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January 03, 2006
The Liturgy
I have been following, at least on some level, the Bishops work on the new translations for the Mass. I found the past meeting of the Bishops in November to be very interesting.
There are a number of points which I want to address...
1. It seems to me that some Bishops in this country think that the laity are stupid or something. Now, I applaud their apparent concern for the feelings of the faithful, but I don't believe they are giving them enough credit. Their justifications for not correctly translating some things in the Mass are because they don't want to burden the laity too much, that the faithful will not understand. I have spoken to some people about these new translations, and most are in favor of it. Most think that the new translations will enhance the Mass and make it more beautiful. It is my belief that if the new translations are presented in a positive light by their Pastors, then the faithful will for the most part overwhelmingly accept them. Give them little books to follow for a year, and they will be just fine and quiet content. 30 years ago the Church changed something which was in force for 500 years; something tells me that the faithful will do just fine.
2. I have also read that some Bishops do not want to translate things such as the Gloria or the Memorial Acclamation correctly because we do not have music written for the new translations. Excuse me, but in 1969, nearly 1000 years of Gregorian Chant was set aside for these new modern translations for which music was written very quickly. It didn't seem to be much of a problem in 1969. BAD excuse. So, GIA get on the ball and start writing new music.
3. It is my opinion that if the Bishops do not want to do it right now, then the whole thing should be set aside until new Bishops come in and want to do it right. 30 years ago it wasn't done right, and now the Vatican is asking that it be corrected. If it isn't right again this time, will we be having the same debate in 30 years from now? It is better to do things right the first time then have to go back and correct mistakes later. That undermines the Church and only make visible within the Church divisions. Discussion on a matter is typically never a bad thing, but when it is apparent there are divisions, this is bad. Luckily, I don't believe the Vatican will accept anything less then a near literal translation.
I applaud the Bishops for their work on this, and I applaud all the more those who are calling for and working on obtaining a good translation.
Posted by cr3do1 at January 3, 2006 07:13 PM
Comments
The laity in general understands less of what's going on at Mass now than they did when it was in Latin, and would get even worse if the Mass were further dumbed down to Dick-and-Jane levels. Stupidity has nothing to do with it. The people won't put forth the effort to understand the Mass unless the language, gestures, etc. organically call them to.
I'm excited about the new translation, but I'm not optimistic about its implementation. I'm afraid that most bishops simply will not enforce it, and that even fewer priests will. Most of the parishes in my diocese have still not implemented the norms of the 2000 GIRM, or the instructions from 2004 (or was it '05?). My home parish does stand before "May the Lord accept the sacrifice" now, but the EEMs still come to the altar during the Agnus Dei. At the very least, the Mass settings will not change. Even if the missalettes eliminate the old settings, the people know "Mass of Creation" by heart, and most musicians will likely avoid any extra effort to learn new stuff.
Posted by: Mike Roesch at January 3, 2006 11:57 PM
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