PrayTell recently visited with Fr. Paddy Jones of the National Centre for Liturgy in Ireland. We talked about plans to implement the new missal.
What is happening in Ireland?
Many people realise that we have been working on a new translation of the Missal but it will probably surprise as many more that this has been a major project for the past five or six years and even longer if we include the work in the 1990s on the Revised Sacramentary, as we called it. I have constantly referred to the project in a page I write each month in Intercom, a magazine that most priests and pastoral workers receive. At first it was mainly about “when?” We thought that we might have had a new Missal for the Jubilee Year and even now, setting a time frame is still guess work.
Now the questions are “why?” and “what is involved?” A new Missal or a new edition of the Missal is a special moment and it is worth taking all the time we need to answer these questions and making our best efforts in preparing for its actual use.
At present, Veritas, which publishes for the Bishops, is working away on publication and design issues but we don’t have any final texts yet, even the Order of Mass which was approved two years ago is subject to changes.
Any timeline for the implementation?
Sometime next year, I imagine. The date often mentioned is Easter or Pentecost –and they are very late dates in 2011. It might even be Advent 2011. But it is still guess work. We have to wait for final texts, then printing and publishing, preparation and the obtaining of the Missal – each of these tasks takes months. And from now until use we must have some catechesis on the changes and we must take the opportunities given to us for a wider catechesis on understanding and celebrating the Eucharist.
For several years the Irish Church has been rocked by scandals. Has this made liturgical issues more difficult to address?
For the past two decades, the Irish Church has lived through some of its most difficult times. Those difficult times are not over and, therefore, the safety and protection of children must remain at the top of our agenda. Though these years, our liturgy has been a very stable element. That is why some say that this isn’t the time to make changes.
I would also be very conscious of those who come to our churches every week, indeed the thousands who come to our churches each day. I was, therefore, delighted to see Pope Benedict, when he received a copy of the new edition recently, acknowledge that “many will find it hard to adjust to unfamiliar texts after nearly forty years of continuous use of the previous translation.” And he said that the change will need to be introduced with due sensitivity and the opportunity for catechesis will need to be taken.
Do you have any catechesis in mind?
Obviously we will want to engage with priests and liturgy groups, to help people at diocesan and parish levels.
A major resource that we looking forward to is the DVD that ICEL has commissioned, “Become One Body, One Spirit in Christ.” Already there is some material available from some US publishers and web sites.
When the General Instruction was published in 2005, our National Centre for Liturgy published Celebrating the Mystery of Faith, a Guide to the Mass. We hope to do something again this time, on understanding and celebrating the Eucharist through the Year and also some material on the changes in the texts.
Any concerns about music?
It is often said that we sing everywhere but in church. That is, thankfully, not the complete picture. But we are concerned that we would lose Mass settings, the acclamations and dialogues that we have become accustomed to over thirty years. Yet singing the texts that have changed will probably be the best way to become used to them. The International Eucharistic Congress that will take place in Dublin in June 2012 and our national preparation for it are great opportunities to build up a repertoire of music, something we have wished for over the years and never been very successful.
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