Posted on 11/28/2005 12:54:43 PM PST by marshmallow
I was baptized in the Episcopal Church, and there I learned to worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. When I became a Catholic, one of the most difficult adjustments for me was learning to accept the generally wretched state of the sacred liturgy in most parishes: banal language, casual atmosphere, mediocre secular music, ugly buildings badly decorated. In all too many places, the result is simply unspeakable. But this need not be.
The Catholic Church gave us Chartres and Canterbury; she gave us plainchant and Palestrina. The Catholic Church saved the language of Cicero, and gave birth to the Christian poetry of the West. The cultural and artistic riches of the Western Church are still in our storehouse; we need only deploy them in a way adapted to the present structure of the Roman Rite.
I have been a priest for more than twelve years, and in that time I have served four parishes, one college chaplaincy, and one seminary. In all of those posts, the following characteristics were observed (mutatis mutandis), and the results were splendid. I offer these suggestions for those who seek to “re-enchant” the sacred liturgy for the purpose of leading those who worship more deeply into the Paschal Mystery.
For the building and its contents
1. The tabernacle MUST be on the rear wall of the chancel and on the central axis of the church. Putting the LORD anywhere else turns everything else on an angle, and no ideological justification will change the way in which this simple fact destabilizes the liturgy.
2. The priest’s chair should face the ambo, not the congregation, and it should ideally be located on the opposite side of the altar from the ambo. When he is seated, the celebrant (like the congregation) should be facing the proclamation of the Word of God; to have him face the people from his chair makes him the focus of attention and invites him to behave like a talk show host.
3. Right angles are preferable to oblique ones. The eye senses rest when it follows one line to a 90 degree angle with another line; it senses motion when any other angle is present. One of the reasons many of our churches do not feel like peaceful houses of prayer to most folk is that the entire building and all of its furnishings are constantly “in motion”.
4. The altar candles should rest on the mensa, not on the floor around the altar. The passion for the “naked altar” is bizarre, pagan, and antiquarian for its own sake. Yes, the rubrics do allow for the candles to be on or near the altar, but I believe that placing them on the mensa has an immediate effect towards the re-enchantment of the liturgy.
5. Avoid kitsch in all its forms, including most especially the trendy and sentimental, in decorating the church. Most churches look like someone’s Italian or Irish grandmother has just finished sprucing up the place. Is it any wonder we have such trouble convincing our men that religion is not women’s work? The sanctuary is the home of the Son of Man; let’s make it look like a place in which most men would be comfortable spending a little time.
For the sacred music
1. Stop balkanizing the Mass schedule with different types of music. This trick comes from Protestant church growth strategies, and it teaches our people that divine worship is just a matter of personal taste. Yes, progressive solemnity can distinguish one Mass from another in a large parish (low Mass, sung Mass, solemn Mass, etc.), but the basic approach to matters musical should remain essentially the same.
2. If the choir is visible to the congregation, move them to a place where they will not be. This is absolutely essential to celebrating liturgy as worship rather than liturgy as entertainment. Yes, Anglicans more or less successfully replaced priests with lay choirs in the chancel, but for several different reasons, that simply does not work in the contemporary Roman Rite. The ideal place, of course, is a loft for organ and choir at the rear of the church. Failing that, at least move them to the back of the church.
3. Sing only sacred music. Much of what is now marketed as “liturgical music” is not sacred at all, and congregations addicted to that pablum are not capable of entering the liturgy as a participation in the worship of the Heavenly Jerusalem. Sacred music is a happy marriage of text and music, and both halves are necessary to re-enchant the liturgy.
4. If you sing hymns, sing the whole hymn. Stopping after the second verse because Father is at his chair makes as little sense as reciting half the Creed. And no “closing hymn” is needed. “The Mass is ended, go in peace” means what it says. Where possible, the priest and ministers should depart the sanctuary to an organ postlude or something comparable.
5. The Anglican, Methodist, and Lutheran traditions have given us an extraordinary treasury of hymnody, most of which can be used in the Catholic liturgy with very little adaption. This music has proven itself to be durable, effective, and sacred. Do not be afraid of using hymns from this patrimony because they are “Protestant”. In truth, these texts are far more orthodox and “Catholic” than most of the tripe published by Catholics in the past two generation.
6. Plainchant was, is, and ever shall be the music best suited to the Roman Rite. Teach your musicians and your people some simple chants, and sing them well. Even those who struggle with Latin grammar will not need to be taught that this is sacred music.
For the congregation
1. Silence is indispensable. No talking before Mass. Teach them to be comfortable with prolonged sacred silences during the liturgy by explaining that we’re not just waiting for the next thing to happen; we’re waiting together for the LORD.
2. Teach them all the gestures proper to them, e.g. profound bow in the Creed, striking the breast at the Confiteor, kneeling at all appropriate times, etc. If the liturgy is just talking, talking, talking, then half the human person is left out of worship.
3.Emphasize coming early and stigmatize leaving early. Being casual about being on time renders the entire activity casual. Ditto for clothing. Same for the eucharistic fast.
4. Give constant, clear, and firm instruction about who should and who should not receive Holy Communion. Nothing desacralizes the sacred liturgy more than sacrilegious Communions, and the people need to be told this regularly. If you are not in full communion with the Church, if you are married outside of the Church, if you are in serious sin (including missing Mass on a Sunday or a Holy Day) and have not yet been to Confession: DO NOT EAT AND DRINK YOUR OWN CONDEMNATION. Reasserting that the Most Holy Eucharist is the most sacred reality on earth and not to be profaned by unclean lips will go a long way towards sorting out the McChurch atmosphere that poisons our souls.
For the priest
1. Say Mass as though the people were not present. This means that the priest is thinking about, speaking to, and turned towards the Most High God. Paradoxically, it is this benign neglect of the people that gets the person of the priest out of the way and invites the people into the most intimate participation in the sacred mysteries. This is now counter-intuitive to most priests, who were taught that their first, last and constant job is make the people “feel welcome”, but it is absolutely and unconditionally true: say Mass as though they are not there, and they will start to say things like, “That’s the first time in 40 years I feel like I’ve been to Mass.” Guaranteed.
2. Naturally, when speaking to the people, the priest must look at them. But except when speaking directly to the people, the priest’s entire attention (shown by posture, direction of eyes, etc.) must be directed away from the people and towards the Throne of Grace. For example, the Collect is not addressed to the congregation. Why face the people when you are speaking to the great I AM? And in the Eucharistic Prayer, the words “Take this all of you..” are NOT directed to the congregation, so when you say those words, Father, DO NOT look at the people. The entire Anaphora is directed to God the Father, so do not look at your congregation when you are speaking to the Ancient of Days.
3. Eliminate the words of introduction in the entrance rite. Simply cut them out completely. This little interlude is one of the worst mistakes in the 1970 Missal; it’s like pulling the emergency brake on a train moving at 80 mph: the whole thing comes crashing to a disturbing halt. Give one homily, and give it when you should … in the homily. No off the cuff remarks, no improvisation after Holy Communion.
4. To the maximum extent possible, hide your personality under the chasuble. Who the celebrant is ought to be as nearly insignificant as possible. The priest’s job is to pull back the veil between God and man and hide himself in the folds, and this task is made nearly impossible by the ever expanding personality of “The Presider” who feels compelled to intrude his personality into every part of the sacred liturgy. The people aren’t there to see us, Father, and if they like our jokes, then we can let loose at cocktail parties. But not in the liturgy.
5. Sing the liturgy. Most parishes sing around the liturgy, but the liturgy is meant to be sung. Unless a priest is truly tone deaf (and even then he can learn to sing recto tono), he should sing, at least at Solemn Masses, nearly every word out of his mouth. From “In the Name of” to “The Mass is ended” and including most especially the Eucharistic Prayer (in whole or at least the words of the institution narrative), the priest should sing the liturgy. In the Christian East, it was once clear that a man who could not sing had no priestly vocation. I wouldn’t go that far, but singing the priestly prayers is an essential part of the sacred liturgy, and when it is done well, the re-enchantment of the liturgy is literally at hand.
6. Remember that every liturgy leaves chronological time and enters kairotic time. In chronos we say Good Morning; in liturgical kairos we say Dominus vobiscum. If we do not depart from the texts of the Church, then we stand a fair chance of taking the people with us into the never ending liturgy of the New Jerusalem. This is also why SLOW walking, talking and gestures are important. Same with hiding street clothes under sacred vesture. Ditto for the athletic shoes of the altar boys.
7. Yes, that’s altar boys, not androgynous altar servers. Want to encourage young men in the parish to think about the priesthood and all the men to take seriously their responsibilities for masculine headship? Then restrict the service of the altar to boys and young men.
What’s This About?
Remember that the cult of the ugly and the mundane was forced upon the Church in the service of an ideology. And if 40 years ago there was any doubt that this ideology is the enemy of the Gospel of Christ, there can be no doubt now. A bare ruined choir is all that is left in many corners of the vineyard, but even (and sometimes especially) in the ruins, God can make all things new. In the service of this renewal, or re-enchantment:
1. Take Cardinal Mahoney’s pastoral letter on the celebration of parochial liturgy and throw it on the fire. Watch it burn. Now go take a hot shower.
2. Reject the ideology that got us here. Root and branch, cut it out of yourself. Empty seminaries, despoiled religious orders, plummeting Mass attendance, and wholesale immorality among clergy and laity alike are probably pretty good clues that the vocation to holiness which is our baptismal second birthright is getting obscured along the way.
3. Read good books that will help you understand the real nature and purpose of the sacred liturgy. Two excellent places to start are The Spirit of the Liturgy by Joseph Ratzinger (who now goes by a new nom de plum) and Looking at the Liturgy by Aidan Nichols, O.P. For the mechanics of celebration, start with Peter Elliott’s Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite and Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year.
4. Now approach the altar in spirit and truth, and worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
Fr Scott Newman is the pastor of St Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenville, South Carolina.
Yes! This is the stupidest thing I've ever seen - even if the priest says something good and meaningful, which they rarely do, it's completely out of place and unnecessary. Last week I went to a new church (in the place I just moved to, alas!) and they had everybody turn around and "greet" everybody else after this little intro. I thought maybe this was because they weren't going to do the dread "kiss of peace," but lo and behold, they did that as well. It was stupid, synthetic and embarassing.
There is NO sense of the sacred in the VII mass.
My priest doesn't do anything so stupid.
Sunday Mass starts up with an announcer telling us the number of the opening hymn, then asking us to stand. Then the procession.
then, the usual is:
(Priest) In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
(Congregation) Amen.
The Grace and Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.
Penitential Act
My brothers and sisters, to prepare ourselves to celebrate the Sacred Mysteries, let us call to mind our sins:
I confess to Almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters that I have sinned through my own fault in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do; and I ask the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, all the angels and saints, and you here present, to pray for me to the Lord our God.
May Almighty God have Mercy on us, forgive us our sins and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
Lord have mercy
Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy
Lord have mercy.
___________________________
Very dignified.
Makes a big difference.
For that matter, it's pretty much how he does it on weekdays, too.
He sings part of the mass every mass, and sings all of it during eastertide and christmastide. Now if we could just get th choir to coordinate good music that doesn't clash with a sung mass....
You are very lucky!
The strange thing about this Mass was that the priest actually began it well, very solemnly, chanting, and everybody responded the same way. And then he broke into this nonsense and it was all downhill from there. The recessional was something where he and the elderly deacon - who actually handled most of the Mass, including the dreadful sermon - went out swinging their hips and clapping.
I heard a lady go up to the priest (who is the pastor, btw) afterwards and tell him it wasn't respectful and it reminded her of the Holy Rollers, but I couldn't hear his response. I was so irritated I didn't trust myself to speak to him.
This is why we need get the seminaries cleaned up and get younger men in there, and probably older vocations who know what matters. Gen X guys tend to take it all more seriously.
My hubby and I are thinking of moving when he retires, but now I find myself looking for information about the churches in the areas we are talking about first.
And if they don't have adoration, and they don't have at least one hour of confession every week, I don't really want to go there.
Looking at the churches in an area where you are thinking of living is very important. May I ask what parts of the country you are considering?
Liturgy, as the Russians discovered in old Constantinople, is supposed to be our experience of heaven on earth.
You cite a clear abuse of the Novus Ordo:
they'll have to find another heavily Dim county
Then come up with this:
There is NO sense of the sacred in the VII mass.
Do the words non sequitur mean anything to you? The descaralizing effects of an abuse of the "VII mass" tell us nothing about the "VII mass" itself.
I agree with every word of this article. If this fine person is any indication, I think the Catholic Church will be all the richer for an influx from the Anglican world.
This:
they had everybody turn around and "greet" everybody else after this little intro.
was supposed to go where the cynical comment about 'Rat electoral machinations got pasted.
Later...
OK. I was a little puzzled about the Dims. Although no doubt that's true...
The problem with the NO is that it allows far too much room for additions, improvements, tiny touches that Father and the Eucharette think would just be too cool, etc. Actually, the other problem is that the language is leaden, the structure purposely deemphasizes the sacred dimension (even in such things as taking parts that were formerly said three times and reducing them to two, such as the Kyrie), the emphasis is horizontal, and the English "translation" stinks and is not even a translation but an agenda-motivated paraphrase. Other than that, it's great.
We may end up in Boise for awhile, which is a mixed bag...Our Lady of the Rosary which is the parish church nearest to where my house there is seems to be doing OK. They have weekly adoration (not for as many hours as we do at my parish in Ogden, but it's weekly), and the priest has over an hour each week scheduled for confession.
We were thinking about moving to Northern Mississippi, but I can tell from their web pages that the churches there are a mixed bag. I personally would like to move back to Texas, where I have family. Too soon to jump, so we'll see. I know wherever we go, the theological soundness of the bishop will matter as much as anything else!
Well, good luck! You never know...
I moved to an area with a very indifferent bishop who was replaced about four years ago by somebody who had spent most of his priestly life in Latin America. I was expecting the worst (warmed over liberation theology), and while the new bishop is very left wing and said some things on 9/11 that were so stupid I still can't forget them, he has otherwise been excellent. He's very pro-life and orthodox, and very family-focused. However, he's not very interested in liturgy, and lets all kinds of things go on here - although when he receives complaints about really awful things, such as "Futurechurch" coming to put on a show, he puts a stop to them.
The Cathedral was where I attended the Mass I described in my earlier post - not truly offensive and heretical, but just silly and unintentionally irreverent. But tonight, I was truly stunned by the complete opposite. I went to a Holy Hour that they were having to commemorate the anniversary of their institution of daily Adoration at a chapel near the Cathedral, and the priest was completely and utterly traditional, in the best sense of the word. He was youngish, very reverent, obviously intelligent and well educated, gave a brief but excellent homily, heard confessions for half an hour, and then did the Benediction - in English and Latin!
So you never know. Sometimes things can start out a little rocky and then improve, and I think this is something that will be happening more and more often under this Pope. Orthodox and devout people are being encouraged to come forward and to encourage others, and I think we are verging on a sort of renaissance of good practice and orthodox teaching. I don't think it's going to be easy, and I don't think it's going to be unopposed, but I'm feeling more hopeful than I have for a long time.
And yes, I agree, if you can find a place with Adoration, they are probably on the right track!
Could you handle MI?
http://www.saintcyrils.org/
We are very blessed with a reverent NO with Latin and Greek.
Ping to self so I can print this out later! The priest at the church I finally wound up in after years of searching would love this. He just moved the Tabernacle back to the altar. It's a good start!
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