A proper rollout of the new missal and Mass translation will avoid a gap between standard and practise says John Heard.
By John Heard
Soon, English-speaking Catholics will confront a new challenge. The English translations of the Third Edition of the Missale Romanum (2000), completed in stages during the last decade, are slated for release sometime after the Vatican grants final approval. At the time of writing, and according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, that is expected to come through early next year.
Recently, English-speaking Catholics experienced minor changes in the 1969 Mass of Pope Paul VI. Since May 11, 2008 Australian Catholics – for instance – have been asked to assimilate a new posture (standing after the priest says “Pray brethren…”) and gesture (bowing profoundly before receiving the Most Holy Sacrament).
On the follow-through, however, we have seen mixed results. Congregants are standing at the right time, perhaps because it is hard to stay seated when the priest indicates that it is time to rise, but the individual gesture of respect is sometimes lost or garbled.
Typically, indeed, and since I was an adolescent, I have knelt to receive Holy Communion (directly on the tongue) when the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered in the Ordinary Form or, where kneeling is impractical (i.e. would endanger the Host) – I usually genuflect, and then present my tongue, hands folded. Now, after the recent changes and in line with some restored directives from Pope Benedict XVI (who has confirmed that Communion on the tongue is the universal norm), I see many Catholics adopting this posture.
Some others bow profoundly. Others still incline their heads slightly. Yet more simply proceed as before. They offer no gesture of respect, and none is currently demanded by the priest/bishop.
This strikes me as curious. Having been drilled in the Catholic teaching on the Eucharist (the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ) as a child, I always found it awkward and embarrassing to have to touch the Host with my hands (the fashion in the 1980s, when I was undergoing catechesis).
As an altar boy, I was marked by the great piety evident at Benediction (which our parish priest still celebrated in Latin). The humeral veil. The double genuflection. As a same-sex attracted young man, in the 1990s, I was still drawn to more pious modes and, frankly, I found it a relief not to have to associate my hands, so often the incorrigible agents of my imperfection, with the Sanctissima during Mass.
I cannot help thinking that, benefitting from a similarly impressive (it need not be academic) education in Eucharistic theology and pious practice, more Catholics would follow the directives on gesture. It comes naturally from the Catholic ethos.
As the old saying goes, if Catholics really believed what they say about the Eucharist, they would approach the altar on their hands and knees.
The new translations will present a much more profound challenge, in the same vein. There is a risk that, without a proper rollout, including (re)-education, we could see a similar gap between norm and practice. Inasmuch as the purpose of the re-translation process is to ensure that the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite more closely conveys the beauty of the original Latin, there can be no room for a haphazard application and sloppy uptake.
Good Catholics must resolve, now, to learn as much as they can about the changes before they come into force.
Those charged with responsibility for the liturgy must prepare for catechesis and (re)-instruction, so as to ensure the more perfect, seamless assimilation of the new texts.
Indeed, careful study will pay off when the full force of the changes hits. Some of the central texts of the Mass, and many common prayers, have been significantly re-worked. While it is something of a chore to re-learn prayers that one has recited all one’s life, the grace and eloquence, the elevated style, the unambiguously sacred tone of the restored translations, makes the task a joyful, prayerful experience.
Certainly, in the weeks since examples of the restored Mass texts became available for study online (http://usccb.org/romanmissal/examples.shtml), many Catholics have remarked on how much of an improvement they represent.
I must admit that as a bi-Riter (someone who attends both the Ordinary Form and the usus antiquior of the Roman Rite) I was tempted to retreat completely into the unambiguously sacred liturgical architecture of the 1963 Mass of Blessed Pope John XXIII. That would be, however, uncharitable.
While the restoration of the English translations of the Ordinary Form will no doubt (and happily) prompt some Catholics to seek out the relatively stable usus antiquior, the Holy Father has cross-fertilisation in mind. The Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms are one and the same Rite.
As Roman Catholics, it is our duty and our joy to receive both Forms, and indeed to study both, for the more perfect rendering of latria (sacrificial adoration) to the Most Holy Trinity.
A useful resource is the US Bishops’ website within its pages on the new missal:
www.usccb.org/romanmissal
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