viewed by some as
‘limited” in his ability to adapt to new theological and ecclesiological
ideas because of his strict adherence to the teaching of papal encyclicals
and official liturgical norms. The very encouragement of the laity that he
had recommended all of his life began to bear some bitter fruit as the
social upheavals of the 1960s and 70s grew into outright disobedience and
disrespect toward the Church and the Sacred Liturgy. He had faced the
organized resistance of the teachers at Sacred Heart School when he
insisted that children attend daily Mass, and was asked by some of his
closest associates to step down from his leadership positions in the
national organizations he had founded and promoted. At the end of his life
he had doubts about some of his life’s choices, thinking that he may have
wasted years of his life working with small groups instead of larger ones.
Yet Hillenbrand continued on, giving talks and addresses and promoting the
participation of the faithful in the life-giving sacraments of the Church.
–Monsignor John J. Egan,
1974 |
Always
in frail health, and living in constant pain since his 1949 car accident,
Hillenbrand’s death came at the age of 74. Great crowds of admirers, among
them the “Hillenbrand men,” so-called because they had been deeply formed
by him while in seminary and modeled their priestly lives of justice and
activism on his own. Though a man of high ideals and wide influence,
Hillenbrand’s own life remained quite humble. Though he spoke on the
liturgy frequently, he managed to spread his influenc without publishing a
single book or holding long-term academic positions at the university
level. When asked to leave his position as seminary rector, he packed and
moved quietly and obediently , telling seminarians that serving in a
parish was the goal of every priest. He continued his pioneering work in
new ways: in the parish, in diocesan groups, and in national
organizations. Yet he always remained a pastor first, teaching and
encouraging his flock to find salvation in the liturgy, the source and
summit of the Christian life.
