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Will the R.C. Liturgy survive the nativists?

Father Chandler Holder Jones, SSC of Philorthodox recently commented on R.C. Bishop Donald Trautman’s commentary regarding the coming revisions to the R.C. Liturgy. Bishop Trautman (Erie, Pennsylvania) is a well know liberal in regard to the liturgy. He’s also quite the expert at condescension.

The direction coming from Rome regarding the updates needed in the English language version of the Liturgy is a welcome thing. These revisions to the post Vatican II horrors, committed within the texts for the Holy Mass, are the sorts of things that should have taken place under a much slower, more considered approach toward overall changes in the Liturgy. Instead the R.C. liberals and iconoclasts had to charge forward, out with the everlasting, in with their own ideas.

I do not think the changes the Vatican is pushing will pass the American bishops conference. The liberal wing is too firmly entrenched there. We’ll have to see how it plays out.

The PNCC did it so much better. The traditional liturgy (in R.C. parlance —“ Tridentine) is a living version of the Holy Mass. The clergy may opt for this version at their discretion and many parishes desire the traditional liturgy. Guess what —“ no problem. Other parishes and their clergy opt for the Contemporary Rite. The Contemporary Rite language, and the manner in which it is held, is solemn and beautiful. No rush and you’re out. No dumbing down the Holy Mass. A slower approach that was done well.

Perhaps it is because those who formed the PNCC, a vast majority of them Poles, were not going to stand for a Church that dumbed things down. That would just be giving in to the nativist, anti-immigrant bigots who liked to refer to Polish people —“ well you know.

So when I read the statements of the Bishop of Erie as reported by the Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission (liberalism’s very definition) I see that he follows the nativist tendencies of James Cardinal Gibbons, who was quoted in the New York Times of August 24, 1901 as saying: “The country, it seems to me, is overrun with immigrants, and a word of caution should be spoken to them.”

To wit:

On Friday, Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, Pennsylvania, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ liturgy committee, gave a talk, “Contemporary Liturgical Issues.” Bishop Trautman expressed apprehension about the U.S. bishops’ upcoming June vote on the new sacramentary (containing the order of Mass) translation, which reflects a more traditional style closer to the original Latin. He described the vote as a “decisive and defining” moment and admitted that the conference is “divided.”

“Liturgical language today must not just be faithful and accurate to the original, but also intelligible, proclaimable, dignified and reflective of a word order, vocabulary, expression from the contemporary mainstream of the English language as spoken in the United States,” said Trautman. “If a translation, no matter how exact, does not communicate in the living language of the worshipping assembly, it fails as a translation. It fails to lead to full, conscious, and active participation.”

So the Church should use language that is common to the people. That’s interesting. You would think he’s opting to include slang and what ever else the ‘word on the street’ is. I guess he’d like to move from clown masses to hip-hop masses. It’s just silly. People are not stupid. The average ‘person on the street’ can actually grasp quite a lot, especially if you take the time to teach. It should be easy for a Bishop with a doctorate in Sacred Theology and a licentiate in Scripture. But no, use the common language – forget that lex ordandi, lex credendi stuff.

Trautman continued, “in the proposed translation of the sacramentary, we meet words and expressions that many would consider not in the speech of the mainstream assembly.” For example, he said, the proposed translation of the Nicene Creed uses the phrase, “consubstantial with the Father,” to replace the present wording, “one in being with the Father.” Also, “by the Holy Spirit, He was incarnate of the Virgin Mary” replaces “He was born of the Virgin Mary.”

“Both words, ‘consubstantial’ and ‘incarnate,'” said Trautman, “are not readily intelligible to the vast majority of those in the assembly.”

Ah, the nativist emerges. ‘Hey bishop, how about you’se guys teaching us blue collar hicks something.’ Lift our minds to God; don’t drag God down to our level. We know what its like down here —“ and we’d rather focus on getting up there.

To me these changes represent accuracy and opportunity. The words used in the Holy Mass describe and contain, as best as humanly possible, what the Church intends to convey, i.e., the truth of its teaching. The opportunity is the catechesis —“ saving those who received basically nothing but warm fuzzies between 1970 and 2000 and reclaiming the hearts you lost when you forced change on the unprepared.

Commenting on a proposed change to the first Eucharistic Prayer (the “Roman Canon”) — “grant them, O Lord, we pray, and all who sleep in Christ, a place of refreshment, light, and peace,” Trautman drew audience laughter when he quipped, “the phrase, ‘a place of refreshment,’ is a literal translation that conveys the image of a heavenly spa or tap room at the heavenly hotel.”

I know Bishops, priests, and deacons, as well as seminarians and everyday folk who spend an hour or two in reflection before the Blessed Sacrament. They pray the Office at home or at work —“ and walk away refreshed, reinvigorated, and renewed. It all depends on your point of reference. But always the nativist and always condescending —“ make sure you speak to us dumb blue collar guys —“ the only refreshment we know is getting drunk and abusing our women folk. What’s your point of reference Bishop? When you think —Bread of Life— are you focused on Jesus or on a nice Parisienne loaf.

Trautman addressed another proposed change to the first Eucharistic Prayer — from “cup” to “precious chalice.” Said Trautman: “‘precious chalice’ — when I hear those words, I think of a gold vessel with diamonds on it. Did Jesus, at the Last Supper, use a precious chalice or a cup? The gospels clearly say ‘cup,’ but even in the lectionary from Rome we have the word ‘chalice’ imposed on the inspired text to carry out this ‘sacred language.'”

Again Bishop —“ what’s your point of reference? I guess it’s what is on the outside. How about it being a ‘precious chalice’ because of what it contains? Oh, I forgot —“ it would be too hard for us guys from the steel mill to understand. Your words betray you. Sure you think of a ‘gold vessel with diamonds on it.’ Your words indicate a lack of faith in anything beyond gold and diamonds.

This is why the R.C. Church, at least in the United States, needs some serious direction from Rome. Get on board with your Church Bishop, you might be surprised that it actually does offer the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic truth.

Everything Else

Nerves

I’d been walking, pacing, and fiddling for three days prior to my son’s First Holy Communion. I’d walk around the kitchen opening and closing the refrigerator for no reason. At the time I had no idea why.

My always wise wife pointed out that, even though my son was nervous about receiving his First Holy Communion, I was more nervous.

As I said, that went on for a few days. I was nervous for several reasons. I had done the First Communion and Confession catechesis for the children. I had done the practices. The first confessions went very well. Yet, I was still nervous. Did they get it? Did they understand?

On the way home from baseball the evening before First Communion Sunday my son was talking to me. He was asking about the pre-communion fast. It’s two hours in the PNCC. He told me the following:

A.: Dad, how long do we fast before communion?
D.: Two hours.
A.: Do you know why dad? Because we need to be hungry for Jesus. We don’t need breakfast food – we need Jesus as our food.

I stopped being nervous from that point forward. I knew they understood.

Everything Else

A few days off

My wife and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary this weekend. I’ve uploaded my homilies and a few other scheduled posts, but otherwise posting will be sparse.

Please keep us in your prayers.

I wish all of you a wonderful and reflective Memorial Day weekend. I still like to refer to Memorial Day as Decoration Day – reminds us that we should get ourselves over to the cemetery to reflect upon the sacrifice of those who took the Lord’s command seriously (regardless of the politics of the moment):

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Decoration Day

Everything Else,

Swimming across

The York Forum discussion board is commenting on Fr. Taylor Marshall of the Canterbury Tales blog (to whom I link) who has renounced his orders in the ECUSA and who is entering the R.C. Church. Dr. William Tighe (who posts at Pontifications on occasions and writes for Touchstone) reported:

Fr. Taylor Reed Marshall, formerly Curate of St. Andrews, Fort Worth, has renounced his Orders in ECUSA and will be rec’d into the Catholic church [sic] by Bp. Vann of Fort Worth this Saturday (May 20), together with his wife and children. At the end of the month they will be moving to Washington, DC, where TRM will take up a position as assistant to Msgr. William Stetson for “Anglican Use” matters. He will be present a the Anglican Use conference in Scranton in June, where I hope that he will be heartily welcomed, and greeted especially by those whom I count as my friends who will be there.

I wish Fr. Marshall and his family well.

As to the Anglican Use in the R.C. Church —“ well, I don’t get it.

At best it’s a stop gap measure to accommodate Anglicans who are swimming the Tiber in an effort to escape the heterodoxy of the ECUSA. It’s why I think swimming the Bosporus makes more sense. The Orthodox require a process of integration and there is no false expectation left in the mind of those converting. You must become and integrate yourself within the fullness of Orthodoxy. That’s indicative of the fact that Orthodoxy sees itself on a road toward becoming, toward Theosis.

If Anglicans wish to go to Rome, that’s fine, but why bring the trappings of Anglicanism? Getting on the road to becoming is a more truthful stance. There would be far fewer problems if people had to face the fullness of their decisions —“ making clear choices. The R.C. Church is exactly what it is. Why would people choose to delude themselves as if they have the power, wisdom, or longevity to make over the Church?

In my estimation there will be no ‘Anglican Use’ of any substantial magnitude in 25 to 30 years. The married clergy will die off and will not be replaced (can you imagine R.C. Bishops anywhere ordaining married men). They will not be replaced by more Anglican clergy swimming the Tiber, since anyone with any sense of what Church is will have gone somewhere else in those 25 to 30 years, or will have sold their soul.

That leaves the congregations in these AU parishes, which will age out. Their replacement generation will remember the beautiful liturgies but will walk away when the AU parishes get ‘integrated’. There will be the typical hurt feelings and failure to listen and meet their needs.

It’s sad and it is a warning sign to all those who push for headlong integration with the R.C. Church. They delude themselves greatly. Campos is feeling the effects of integration, the SSPX will if it chooses to integrate, and the Anglicans will as well.

As always we pray for reconciliation and the grace to overcome the sin that is a barrier to that. It must be recognized that sin exists on every side and that we need the light of the Holy Spirit to show every party the way forward.

Good luck Fr. Marshall.

Everything Else,

Entering the Church

The following is an excerpt from Still Slaying Dragons After All These Years, the National Catholic Register’s interview with Randall Terry, the founder of Operation Rescue. Mr. Terry entered the Roman Catholic Church on Holy Thursday.

Terry now has his eyes set on new issues.

—The abortion movement, the homosexual ‘marriage’ movement or the militant Muslims who are murdering Christians, don’t care if we have seven sacraments or two. They don’t care whether we have priests or preachers or if we are in communion with Rome or Constantinople,— says Terry. —They despise us equally.—

Terry has tried to share the suffering inherent in the abortion issue by being jailed.

But he’s also taken on the sacrifice of raising two adopted and one foster child.

Everything Else

The Proper Order for First Confession and First Communion

This morning’s bus stop banter included me discussing the fact that we had four children in our parish who made their First Confession this past Saturday (including my son), and that they would be making their First Holy Communion next Sunday.

At least one parent noted that she was happy to hear that a parish put First Confession before First Holy Communion. Now I’ve heard this from several people in the Albany, NY area. At first I thought these were one-off occurrences, but I’m hearing it more and more.

I’ve asked some R.C. friends if that’s what their parish does. Some say yes, others say they never heard of it. Needless to say I was intrigued. Who would invent a system like this?

It appears that the early 1970’s, a time of all kinds of crazy experiments in the R.C. Church, there was such an experiment. It was abrogated in 1973 and again in 1977. Yet it continues in little pockets here and there (consider what you’re experimenting with before you experiment, you may have to live with the results almost 30 years later).

From my personal perspective I agree with much of what Joseph A. Wemhoff says in First confession before First Communion.

As parents, my wife and I are obligated to forming our children both physically and spiritually. Part of that development is having an understanding of personal actions and their consequences. Doing something wrong requires recompense —“ a time out, loosing a privilege, etc. This, along with discussion, is intended to help the child in differentiating right from wrong and in forming a conscience that is aware and self examining. If you are going to receive the most important and precious gift in your life, the body and blood of Jesus, you need to receive with awareness and free from sin (yes, I know a 7 – 8 year old child will, most likely, not have serious sin, but that’s not the point).

Thankfully we do not have this issue in the PNCC and as a matter of fact R.C. parishes shouldn’t have it either. I’ve put together a few links to information on the subject in case you are asked about it or if you are just curious:

A Letter from The Vatican: First Penance, First Communion

Children must receive the sacrament of penance before they receive their first communion, according to a letter sent to the world’s bishops by the Vatican Congregations for the Sacraments and Divine Worship and for the Clergy. In the letter, dated March 31 but released May 19 [1977], the congregations say that in spite of a 1973 declaration on this matter, it is apparent that “dissension and doubts” still exist in some parts of the church regarding the order in which children are to receive these sacraments.

And from Catholic Culture:

After having attentively considered the matter, and keeping in view the wishes of the bishops, the Sacred Congregations for the Discipline of the Sacraments and for the Clergy, by this document do declare, with the approval of the Supreme Pontiff, Paul VI, that experiments of this kind, already carried out for two years, must have an end put to them simultaneously with the closing of the 1972-1973 school year and, for the future, the decree, Quam singulari, must be obeyed everywhere and by all.

Given at Rome, the 24th day of May, 1973.

Everything Else,

Sound words

I am a regular reader of Fr. Martin Fox’s blog Bonfire of the Vanities.

During the past week Fr. Fox has posted on confession (see: Don’t sweat confession) and on tradition and the Holy Mass Rites in the R.C. Church (see: What about the Traditional form of Mass? and Old Rite, New Rite…). All of these are worthy and sound reading and I highly recommend them.

While at Holy Mass on Sunday I had a moment to reflect on the response to the psalm “I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people.”

As Catholic/Christian bloggers perhaps we should take that up as our motto. Fr. Fox exhibits this in spades. His words are elegant and kind, even while making a point. His are words of praise for the Lord.

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