One of the things that liturgists told us in the post-Vatican II era was that the Mass had to be simplified and stripped of cultural accretions, like unnecessary repetitions, things added to the vesture of priest for Mass and other such things, like Latin, ad orientem, kneeling for Holy Communion and receiving Holy Communion on the tongue, male altar boys and the like.
Then comes the push for various cultures, but certainly not Western European Culture, to add to the Mass things to their celebration of the Mass which are “meaningful” to the people of various cultures, except of course, if you are of a Western European culture.
There is an African Rite now that has Roman approval and was celebrated by Pope Francis (or maybe he was presiding not the celebrant?).
There is a “yet to be approved” Filipino Rite often celebrated in the Philippines:
The "Misa ng Bayang Pilipino (MBP)" (a rite without any recorded approval from Rome) being celebrated at the National Meeting of Diocesan Directors of Liturgy. As of the moment of writing, no formal ascent or approval has been given by Rome for the celebration of the rite which includes supposed "inculturated" elements such as incense burned in clay braziers (Palayok) rather than censers, the celebrant carrying the crucifix at the introit procession and using it for blessing, and the showering of petals by altar servers during various points of the mass. Despite the lack of approval, this form has been frequently promoted to liturgists in the Philippines especially during Nation-wide Liturgical conferences in an attempt to showcase a "Filipinized" liturgy.
Here are some photos, with my astute comments about the photo:
This is a pet peeve of mine: celebrants, wear a long sleeve white or black clerical shirt, preferably with cuff links, so your bare, naked arms aren’t on display, especially at the elevations! UGH!
Kudos, here! When vesting a free-standing altar, make sure both sides are properly vested even if the “backside” not seen by the congregation, only by the priest(s)!
I wonder, where in non-Catholic Filipino culture is incense burned by placing it in a bowl and prancing it about? Does that need to be dragged into the Mass as a cultural accretions? And nothing is worse than a traditional censor used at Mass where the incense won’t burn and thus the priest is swinging a thurible with no smoke happening. The only thing worse than that is a bowl with no incense! What the????
But most peculiar is the celebrant carrying a crucifix in procession and blessing the people with it. It isn’t clear to me when that blessing takes place. Why isn’t it sufficient for the altar server to carry it in to lead the procession, a new kind a clericalism to have the priest celebrant do it, no? And the blessing, is it at the end of Mass instead of the priest using his hand to make the formal blessing??? Why do this during Mass instead of some kind of “Benediction” devotion?” Should some of this stuff be in devotions and not dragged into the Mass????
17 comments:
Strictly speaking these are uses of the Roman missal not rites since they can only be one Roman rite.
“supposed "inculturated" elements such as incense burned in clay braziers (Palayok) rather than censers, the celebrant carrying the crucifix at the introit procession and using it for blessing, and the showering of petals by altar servers during various points of the mass.”
None of these things are precluded by the rubrics although alien to us in the west. Some of them such as showering of rose petals have a precedent in Rome. I’d be interested in hearing about their origin and significance.
We had a missionary priest this weekend as its mission Sunday. He lead benediction before mass. Annoyingly the missal and stand were left on the altar during exposition and he didn’t wear a stole. For the prayers and divine praises he knelt on the celebrants side. For the blessing with monstrance he said “may almighty god bless you in the name of… etc”. while making four signs of the cross (top/down and left/right) during the blessing. The server didn’t know what to do so rang the bell over his words. Maybe that’s how it’s done in Ethiopia where he came from?!
There will always be idiosyncrasies in how different priests preside over the liturgy, as well as cultural variations according to their locations but I do feel there is a lack of seminary training around these practicalities sometimes.
However, years ago, we had a white father deacon on placement when I was a teenage MC who had no idea how to celebrate mass if it was more complicated that a simple said mass where he could stand stationary at the altar for everything. He was Irish and very introverted/shy, lacking confidence. He explained you don’t have to move around so much in Ireland where I come from. For his first mass, i literally had to stand next to him and hold his hand for everything. It can’t have been solely down to a lack of training because the other Italian deacon was very competent with no difficulties “on stage”. I remember wondering how Irish deacon could be ordained priest barely able to celebrate mass but either his superiors weren’t aware or thought it unimportant. Both of them were assigned to the Congo where there was a lot of violence at the time so putting their lives at significant risk to spread the gospel and minister to the people m. I guess liturgical sensibilities were not the priority in such precarious situations.
Here…
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&sca_esv=9262f80ffd90b9fa&hl=en&udm=7&fbs=AIIjpHxU7SXXniUZfeShr2fp4giZ1Y6MJ25_tmWITc7uy4KIeiAkWG4OlBE2zyCTMjPbGmMU8EWskMk2JSE__efdUJ3x-dd8PyEzi5Y9BtPQcYyUvzr2KfVWYsGPotCqWnv5worvilLPI5K2yaDTGAJctqIlU6Ly43hc0VUm6TvTmRgzHeEOiT6Uomys0gr0ltn79wiwv62CVZcafUCsDVPDG1cYe5tojQ&q=Misa+ng+Bayang+Pilipino&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJ6tXTkeqPAxVPUkEAHbwrIGEQtKgLegQIGRAB&biw=428&bih=728&dpr=3#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:7f5e767b,vid:0gE-2cdYz88,st:0
Interesting, says the use was encouraged and authorised by the Vatican during Francis’s time. SC did call for inculturation so guess this the product of that!
Video of the mass…
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&sca_esv=9262f80ffd90b9fa&hl=en&udm=7&fbs=AIIjpHxU7SXXniUZfeShr2fp4giZ1Y6MJ25_tmWITc7uy4KIeiAkWG4OlBE2zyCTMjPbGmMU8EWskMk2JSE__efdUJ3x-dd8PyEzi5Y9BtPQcYyUvzr2KfVWYsGPotCqWnv5worvilLPI5K2yaDTGAJctqIlU6Ly43hc0VUm6TvTmRgzHeEOiT6Uomys0gr0ltn79wiwv62CVZcafUCsDVPDG1cYe5tojQ&q=Misa+ng+Bayang+Pilipino&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJ6tXTkeqPAxVPUkEAHbwrIGEQtKgLegQIGRAB&biw=428&bih=728&dpr=3#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:6ccef9e4,vid:RyLyr05MEYk,st:0
I recommend watching it on playback speed x2 it’s much more entertaining, especially the hand gestures during alleluia / other prayers and songs!
I don’t have any objection to this, it seemed like a very joyous yet reverent celebration. Interesting, the Cardinal didn’t utilise a crozier. Bit hard to carry both crucifix and crozier together but wasn’t used for other parts of the mass eg listening to the gospel as far as I could tell.
The Phillipines has a very hot climate so must have been very warm in the arena with all those people and vestments. Think we can forgive the celebrant for wearing a short sleeve shirt!
My pet peeve is concelebrants wearing baseball caps at large outside masses. Maybe there should be an official form of headgear for such occasions and wonder what that might look like? LOL
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/instruction-inculturation-and-the-roman-liturgy-2180
Fourth instruction for the right application of the Conciliar Constitution on the Liturgy issued on March 29, 1994.
Introduction
1. Legitimate differences in the Roman rite were allowed in the past and were foreseen by the Second Vatican Council in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy especially in the missions.[1] "Even in the liturgy the church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters that do not affect the faith or the good of the whole community."[2] It has known and still knows many different forms and liturgical families, and considers that this diversity, far from harming her unity, underlines its value.[3]
2. In his apostolic letter the Holy Father Pope John Paul II described the attempt to make the liturgy take root in different cultures as an important task for liturgical renewal.[4] This work was foreseen in earlier instructions and in liturgical books, and it must be followed up in the light of experience, welcoming where necessary cultural values "which are compatible with the true and authentic spirit of the liturgy, always respecting the substantial unity of the Roman rite as expressed in the liturgical books."[5]
Been reading around this inculturated rite which was developed with the classically trained Chupungco. Anscar Chupungco (d. 2013) in collaboration with the Maryhill School of Theology in Quezon City. A preeminent voice on inculturation, Chupungco taught on the faculty of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Liturgy in Rome (1973–97), eventually becoming president (1978–86), then Rector Magnificus of the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselm (1986–90). He also served as consultor to the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship (1978–1993).
This journal article discusses how it conforms and varies in different ways to the classical Roman rite, and its methodology:
https://ajt.atesea.net/ajt/article/view/5/
Interestingly:
- sign of peace occurs after the gloria / responsory called doxology of the people before the gospel / no elevations until after the cup when both elements are raised together in recognition of the whole of the Eucharistic prayer being consecratory / celebrant and ministers receive communion last after the people / particular focus on invocations to Mary.
The article calls inculturation an aspect of the process of decolonisation.
Overall, nearly everything Fr McD disapproves of!
As always, "inculturation" means appealing to every niche religious practice of any given culture, except those who want to worship according to the liturgy their grandfathers prayed--the TLM. Maybe because it isn't exotic and pagan-looking enough?
Nick
Indeed. This is known as hypocrisy on steroids. These bishops and priests opposing the TLM are evil.
What aspect you think is pagan, not using a thurible?
Never said it was pagan, just pagan-looking. Swanning about with smoking braziers is one such instance, always reminds me of that embarrassing spectacle put on by the REC in Los Angeles. Facing the four directions is another, or smudging. Liturgical dance in many of its forms. Veneration of the Earth, who, in other religions, was a goddess. Displacing the priest in favor of some sort of village elder.
Nick
Bowls of incense are common throughout Asia. Don’t really see much difference between that and using a thurible. The perception it’s pagan is yours.
Don’t think we use the term pagan anymore.
Christians have used thuribles since at least the fourth century. Incense bowls and the associated dance don't really figure into Christian liturgy, AFAIK; that falls to paga--er, non-Christian polytheists, animists, and pantheists. It's simply history.
And who is "we," benny? The Vatican website reports a lot of uses of the term. Or has that word been banned in England as double-plus-ungood?
Nick
I meant we as Catholics. We removed pagan, heretic and schismatics from the Good Friday prayers fir a reason.
I repeat: The Vatican website reports plenty of uses of the term, including in the last decade or so.
And plenty of people--including commenters here--who make a particular point about submitting to the Supreme Pontiff toss out the label of heretic and schismatic to people with whom they disagree like Mardi Gras beads. Yet referring to niche indigenous religious practices in the abstract as pagan earns your focused chiding. Interesting.
Nick
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