Father Stephanos, O.S.B. comments on video monitors installed in a Catholic Church.
My previous Bishop use to have the annual appeal displayed via video and they would rent a monitor for the occasion which was placed next to the ambo. I always thought it was kind of tacky and am glad my new bishop has not continued the practice. This does raise other interesting questions since I had seen this take the place of the homily and how this would relate to Canon law. Canon law as far as my amateur eyes can tell does not address the situation, but you would think the requirement for a sacred minister could exclude recordings from one. Besides these video almost always included other people than just the bishop such as lay people. If this was towards the end of Mass it would be less problematic, but still tacky.
Now at times you might be happy with a pre-recorded homily given by a gifted homilist. But I can imagine much mischief being involved. Such as someone with a universal remote fast-forwarding if it got boring, or perhaps changing the channel altogether. Though even without a video monitor sometimes we just tune out anyway.
Let’s raise a figurative glass (though it is noon somewhere) to St. Thomas More! If he’s not the only lawyer in Heaven, it would definitely have to be an exclusive group. One would think the temptation to perform jesuitical jujitsu in order to avoid a beheading would be nearly overwhelming but the saint did not succumb. [TSO]
I watched for the first time "A Man for All Seasons" on Fathers Day figuring it would be an apt day to watch it considering what a great father he was to his three daughters. I have previously read many of his letters and his novel Utopia (the term which he created). I do wonder exactly how many canonized saints have published a novel? With all the news this week about Episcopalians the movie was an interesting contrast. The Anglican Church created out of a desire for an annulment seems to now divorce itself further and further from Christianity as time passes.
I would be tempted to give the Clockwork Orange treatment to Catholic politicians and have them watch "A Man for All Seasons" over and over again till any phrases that start with "I’m Personally opposed, but .." are driven out of their heads. Being that St. Thomas More is the patron saint for politicians you just know he has got to be busy 24/7 or whatever term is applicable for aeveternity.
Of course today is also the feast day for St. John Fisher who was a Cardinal and Bishop of Rochester. I believe he was the only bishop in England not to sign the Act of Succession. At one point he had declared that, like St. John the Baptist, he was ready to die on behalf of the indissolubility of marriage The example he choose was a little too apt since eventually he was also beheaded, just not over a dance. We often complain about our bishops, but I have no doubt that if a parallel situation occurred that we would see many more than just one martyr among them.
In today’s Office of Reading from the Divine Office they had a wonderful letter that St. Thomas More wrote while imprisoned in the Tower of London to his daughter Margaret. Reading it you find that distinctive mark of sanctity where imprisonment was seen as a blessing and that during this time he grew even closer to God. This reminded me of the writing of St. John of the Cross where he wrote his deepest and most mystical writings after being imprisoned. That instead of righteous indignation for truly being imprisoned unfairly we find not bitterness, but holiness. That while we can be deprived of many material things and our freedom that we can’t be deprived of God. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" Rom 8:35
Aptly Archbishop Wuerl is being installed in our nation’s capital. St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher pray for us.
Bishop Trautman told the National Catholic Register that he and about half of the nation’s bishops believe the proposed text contains too many complicated words, as well as sentences and phrases that are too long. The words “precious chalice,” for example, replace the word “cup” during the consecration prayers.
“To me, ‘precious chalice’ says something gold with diamonds all around it,” Bishop Trautman said. “Jesus used a drinking cup at the last supper, not a precious chalice.”
[Via Christus Vincit]
Now if that statement doesn’t shout volumes about the bishops views on the liturgy I don’t know what does. Does he think of the term precious blood means blood with bling? Gee even Indiana Jones knew that the Holy Grail was holy not for what it looked like, but for what it once contained. Bishop Troutman as chair of the USCCB’s Committee on Liturgy gives foxes hope that one day they might too be employed in the hen house.
I have been listening to Prayer of the Faithful from the The Antiochene Syriac Maronite Church Podcast since last week and I am experiencing a little translation envy. The podcast is in English though they are obviously using a different translation then the one used in the English version of the Liturgy of the Hours. After hearing their version it makes it harder to read the Divine Office and note notice the rather dull translation. In their translation the language has much more of a sense of mystery and precision in theological language. It is a good thing in translation to simplify texts, but too often it goes to far.
For example the graphic format JPEG allows you to save pictures with varying amounts of compression. The higher the compression the lower the quality of the image. The term "lossy" is used to describe these compressions. Translations are almost always lossy also. Translating from one language to another involves some degradation from the original language. As in JPEG compression there are trade offs you make in determining the accuracy of the translation. Too much compression results in a picture that become incomprehensible from the original. Too much simplicity and plain language results in the same degradation when translating liturgical texts. What has happened to our liturgical texts is that the compression has resulted in mystery loss and loss of theological precision.
Via Gerald is some good news indeed.
LOS ANGELES – The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops signed off Thursday on a new English translation for the Mass that would change prayers ingrained in the memories of millions of American parishioners.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted at its biannual meeting for a new translation after a brief but vigorous debate over several small changes in wording. The 173-29 vote on the Order of the Mass was aimed at satisfying Vatican calls for a translation that’s closer to the Latin version.
So this was no close vote that would have further delayed the changes. It does not take a prophet to figure out who some of the 23 dissenting votes were. The majority more than likely saw the writing on the wall that were not going to be able to continue delay or make any changes that would pass muster at the Vatican.
I remember a couple years back my pastor complaining about the English translations in the Mass and how inferior they were and it looks like every passage he pointed out to me has been corrected. So let us see if the prophets of doom are right and that this will cause "chaos and real problems" in the Church.
John Schultz at Catholic Light points out this contrast.
The Vatican recently issued updated guidelines for the translation of the Latin texts with the goal of arriving at a more accurate translation, as well as one that reflects "a deeper language that’s more expressive and more poetic," said Monsignor James. P. Moroney, who leads the liturgy office for the bishops’ conference.
and
"My big concern is people are going to feel like they’re being jerked around. They finally got used to the English translation and now they have to get used to another translation," said Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University and a Jesuit priest.
And then goes on to say "I’ll take expressive, poetic and truer to the Latin any day."
First off I always thought that "Woodstock Theological Center" has got to be one of the most apt namings ever. It does crack me up that those in the progressive camp who almost daily come up with things that the Church needs to change find a bad liturgical translation something that must not be changed. Sure allow homosexuality, abortion, contraception, women’s ordination and anything else you don’t like but don’t you dare change "And also with you" to "And with your spirit."
I also find that the defenses for all things liturgical are often very demeaning of the people. We live in a fast paced consumer society where things are changing daily. We learn and then relearn how to operate devices as each one makes the other one obsolete, but yet we can’t bear to have changes in the wording of the liturgy since we "are use to them." Hey we are also use to 2000 years of consistent teaching on all whole range of things, so will we expect ex-America Magazine editor Fri. Reese to be quiet anytime soon? Another example of this demeaning attitude I have heard is the defense of removing the Tabernacle from the sanctuary. The excuse was that it would confuse the people during the consecration because Jesus would both be in the Eucharistic species in the Tabernacle and on the altar at the same time. That we are unable to live out Church teaching because it is too difficult for us. Well except for grace the last one would be true.
I wonder if they ever worry that people "feel like they’re being jerked around" when the Mass in each parish is different in some aspect. When postures change as you cross parish or diocesan lines. When the wording of the Agnus Dei changes depending on the parish. I know I have heard at least five different versions; most where they add in other phrases and occasionally where they do both that and remove "who takes away the sins of the world."
Please pray for our bishop who in the coming days will vote on the new translation. Please "disturb the people" Bishop Trautman and other Bishops opposed to the change.
Via Greg Krehbiel comes the following picture.
The question is were the words of consecration "This Buds for you"? I can’t figure out if the eyes of the deacon say rapt attention or "what the heck is he using for a chalice?"
Considering the rest of the picture with the wooden bowls and vestments, unfortunately this is probably not a photoshopped picture.
I do think I found a picture of the organ used.
Coincidentally Joseph Bottum of First Things linked to this working beer bottle organ today.
A reader sent me an article that appeared in the Catholic Register a publication of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown by its editor Monsignor Timothy P. Stein.
A long out of print book, The Enthusiast, tells the story of Father Ignatius of Llanthony.Father Ignatius was one of the more colorful, if not controversial figures of the 19th century Anglo – Catholic revival in England. Ignatius (Joseph Leycester Lyne) wanted to restore monastic life in the Church of England. He sought to establish a monastery of Anglican Benedictine monks. What he made, was a mess.Father Ignatius was without a doubt a man of deep faith, and was a well – known missionary preacher and evangelist. But in working to establish a monastery, he simply played at being a monk. He was more concerned with the external trappings of monasticism than he was with the interior conversion that should be the result of living a religious life. Father Ignatius was more in love with his religious habit than he was with the discipline of religious life. He loved to surround himself with statues, pictures, crucifixes, altars, sacred vessels, and all sorts of pious geegaws. If one candle on an altar was good – – two dozen candles were even better. In fact, two dozen candles were not enough for Father Ignatius; contemporary accounts state that there were no less than 250 candles on the high altar at Llanthony Abbey. Father Ignatius loved what some have irreverently termed “smells and bells.”
The Father Ignatius’s of the world are with us still. They are the ones who charge that the Catholic Church, following the Second Vatican Council, threw out the baby with the bathwater. They have made it their mission to retrieve the bathwater. They would like us to be drowning in it.Trappings of piety – – external symbols of religiosity – – are all well and good. They have nourished the faith of millions. But they are not an end, in themselves. They are but a means to an end. The bathwater is not more important than the baby.
“Smells and bells” and other assorted paraphernalia are supposed to help us nurture our relationship with Jesus. When they become a stumbling block, and prevent us from seeing Jesus, knowing Jesus, walking with Jesus, or when they obscure the path to Jesus for others, they must be put aside, or at least, reassessed. There were good reasons for throwing out so much of the bathwater. It had become murky. It was no longer serving a good purpose. It was time to take the baby from the bath, and move on.
Beware the bathwater! Hidden in its depths may be a dose of pretty poison – – the temptation to idolatry – – the temptation to worship fleeting forms while ignoring lasting, enduring substance. Don’t mistake devotion to exterior signs for an interior conversion to life in union with Jesus.Just be sure to keep a tight grip on the baby!
So what exactly is the evidence that they became a stumbling block and that removing them was a service to the Church and an enrichment to the liturgy? The bathwater parallel just does not explain much. It would also be silly to discharge the bath water before the baby was clean. You must let the water do its work first. Plus once you get rid of the bathwater what you end up with is a naked baby, perhaps a good parallel of what has been done to the liturgy as it has been totally stripped to ‘bare’ essentials. If we were already perfect a naked liturgy would be just the same to us as one with the "smells and bells". Speaking for myself I need liturgical training wheels. I need to be reminded of the transcendence of God. I need help in remembering that the Mass is a supernatural event. For me incense is a help and reminder of the prayers going up to the Saints as in the Book of Revelations. That "external symbols of religiosity" help me to internalize their meaning and the importance of them.
When will they realize that what has become a stumbling block is treating the Mass not as a sacrifice and the representations of Christ’s death on Calvary, but as a bit of entertainment fluff that imbues little theological meaning doesn’t work for use imperfect types. There is little doubt that often rituals become empty and lose their impact. The pre-Vatican II Church was not some idealized perfection and of course the richness of the liturgy was being lost on many. The solution though is not to discard what can be a help in our fallen state, but to re-catechise the deep meaning of those external signs so that when we experience them we are reminded of what they signify. Not as a substitute to the fuller meaning, but as a signpost that points us to understand and experience the deeper theological truths they signify. Sure we can forget that when we dip our fingers in the Holy Water and make a sign of the cross that we are renewing our baptismal promises. When we forget the answer is not doing away with Holy Water fonts, but reminding us of the import.
Adoro Te Devote reports on how Rainbow Sash’ers who had been denied Communion had someone break up Communion hosts themselves to give to others. Thankfully an usher put a stop to this and threatened to call the police.
The ringing of bells. Latin wafting high into the church rafters. Women’s heads draped in lace.
There is a solemn aura to 9 a.m. Sunday Mass at Saint Mary Mother of God, a D.C. parish on Fifth Street NW where hundreds of Catholics who long for ancient ritual gather each week to celebrate what is among the most traditional and complex of Roman Catholic rites: the Tridentine Mass.
The sounds are few and particular. Latin is the language of prayer, and the only ones who speak it during the service are the nearly inaudible priest and the Gregorian Chant Choir that performs on the third Sunday of each month. Robed altar servers — there are as many as 10 — ring bells several times during the hour-long service. Pews creak and shoes shuffle as some 400 people kneel and stand, kneel and stand.
But mostly there is a powerful silence, a seriousness created by the absence of contemporary church: no responsive readings, no guitars, no congregants walking to a microphone to read from Scripture or to make bingo announcements. There is just a centuries-old script, which dictates the near-constant, intricate movements of the altar servers — circling the altar, kneeling, pressing hands together, bowing — as well as the position of the priest, whose back is to parishioners. Together, everyone faces East, acknowledging that Jesus is the true dawn.
This scene is rare in the United States, as only a small percentage of Catholic churches have permission from their bishops to celebrate a Mass that was essentially set aside in the 1960s. That’s when the church council known as Vatican II decreed that Catholics pray in their local language rather than Latin. The decision opened the door to transforming a completely God-oriented rite that had been the standard since the mid-1500s to a modern service marked by audience participation and simpler choreography. To some, the shift symbolized the slide into liberalism and ambiguity.
Saint Mary is one of only five parishes in the Washington area allowed to celebrate the Tridentine Mass, and its services are packed with traditionalists who come from an hour away or more. The line for the confessional wraps into the foyer, and the pews are filled with women wearing chapel veils, shockingly quiet small children and prominent conservatives; Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and commentator Pat Buchanan are among the regulars.
But in such a service, "there are no personalities," says Monsignor K. Bartholomew Smith, pastor at Saint Mary’s. No chitchat, no spontaneity. The purpose is to be removed completely from the mundane. And indeed, when the service ends and you step outside, onto a run-down Chinatown street corner, it does seem that you have just been in another time and place.
