Posted on 04/03/2010 2:06:35 PM PDT by NYer
As America's 68 million Catholics celebrate Easter this weekend, they also will start preparing to absorb significant revisions to the Mass that include a greater focus on sin and changes in wording that hearken back to majestic, traditional language used at the time of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s.
What some have called a "stem-to-stern" revision of the English-language missal - the ritual text for the celebration of the Mass - has been in the works for eight years. It has not come without controversy and dissent.
The new missal may not appear in parishes until the end of 2011; however, the first of 22 workshops across the country to train priests and diocesan leaders in its use begins this month in Cincinnati, Richmond, Va., and Phoenix.
Members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which represents 85 percent of the world's English-speaking Catholics, have argued among themselves about the texts for years. After rejecting a large portion of the text at their spring 2008 meeting, they did not approve final sections until November.
The USCCB has allocated a good portion of its Web site, usccb.org, to explaining the changes.
Although some bishops have hailed the revisions as more reverential toward God, a Facebook page devoted to the controversy has 1,358 fans opposing the new missal. Even the former head of the USCCB's liturgy committee has come out against the revisions, saying the language was not accessible to the average Catholic.
"To what extent are the new prayers of the missal truly pastoral?" Erie, Pa., Bishop Donald W. Trautman wrote in a 2007 essay in America magazine. "Do these new texts communicate in the living language of the worshipping assembly?"
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
The point is to give people a choice!
If you want to attend the Latin Mass (now, sadly, termed “extraordinary”), then the Church should support it.
If you want to go to a hippy-dippy Kumbaya guitar Mass instead, or to a Mass in a language other than Latin, well, that should be offered, too!
You won't get me anywhere near that tomorrow (Easter) or any other day. Would prefer to teleport myself to the 50s and attend a virtual Latin Mass, if we weren't gifted with a real one just 40 miles away.
Get an English/Latin missal. Besides Latin is the official language of the Vatican representing the Catholic Church. Did you not see the Roman Easter Vigil Mass on world-wide TV? They mostly used Latin for the official prayers.
The great convenience of having ONE Latin Mass worldwide is that you can take your English/Latin missal anywhere in the world on a particular day and are able to follow the Mass of the day, wherever you are, knowing that the same words of prayer are used at home, wherever it may be. It’s called UNITY.
LOL!
I like it. As a Catholic I always thought the church was a little weak in conveying the gravity of what is happening in the spiritual realms in our age. The Catholic church needs to make it abundantly clear that we as Christians need to recognize evil (both in the physical and in the supernatural) if we are to fight against it effectively.
I am aware mainly because of friends of other Christian denominations where they make a point to enlighten you on how to recognize spiritual warfare in the heavenly realms. I had always wished my church would do the same.
In my town a Protestant congregation ("Living Room Church") is advertising an Easter service for which you are encouraged to wear a costume. Not religious historical garb or anything like that, but a Halloween-type costume and mask for a "wild" Easter ceremony. I suppose that would be OK, also, for you "Choice in Mass liturgy" advocates. Or did you forget the /sarcasm tag?
My own sincere belief is that any change to Mass rubrics since the first half of last century was part of Satan's grand plan to destroy the Church. And in some respects, it worked. Subsequent Popes, to one degree or another, have been semi-willing accomplices of the diabolical scheme, possibly due to naivete and popular delusion fostered by the modernists. The current Papacy demonstrates the first signs of encouragement for a return to correct liturgy and proper culture of the Mass.
I made my First Communion in 1959.
The Missel was in Latin on one side and English on the Other.
Even as a 7 year old Child, I knew enough that the Latin words meant what the English words said on the opposite side of the book.
Any Big English words that I didn’t Understand, I could ask my Daddy, who explained things SO much better than the nuns did anyway.
When They Changed The Mass to the vernacular, they also eliminated the reading of “The Last Gospel”(John Chapter 1..In The beginning was the Word, And The Word was With God, and The Word was God” at the very end of the Mass, after Communion. I never could figure out WHY they did that! For some reason, it was my favorite part of the Mass. Even as a child, I really liked the poetry of it.
Of course tonight prior to the Vigil Mass of Easter all the statues in the Church are draped.
We are pretty old school at our parish.
Ours too! It’s so nice to see stuff done this way. Father Greg rocks :)
After morning prayers a few of us had coffee with him and I mentioned I was amazed he could speak so long without notes of any kind.
He told me in Malta the services are 8 hours long on Good Friday. This was a piece of cake.
I must be off for Easter Vigil.
Have a Blessed Easter.
Learned my lesson on Holy Thursday — went to an “All-American” service on Good Friday where I understood every word spoken.
Funny thing, I didn’t feel like a racist at all.
I got out of the service in the late 60s
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Likewise..I had gotten ‘away’ from it while in the Navy and heard of all the changes and never did get back into the groove.
In my 2nd awakening in the mid 90’s, I got reinstated and was shocked at the Mass being offered in English, the hand holding and the lay people dispensing communion.
Made ‘peace’ with myself, stopped going again and maybe, just maybe with the advent of the Mass I grew up with - while being an altar boy in the early 50’s, (’bad’ priests then were ‘drunks’ and chased skirts for their vices)- I may partake again.
I hear ya, netmilsmom!
As a child, I had no trouble understanding liturgical Latin and followed along quite nicely in my missal.
The most shocking thing was the alacrity with which they stripped away the trappings of our church and tossed out all the old traditions.
As an example, when I made my First Holy Communion, we sang “Panis Angelicus” (and we knew what it meant). THE VERY NEXT YEAR, my brother made his, and they sang “I Got the Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy Down in my Heart” — a Unitarian campfire song.
Fortunately for me, I am able to assist at a TLM right here in the next town over. My oldest son was Confirmed in the traditional Latin rite two years ago, and my youngest will be Confirmed this June.
So, I’m with you, kiddo...if 14th century illiterate peasants could understand it, so can we.
Here’s a link to a video of a Mass held a few weeks ago to commemorate the conclusion of a Gregorian chant workshop given to the girls’ schola that sings at our Masses. The young ladies are all between the ages of 14-17:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LELrVz6CMfI
Here’s another from the same Mass, the girls’ schola accompanied by a few voices from the adult choir:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RY5udGXJ_A&NR=1
(The thurifur serving the Mass is my older son, BTW.) Enjoy!
Happy Easter,
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Lord Love YOU my FRiend!
My girls sang Latin at their first TLM.
It was beautiful for them and my convert husband!
>>It’s a Catholic thing, you wouldn’t understand.<<
You made me spew Orange soda up my nose.
(lol)
from my diocese:
“US Catholic clergy encouraged by bishops liturgy decisions
Washington DC, Jul. 18, 2006 (CNA) - North American priests and deacons, who are members of the Confraternity of the Catholic Clergy, passed a resolution at their annual convocation last week expressing their support for the recent recommendations of the U.S. bishops to more accurately and faithfully translate the mass from the Latin text into English. The clergy asked, for a complete and consistent correction of all errors and deletions in the Roman Missal.
Rather than a partial repair, we, as daily celebrants of the Divine and Sacred Liturgy, see the need for a complete restoration of sacred language and precise translations, based on the axiom lex orandi, lex credendi, the resolution reads.
We are particularly concerned for sacrosanct vocabulary such as “consubstantial™ defined by the Council of Nicea in 325¦ and other areas the literal Latin expresses more reverence and clarity than the current translations.
The clergy association, which numbers nearly 700 members throughout the United States and Canada, held its 30th annual convocation in Washington, from July 10 to 14. Among the list of speakers were Senator Rick Santorum and Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Harrisburg.
However, the President of the Confraternity, Father John Trigilio said that the zenith of the week, was a meeting with Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, and Archbishop Donald Wuerl, newly installed Archbishop of Washington. The meeting with the two archbishops included the praying of Vespers and a Benediction followed by dinner. Fr. Trigilio told CNA that the archbishops spoke to the group and encouraged them to, continue fostering ongoing spiritual, theological, pastoral, and human formation among the clergy in a spirit and climate of sacerdotal fraternity.
The 700-member organization began in 1975 as a response to the call of the Second Vatican Council to foster associations among the ordained to support each other in service to the Church.
The annual gathering includes a week of intellectual discussion, lectures from expert speakers, common prayer and time for fraternity. Local monthly chapter meetings are held around the country. The group also publishes a quarterly journal, SAPIENTIA.
The clergy’s other resolutions expressed their appreciation to Pope Benedict XVI for his participation at the 5th World Meeting for Families in Spain, here he vigorously reaffirmed traditional values such as sacramental marriage and the intrinsic sanctity of family life.
They urged all fellow clergy to encourage their people to fully support those in public office who defend the sanctity of life and marriage and to educate parents about the threats to children present on the Internet and through cell phone technology.
The clergy also expressed their deep concern for the long-term harm being done to women, who are unaware of all the consequences and effects of abortion. Finally, they renewed their filial devotion and love to the Blessed Mother, consecrating their ministry to her Immaculate Heart.
Fr. Trigilio said that due, in large part, to the presence of the Archbishops Sambi and Wuerl that this was the most memorable convocation in his 26 years of affiliation with the Confraternity.
Next year’s convocation of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy is being planned for St. Louis, Missouri. Fr. Trigilio said that plans are being considered for a possible joint meeting in Rome in the coming years with the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy.
To learn more about the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy visit their website at: http://www.catholic-clergy.org/";
ZING!
WRT to the vernacular, I’m a recent convert and I am still learning to better understand the Latin. It is useful to have translations available for the neophytes, but I think if you ran english/latin translations in the missals, that people would soon pick up the latin and would learn to understand it.
I’m a deaf person, so I really don’t care that the mass is in English and Latin, provided that I have a songsheet to read off of. I can’t hear the priest anyways.
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