Light On Dark Water

A Liturgical Storm Coming?

Red Cardigan (Erin Manning) has an interesting post about the implementation, coming in Advent of this year, of the new liturgical translations: Liturgy Wars: the coming storm. I reworded the title as a question, because I'm not at all sure there is going to be a storm in my parish, and perhaps not very much of one in my diocese at all: here, for instance, is an example of what our archbishop is saying.

But RC has some reasons for expecting trouble at her parish. And Damien Thompson reports that some of the Irish bishops are unhappy. And you needn't have been paying very close attention (as I haven't been) to the controversy to know that at least one American bishop (Trautman of Erie, PA) was (presumably still is) really upset about it. 

I have, in recent years, tended to believe that the diehard proponents of what RC refers to as "the hermeneutics of rupture" regarding Vatican II are in retreat and won't be in a position to do more than grumble. But I certainly could be wrong. No doubt it will vary widely around the Anglosphere. There are a lot of "older" (i.e., old) people in my parish and maybe some of them are still living in the 1970s. I must say it gives me a little amusement to see the innovations which were once said to be the inevitable triumph of youth and the future suffering the fate which inevitably befalls the fashionable thing, if it lacks a solid foundation, which many liturgical trends of the past forty years or so certainly do.

But I wouldn't want to revel in the defeat of those who will suffer from this. I know several aging progressives whose ideas about the Church I deplore but who are very good and well-meaning people. I hope they will be treated better than some of their compatriots treated those whose hearts were broken by the "reforms."

Maclin Horton
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11 responses to “A Liturgical Storm Coming?”

  1. Erin Manning

    Maclin, thank you for the link!
    I am hoping that the impact in our parish will be limited, but the thing that troubles me is that people still seem to think that they can demand, more or less, a Mass to their liking, and it is then the job of the pastor and everyone else to cater to them. That mindset is going to be rocked by the new translation, because there is no going back and no “Oh, you don’t like this–sorry, we’ll take it away,” which is what I’m sure some will expect.
    If you have many older parishioners at your parish you may experience something similar; my concern is not that anyone will, in fact, pander to them, but that they will expect it so much that they may be completely nonplussed to meet with firmness and inflexibility on this (as they should). Nobody has told this group “No,” for a very, very long time.
    We’ll see…

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  2. Craig

    I hope that Erin is wrong about her predictions. No doubt there will be some people upset, but I still hope that it will turn out to be a tempest confined to a teapot, and that most people will appreciate the improvements. Much will depend on how it is presented and explained.
    Since we moved to a new neighbourhood we’ve been attending a wonderful parish at which, I am sure, the new translations will be taken up with alacrity. I am grateful for that.

    Reply
  3. Mac

    It’s my impression–impression only–that the hermeneutics-of-rupture sort are not predominant among the old(er) people at my parish. But I could be wrong, as I don’t know many of them personally.
    I think you’re right, Craig, that much will depend on how it’s presented. Our pastor got things off to a pretty good start this past Sunday, which a general description of what was coming and why. He’s a very down-to-earth guy who, I’m guessing, may not care all that much one way or another about translations, but he’s both solid and well-liked.
    You’re welcome, Erin. ‘Nobody has told this group “No,” for a very, very long time.’ That may be the difference for some parishes and dioceses. I don’t think that’s true in my diocese. Our long-time, recently retired, archbishop was not actively of the progressive party (he was generally referred to as “moderate”) and the new abp is even less so, I think. I’m pretty sure they (the progressives) have in fact been told “no” from time to time.

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  4. Louise

    I hope they will be treated better than some of their compatriots treated those whose hearts were broken by the “reforms.”
    Quite.

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  5. Jeff Woodward

    Mac —
    The one difference between 1970 and 2011 that lends credibility to Erin’s concerns is that today’s Catholic faithful are an altogether more ideologized population than were Catholics in the immediate wake of Vatican II. Back then there was no widespread consciousness among the laity that (for example) Annibale Bugnini and Alfredo Ottaviani represented substantially different views of what the Church and the liturgy should be–or even that there WERE substantially different views within Catholicism on those subjects.
    But now, after 40 years of Catholic culture wars, EVERYBODY knows that there are “sides” and almost everybody has taken a side. That’s bound to make the implementation of any change (whether it’s viewed as a reform or a regression) a lot more contentious.
    All that said–and no matter how much wrangling it causes–this evolution in Catholic lay sensibilities is almost certainly a good thing, I think. Nothing can be imposed by stealth anymore; nothing will be accepted through ignorance or indifference. Thirty years after his death, Archbishop Bugnini may be about to get that “full, conscious and active participation” in the liturgy that he thought he wanted.

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  6. Mac

    Somebody should have given him that “be careful what you wish for” warning.
    We do have a few people in our parish who half-shout “…for the praise and glory of GOD’s name and for the good of all GOD’s church.” They won’t be happy.

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  7. Jeff Woodward

    Your boisterous, gender-neutral fellow parishioners are having a better time than a like-minded acquaintance of mine, who has formulated her own private version of the Nicene Creed. She makes as great a point as she can of her inclusivity when she proclaims, “For us […..] and for our salvation, he came down from heaven.” Somehow, though, she never seems quite certain that her strategic silence has conveyed just the right message about the Incarnation’s applicability to humans other than adult males.
    Pregnant pauses don’t work very well at political rallies.

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  8. Mac

    It’s always sad when one’s gesture of resistance goes unnoticed. I suppose the people I was thinking of in my parish do that, too, with the same result.

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  9. Janet

    Well, I always sing the correct words to Christmas Carols and I don’t care if anybody else notices or not. I just want to do it. 😉
    AMDG

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  10. Mac

    I do that, too. Also held out on the attempt to remove “a wretch like me” from “Amazing Grace.” I think they have given up on that absurdity.

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  11. Janet

    I think that our current missalettes have the correct version with the new guiltless version suggested as an option.
    AMDG

    Reply

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