The Mass Isn't Entertainment, Says Cardinal Arinze (favors Gregorian Chant, or does he?)

VATICAN CITY, NOV. 16, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Mass is a moment of reflection and encounter with God, rather than a form of entertainment, says Cardinal Francis Arinze.

In an interview with Inside the Vatican magazine, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments made a comprehensive assessment of the recent Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist and of developments in liturgical practice 40 years after the Second Vatican Council.

Regarding "music in the liturgy, we should start by saying that Gregorian music is the Church's precious heritage," he said. "It should stay. It should not be banished. If therefore in a particular diocese or country, no one hears Gregorian music anymore, then somebody has made a mistake somewhere."

However, "the Church is not saying that everything should be Gregorian music," the cardinal clarified. "There is room for music which respects that language, that culture, that people. There is room for that too, and the present books say that is a matter for the bishops' conference, because it generally goes beyond the boundaries of one diocese.

"The ideal thing is that the bishops would have a liturgical music commission which looks at the wording and the music of the hymns. And when the commission is satisfied, judgment is brought to the bishops for approval, in the name of the rest of the conference."

What should not be the case, insists the Nigerian cardinal, is "individuals just composing anything and singing it in church. This is not right at all -- no matter how talented the individual is. That brings us to the question of the instruments to be used.

"The local church should be conscious that church worship is not really the same as what we sing in a bar, or what we sing in a convention for youth. Therefore it should influence the type of instrument used, the type of music used."

Suitability

"I will not now pronounce and say never guitar; that would be rather severe," Cardinal Arinze added. "But much of guitar music may not be suitable at all for the Mass. Yet, it is possible to think of some guitar music that would be suitable, not as the ordinary one we get every time, [but with] the visit of a special group, etc."

"The judgment would be left to the bishops of the area. It is wiser that way," he pointed out. "Also, because there are other instruments in many countries which are not used in Italy or in Ireland, for instance.

"People don't come to Mass in order to be entertained. They come to Mass to adore God, to thank him, to ask pardon for sins, and to ask for other things that they need."

"When they want entertainment, they know where to go -- parish hall, theater, presuming that their entertainment is acceptable from a moral theological point of view," added the cardinal, 73, who this year celebrated the 40th anniversary of his episcopal ordination.

The synod

In the course of the interview, Cardinal Arinze, who in the recent Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist was one of the delegate presidents, subsequently made a summary of this ecclesial event which gathered 252 bishops.

Speaking of the positive points of the synod, the cardinal said there were many: "Strengthening our faith in the holy Eucharist. No new doctrine, but freshness of expression of our Eucharistic faith. Encouragement in the celebration in the sense of good attention; a celebration which shows faith."

"The synod thanked priests for their ministry and also deacons and others who assist at the celebration of Mass, and underlined the importance of Eucharistic adoration outside Mass which has its fruits in the Mass itself because the Mass is the supreme act of adoration," he continued.

"But the sacrament does not finish after Mass," the cardinal observed. "Christ is in the tabernacle to be brought to the sick, to receive our visits of adoration, praise, love, supplication. The synod fathers did not only talk about adoration -- they did adoration, every day. Christ exposed in the monstrance in the chapel near the Synod Hall, one hour in the morning, one hour in the afternoon."

"The synod also stressed the importance of good preparation for the holy Eucharist; to receive Communion," he noted. "Therefore, confession of sins, for those who are in mortal sin and in any case encouraging the sacrament of penance as a way of growing in fidelity to Christ. And also that not everybody is fit to receive holy Communion, so those who are not fit should not receive."

Protestant view

Referring to a negative tendency in the Western world, the cardinal revealed that an increasing number of Catholics have "a more Protestant concept of the Eucharist, seeing it mainly as a symbol."

The "synod fathers recognize that many Catholics don't have correct faith in the real presence of Christ in the holy Eucharist," he said. "This was mentioned in one of the propositions as well.

"It was recognized so much that many of the synod fathers suggested that there be themes suggested for homilies on Sundays. Seeing that for many Catholics the Sunday homily is about the only religious instruction they get in a week, the synod fathers suggested that the four major areas of Catholic faith should be covered by the homily in a three-year cycle."

The four areas correspond to the parts of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

"First part, what we believe," Cardinal Arinze said. "Second part, how we worship, i.e., sacraments. Third part, what we live, life in Christ, so the moral law, the Ten Commandments, the Christian life lived; and the fourth part, prayer."

Therefore, "although the homily should be on the Scripture readings and the other liturgical texts, some way has to be found to cover the whole area of Catholic faith in a period of three years because many Catholics are really ignorant of fundamental matters. That is a fact nobody can deny."

Showmanship

"Vatican II brought many good things but everything has not been positive, and the synod recognized that there have been shadows," Cardinal Arinze acknowledged.

"There has been a bit of neglect of the holy Eucharist outside Mass," he said. "A lot of ignorance. A lot of temptations to showmanship for the priest who celebrates facing the people.

"If he is not very disciplined he will soon become a performer. He may not realize it, but he will be projecting himself rather than projecting Christ. Indeed it is very demanding, the altar facing the people. Then even those who read the First and Second Reading can engage in little tactics that make them draw attention to themselves and distract the people.

"So there are problems. However, some of the problems were not caused by Vatican II, but they were caused by children of the Church after Vatican II. Some of them talking of Vatican II push their own agenda. We have to watch that. People pushing their own agenda, justifying it as the 'spirit of Vatican II.'"

The Vatican prefect continued: "So, if only people would be more faithful to what has been laid down, not by people who just like to make laws for other people, but what follows from what we believe. 'Lex orandi, Lex credendi.' It is our faith that directs our prayer life, and if we genuflect in front of the tabernacle it is because we believe that Jesus is there, and is God."

Abuses not new

Contrary to what many think, he said, "even when there was the Tridentine Mass there were abuses. Many Catholics did not know, because they did not know Latin! So when the priest garbled the words, they were not aware of this.

"Therefore, the most important area is faith and fidelity to that faith, and a faithful reading of the original texts, and their faithful translations, so that people celebrate knowing that the liturgy is the public prayer of the Church."

Cardinal Arinze concluded that the liturgy "is not the property of one individual, therefore an individual does not tinker with it, but makes the effort to celebrate it as Holy Mother Church wants. When that happens, the people are happy, they feel nourished. Their faith grows, their faith is strengthened. They go home happy and willing to come back next Sunday."

The Mass is a moment of reflection and encounter with God, rather than a form of entertainment,

This is a big issue with me. I've walked out of churches when the priest started "performing" the mass. Obviously, they were gay priests. Maybe guys who couldn't make it on Broadway are drawn to the priesthood.

Arinze is awesome; but I wish he wouldn't leave us at the mercy of the bishop's conferences. I wonder if the Vatican is even aware of how nutty the USCCB has become. If everything's left up to that conference, the changes Arinze would like to see in the liturgy will never become a reality in this country :-(

This subject came up a little while ago and I expressed sincere shock about priests ' entertaining ' the parish. I had never seen this before. Well...now I have.
The usual Priest was not in attendance at the 5:00 Pm Saturday service and sure enough I was lost trying to follow the guest priest. It was completely different than the usual service which I enjoy so much.
At one point during the process of blessing the wine and bread the priest cracked
" What? Am I puttin ya to sleep out there? "
I think one person laughed. There was some uncomfortable muttering and I was just angry.
During the sermon he walked up and down the aisle of the church. I'm not even going to get into the sermon.
It really was uncomfortable.
Oh yes, there was also the ' please turn to your neighbor and greet them ' and the ' now lets join hands for the words Our father left us '
I always sit on the left hand side of the church by myself. No one else sits where I sit and I like it that way.
Mass for me is usually a deeply intense and personal experience for me and I wish to be alone in my devotion.
Its important to me.
I don't wish to laugh at wise cracking and disrespectful ' hip cat ' young priest.
I think the Pope would have a real eye opening experience if he saw what the heck passes for Mass in America. This is one young man who wishes they'd toss out most of Vatican II.

"The ideal thing is that the bishops would have a liturgical music commission which looks at the wording and the music of the hymns. And when the commission is satisfied, judgment is brought to the bishops for approval, in the name of the rest of the conference."

In actuality, the ideal thing would be for the Roman Church to promote the High Mass mentality, favoring the proper antiphons over the hymns that overwhelmingly substitute them, and for composers to set these texts (in Latin or the approved vernacular) to suitably holy music - whatever that may mean.

The moving away from High Mass as the goal has done plenty to dis-integrate the Latin Rite in practice. To substitute the prescribed canonical Scripture (as most antiphons are psalms or Gospel texts) with psalm paraphrases or lyrics of questionable theology is like substituting the Gospel reading with a speech by Martin Luther King or somesuch. It smacks of anything from ignorance to arrogance of the worst sort.

Look in your throwaway missalettes this weekend (if you attend such a church) - these texts are there as the "Entrance Song" and "Communion Song". Yes, they're supposed to be set to music. The only place where all of them are set to music? The chant books, naturally.

When the powers-that-be address fidelity to all liturgical texts - including the much-neglected proper antiphons - and an authentic liturgical spirit, then I will take notice. Until then, these comments strike me as more of the same old, same old.

The quoted solution would do nothing more than entrench the Low Mass mentality and further remove the liturgy from the liturgical movement of the 20th century (to 1962).

A lot of temptations to showmanship for the priest who celebrates facing the people.

I think making the priest turn around and celebrate ad orientem, as prior to VatII, would be the single biggest thing they could do to remedy the situation. It would also be the simplest. It's hard to be a vaudeville star with your back to the "audience."

Of course, my feeling is that the entire NO should be scrapped and replaced with a slightly revised version of the Tridentine Rite, partly in Latin and partly in the vernacular of the particular country. That would stop Father Comedian dead in his tracks!

While the state of the Latin Rite liturgy in the West is truly dismal, I find it awesome that God has provided us with such an amazing man as Cardinal Arinze as Prefect of Divine Worship. When you look at the Cardinal's life, can there be any doubt that Divine Providence has worked to place him where he is? He was born into very rural Nigeria and converted to Catholicism at age 9. Then, he went on to become a priest, bishop, cardinal, and prefect!

"In actuality, the ideal thing would be for the Roman Church to promote the High Mass mentality, favoring the proper antiphons over the hymns that overwhelmingly substitute them, and for composers to set these texts (in Latin or the approved vernacular) to suitably holy music - whatever that may mean."

In Orthodoxy we have maintained precisely that "mentality". The Divine Liturgy is sung, without random hymns. What we sing are the prayers of the Liturgy. There are those Orthodox, converts and some cradle who for whatever reason spent time in Protestant churches, who say they miss the hymns of their old churches or assemblies and have pushed for "singing real hymns". This hasn't and won't get anywhere however there are instances when some idiot priest will allow it at, say, a wedding or a funeral. This happened recently in this metropolis and the scandal is still reverberating. I understand that priest is in, finally thank God, big trouble.

I think making the priest turn around and celebrate ad orientem, as prior to VatII, would be the single biggest thing they could do to remedy the situation.

The hard part of this would be explaining the reasons to congregations everywhere. I've heard some incredibly ignorant comments from the people in the pews about "turning the altar around". The whole concept of offering the sacrafice just doesn't seem to be there.

I read someplace (here?) today that there was a suggestion from the Synod that the clergy devote their homilies over the next four years to a cycle of explanations of Catholic doctrine and practice. It's certainly much needed!

Sadly, in many cases, if the clergy had to give these explanations, they'd be learning about the subject for the first time themselves. I don't know what it is they do in seminary now, but they certainly don't seem to learn much about Church doctrine or history while they're at it.

Still, when I recall how abruptly the VatII changes were introduced (even against the will of a large part of the people and clergy), I don't see why the Vatican is now powerless to simply lay down the law, demand a change in practice, and then start teaching on the basis of that change. It could be a sort of jump-start to the whole cycle of teaching.

"The Mass is a moment of reflection and encounter with God, rather than a form of entertainment, says Cardinal Francis Arinze."

Exactly! Those words should be branded on every cathedral and parish, on the forehead and hands of every priest, bishop, etc. Or to paraphrase the good Cardinal Arinze in my own lingo: "The Mass is about God, not a boogie-woogie session."

People don't come to Mass in order to be entertained. < Try telling that to the catholics who have totally misunderstood 'ecumenism' and often attend services at Evangelical Christian Churches.

Amen to that. And then, little by little, surprise! Some of these same people find the Evangelical services more 'fun' and stop attending the Catholic Church altogether. One formerly local priest often attended Evangelical services with them. And in his attempts at Ecumenism, tossed out everything remotely Catholic at the ecumenical prayer services at the request of a local Baptist minister, who was clearly 'playing' him. I don't know how many Catholics left because of his misjudgements.

"Sadly, in many cases, if the clergy had to give these explanations, they'd be learning about the subject for the first time themselves. I don't know what it is they do in seminary now, but they certainly don't seem to learn much about Church doctrine or history while they're at it."

Better now than later, or never. But with the state of liturgical fluency, such homilies would need to be scrutinized heavily.

It is irksome (to say the least) to ponder the possibility that this non-degreed college dropout possesses greater fluency in liturgical music praxis and Gregorian chant interpretation than the average parish priest, or the average degreed organist or choir director.

Actually, even had you wanted to get a degree in these things, it would have been hard to get the proper material. Some of the worst folks in the church music biz have degrees up the yin yang and they actually learned all that garbage in the course of obtaining their degrees.

My sister considered a number of programs but they were all so abysmal that she decided just to work her way in without official church musician or liturgist credentials. She is an organist, choir director and harpist, and finally just got a job as the assistant music director at the church where she has been playing. I suspect a lot of good people are having to do it that way.

The sad thing is that a number of the clergy are actually very interested in learning more about liturgy - I know one young priest who is busy teaching himself Latin - but they have nobody to turn to. The seminaries failed, the laypeople they have hired as "liturgists" (hate that word!) have equally crummy formation, and even with all the good intentions in the world, they are left without support or guidance.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.