Revised Roman Missal's ancient Roman roots

The Catholic Telegraph, the archdiocesan newspaper in Cincinnati, has published a story about a lecture given earlier this month to priests, deacons and catechists by Father Dennis McManus, theological consultant to Archbishop of New York Timothy M. Dolan and a consultor to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

During the lecture, Father McManus explained how the new translation of the Roman Missal that will be implemented in the English-speaking world this coming Advent attempts to create a truer idea of inculturation — the idea that the Gospel being preached to a culture and the culture being transformed by the Gospel that it hears. In this case, that means the earliest Christians who formed the foundation of the Church in Rome. Father McManus explained:

"There’s a lot of pagan Roman prayer language in the Roman Missal that the earliest fathers of the church easily adapted to the Roman liturgy because it’s good, natural theology. There’s a lot of this straight out of Roman religion sitting in our Roman Missal and what the new translation is going to try to do is bring all this up to the surface by being more accurate and being much fuller in the way that it renders all these texts."

Read the entire article.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa

This video shows Father Mark Hanifan of St. Albert the Great Parish in Reno, Nev., explaining the penitential rite of the new English translation of the Roman Missal, and why the words of the Confiteor are changing from "that I have sinned through my own fault in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do" to "that I have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault." (Warning: You may want to turn your volume up; the sound quality is not the greatest.)

Columnist starts online signature drive in support of revised Roman Missal

If you've been following along with us on this blog, you know that along with the faithful who are eagerly embracing the new translation of the Roman Missal that will be implemented Nov. 27, there have been some dissenters who complain about the language usage in the revised Missal or oppose the way the changes were adopted.

To counter those complaints and to keep the focus on the positive aspects of the revisions, columnist Louie Verrecchio has launched a new website, What If We Just Said Pray, at which visitors can sign a petition to show they are grateful "to our bishops for the new translation, are committed to liturgical catechesis as a means of growing in your understanding and appreciation for the inestimable gift of Holy Mass, and sincerely pledge to pray earnestly for the conversion of the enemies of Holy Mother Church."

The name of his website is inspired by a signature drive started by one of the dissenters, What If We Just Said Wait, which has around 22,000 signers.

Verrecchio, who explained his decision to start the signature drive in a Catholic News Agency column, hopes to best the dissenting website by collecting more than 22,000 signatures. So far, he as 204.

British publisher reveals Annunciation illustration for revised Roman Missal

On this Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, a publisher of the revised Roman Missal in the United Kingdom, The Catholic Truth Society, has revealed an illustration from the new English translation of Missal. Appropriately enough, it's the page for the feast of the Annunciation.

Read more about the illustration on the Catholic Truth Society's blog, Catholic Compass.

The who, what, why, when and how of the Roman Missal revisions

For those of us who are still trying to familiarize ourselves with the new translation of the Roman Missal in the months before its Nov. 27 implementation (and really, who isn't?), Aquinas Goods and More has posted a handy Q&A about the revisions on its website. Including this question:

Q. How significant are the changes? Will I notice?

If you aren't paying attention and following along with a missal or some other worship aid, you are going to get confused. The major prayers that you say during the Mass including the Confiteor, Gloria, Creed and Sanctus are all changing. The very common "And also with you." is changing to "And with your spirit."

Read all of the questions. Maybe you know the answers, or maybe you'll learn something new.

USCCB video: Understanding the Roman Missal translation process

Don't know ICEL from an icicle? Do you wonder who or what is this Vox Clara that people keep talking about when discussing the upcoming revisions to the Roman Missal?

If so, Msgr. Anthony Sherman, executive director of the U.S. Bishops’ Secretariat for Divine Worship, will illuminate you on the nuts and bolts of translating the Roman Missal in the video below, introducing all of the key players who have worked for years to make the revisions happen.

Listening to priest-composer's 'Mass of Spirit and Grace' featuring new translation

Last week, we told you about an interview with Paulist Father Ricky Manalo, one of the many liturgical composers given the challenge of creating beautiful music settings for the new translation of the Roman Missal. Now you can listen to some of Father Manalo's work below:

Column: A spirited controversy over Roman Missal revisions

In the March 27 issue of OSV Newsweekly, just published today over at www.osv.com, OSV Publisher and President Greg Erlandson (right) writes about controversies regarding the new translation of the Roman Missal, noting that "one of the charisms of being Catholic is a willingness to complain about Church matters, so there is nothing new here."

In particular, he looks at the phrase "And with your spirit," which will replace the current "And also with you." In this case, the "new" phrase has rather ancient roots, and has deep history with Catholic worship. Erlandson writes:

The point was driven home to me when my wife introduced me to a passage written by St. Peter Damian a thousand years ago. In an essay called “The Book of the ‘Lord be with You,’” St. Damian was attempting to address the question of whether a hermit in his cell should say the response since there was no one else in the cell with him.

Writing in the 11th century, St. Damian noted that when the priest says, “The Lord be with you,” he is invoking “the ancient authority of the Scriptures,” where it is used in several passages. Then he writes: “When the Church receives the salutary greeting of the priest, she greets him in return, and in doing so prays that, as he has desired that the Lord may be with them, so he [God] may deign to be with him. ‘And with thy spirit,’ she replies, meaning: ‘May almighty God be with your soul, so that you may worthily pray to him for our salvation.’ Notice that she says not ‘with thee,’ but ‘with thy spirit’; this is to remind us that all things concerned with the services of the Church must be performed in a spiritual manner.”

Read the entire column.

Australian priest: Boycott of new Missal would lead to 'liturgical anarchy'

An official of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Liturgy Commission is countering claims by some Australian priests that the upcoming new translation of the Roman Missal was approved without consultation of priests and that it should be boycotted.

Father Peter Williams, executive secretary of the commission, told the Catholic Leader, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, that "every draft had been made available to members and consultants of the National Liturgical Council which includes a cross-section of clergy, religious and laity trained in liturgy."

"[While] obviously priests and others are entitled to express their views, calls by some [National Council of Priests of Australia] members for a boycott or a trial period of the new translation were not helpful".

"Such statements attempt to give a wink and a nod to priests to change what they don't like," he said.

"All this does is open the doors to liturgical anarchy."

Read the entire story.

Revised Roman Missal publishing updates

As we get closer to the Nov. 27 implementation of the revised Roman Missal (257 days! Is your parish getting ready?), Catholic publishers are releasing information about their Missal-related products.

Liturgical Press, for example, is offering a 30 percent discount for its editions of the Roman Missal in both the Chapel and Ritual sizes. And has developed a special site dedicated to the revised Missal.

Across the pond, the Catholic Truth Society announced on its Catholic Compass blog that "after lots of painstaking work on the thousands of cross-references within the Missal, three fully typeset proofs of the Roman Missal, 2011 edition are off to the Bishops Conferences of England and Wales, Scotland, and Australia for the ‘Concordat cum Originali.’" The Catholic Truth Society has been chosen to publish the Missal for England, Wales, Scotland and Australia.

Priest: Revised Mass will create "a greater spiritual unity among all Catholics"

Last week we shared Part I of a three-part series from Father Nick Zientarski about the new translation of the Roman Missal that's running on the Peter's Boat blog.

Well, Father Zientarski has posted the second installment of the series, and it's about how the revised Mass will bring Engligh-speaking Catholics in closer communion with our brothers and sisters throughout the world:

The new translation of the Roman Missal will be closer to those other languages and cultures, helping to create a greater spiritual unity among all Catholics. Hence, we will change from the response “and also with you” to “and with your spirit” to be in closer union with France, Mexico, Germany, Italy and many other countries of the world that use these same words, albeit in their own languages. The same may be said of the Confetior. In the new Missal we will say, “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault,” which is closer to the Spanish, “mea culpa, mea culpa, mea gran culpa.” These and other textual changes will help bring greater unity among all Catholics praying the Eucharist throughout the world.

Read the entire post.

A pocket-sized Roman Missal resource

Holy cards have for centuries been an important aid to Catholics in their prayers and devotions. A new holy card line printed by Catholic Church Supply will feature revised Mass prayers, including the Confiteor, Gloria and Sanctus. The company claims it is the only one producing such an item, which can fit into a pocket or in a Missal.

Catholic Church Supply announced recently it is including a free pack of holy cards with every Roman Missal order. The cards are also sold individually or in packs of 100. Catholic Church Supply found Ian Rutherford said:

“Our holy cards are a unique aid for congregations so we thought that the best way to promote them would be in combination with a great sale on the revised Roman Missals. Our wide selection of altar missals and other new translation resources make our store a one-stop trip for all of a parish's teaching and worship materials for the revised liturgy.”

Click HERE for ordering information.

Priest-composer discusses creating musical settings for revised Mass

Catholic San Francisco, the archdiocesan newspaper, is featuring an interview with Paulist Father Ricky Manalo, a composer of liturgical music, about the creative process in developing music for the revised Roman Missal.

Father Manalo, who has degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C., told the newspaper there was one especially tricky section of the revised Mass that gave him and other composers are hard time: the beginning of the Gloria, which has become, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will."

“In fact, some of us thought, if we could just set this one phrase to music, everything else would be easier,” he told the newspaper, adding that he treated himself to dinner at a nice restaurant once he mastered the phrasing.

Read the entire story.

Missal revision critic 'letting go' of campaign

Father Michael Ryan of the Archdiocese of Seattle has been a prominent voice against the upcoming revisions to the Roman Missal, launching the “What If We Said, ‘Wait’?” campaign and decrying the lack of the laity's voice in the changes.

But he announced during his homily at a Feb. 27 Mass at Seattle's St. James Cathedral that although he feels the new language in the revisions to be “a step away from the spirit of the Second Vatican Council on the renewal of the liturgy,” he said he is ending his efforts to delay the new translation, adding that it will be "the people who have the last word on the new missal once it's introduced." Here's what the Seattle Post-Intelligencer blogged on his homily:

“As the saying goes, they’re coming soon to a church near you,” Ryan added. (Use of the new texts will start in the pre-Christmas season of Advent, which is the beginning of the church year.)

With the Vatican set on the texts, “It would be hard to put forth a case for worrying,” Ryan said, and personal views must yield to a larger faith that God’s work will be done.

h/t The Deacon's Bench.

Video: Phoenix TV show talks Missal revisions

Earlier this week, we told you about a Diocese of Phoenix radio show that featured the new Roman Missal translation. It turns out the diocese's TV program, "Catholics Matter," also highlighted the changes on its most recent episode:

Priest's plea for positive attitude about Roman Missal revisions

Petersboat.net, a blog by priests in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., has posted the first of three-part series by Father Nick Zientarski explaining the revisions to the Roman Missal coming in Advent. Before he begins with the explanations, Father Zientarski recommends Catholics approach the new translation with a positive attitude:

Most major changes in the history of the Church have happened as a result of a response to some challenge or need. This is certainly true of liturgical developments involving the Roman Missal. Charlemagne responded to the need for unity in Europe by commanding the use of a common Missal for all Christians in the newly formed Holy Roman Empire in the eighth century. Pope John XXIII responded to the challenge of aggiornamento, “updating” some of the teachings of the Church to pastorally respond to the modern needs of Catholics around the world. One major fruit of Vatican II and aggiornamento was a new Roman Missal and, indeed, a new order of Mass, based in large part on a ressourcement of ancient sources like the Didache and the Apostolic Tradition. Most recently, the bishops of the English-speaking world have responded to the need to provide a better translation of the Missal which will be theologically richer that the current one. This has the potential to foster a deeper spiritual life for many Catholics. Is this not a positive thing for us and all of our Catholic brothers and sisters?

Read entire column.

Australian bishop: New English translation of Mass is 'richer, more elegant in style'

In a column for the Australian Catholic newspaper, The Record, Bishop Peter J. Elliott, auxiliary bishop of Melbourne and a top Australian liturgist, answers the question "Do we need a new translation of the Mass in English?" with a resounding "yes."
In particular, he compares the current translation with the revisions coming in late fall, noting in particular improvements to the Prayers of the Assembly, language regarding Our Lady, Eucharistic prayers and the words of the people. Here's how he compares the translations in terms of the Eucharistic mystery:

The new ICEL translations reflect not only accuracy but reverence for the mystery of God, indeed the centrality of God, which is the meaning of Christian worship. To elucidate this, we may compare the two translations of the opening words of the First Eucharistic Prayer, the Roman Canon.

The ICEL text that we currently use begins: “We come to you, Father, with praise and thanksgiving through Jesus Christ your Son. Through Him we ask you to accept and bless these gifts we offer you in sacrifice.”

By contrast, the new ICEL text begins: “To you, therefore, most merciful Father, we make humble prayer and petition, through Jesus Christ, your Son our Lord: that you accept and bless these gifts, these offerings, these holy and unblemished sacrifices ...”

The old text is smooth, shorter, with good words, but they have nothing to do with the Latin original, the majestic Te igitur clementissime Pater of the venerable Roman Canon. There, the emphasis is on God and how the divine actio liturgica, liturgical action, flows out of the Sanctus and Preface, hence the igitur, now recaptured in English as “therefore”. Notice how the new version captures the spiritual sense of reserve and humility before God that characterises the great liturgies of the West and East.

Read the entire story.

Catechist: Time for Mass resetting

Over on Our Sunday Visitor's Teaching Catholic Kids site, Catechist Know-How columnist Mary Lou Rosien writes about getting ready for the new translation of the Roman Missal, and her hopes that the changes will bring about a better sense of unity among Catholics:

Usually I am not a big fan of change, but I eagerly await the changes to the Roman Missal for the Mass. I am hoping that it may provide a new uniformity, a kind of reset, if you will. I do acknowledge that it may be difficult to adjust to the new responses and prayers. Although the main four parts of the Mass: The Introductory Rite, Liturgy of the Word, Liturgy of the Eucharist and the Concluding Rite will remain the same, we will all struggle together to learn and understand the other changes. When a community struggles together it comes together in a new way.

... I do believe that there are people in the Church who have no idea why we do many of the things we do during Mass. Studies show that there is a lack of understanding among the people in the pews of even core teachings, such as the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. These new Mass changes can be seen as an opportunity to teach and as Catechists we can embrace that opportunity.

Read her entire March column.

Roman Missal translation the top topic of Diocese of Phoenix's weekly radio show

The latest episode of the Diocese of Phoenix's weekly "The Bishop's Hour" radio show, which airs every Monday, addresses the new translation of the Roman Missal.

Father Kieran Kleczewski, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Avondale, Ariz., and executive director for the diocese's Office of Worship, discusses with show host Michael Dixon the reasons for the revisions and what they will mean for music ministers and composers.

"In many ways, this should be a second spring, I think," Father Kleczewski said.

The interview is the featured in the first part of the program, beginning about 6:30 minutes into the broadcast.