Comments for Of New Things at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 6 out of 6 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Tue, 21 May 2013 20:14:07 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/of-new-things.html#comment-9075 "The revision is good, but not nearly enough. And that’s doubly unfortunate..." What would be "enough?"... I would argue that what we experience as "not enough" is the laity proceeding status quo. What is needed is a renaissance of mystagogy - we need to learn to love and live the sacred mysteries, and thus enter into the celebration of the Eternal Liturgy far more intentionally - which is to say more reverently, more piously, and with and ever deeper interior 'participatio.' The noble vision of SC, the instruction of the GIRM, the rubrics and recommendations put forth from the Magisterium of HMC, the great gift of the new translation of the Missal, the recovery of more chant and sacred polypony, all conspire to make more beautiful (that is to say, more good and more true in its manifestation) the 'ars celebrandi' of the Mass. And yet! What worth would it all be if we, ourselves, the lay faithful attend in such an impoverished manner to the worship properly due to the Father through the Son in the Spirit. Liturgical Catechesis - along the lines of the Holy Father's incomparable work The Spirit of the Liturgy for example - is what is so desperately needed, at all stages of Catholic formation. The forms are the forms - extraordinary and ordinary. The reality is the reality - that kenosis that defines the very life of the Holy Trinity occuring through the hands of our ministerial priests. But the temporal newness that is part of every liturgical celebration need not be manufactured through new language or new music - rather it is most profoundly manifest in the broken hearts that we bring again and again before the Lord as we strive to make worthy offerings of our own lives through our own Baptismal priesthood. Which is why the most important paragraph in the article is, "If you read Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, you may be surprised to find that the Council Fathers actually recommend, among other things, a kind of education of the laity that would bring them up to a level to sing chant, understand theological concepts reflected in liturgical language, and more fully participate in the riches of the great Catholic tradition." Would that it be so! - Denverite Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:14:59 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/of-new-things.html#comment-9031 With all due respect, Professor, I think you understate the changes within the new Missal. Assuming (heh) that the celebrant/priests actually do what is strongly suggested--that is, to SING more of their parts--and that church musicians actually do what is strongly suggested--that is, the Propers chants, not hymnody--this Missal will be a very significant change from what went before. And that's before we get to the actual language, which is noticeably more magisterial, or 'sacred,' as many have suggested. - L A Stich Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:34:09 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/of-new-things.html#comment-9030 If we are discussing grammar, why wasn't the Future Imperative Tense used in the Creed? "He SHALL come again . . ." "He will come again . . ." The Simple Future carries no indication of certainty, suggesting that it's going to happen, but then again, it may not. You never can tell. I still (very quietly) use Thou, Thee, and Thine, and, (re: Jim (above), I always capitalize the pronouns that refer to our Lord or any Person of the Trinity. Heaven help us, though. One day we received a mailing from some archdiocesan office that referred to the Holy Spirit as "it." As Mother Teresa once said, "All you can do is sigh." I was surprised at how little had been changed. Our pastor has been gradually introducing the new text of the congregational responses and participation for a couple of months. The hardest part is to remember "And with thy (pardon me, your) spirit." People are halfway through the older form before anyone remembers. I was actually hoping for a reincarnation of Shakespeare or Cranmer. I won't be around to see the next version. - Louise Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:14:10 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/of-new-things.html#comment-9029 Why are words referring to God (He, His, Him, You, Your) not capitalized -- in my missalette anyway? - Jim Thunder Mon, 28 Nov 2011 06:00:12 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/of-new-things.html#comment-9027 Thank you for a very pleasant and well presented article, Dr. Royal. The changes experienced in the Novus Ordo Mass yesterday in the English speaking portion of the Church are in the 1962 Missal which we in the FSSP use. It does make life interesting. The fact that your daughter could find the word TRANSUBSTANTIATION in the OED is remarkable considering the fact that the word does not appear in any of the 16 documents of the Second Vatican Council. I am not writing this to carp, but rather to hold out the hope that this return to the English translations of the Latin portends a return to orthodoxy and piety and the fifty year "night" is ending. TCT's Complete Catholicism seems a step in the right direction and I congratulate and thank you and the TCT staff for it. Ad Multos Annos! - Manfred Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:02:02 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/of-new-things.html#comment-9026 It's surprising to read that "the changes are good, but not nearly enough," inasmuch as the new translation much more accurately captures and reflects the Latin text. I for one am greatly encouraged to see the transcendent aspect of Catholic worship much more present in this work, instead of the focus on "the community" and "the presider," as if the celebrant were merely primus inter pares. The language is much more majestic (despite the unfortunate "peace to people of good will," which falls flat on the ear even while accurately reflecting the difference between homo and vir); the differentiation of "my sacrifice and yours" accurately reflects both the Latin and the distinct ways in which priest and laity participate in the Eucharistic sacrifice. One sees much more readily throughout the liturgy the Biblical language from which the Roman Rite draws and upon which it rests. This is clearly an advance. Perhaps what Dr. Royal points us to are aspects in the Novus Ordo itself that beg for amplification or clarification. Certainly readers of TCT are familiar and sometimes conversant with the arguments that the Novus Ordo represented a Protestantization of the Faith and the Liturgy -- though even from my Anglican days it was clear to me that the difference between Anglican and Catholic liturgy was of kind, not degree: despite the aesthetic poverty of the Novus Ordo, the difference between Catholic and Anglican liturgy was of kind, not degree, and it was clear to me then that something was happening in the Church's liturgy that wasn't happening in the Anglican communion services. One thinks for instance of the Confiteor in the traditional, now Extraordinary, Form of the Rite, in which the angels and saints were invoked as we begged God for forgiveness of our sins. Can we really say that the Novus Ordo represents an advance in Catholic worship? I think the asnwer is both yes and no: yes, in that the lectionary of the Sacred Liturgy now does draw much more amply from the riches of the Word of God, presenting to those Catholics who assist daily a much fuller presentation of the message of Sacred Scripture. I've noted in those few Tridentine Masses at which I've assisted a certain awkwardness in standing twice for the Gospel, once in Latin, once in English, a certain sense of interruption when before the homily begins the announcements rare made, as a kind of break in the sacred action, and a certain discomfort at not knowing whether the rate at which I am reading the Missal corresponds to the rate at which the priest is celebrated sotto voce. But I have also noted a much deeper sense of recollection, piety, and reverence throughout the entire Mass than seems to be the case in the Novus Ordo: the same silence obtains at the Consecration in both forms, but the Tridentine Rite ushers in a deeper quiet from the very onset of the Entrance Antiphon than is the case even in celebrations in Latin of the Novus Ordo. Dr. Royal is probably right that there will not be another revision of the liturgy for another fifty years. On the other hand, who knows what fruit the New Evangelization may present? It could well be that as Catholics re-emerse themselves outside of Mass in the treasures of the Faith, a groundswell for a deeper liturgical presentation of the Faith may arise and be accommodated. For the time being, however, I am very happy with these changes and urge all of us to support them fully. - Dave Mon, 28 Nov 2011 01:37:26 +0100