In short, I love the corrected translation of the Mass over the one that will be totally discarded the First Sunday of Advent. We've been praying it since the first Sunday of September and I think it has gotten into the bloodstream of us all. Some of our visitors seem a bit discombobulated, but remark how much more reverent sounding it is to their virgin ears.
I've gotten the new simple chant for the prefaces down pretty well. We're doing extremely well with the singing of the first Mystery of Faith using the Roman Missal's chant setting and I must say how much richer it is to the "Christ has died..." one that we've said and sung for over 40 years.
Today since I didn't have a deacon as both of them are out of town with their wives, I chose to sing the Gospel at the 9:30 AM Choir Mass. In fact at that Mass we sing everything. My deacons can't sing, so I don't dare ask them to even consider singing the Gospel. But my, how nice it is when we are able to do so!
We are singing at all the Mass "The Word of the Lord" and "Thanks be to God" (the cantor does it) and the congregation is really chiming in with their responses.
Liturgical Renewal is a grand thing when it is done as Vatican II envisioned.
9 comments:
The new responses and prayers did really seem to "click" today, Father! Beautiful Mass at 12:10 for sure! I think everyone has finally settled into the new translation and cantor/people exchanges. They were much more natural today. I retract my prior complaint about that!
I wish I'd have come to the 9:30, though, to hear the chanted Gospel. I always get goosebumps when you chant the Gospel. If only our deacons could sing!
Can we set aside some of the Capital Campaign money for singing lessons? :-)
Fr. MacDonald has a very nice tenor voice, BTW.
And a fine job at that too!! It was beautiful!
"My deacons can't sing, so I don't dare ask them to even consider singing the Gospel."
I can't sing either, but I can chant. According, to one account, chant was developed precisely for monks who couldn't sing.
More generally, it's well known that "Catholics cannot sing", but they can chant.
I can not imagine your Deacons singing or chanting, but you never know with a little encouragement! I found the chanted Gospel especially prayerful today and thought how sad that you had to let the Deacons proclaim the Gospel when they are there.
But you did not chant the Eucharistic prayers, why not?
I sure feel sorry for some parishes in The Savannah Diocese, and others for that matter, that have not been prepared for the new liturgy changes like we have at St. Joseph.
Due to being out of town for the weekend my wife and I attended a parish in Savannah and evidently they just started today, singing some of the Liturgy in Latin. The most unfortunate part was that there were no handouts or information in the pews so the congregation could follow along. When it came to the “Angus Dei” in Latin I was able to sing along from memory and proper training. When finished a local parishioner turned and asked me what I was singing. I responded with saying that it was a sung Latin version of the “Lord Have Mercy”. After Mass she stopped me and remarked at the beauty of the verse. I then went into a little more description of what some of the changes were going to be, come Dec. She then stated that she was a parishioner of the church and as of yet had not heard of any changes coming in the Liturgy.
Being a Catholic for some 60 + years I lived through the changes of Vatican II, some I thought were good others not so. I do know of some Catholics that stopped actively practicing their faith because of some of the changes. And I know of some that thought the changes were fine. All in all I think that true Catholics understand the changes both in the past and what we hold in the future. But what has been stated in the past is so very true. We as Catholics have not been properly taught about our religion in the past 40 yrs. If one did not get it during religion class at school or what was then called CCI. You didn’t get it.
In summary it is unfortunate that some parish priest’s have had the opportunity to prepare their parish for these upcoming changes and in many instances they have not followed thru with its proper implementation.
Let’s all pray that when these changes are implemented in all of the parishes, that The Catholic Church does not go through the division that we experienced in the late 60’s and early 70’s. And thank you Fr. McDonald for the foresight to train your parish well in advance.
Yesterday, I attended Mass in a parish where they at least began to explain some of the coming changes and handed out a booklet detailing what to expect. After the announcement was made, the priest told us that the new translation was "a gift of the Church". Yet in other parishes, there are priests who are publicly bemoaning the new translation. Why is it so hard for some priests to simply stay on the same page as the pope?
That's a great point, Robert. Perhaps the reason some priests do not want to implement these changes or do so begrudgingly is the same reason you or I would groan and complain over a change in the way we are expected to do our everday work. Don't we have a tendancy after doing our jobs for a bit of time to think that we know better how to do it than those above us because we are the ones in trenches, so to speak. Is it so different for priests?
This is why priests really need our support and need to know that we hold them to a higher standard -so they can attempt to live up to our expectations and set a good example for their people, although our expectations are assuredly lower than those God has placed upon them. But, we can't just judge them, we have to support them with prayers and to let them know they have devout and serious Catholics in their corner.
Say the Holy Rosary for our priests - that's probably the best thing we can do!
Marc, it can easily work the other way: I have led groups where there was a grudging acceptance of change. To fix that the leader must first embrace the vision of the change, then wholeheartedly execute it. This will require time and study, because a misstep will invalidate the change and the leader. If the leader believes it is change for change's sake then he is leading the group to begrudge the work it takes to make the change and then lose the benefits of the change. Everyone slides backwards. If, OTOH, the leader knows WHY the changes happen and trains the group on the use of the changes so they can use and benefit from them, he may find himself carried forward effortlessly by the work of the group as they take over the work of making the changes.
rcg
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