This Sunday in Bible Class, one of the parishioners said something about how ours is a “fairly liturgical” church. My pastor immediately responded, feigning offense, “What do you mean ‘fairly’?” The truth is that I am a member of a very liturgical church and our pastor puts a lot of thought into each aspect of the liturgy. He teaches us what each part means and why it’s important. And even though I learned these things as a child, I love the refresher. And I’m very grateful to attend services so rich with meaning.
But this Telegraph story tried to spin a liturgical conference in the worst possible way. Headline? “Priests stop saying ‘good morning’ to their congregations.”
Oh simmer down Telegraph folks. The story is that clergy at a meeting at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds (although we’re not told that the group is Catholic until the end of the story!) were told to question whether it was appropriate to offer informal greetings following the invocation. I must admit that I’m not a big fan of the “good morning” from the celebrant, although I’m a big fan, of course, of friendly clergy. Anyway, here’s a bit from the story:
A spokesman for the diocese said: “The review of the liturgy is looking at whether there are elements of the service that have become a bit too distracting.
“People might argue that if you go in to a house, you say ‘hi’, but the priest is not going in to a house. He is going in to a sacred service. We need to emphasise that the priest is president of the community and is presiding at the service.
“It is a debate that has been going on in the Church for a long time — are we doing a cabaret or are we actually celebrating the Eucharist?
“The fear is that if some guidance is not given and general decisions are not put down, the interpretation of the liturgy leads to unsuitable things, like strobe lights and girls in hotpants. The aim of the new translation is to bring more dignity to the service.”
With quotes that delightful, one wishes this spokesman for the diocese had a name. One wonders why the spokesman doesn’t have a name. Or why no one mentioned in the article is identified by name. Hmmm.
Anyway, the reason why I’m highlighting this story here is because of how the story ends:
Arguments have long raged within the Catholic church about the current translation of the Roman Missal. Some believe the translations that came out of the Second Vatican Council, in the 1960s, were too quickly done and failed to capture important nuances.
The Vatican has approved a new English translation for the most commonly used text of the mass but its full contents have yet to be revealed.
Changes that have emerged so far include; when the priest says “The Lord be with you”, the faithful will now respond “And with our spirit”, rather than “And also with you”, as they do now.
At my congregation, we say “and with your spirit” or “and with thy spirit.” So I’m pretty sure this change for Catholics is not from second person to first. I bet the change is to “and with your spirit.” Some typo!
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Comments (15) |
April 7, 2009, at 10:58 am
I’ve always thought the opening “Good Morning” at Mass was a redundant greeting, since “The Lord be with you” is the actual greeting of the Priest to congregation.
April 7, 2009, at 11:39 am
I’d love to know how interpretation of liturgy leads to girls in hotpants! Sounds like someone is over-reacting and should have been challenged, or an opposing view found.
That said, is this really trying to “spin a liturgical conference in the worst possible way”?
April 7, 2009, at 1:07 pm
That quote from a “spokesman of the diocese” really is almost too ridiculous to believe… why the heck would such a spokesman bring up strobe lights and hotpants? It almost reads like parody.
Despite the, er, overdramatic tone of this article (though not atypical for the British press), these are real issues for liturgical churches. I’m a MO Synod Lutheran like Mollie, and my church caused a minor stir a few years ago when the pastors decided to quit doing general announcements about congregational events at the beginning of the service because they felt it would detract from the liturgy. Now they do them immediately after the sermon, while the offering is being taken.
April 7, 2009, at 2:27 pm
Stoo,
While the thread leading from bad liturgy to ‘girls in hotpants’ sounds a bit hyperbolic and is no doubt intended for maximum effect, I suspect it strikes an immediate chord with anyone who has endured the ‘liturgical reform’ of the last 40 years and observed the general lack of decorum it has brought in its wake. Not only is it not at all uncommon to see girls at Mass who are dressed more or less like Britney Spears, it is not uncommon to see boys and even acolytes slouching around in t-shirts which are sometimes crude, jeans which are sometimes ripped, football jerseys, sneakers, etc. No doubt part of this is attributable to broader societal trends, adults dressing like adolescents, the homogenization of dress, the loss of a distinction between formal and informal etc.
But I think there is a liturgical/theological reason as well. Wherever the focus of the liturgy moves from the sacramental mystery transpiring on the altar to the ‘community building’ activities of the gathered congregation, wherever the liturgy itself is emptied of mystery, beauty, awe, and reverence, wherever, the liturgy is made vacuous and banal, wherever, in brief, people no longer understand what the liturgy is and why we are doing it, decorum suffers. It’s amazing what a hand celebrants and ‘worship leaders’ have had in facilitating this, and it’s amazing how much one can subtly alter the entire meaning of the liturgy with a few well-intentioned banalities at the outset.
Oh, I guess I need a journalism point: the article has a misleading headline that I hope proves prophetic.
April 7, 2009, at 3:06 pm
The probelmatic translations did not come out of the Council. In the 60s, when the people’s part of the Mass started being in English, we used translations approved by the Nation Conference of the US Bishops and adapted scriptural verses from the Book of Psalms from a 1955 version by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. It was the same Mass as before with Introits, Graduals, etc., but in English - devoid, for the most part of “thee” and “thou” and other archaisms. As I recall, at the beginning, the people’s part was said aloud in English, but the consecration and other parts said only by the priest stayed in Latin, for the most part. I think the Latin did tend to draft away. It was a gradual process.
The big change came with a greatly restructured Mass first used in Advent 1969, with no more Introits, Graduals and the like, and translations by the International Committee on English in the Liturgy. This is the Mass created by Bugnini’s committee. It didn’t come from the Council, but was given the job by Paul VI on his own authority. Even the priest’s parts were now in English and said aloud. This is the translation that many think were rushed, dumbed down and stripped of any poetry. It was almost an entirely new Mass.
My 1965 missal in English still says “The Lord be with you”; “And with your spirit.” - just like my 1955 and my late father’s 1934 missals. The “Also with you” started with the 1969 Mass.
April 7, 2009, at 3:06 pm
I’m beginning to wonder if anything in that story is correct!
April 7, 2009, at 3:19 pm
I should have noted that the Council ended in December 1965. The Novus Ordo Mass was introduced 4 years later.
April 7, 2009, at 3:38 pm
At my middle class parish in middle America, teenagers come to Mass with strapless dresses and their boobs haning out and hems way above the knees. Guys come in cut-offs. It’s the natural consequences of the following:
Here’s a real Catholic Mass with grotesque puppets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh_nqtp3VrU
Here’s one with clowns, and clowns giving the homily.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsC4wRPybpA&feature=related
Here’s another clown Mass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ6KWt49wIA&feature=related
April 7, 2009, at 4:18 pm
One of my pet peeves are pastors who say “good morning,” and then expect the congregation to respond, en masse, with “good morning.” Even worse are those who, like idiotic cheerleaders, tell the congregation to repeat the greeting because it wasn’t hardy enough.
Uggh!
And as one who has visited Mollie’s church, I can assure her that it is very friendly to first-time visitors. The liturgy, though different in some details from that in my own LCMS congregation, made me feel right at home.
April 7, 2009, at 5:07 pm
The July 25 Catholic News Service report said “your spirit.”
April 7, 2009, at 5:25 pm
Several years ago, when he was still Catholic, John Garvey wrote in Commonweal about the call and response that occurs in some Catholic parishes, and confessed his annoyance with priests who would thank the congregation for its response of “Good morning.”
Garvey wrote that he wanted to respond with “You’re welcome,” if only to see how long the back-and-forth courtesies might go on.
April 7, 2009, at 8:01 pm
I’ve seen a couple of proposed revisions of the Mass and, indeed, it’s “and with your spirit”.
One legitimate concern about the current translation is some mistranslations. Another layer of concern is the level of options available to the priest. Some folks regard this as the core problem, which gives goofy priests implicit permission to be goofy.
I was Catholic nearly 20 years before I came to appreciate that the liturgical wars among Catholics stem from an understanding of the Mass as the center of our life. I’m still inclined to liturgical liberality, but I do understand the inclination.
Julia! Not the puppets! Anything but the puppets! Except for the Barney Mass, of course.
April 8, 2009, at 12:00 am
When I saw your headline, I thought you were writing about the embarrassing typo in the student newspaper at Brigham Young University. Memo to newspapers: Copy editors are important.
April 8, 2009, at 9:44 am
FWKen:
OMG The Barney Mass is worse than the puppets.
April 8, 2009, at 6:00 pm
Does anyone else out there start their liturgy with a “playbill”? I think it’s ok to say who the presider is at Mass & who the Mass is being offered for, but do I need to hear the names of all the lectors, eucharistic ministers, altar servers & musicians? This is very distracting.