Friday, May 13, 2011

Liturgical text far more than just a welcome mat

Catholic News Agency by Louie Verrecchio:

Last night I had the great pleasure of addressing a group of young adults at a “Theology on Tap” gathering on the topic of how best to begin preparing for the new English translation of the Roman Missal. It is so encouraging to witness the vibrancy of faith in this younger generation! (It’s also a sure sign that I’m getting old.)

During the Q&A portion of our time together I was somewhat surprised when a number of attendees sought an opinion on how the forthcoming translation is most likely to affect their non-Catholic friends during a visit to Holy Mass. They were concerned, it became known, that the new translation might somehow prove less “inviting” than the current text.

How ironic, I thought, that this topic would come up just days after Catholic News Service ran a story under the headline, “New Mass translation is ecumenically harmful, Anglican says.” (For the record, the young Catholics in attendance last night had apparently not read, and therefore were not influenced by, the CNS story to which we will return momentarily.)

The good news is that I sensed, for the most part, an authentic ecumenical fervor among the attendees; i.e., a desire not simply just to get along with their Christian friends, but rather a sincere longing to see those outside of the Catholic Church become Her visible members. It is also encouraging to note the fact that they very correctly identified Holy Mass — the centerpiece of our Catholic life — as the perfect venue (at least in theory) in which to introduce their friends to the unique presence and operations of Christ such as they dwell in the Catholic Church alone.

The bad news, however, is that their concern regarding the relative “welcomeness” of the new translation vis-à-vis non-Catholics is truly a symptom of a much larger problem — one that has been created in large measure by our blundered attempts to implement the liturgical reforms desired by the Fathers of Vatican Council II. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that Catholic identity as expressed through the perceptible signs used in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite has been so utterly decimated over the last four decades that it lies all but hidden from view in many places, and it will take far more than just the corrected Missal to restore it.

Intentionally or not, the aforementioned CNS story articulates very well the root of our Catholic identity crisis as it relates to the liturgical text. In it, Anglican Rev. David Holeton, a liturgist and professor at Charles University in Prague, states that other Christians were “both stunned and dismayed" when the Holy See decided to change the English texts of prayers that had been developed with their input in the years following the Council.

Also of concern to other Christians, according to Rev. Holeton, is that the Holy See has seen fit to discourage ecumenical consultation in the process of producing the new text, a point that he supported by quoting from “Liturgiam Authenticam” - the 2002 Instruction that was issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship to establish new guidelines for translating the sacred texts.

"Great caution is to be taken to avoid a wording or style that the Catholic faithful would confuse with the manner of speech of non-Catholic ecclesial communities or of other religions, so that such a factor will not cause them confusion or discomfort" (LA 40).

According to CNS, Rev. Holeton said that the use of common texts by dozens of Christian denominations around the world has created an environment in which English-speaking Christians, upon visiting one another's liturgies, experienced "a sense of familiarity" and a feeling that "they were not with strangers but among friends."

In Rev. Holeton’s view, "Both the sense of being 'at home' and of being 'among friends' are foundational paving stones on the way to Christian unity and it is the liturgy, more than anything else, that has nurtured this sense of communality."

One can hardly fault Rev. Holeton for feeling as though the carpet is being pulled from beneath his feet thanks to the new translation, after all, he’s viewing the matter from the perspective of one who wants very much to believe that his ecclesial community is every bit the “church” founded by Christ as the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Of course, the very premise is wholly unsustainable in the light of truth, but he is quite correct in recognizing that the current English text of the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite gives the impression that it is the Church’s desire post-Vatican II to lend a degree of credence to his heretical theology.

Heretical? Ouch! Right? No, wrong!

In the current climate of ecumaniacism and political correctness, many people seem to insist on the use of castrated language to the point where it is no longer considered acceptable to acknowledge heresy even where such is obvious, and even when doing so is ultimately ordered toward the good of all concerned.

“Heresy” is a terrible thing, but it is not a dirty word, my friends; it is “the obstinate denial or doubt, after baptism, of a truth which must be believed by divine and catholic faith” (Code of Canon Law – 751), and it does neither Rev. Holeton nor those who embrace the theology he espouses any favors to pretend otherwise.

Speaking of political correctness, among the more provocative statements I made in talking with the young adults last night is that the Lord wills that every single human being be Catholic; that is, a fully incorporated visible member of the Catholic Church. Shocking? It really shouldn’t be, but I’m afraid to many a Catholic ear it really is.

Our modern culture tends to indiscriminately celebrate diversity in whatever form it may come, but make no mistake about it — the fact that the Christian world is comprised of Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists and on and on the list goes, is not a cause for rejoicing; it is the lamentable result of sin, and it most certainly isn’t the will of Him who founded but one Church and then prayed fervently for it to persevere in unity.

That’s a difficult truth for many to swallow nowadays, I know. I also know that it will jolt the system of some to read that Rev. Holeton, though we can certainly be friends, is sadly mistaken in believing that he is “at home” when visiting the liturgy of the Catholic Church even as he refuses to accept no small number of Her most fundamental teachings, and he is equally misguided in entertaining the notion that anything more than just a mere shadow of the “communality” that Christ wills for His Church can ever exist between us until he does.

Perhaps the saddest fact of all is that Rev. Holeton and countless others like him have the Catholic Church, in part, to blame for their errant ways of thinking. Why? Because the liturgy of the Ordinary Form over the last four decades, through many of its outward signs (including its English text), has communicated loud and clear (albeit inadvertently one can only hope) just exactly the kinds of falsehoods they are determined to believe.

And the Protestants aren’t the only ones who got the message. How else can one explain the fact that so many wayward Catholics have sought out greener liturgical pastures in the praise and worship services of the heretics? (Be honest, you still can’t seem to read that word without gasping, right? For their sake and yours, try to get over it.)

This also happens to be the reason why some of those passionate young adults to whom I spoke last night are apparently tending in thought toward the same false notion to which Rev. Holeton is clinging; namely, that the text of Holy Mass must function as a kind of welcome mat for non-Catholics upon whom we dare not impose even a modicum of culture shock.

Well, I say it’s high time that our non-Catholic visitors at Holy Mass receive exactly what they deserve — a barrage of truly sacred signs that unmistakably communicate the message “You ain’t in Kansas anymore, Toto; you’re at Heaven on earth!”

Yes, the new English translation of the Roman Missal is a tremendously important step in that direction, but let’s not placate ourselves too quickly. This alone isn’t enough to set things right as all the sacred, Latinized, metaphorical language in the world can easily get swallowed up in a liturgy that rests far too heavily on the personality of a priest who is facing his congregation, when the music is often more apropos an episode of Glee, and when armies of laity still insist on running around our sanctuaries in robes calling themselves ministers.

We have a long way to go indeed, but as the inimitable Fr. Z likes to say, “brick by brick.”

Author and speaker Louie Verrecchio has been a columnist for Catholic News Agency since April 2009. He recently launched “Preparing the Way for the Roman Missal – Where the New Translation meets the New EvangelizationTM” available at www.MissalPrep.com 

Mr. Verrecchio’s work, which includes the internationally acclaimed Harvesting the Fruit of Vatican II Faith Formation Series, has been endorsed by Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia; Bishop Emeritus Patrick O’Donoghue of Lancaster, England, Bishop R. Walker Nickless of Sioux City, IA, USA and others. For more information please visit: www.harvestingthefruit.com

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