{"id":12244,"date":"2011-11-15T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2011-11-15T13:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=12244"},"modified":"2011-11-15T00:15:14","modified_gmt":"2011-11-15T05:15:14","slug":"models-for-the-emerging-church-promises-and-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/11\/15\/models-for-the-emerging-church-promises-and-threats\/","title":{"rendered":"Models for the Emerging Church: Promises and Threats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Models for the Emerging Church: Promises and Threats
\nWilliam C. Graham<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t get this business with the Tridentine Mass. I should get it. I was in ninth grade at Cathedral High School when the first English translations were introduced. As a boy, I learned the Latin responses to the prayers at the foot of the altar and the other parts proper to the altar server. I could sing the proper parts of the Mass with our St. Rose of Lima School schola, as well as the ordinary parts, and I could pronounce Latin far better than I ever understood it.<\/p>\n

I have but rarely presided at the liturgy in Latin. A couple times, as a pastor, I worked to convince parishioners that we should celebrate at least one Mass on Pentecost Sunday in the lingua antiqua<\/em> and sing the Missa de Angelis,<\/em> Mass VIII. Afterward, even daily-Mass Catholics would say, \u201cWell that was a nice enough look at a museum piece, but I don\u2019t need to do that again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, I recently scheduled Mass in Latin for students at the college where I teach. They should know, or at least experience, that part of the tradition. At least that\u2019s what I told them. One of the most rigorously orthodox of our students said sweetly, succinctly, and accurately the morning after: \u201cIt was nice to be in touch with our tradition and to experience the Mass as did our grandparents, but there was a layer of meaning entirely absent.\u201d Her own experience was a far better teacher than any explanation I might have offered.<\/p>\n

Catholic folks born in the 1950s often assert that they know Latin. Few actually know it. Some will say, \u201cI speak Latin.\u201d Or \u201cMy mother speaks Latin.\u201d Then they greet me: \u201cDominus vobiscum.\u201d<\/em> I may be large, but I do not take the plural.<\/p>\n

I recently attended the wedding of a delightful and delightfully traditional young couple who wanted part of their wedding liturgy sung in Latin. They did not recognize that the setting they employed for the Sanctus<\/em> and Agnus Dei<\/em> was from the Requiem<\/em>. Mentioning this to another traditional young guest there, I was asked, \u201cWhat, exactly, is a Requiem<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n

Praying in Latin is not easy. Neither fond nostalgia for an era one never knew nor spending a couple semesters in Rome and ordering spaghetti carbonara in Italian gives one the ability to pronounce or understand the complexities of an ancient language one has never studied. One of my colleagues, a Latin professor, went one day to a local celebration of the Eucharist according to the extraordinary rite, the rite we usually refer to as Tridentine. Coming back to campus, shaking his head, the professor sad sadly, \u201cI don\u2019t know what that was, but it was not Latin.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what are the issues involved in restoring the Tridentine liturgy? Lisa Takeuchi Cullen (\u201cI Confess, I Want Latin,\u201d Time<\/em> [June 30, 2007]<\/a>) wants \u201cto experience the joy of communion without the anguish of our modern-day differences.\u201d She thinks that in the Tridentine Mass, when the priest has his \u201cback to the congregation and [is] speaking in a dead language,\u201d she\u00a0will be spared homilies based on the priest\u2019s \u201cNetflix queue.\u201d Good luck to her with all that. Even back in the day, the homily or sermon was not in Latin. Ms. Cullen could seek out a parish that celebrates the liturgy in another language unknown to her \u2014 Vietnamese, maybe, or Tagalog or Eritrean. She could then get what she seeks: \u201can hour-long meditation in the community of the faithful, reaffirming ancient beliefs in familiar but inscrutable chant.\u201d She opines, \u201cI\u2019m not so sure that isn\u2019t what the Apostles intended.\u201d There is scant evidence to suggest that the apostles were big into inscrutability. Perhaps her opinion reveals a different desire: to decide herself what the apostles intended rather than trust the church in magisterial authority to interpret and mediate both Scripture and Tradition with the wisdom of the ages.<\/p>\n

The church, in the wisdom of the ages, prompts us to pray in languages we understand. Those who sentimentalize another reality should not seek to press it on others among the people of God.<\/p>\n

But, Can We Keep Paul V\u2019s Missal?<\/strong>
\nIn an earlier [article],<\/em> I pointed out that the folks who were most surprised by Pope Benedict XVI\u2019s decision to loosen restrictions on the celebration of the Tridentine Mass (the extraordinary rite) may have been those of us just old enough to remember chanting the Requiem<\/em> and the Missa de Angelis<\/em> back in the glory days of booming, burgeoning Catholic schools. While we may sometimes celebrate the Novus Ordo in Latin when in Rome, or at home on Pentecost for old times\u2019 sake, we tend to agree that there is a layer of meaning entirely missing when the church at prayer employs the lingua antiqua<\/em>.<\/p>\n

My earlier caution, I think, bears repeating. The priests I know who intuit a pastoral need for the old rite did not grow up with it. Because the Mass in any language can and should be celebrated with reverence, the need for the old rite seems unclear. Those who celebrate it cannot, on Monday morning, gather at the water cooler with other Catholics and a variety of other Christians and discuss the Scriptures they heard the day before; Trent\u2019s missal is different from today\u2019s lectionary, with fewer Scripture pericopes and scant attention to the Old Testament.<\/p>\n

When the Tridentine crowd prays on Good Friday for \u201cthe perfidious Jew,\u201d the rest of us know with certainty that God will hear what we ask, but we trust that he will give us what we truly need. This will surely not include perfidy, either among Catholics or Jews. A caution is in order here, however. We cannot be sure of the accuracy of all the translations of the Mass; prudence would dictate, I think, that those who seek to pray in Latin use only the Latin text, eschewing all other translations in an effort to avoid that which may be unseemly, inaccurate, or irreverent. But I digress.<\/p>\n

The point is that we should not regard as Cafeteria Catholics those who seek to reclaim the 1950s. Instead, we should see them as a model for the emerging church. In fact, recent reports suggesting that Benedict granted permission not just for the Tridentine liturgy but other rites \u2014 the Ambrosian, for example, celebrated in Milan (\u201cMotu proprio<\/em> allows use of several old rites,\u201d The Tablet<\/em> [June 6, 2009]: 31) \u2014 is surely an early announcement of hope for those priests or parishes who have felt some anxiety about the coming translation of the liturgical prayers. Clearly, the precedent seems to be set: those who may not approve of the new translation will be under no obligation to use it but can instead either petition for or presume permission to continue using the present books. Maybe I am incorrect. Let\u2019s break into discussion groups on this idea, with both our canonists and liturgists as guides.<\/p>\n

Together in the big tent that is the church, may we continue with faithfulness and good humor (and in all the languages of humankind) the church\u2019s unbroken tradition of coming \u201ctogether to celebrate the paschal mystery: \u2026 giving thanks \u2018to God for his inexpressible gift\u2019 (2 Cor 9:15) in Christ Jesus, \u2018in praise of his glory\u2019 (Eph 1:12), through the power of the Holy Spirit\u201d (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy,<\/em> 6).<\/strong><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Rev. William C. Graham, a priest of the diocese of Duluth in Minnesota, directs The Braegelman Program in Catholic Studies at the College of St. Scholastica. His latest books include <\/em>A Catholic Handbook: Essentials for the 21st Century (Paulist) and Clothed in Christ: Toward a Spirituality for Lay Ministers (Twenty-Third Publications).<\/em><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared <\/a>in the February 2011 issue <\/a>of <\/em>Ministry & Liturgy, a publication of Resource Publications, Inc. It is reprinted here with their kind permission.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently scheduled Mass in Latin for students at the college where I teach…One of the most rigorously orthodox of our students said sweetly, succinctly, and accurately the morning after: \u201cIt was nice to be in touch with our tradition and to experience the Mass as did our grandparents, but there was a layer of meaning entirely absent.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1657,742,377,1656],"class_list":["post-12244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reform-of-the-reform","tag-ministry-liturgy","tag-time-magazine","tag-tridentine-mass","tag-william-c-graham"],"yoast_head":"\nModels for the Emerging Church: Promises and Threats - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/11\/15\/models-for-the-emerging-church-promises-and-threats\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Models for the Emerging Church: Promises and Threats - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I recently scheduled Mass in Latin for students at the college where I teach...One of the most rigorously orthodox of our students said sweetly, succinctly, and accurately the morning after: \u201cIt was nice to be in touch with our tradition and to experience the Mass as did our grandparents, but there was a layer of meaning entirely absent.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/11\/15\/models-for-the-emerging-church-promises-and-threats\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-15T13:00:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/pt.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"411\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"90\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Other Voices\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Other Voices\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/15\\\/models-for-the-emerging-church-promises-and-threats\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/15\\\/models-for-the-emerging-church-promises-and-threats\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Other Voices\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4eec536020900714d992552a4e06f913\"},\"headline\":\"Models for the Emerging Church: Promises and Threats\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-15T13:00:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/15\\\/models-for-the-emerging-church-promises-and-threats\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1326,\"commentCount\":28,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Ministry & Liturgy\",\"Time Magazine\",\"Tridentine Mass\",\"William C. 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