In a recently published book entitled “The American Catholic Revolution: How the ‘60’s changed the church forever” (2010), Fr. Mark Massa, S.J. writes that the “American Catholic Sixties” began on the first Sunday of Advent, 1964, with the revised order of the Mass. In Fr. Massa’s words “many Catholics in 1964 lived in a hermetically sealed universe when it came to their faith and religious practices…” They did not know or believe that religious practices could change: “This is the way it was and this is the way it will always be!” Fr. Massa asserts that the liturgical reform mandated by the Vatican Council II altered the allegedly changeless ritual of the Mass. For centuries Roman Catholics believed that everything liturgical came from the earliest apostolic days of the church and remained unaltered throughout the history of the Church. It was only after World War II and the 1950’s especially, that scholars started to look into liturgical history in depth and found that the practices and customs dealing with the sacraments had varied greatly over the centuries. They were not always unchangeable. This theological science called liturgical theology examined these ageless practices and customs and gave us insight as to what could be changed in the way we celebrate the sacraments. So Catholics now realized if the Church could change the ways we had been celebrating the sacraments (including using the vernacular languages instead of Latin), it was evident that changes could come in the future. For four hundred years, the Mass texts (completed after the Council of Trent, the Post-Reformation Council) were prayed in Latin. As the “new Mass” of the 1960’s changed what was being done since Trent, Catholics began to conceive that there could be changes in the Mass for English speakers in 2011 starting with the first Sunday of Advent when we begin our new liturgical year.

There is no problem in critiquing the new translation of the Mass texts. We should be free to give our opinion even though the books are already printed and mailed to parishes and religious institutions. Some of the new translations will please us; others may have us puzzled as to the meaning of some of the new wording. We have to live with it and see if the new translation “grows on us.”

Younger Catholics grew up in a world that had plenty of music in worship as well as outside the assembly. Older Catholics grew up often attending “low” Mass where music was never used. They had “solemn” Masses with plenty of music but “low” Mass was quite popular. After Vatican II this older generation paid attention to the statements in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (1963) which told us that participation in the liturgy can never be “full, conscious, and active” unless it is also musical. Music has a ministerial role. It helps us make worship more noble and solemn and music is one of the ways we pray, one of the ways we praise God. Praising God as a community is public worship. It is “Jesus and us” not just “Jesus and me.” It is a fact that music or certain types of Church music rub some Catholics the wrong way. Some would like Mass to be silent. But the documents for the past forty years tell us that music is the norm for worship; that having music is the normal way we celebrate Mass. Liturgical guidelines for example, even say if we do not sing the “Alleluia” at Mass we do not have to say it. That statement tells us in a positive way to sing the “Alleluia” if at all possible. Never the less, practically every Catholic parish with multiple Masses, has one celebration without music. Sometimes the reason may be a lack of musicians; sometimes to please those who do not like music. Parishes try to keep everyone happy!

The most recently issued document from the U.S. Bishops’ Conference dealing with music, Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship states in #124: “Music does what words alone cannot do. It is capable of expressing a dimension of meaning and feeling that words alone cannot convey. While this dimension of an individual composition is often difficult to describe, its affective power should be carefully considered along with its textual components.”

Throughout the United States and other English speaking countries gifted musicians have composed or are currently composing new musical settings for the Mass. One year ago there were over ninety new Mass settings composed for parishes in the United States. There may be hundreds more by now. Musicians have been commissioned to write new compositions to go along with the new words in the various parts of the Mass. Patching “old wine skins onto new wine skins” will not work. Musicians will be composing new settings and not revised settings. Creativity will blossom in our Catholic Church! The result of these new compositions is the knowledge that there are many gifted musicians in our world who want to enhance our Mass with beauty. Choirs and congregations will be learning new rhythms that embrace the new texts of familiar prayers. Hopefully, the new music will help us learn the new words and prayerfully bring us closer to God.

Very Rev. Michael T. Driscoll, O. Carm.
Administrator Pro-Tem

The new translation of the Mass texts will bring about the most significant change in the way English speakers have been experiencing Mass for the past 45 years. Those who were born after Vatican Council II (1962-1965) may find this is the first new translation for them. But those born before the 1960’s may say “here we go again”. Hopefully we will be comfortable with most of the new translation. Some new words will jar us as we try to understand the reasons for the changes. There is no harm in questioning the reason why. While the spoken parts for the congregation may be minimal, all of us will see that most of the prayers recited by the priest have a new translation. Some of these prayers are very lengthy as we will readily notice. In the initial months of the implementation of the new Roman Missal most Catholics will no longer be able to walk into their parish church on Sundays and other days and automatically recite the Gloria, the Creed and other parts of the Mass from memory. Unless they can instantly memorize the new words they will need a guide to help them become accustomed to the new translation of these prayers. So parishes will have pew cards, missalettes with the new translation and moving screens with printed texts etc. to guide us through the initial introductory period.

Active participation in the liturgy which is listening and praying the prayers of Mass requires some work. When the priest says to all of us “let us pray” he is not saying “just listen”; he is saying let us all pray and make this prayer our own. We have an important and often quoted theological principle from the early days of the Church expressed in Latin “lex orandi statuat legem credendi” (the law of prayer is the law of belief) or in more understandable English “the way we pray shows the way we believe”, which is applicable today as it was in ancient times. This principle reminds us that what we say in prayer and how we pray expresses what we believe. If we do not partake of the reception of the Eucharist; if we do not avail ourselves of the sacrament of reconciliation by going to confession from time to time, we show a certain lack of belief in these sacraments. When we come to Mass, we do not just listen to the words of Scripture, the dogmas of our faith expressed in the Creed and other prayers but we try our best, despite the distractions we all have, to unite ourselves with Christ and pour out our praise, our thanks, our hurts, our disappointments, our needs, etc. It is communicating with God. It is expressing what is in our heart and on our mind hoping that God’s will is the same as ours. We must be confident that when we communicate with God, God is listening. Our external participation in the liturgy whether sung or spoken in prayer, active and attentive listening, our gestures and our postures, our silent prayer telling God what is in our heart are the ways we encounter God in the liturgy. Even though some liturgical minister in or near the sanctuary may be doing some work for us assembled, each of us has a role. We all pray together and encourage one another by participating actively. It means opening our mouths to say responses. It means singing along with the cantor, the choir and fellow members of the congregation as best we can. Some have been blessed with wonderful singing voices and great musical ability but all of us have been given the gift of speech. If people let the choir, cantor and those with the best singing voices do all the work we fail in charity by not supporting them in sung or spoken word. God loves the worst singers as well as the best singers. God loves those with radio announcer voices as well as those with “frogs” in their throats!

The words expressed throughout the Mass communicate God’s message to the assembly. The words in song or spoken form that we use express our prayers and praise to God. There is a dialogue going on at Mass not a monologue. There is a dialogue going on between the priest and the people. There is also a dialogue going on between God and his people gathered in worship. We express our thanks and our praise to God for the blessings we have been given; we express our needs to God when we beg God’s help for the blessings we yearn for and feel we need; we express our sorrow for our failings and beg forgiveness from God and our resolution to be a better Christian in what we say and do. Through the words of scripture we hear God’s message not just for people thousands of years ago, but God’s message for us here and now as we try to understand how it applies to us in today’s world. God speaks to us in order to teach us, form us, encourage us and forgive us. Throughout the Mass there are many sentiments expressed. It is the fond wish of the Church that the new translation will help all of us to pray the best we can.

Let us hear the words of the document Liturgiam Authenticam which gave the principles for the new translation and the reasons for the new wording:

“By means of words of praise and adoration that foster reverence and gratitude in the face of God’s majesty, His power, His mercy and His transcendent nature, the translations will respond to the hunger and thirst for the living God that is experienced by the people of our own time.” (#25).

Very Rev. Michael T. Driscoll, O. Carm.
Administrator Pro-Tem