Liturgy

Catholic Church Conservation finds some scary things, but this one is quite scary.

Friends don’t let mimes preach the homily. Gilibrand also has more pictures of pantomime preaching which are not for the faint of heart. Now it is often attributed to St. Francis the saying "Preach the Gospel always, and if your a mime, please , please, please use words!"

If you see mime in the sanctuary pretending they are trapped in a confessional it is time to run. But then again when you see a mime in the sanctuary run!

The Bishop of Fargo, ND, His Excellency Most Reverend Samuel Aquila started off his column on Summorum Pontificum quite beautifully and continues that way.

Two nuns in India’s Mayurbhanj district were arrested on Saturday for allegedly making two non-Christian girls sing hymns in praise of Christ.

The arrests were made after complaints from the students of a Catholic residential school – Sarojini Murmu, 12, and Anjana Behera, 10.

The students reported that they were compelled to sing hymns and participate in prayers against their will.

The nuns were booked under Sections 323 (causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4 (forcibly attempting conversion) of the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act.

After the arrests, Fr Isaac of the Catholic Diocese in Balasore rushed to Mayurbhanhj in support of the nuns. He said the charges were "cooked up".

The issue came to light after the students ran away from the school hostel.

I wonder if we can get choir directors arrested for forcing us to sing hymns about ourselves?

It is rather sad when a Diocesan Director of Liturgy can write such an ignorant piece. It starts off on a incorrect note with the title "One Rite, Two Forms: The Mass, English and Latin" and goes downhill from there. Though I must say the idea of those guiding the liturgy in many diocese not knowing what they are talking about is sadly my first assumption. I just wish reality would stop conforming with my skepticism.

Thankfully Fr. Z fisks the Commonweal hysterical rant on the Motu Proprio so I don’t have to. Now if only Commonweal was as against abortion and true evil as much as they are against the extraordinary form of the Mass.

Anthony Esolen at Mere Comments has a good forensic examination of what is wrong with the Glory and Praise hymnal titled Cross? What Cross?

I’ve recently been strapping on the swamp boots to wade through something called Glory and Praise, perhaps the most commonly used Roman Catholic hymnal in the United States and Canada. Oh, it is sloppy and noisome work, logging the bathos, stupidity, banality, heresy, and textual vandalism. I’ve concluded, though, that there is one factor that touches every problem, something that helps explain these apparently disparate acts of mischief:

— the neutering of old masculine language about mankind and even God
— the heedless fouling up of the old poetry, to update a "thou" and a "thee"
— the seizing of every chance to talk about dancing (not to be found in the New Testament, I suspect, unless it’s Salome) and about the motherhood of God"
— in general, the louche emphasis upon feelings, not repentance, but soft and syrupy feelings
— the blithe arrogation of God’s words to ourselves, speaking in the first person
— the arrogation of God’s grace and majesty to ourselves: "We are the Bread, we are the Body"
— the celebration of our own wonderfulness, and the decrying of sin — that is, other people’s sins
— the abandonment of traditional liturgical forms, traditional poetry and song — all relegated to the status of the "old fashioned," for trotting out, like Grandmama’s silver, at certain feasts, and that’s it
— the passing along of counterfeit "folk" music, actually performance music, like "Do You Remember the Kind of September," only not nearly as good
— the mincing baby-talk in the verses, along with a bogus primitivism, a la the Indians in Hollywood: "You are child of the universe."

It’s narcissism, all of it. It’s the pretty boy at the side of the pool, gazing upon his image in the water, ignoring his parents, the woman in love with him, the reality of the world around him. He wants to remain a pretty boy forever — he wants a disembodied "union" with no ties to the past, no duties to his fellows, and no law to obey. It’s music that encourages a choir full of American Idols, shimmying and shaking and calling attention to themselves, while envying one another (I’ll bet some of our bloggers have stories about infighting among the twenty self-appointed soloists of a "Christian" choir).

What’s missing from the hymnal? Oh, music, poetry — and one thing above all: the Cross. The Cross sure does seem a fine cure for narcissism. In all our arguments about ordination and (in the Catholic church) lay "ministry," nobody ever says, "I want the right to be ordained a priest because I demand to be crucified!" Or, "I want to serve as a lector because I want to be crucified!" Hardly — these things and many more are considered clerical plums that everybody ought to be able to pop in the mouth, if they choose. We are Church, don’t you know, not to mention Bread and Body and God Almighty. If there is a single new "hymn" that is written in the shadow of the Cross, encouraging the taking up of what will leave your back stooped and your shoulders cut with splinters, I haven’t seen it. Meanwhile, a part of my own crucifixion seems to be the necessity of listening to it all, and watching the performers. Silence would be infinitely better.

Gerald at the Cafeteria is Closed has a "Gather Us In" parody.

Then there is always my Missal Defense Flash game to help you take out your frustration.

… was given to Marty Haugen by Oregon Catholic Press. I thought the headline was a joke at first, but there really is a Father Funk and he founded the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. No wonder I am often in a funk when hearing their contributions. This award was given at the latest NPM conference which included a multiple seminars on liturgical dance. Oh and here is a shocker:

A 29 Showcase: Practical Gregorian Chant Selections [CANCELLED]
Anthony Sorgie
In light of renewed interest in the liturgical use of chant, join us for an introduction of practical Gregorian selections to consider for your choir. Sponsored by Peter’s Way Tours Inc.

I guess I am more shocked that they had the seminar scheduled than that it was cancelled.

You might think that an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on the Motu Proprio would be the standard journalist take on the subject. But you would be wrong. Fr. Z. does and anti-fisk of an article by Lorraine V. Murray author of several books. I call this an anti-fisk because instead of disagreeing with point raised, Fr. Z. largely applauded the points raised. I do like Fr. Z. anti-fisks of articles along with his normal fisks. It is good to both praise the good and to criticize the bad.

In the post Motu Proprio reations for the liberalization of the 1962 missal are quite instructive. Pretty much the bishops you expected to act positively have and the ones that you would expect to act negatively have. No surprises there. It was also interesting to hear Raymond Arroyo writing in the WSJ reported that Bishop William S. Skylstad the current head of the USCCB "flatly told the pope that the U.S. bishops opposed any revival of the old rite"

The negative reactions mostly have a common thread that having both an ordinary and extraordinary form of the Mass for the Latin rite would cause division. No doubt there is some thruth to this since there are some 1962 missal onlyists who look down on the ordinary form of Mass as there will be some onlyists that look down on the older rite. But the argument about division seems rather odd since I would ask why are they worrying about it now?

The reality is there has already been liturgical division for years and that in many cases little was done, if anything, to rectify it. The experimentation and anything goes attitude that has been associated with the new Mass has created something fairly new in Catholic circles – that is parish shopping. Now I am not one to glorify older days because they were older days. No doubt before the implementation of the newer missal that the older rite was not always celebrated in a manner not worthy of it. Priests just going through the motions will always be a problem, though frankly I am amazed by those who do celebrate Mass each day in a worthy manner without falling into complacency. The sixties though were a time of change for change sake and Vatican II coinciding with this termultuos time had quite a synergetic effect.

But the decades that followed did little to correct for this massive bit of oscillation and while they are damped down from some of the wildest oscillations there is still much work to be done. I know just within my own diocese that the liturgical celebration of Mass varies widely in the different parishes I visit. It is sometimes hard to believe that they are all suppose to be based on the same liturgical books. Night at the Liturgical Improv is much more common than "read the black, do the red." The only real consistency you can expect at Mass is to hear a song by Haugen, Daas, or one of the other modern standards in so-called liturgical music. Though I have seen a decline in some of the more egregious liturgical abuses, especially after Redemptionis Sacramentum – your mileage may very.

Besides the celebration of the Mass there is also a wide divergence in what the Church teaches and what is taught at RCIA, CCD, other classes, and of course homilies. It is one thing to "offer it up" for banal music at Mass and and quite another to hear preached or taught doctrines that are not exactly orthodox. Experimentation didn’t stop at the liturgy but extended to all of parish life. Then there are the diocesan and other retreat centers that are so infected with fads and new agey feel good crap that would help propagate spiritual poison among the parishes and trickle down to the parishioner.

As a result of much of this parish shopping has become the norm with both sides of the liturgical divide looking for parishes that have the liturgy they want. Seeing postings on blogs from people requesting information on orthodox parishes in cities they are moving to have become common. There is something quite wrong with that picture and yet we have bishops worrying about an impending liturgical divide. I do wonder where these episcopal Rip Van Winkles have been?

I really do admire those who stick with their local parishes despite problems knowing that regardless of how bad the music is and how the liturgy is celebrated that it is still the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and that they are still receiving the Holy Eucharist. Mother Teresa talked about Jesus in his ‘distressing disguise’ and some Masses unfortunately bring that phrase to mind for me. I wish that I was a tenth as holy as those who are able to do this and mange to be patient and prayerful at Mass. I have a long way to go before I can put away my liturgical checklist and wishing to hunt down members of the parish’s choir after Mass and asking them if they have ever actually read any of the Church’s documents on sacred music. To not come up with some snarky mental reply when the priests starts asking if there is anybody visiting or whose birthday it is at the conclusion of Mass. Though I have made a little progress to that end. I once heard Jimmy Akin talking about handling this problem which must be more difficult for someone who knows every nuance of the liturgy. He said that he realized that it is not God’s will that the liturgy be a source of frustration and that this gives him more patience. For now prudence dictates that I mostly avoid the parishes most convenient to where I live and attend the one downtown where I went to RCIA.

Now I am not all doom and gloom and I don’t see the current situation worsening, but that things are moving in the right direction – albeit slowly. I just hope more bishops will realize that we are already in a liturgical divide and tying to frustrate the 1962 missal is not going to make the situation better.

"Motu Proprio" is Latin for "many posts"

So said TS at the blog with the long Latin name starting with Video.

I just watched EWTN discussion of Summorum Pontificum and it was quite good. One part of it was really funny and I feel almost sorry for the person who called in.

Caller: My question is that I am a guitarist and I have been serving at the Mass for 27 odd years and I can remember the old Mass as a child. My question is how can I as a guitarist fit in in the Latin Mass.

Raymond Arroyo: Fr. Kenneth Baker I will let you take a shot at that one.

Fr. Baker: I can say well get a nice missal with Latin on one side and English on the other and attend it, but don’t bring your guitar. Because a guitar is not a liturgical instrument for the Traditional Latin Mass. It’s the organ or various kinds of musicians. The guitar doesn’t fit into that. It’s not part of the ritual. I think it is important to realize that the Mass of Blessed John XXIII it’s all set exactly how it is suppose to be done. That is people have to learn that when they receive Communion that they have to kneel to receive Communion, they have to receive Communion on the tongue and things like that. There are no altar girls allowed for the Latin Mass and these are the rules and this is the Mass that has been authorized. People are so far removed from it that many of them don’t realize these things and it’s why it is going to take time. I think it is going to take ten years for this thing to really come back, it will start really slow. The Pope himself says most priests don’t know this and they are not familiar with the liturgy, therefore it is not going to be very common to begin with. But I think it is going to grow as time goes by one of our parishioners told me that he and his wife decided last night the difference between ordinary and extraordinary that Americans like things that are extraordinary and therefore the Latin Mass will attract a lot of people because it is now considered to be extraordinary. I thought that was interesting.