CathNews has this story:
At last week’s Melbourne priests conference on the new Mass texts, Blessed Sacrament Father Tom Knowles identified himself as one of the 22,000 signatories of the “What If We Just Said Wait?” petition pushing for a “grassroots review” of the new Roman Missal. But he said the time has come to turn to the practical matter of implementing the changes.
Father Knowles’s presentation is here.
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His “shiny new shoes” analogy is a dangerous one. How often has one bought shoes that seemed ok at first but then turned out to be too tight so that they had to be jettisoned!
Eloquent stuff–but it skirts round the fact that this translation is being imposed through sheer thuggery. If this goes through in its present form, we confuse ecclesial loyalty with moral cowardice and Sartrean bad faith, and Catholicism falls into a moral disrepute that should not be there.
Philip, the reason the “sheer thuggery” wasn’t mentioned is because Tom delivered his pre-Nuremberg address (he will say later “I was only obeying instructions”) in the presence of Archbishop Denis Hart who, despite his private raging anger at what Vox Clara did to the work of ICEL, of which he’s a member, and the world’s English speaking bishops, has said nothing in public, and has now taken the role, as it were, of chief thug in his diocese, threatening priests who do not use the new translation with suspension.
Sartrean bad faith, ouch! It is so easy to end up going through liturgical motions in the manner of a Sartrean waiter. The new translation postively encourages this. But if the advice of Jack Rakosky on another thread is taken up the new translation, by forcing community and celebrant to used discernment in selecting and even composing texts, may de-routinize our worship and abolish this insidious bad faith.
Preparing for the new translation is a task of stirring up apathy.
Hey Chris Grady, Archbishop Hart threatening suspensions when he’s been one of the MANY bishops worldwide ranging from surprised to really angry over what Vox Clara did (produce a translation with multiple errors in English, apart from mistranslations)? Well, nothing like a gentle nudge from such an honest and authentic “good shepherd” to get the priests in line. How do these people look at themselves in the mirror and not get sick to their stomachs?
If the excellent Fr. Zuhlsdorf had been involved, I’ll bet the already good, corrected translation would have been even better. Maybe next time!
One man’s “excellent” is another man’s “nasty”.
I think John Zuhlsdorf is too tainted with bile to be credible and reliable. And besides, bishops hate using “loose canons” (sic), so his chances of being appointed next time are just about nil.
I thought David Lilly was being ironic. Of course the situation is so dotty, now, that any irony would be undetectable.
Had the writer of “What Does The Priest Really Do All Day?” or whatever it’s called been involved, his kind partons, instead of (or in addition to) their footing the bill for bird seed, gourment recipe ingredients, rare books, air travel – in fact anything except the requirements for pastoral ministry – could’ve donated all the necessary funds, too . . . “Say the black, do the red, and wait for brown . . . “
When 2010 first leaked, he used to post BOTH 2008 and 2010, usually adding “You decide” but making it clear he preferred 2008. He even took a swipe at Fr Anthony Ward of CDW as probably being the culprit behind most of the 10,000 changes. He said something like “These changes were probably introduced to WARD off criticism.” Then all of a sudden the comparisons between 2008 and 2010 stopped and he went back to emphasizing how bad the “lame duck” translation was. Gotta play to the base I guess and also not anger potential employers (in case you eventually need an American diocese to hook up with).
How easily these signatories give up the notion of a grassroots review!
Do a grassroots review of the New Missal while implementing it!
Unless, implementation merely means “snake oil commercials” trying to convince everyone this is best thing since the Latin Mass.
The first, the most important measure, indeed the gold standard of the success of the New Missal is Mass attendance. One of our local parishes has the ushers count attendance at each Mass during the first two readings.
June is the best time to begin doing this in every parish. Data collected from Protestant churches that observe a liturgical year, show that attendance peaks at Easter, declines steadily through the summer, reaches a nadir in August before slowly climbing through Fall into Advent, hitting a peak at Christmas again.
Collecting Mass attendance from the June through November half year will establish a base line before implementation of the Missal. Forget about collecting it at any other time.
The real test of the New Missal (or any other improvements in the liturgy) is not what happens during the Advent-Christmas or the Lent-Easter cycles but what happens during the half year of Ordinary Time from June through November.
Ordinary Time is when the mediocrity of our liturgy shows. Unless the New Missal can improve Mass attendance during Ordinary Time, it is much ado about nothing.
Our Catholic parishes are still filled at Christmas and Easter with the Santa Clauses and the Easter Bunnies. We give fine liturgies during these two seasons which bring people back.
The challenge is that Catholic “at least monthly” Mass attendance has slipped below 50% , and weekly attendance is now below 30%. Ordinary Time is where we Catholics have to improve our liturgies.
Forget about the snake oil commercials. Give the parish an Ordinary Time that even the Santa Clauses and Easter Bunnies cannot resist. If the New Missal helps, “Deo Gratias.”
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