Here Come the Irish

The University of Notre Dame's Center for Liturgy has an impressive site dedicated to web catechesis on the Roman Missal.

The site includes video presentations from Msgr. Bruce Harbert (the former Executive Director of ICEL who was in charge of the new translation), Fr. Michael Joncas, Fr. Douglas Martis, Msgr. James Moroney (a consultant to the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments), Fr. Anthony Ruff, OSB, Fr. Paul Turner and Sr. Joyce Ann Zimmerman, C.PP.S. The videos vary in length and include solid catechesis.

Topics vary from the theoretical to the practical and address all aspects of the Roman Missal, including the theology, explanation of translation changes and issues surrounding music. This definitely is a site to bookmark.

Roman Missal Workshop Added in Montello

We have added one more location to our diocesan introductory workshops on the Roman Missal. It will be on Wednesday, October 6 at St. John the Baptist Parish in Montello. Go to the Office of Worship's Roman Missal page for more information.

One workshop already has been held in Madison and another will be offered today in Sun Prairie. Future workshops will be held in Lancaster (September 1), Madison (September 1), Beloit (September 8), Spring Green (September 23), and now in Montello (October 6).

More Questions Than Answers

NOTE: After posting the text below on the Roman Missal I noticed that the "art of the day" was a 16th-century depiction of the Tower of Babel. Someone has a sense of humor! I thought that I would include it with the post.

The U. S. Bishops' Committee on Divine Worship has really gotten out ahead of the third edition of the Roman Missal and their website has a lot of good information. Today they issued an updated version of FAQs.

In our own diocese we began our series of introductory workshops today. This morning about 70 pastors, liturgists, musicians, catechists and other parish leaders met at the O'Connor Center to discuss the Roman Missal. We had a lively meeting with some good suggestions and many questions raised. We have a lot of corporate wisdom among the priests, deacons and lay leaders of the diocese. The longer I am here the more I have grown to respect that!

Perhaps the most insightful question was this: What do I say to the parishioner who asks me how this will make him/her a better Catholic?

That's really the heart of the matter. How do we become better Catholics, more Christlike, through our participation in the Sunday Eucharist?

It reminded me a bit of one of my own family stories. Several years ago, when my oldest child was three, we attended Easter Sunday Mass at our (pro)cathedral. The bishop likes to chant the Pater Noster in Latin on many major feasts and we did so that day.

Later that afternoon, while coming off a sugar buzz, my daughter said, "Daddy! We didn't pray the Our Father this morning at church."

"We did," I said and explained that we chanted it in Latin. "Why?" she asked.

I was caught off guard a bit (I am embarrassed to say). I couldn't really say, "Well, dear, article 36.1 of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy says that Latin is to be preserved in the liturgy." Or even, "Pope Benedict encouraged the use of Latin in the liturgy in his apostolic exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis (no. 62)."

So I sought, and found, the perfect answer: "Ask your mother."

Anyway, while our congregations are made of adults (who deserve to be treated as adults), it won't fly with too many Americans to say that our translation is changing because of Liturgiam Authenticam, or because we wish to capture the unique structure of the beauty of the Latin or any other such answer. The translation will change...will our hearts? How will this new translation help all of us worship God with a fuller heart, mind and voice?

I have my ideas on the matter and will share as time goes on. Any ideas from you? Post a comment.

An Educational Journey: The Roman Missal and Love

Sr. Mary Ann Walsh, Director of Media Relations for the USCCB, wrote an interesting blog entry regarding the Roman Missal. "We Catholics are about to embark on an educational journey," she writes. The brief entry includes some thoughtful reflections on the use of less common-place words in the new translation. Click here to view her article.

The entry has also sparked a heated exchange on the USCCB Facebook page, with all of the usual accusations being thrown about. There are a lot of angry people out there who either love the new translation or love the old one. Unfortunately, they appear not to love each other.

I keep coming across the phrase that real charity doesn't mean being "nice" but sharing the truth. I heartily disagree! Saint Paul said (I Corinthians 13) that love is, among other things, kind, humble and not rude. The Truth is Love. God is Love. Name-calling and attributing motives to others with whom we differ is neither Truth nor Love. The First Letter of Saint John says: "Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love" (I John 4:8). Therefore it is important for us always to examine our hearts (and our words and actions) for the presence or absence of love.

Teaching others requires a great deal of love and discipline. Without this, I believe that we are on a slippery slope whereby we become a counter-witness, turning others away. We can plant the seed and live it ourselves, with God's grace. We can nurture it in others through prayer and example, through love and encouragement. As St. Francis of Assisi is said to have instructed others, "Preach the Gospel without ceasing. Use words when necessary."

Love does not require silence, acquiescence, timidity or capitulation. In fact, the opposite is true. Love is bold, zealous and all-conquering. Love makes one vulnerable and yet tenacious. It appears weak but is strong.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. (I John 4:7-12)

Roman Missal is Now Approved

Cardinal Francis George, OMI, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops [USCCB], announced today the United States Bishops have received the final text of the Roman Missal. While the Order of Mass was approved in 2008, this marks the completion of the entire Roman Missal for the dioceses of the United States.

The approved text, previously available online, has some slight changes, according to a letter from the Bishops' Committee on Divine Worship Secretariat. These changes are:

• the words of absolution in the Penitential Act have been modified (so that the text of the current Sacramentary is maintained);
• the addition of "I believe" at three points in the Profession of faith;
• several slight modifications to the texts of the Eucharistic Prayers;
• the final doxology of the Eucharistic Prayer has been slightly altered.

In addition, it has been announced that the popular Memorial Acclamation, "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again," is no longer an option in the Order of Mass. This had been an American adaptation to the 1985 Roman Missal and the inclusion of this acclamation had been in doubt since it was not in the Latin typical edition.

The Missal will be available for use in Advent 2011. The study text will be posted on the USCCB website soon at www.usccb.org/romanmissal.

A more complete article from Catholic News Service is available here.

Our own diocesan workshops for priests and parish leaders will begin next week and discuss the Roman Missal in detail. Go to www.madisondiocese.org/romanmissal for more information.

Altar Servers

Catholic News Service reported yesterday that the Vatican's newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, included a story which praised the Vatican's 1994 decision, during the pontifcate of Pope John Paul II, to allow girls to serve as altar servers. The article appeared shortly after Pope Benedict XVI met with 25,000 altar servers in St. Peter's Square, of which 60% were girls and young women.

The report from CNS said,

Assisting the priest during Mass is both a service and a privilege and represents "a deep and responsible way to live one's Christian identity," said an article published Aug. 7 in L'Osservatore Romano.

"The exclusion of girls from all of this, for the sole reason of their being female, has always weighed heavily and represented a deep inequality within Catholic education," it said.

The CNS article concludes mentioning the 2001 clarification which stated that priests could not be required by their bishop to use girls and women as altar servers.

The full text of the article is available here.