Reader's Forum July-August 2003

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Readers' Forum -- July-August 2003
What Happened to My Hymn? -- Encyclical on the Eucharist -- Liturgists' Training -- Frustrations with ICEL -- Invitation from All Saints Church -- Support for Bishop -- Kneeling "Laudably Retained" -- Background Music in "Mass of Creation" -- Don't Reject Modernism out of Hand -- Observations... -- In Memoriam: AB Letter Writer -- Music vs. Communion -- Corpus Christi Is "A Big Deal" at Our Parish -- Bernstein Mass

What Happened to My Hymn?
Many congratulations are due Lucy Carroll for a well-written article in the June Adoremus Bulletin, "What Happened to My Hymn?" This piece rightly expresses frustration with so many revisionist tendencies that are currently in vogue among many church music resources. It is very refreshing to see that the author and Adoremus are willing to take a firm stand in favor of original, well-written hymn texts.

I greatly enjoyed the article on the assault of inclusive language on fondly remembered hymns. I just have one small quibble. The use of Thee and Thou is not a more formal version of address but in fact a familiar one. (The Quakers used "Thee/thou" because they regarded all men as brethren.) When addressing God with Thy, Thee, Thou, we are presenting ourselves as children, family members.

The distinction in English came about when doing translations of languages that distinguish second-person plural from the singular. Thou was singular, You was plural.

In Romance languages, if I address a person in second-person plural (you), I am speaking formally, and second-person singular (thou) if I were speaking to a relative or, intimate friend. (In the same vein, highly ranked personages refer to themselves as "we" because they represent not only themselves but their subjects also.)

Thee now sounds more formal in English because it is archaic but in reality was always less formal.

Lucy Carroll responds: Thee/thou is second person singular. When this form went out of common usage in English, it remained in use for Scripture translations and addressing God, Mary, the saints. Thus the form took on a connotation of formality, since it was reserved for religious use, not everyday speech.

I eagerly read Lucy Carroll's "What Happened to My Hymn?" If I may, I offer one more reason for changing the words to hymns.

Working with a hymnal myself, copyright law plays into the translation used. One cannot use a hymn translation published in another hymnal without 1) permission, and 2) paying royalties to the publisher, translator, etc.

Older translations (read: traditional) generally are in the "public domain". This means, because these translations have been used for so many generations, they can be reproduced without paying royalties.

Where does this leave a publisher who wants to avoid copyright fees? With two options: either use the traditional text or produce a revised wording. If he changes "Thy greatness felt e'er nigh" to "The apple of my eye", it may be a substantial enough change that the copyright problem no longer applies, leaving him free to publish the new version.

This may be; though it may require more time and money to produce altered lyrics than to pay the copyright fee -- leaving aside the question of honesty. In most cases today, publishers alter texts of classic hymns for using feminist ("inclusive") language, or theological "updating" -- or both.

Encyclical on the Eucharist
No doubt readers of Adoremus are pleased with the new encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia [published in the May 2003 edition]. As the encyclical indicates, there will be at least one (possibly as many as two) instructions still to come from the Curia, on disciplinary matters relating to the liturgy.

Then of course next year, we have been informed, that the topic for the Synod of Bishops will be the Eucharist.

I have been interested in post-conciliar liturgical problems since I was a teenager in the 1970s. With the accession of John Paul II to the throne of Peter, people like me were very heartened when in 1980, he released the apostolic letter Domenicae Cenae, and the later instruction Inaestimabile Donum.

But after that, it seems the pope gave precedence to other matters, like the theology of the body, bioethical issues, pastoral visitations, and ecumenical relations. There was also the great catechetical renewal in the Church, spearheaded by the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 1992, of which shortly there will be a compendium.

But it seems that at what might possibly be the winter of his pontificate, with the new Roman Missal, Liturgiam authenticam, the Vox Clara committee, new ICEL appointments, and now a new encyclical on these matters, with upcoming documents from Rome and a Synod of Bishops devoted to the subject, the Holy Father has returned to this vexed area with vigor!

The question I have is why did it take them this long, when in reference to those earlier documents, Rome seemed to be aware of what was happening? The Holy Father even offered an apology in Domenicae Cenae to Catholics who had been scandalized by some aspects of the liturgical reform.

George Weigel, in his biography of the pope, Witness to Hope, acknowledges this problem too, and says we will probably have to wait for the next pontificate to see these reforms crystallize.

I do believe that the May edition is another fine example of your efforts to enlighten the faithful. Especially timely is the complete encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia. I plan to distribute most of the extra copies you sent me to our parish liturgy committee, pastor and one or two others interested in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament - Jesus, of course.

We were very pleased with Ecclesia de Eucharistia -- as apparently were very many other readers. The overprint of the May issue was soon exhausted (and we are out of every other issue from December to May).

We encourage readers to share copies of AB with friends, relatives, etc. You might want to phone or e-mail us first to find out if we have additional copies available.

Liturgists' Training
Many liturgists have received all their training and liturgy experiences post-Vatican II, and have no idea of any other music or prayer outside of their local parish.

They are sincerely trying to love and serve God and the community with limited resources. They may be making mistakes, but they are not trying to hurt or offend. Sometimes the letters to the editor reflect an "enemy" attitude that isn't intended on the part of the liturgist, musician, lector, etc.

We agree with you that many mistakes, as you put it, may be the result of deficient training in the liturgy -- often from programs and materials promoted by influential liturgists or publishing houses.

Sincerity and "good will", however, does not diminish the ill effect that these errors have had (and continue to have) on the Church's liturgy, and on the faith of Catholic people. Ignorance may mitigate the responsibility parish liturgists, but the damage remains.

People -- clergy or laity -- who are given the responsibility for planning liturgies or who have liturgical roles (as lectors, altar servers, music directors, etc.) have a serious obligation to make certain that they are truly well-informed about what the Church requires -- and this is especially true if they teach others.

Frustrations with ICEL
In your May issue [News section], you refer to the "liturgical frustrations" that Father Frank Quinn expressed in Aids in Ministry (Summer 2003), especially regarding the ICEL [International Commission on English in the Liturgy] translations of liturgical texts. This is typical of the incessant whining that comes from people who took part in the ICEL translations in years past when it was a rogue and elitist clique. Quinn complains about the the Congregation for Divine Worship's "trifling and insufficient" reasons for turning down ICEL's translations. He obviously has a vested interest in badmouthing the Congregation for Divine Worship, having been a member of the ICEL advisory committee from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s.

When I compare the ICEL translation of the liturgical texts we've been using these past thirty years with the translation found, for example, in the magnificent Italian Missal I'm very familiar with, I get extremely upset. ICEL did not translate. It made up prayers from whole cloth under the guise of translation. "Truth in advertising" meant nothing to ICEL. It was a bait-and-switch thing. Most of the time there was no similarity between the English and the masterful Italian translations of the Mass prayers. I felt cheated because I wanted to know exactly what the original Latin prayers given us by the Church meant, not what a group of so-called translators wanted me to believe. These are not "trifling" matters.

Invitation from All Saints Church
Thank you very much for your mention of our church and the drawing of our sanctuary on the last page of your June 2003 issue. Our parish is a small one -- just 400 families -- but a very dedicated and happy one. We feel ourselves so very blessed to have our new church.

Our bishop, the Most Reverend Roger J. Foys, dedicated and consecrated our church on May 31, 2003. While there are many details yet to be completed, the church is being used every day. We are trying to keep the church open from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. every day. We are just a stone's throw from Interstate 75, approximately 20 miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio. If any of your readers is passing this, they would be most welcome to visit us.

Support for Bishop
I can understand why Bishop Nienstedt [in his letter that was printed in the May 2003 Bulletin] felt the way he felt about the comment of the anonymous responder to your survey (AB February 2003).

My job takes me to many areas and "Catholic" churches of our metropolitan area and I have witnessed rampant liturgical abuses, which is sickening. Some priests omit the word virgin when praying "the virgin mother of God"; literally break the bread when stating "broke the bread" while consecrating the host; scold people because they kneel during consecration; state "protect us from anxiety" and add "from laziness, from depression, etc. while we wait..."; omit the washing of the hands; allow lay persons to give the homily; allow communicants to dip the host in the chalice and many more.

I have attended Holy Masses with Bishop Nienstedt officiating while he was pastor of the National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Michigan, and as Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit and never once did I hear or see him do any liturgical abuse. He faithfully said Holy Mass according to the prescribed rite. Never once did I hear him ad lib where it was not allowed. My friends who knew him when he was Rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary will attest to this as well. I have known him to be most faithful.

Evidently it was not as clear to everyone as it was to us that the survey respondent was suggesting that the bishop have a meeting with his priests in order to show them by his good example how to celebrate Mass properly -- with no abuses or ad libs.

Kneeling "Laudably Retained"
The March 2003 Adoremus Bulletin mentions a so-called "clause" to section 43 of the final version of the GIRM. This clause states that where kneeling after receiving communion is the custom, that it is laudably retained.

My question is this, where is this clause you speak of? If it is not in the final text itself, is it somewhere else, and if so, where?

This addition was made by the Holy See to the text of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, editio typica tertia; but these words do not appear in the text of no. 43 as it has been adapted for the United States. Instead, the US bishops added a different sentence concerning kneeling after the Agnus Dei.

The sentence added to IGMR no. 43 by the Holy See and printed in AB March 2003, p. 4 did not explicitly include kneeling after receiving Communion, as your letter suggests.

Background Music in "Mass of Creation"
Regarding a letter in the March 2003 issue, subject: Is "background music" played during the Consecration allowed?

The answer given was: "While the priest is speaking these texts, there should be no other prayer or liturgical song".

But what about the "Mass of Creation", composed by Marty Haugen, which is written for the priest to actually sing the words of the Consecration and for the choir to sing very softly in the background "Christ has died" over and over again?

In my opinion, this "Mass of Creation", when sung, is the closest anything has come to the Latin High and Solemn High Mass! And -- by the way -- is very moving, even when the priest singing it is not Pavarotti!

Mr. Haugen's "Mass of Creation" setting for the Mass texts is regularly sung in many parishes across the country, though few priests attempt to sing the Eucharistic Prayer.

Mr. Haugen's inclusion of a choir obligato and organ accompaniment while the priest is proclaiming the Eucharistic Prayer, is entirely without justification. It detracts from the words of the most solemn part of the Mass. Whether the prayer is spoken or sung, background music is expressly precluded, according to the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani (GIRM):

Don't Reject Modernism out of Hand
As a subscriber to the AB from its beginnings, I've garnered much knowledge and inspiration from your pages.

As an artist, I see the only weak area for Adoremus is in its take on modern art, which you must realize is not all bad, as you often imply.

The modernists demanded of artists and architects: nobility, simplicity, honesty, and integrity in relation to techniques and materials. The movement gave us the courage to see beauty both in a carefree sketch by your [editor Helen] Hitchcock or a careful woodcut by the late Ade Bethune, whose modern icons are excellent examples of prayerful expressions.

Early twentieth century architects deluged us with fakery from Byzantine to Baroque. Then in the late twentieth century they flooded the market with fake modern, which the Church welcomed as an economical solution to a growing need, with utility and cost the paramount concerns.

Judging from James Hitchcock's review of Building from Belief in the February 2003 issue, Michael DeSanctis isn't much of a help!

As the Second Vatican Council Constitution on the Liturgy noted, the Church is not wedded to any particular artistic style , and can make use of many historical and cultural artistic idioms in search of the best means of conveying her Truth:

Obviously, some styles are more suitable than others for doing this. We have seen a recent revival in employing artistic idioms of Eastern Orthodoxy in the Catholic Church (especially icons). We have also seen that a rigorous evacuation of historic art forms, a characteristic of the "Modernist" approach to history, has failed to be a useful vehicle for transmitting the faith or enriching the Catholic cultural heritage.

"Noble simplicity" is not iconoclasm. It is not so much the design style itself; rather it is the anti-historical philosophy of "Modernism" that creates the problem.

Obviously, Catholic artists and musicians are greatly influenced by their own culture. This can be enriching, and can lead to a genuine organic development of the Catholic artistic heritage -- and we hope it will. But a systematic deconstruction of the past, so evident in much modernist secular art (including music and literature), is inimical to historical religion -- perhaps especially to the Catholic religion.

Such tension goes beyond matters of style alone -- and it will continue to present challenges to Catholic artists today.

a) Genuflecting: Some view genuflecting as a demeaning medieval practice incompatible with the dignity of a freedom-loving American. If that is really so, and I doubt it, what about bowing? This act/ritual has its roots in an age when total submission to the overlord required baring one's neck (and offering one's head.)

b) Baptism by immersion: No matter how sublime the symbolism may be, for the faithful, consciously or unconsciously, immersion has its comic effects. A baptism at our student center, taking place as part of the Mass, delighted the "crowd". The young man, dressed in a sort of white nightgown, stepped into a tub, lowered himself, and had plenty of water poured on his head. Eventually, he got up, stepped out of the tub, dripping all the way across the chapel. The congregation laughed and cheered. Was it only because he was now "one of us"?

c) Transubstantiation: At a Mass I attended, the director of the student center -- a friar -- sang the Eucharistic Prayer at the top of his lungs while someone accompanied him on the piano with a sort of mood-enhancing tune. I wonder whether our Lord shouted these words at the Last Supper and whether he was accompanied by some sort of percussion instrument.

d) Church renovations: Evangelical groups are pumping millions into their evangelizing activities in Latin America and elsewhere, while some of our bishops spend millions upon millions on dubious "renovations". It is a scandal in view of the fact that Catholics in Latin America and other regions cannot afford to build even the most humble structure to commemorate Our Lord's sacrifice. Who are the real followers of Christ?

You point out some ironies in current liturgical theories, in which, often, innovations masquerade as ancient traditions -- with dubious results.

Your contrasting the millions spent by Evangelical Protestant groups on missionary activities and the millions spent by some Catholic bishops on church buildings seems to imply a) that evangelization is not a priority of the Catholic Church, and b) that the success of some Evangelicals in making converts in Latin America is because they do not also spend millions for church buildings. We doubt that this is what you really meant to say.

In Memoriam: AB Letter Writer
The April AB contained a letter from Paul Hillar, with whom I'd worked at the Stanislaus Office of Education from 1967 until our retirements. It was like hearing Paul from eternity, he'd died two months earlier, age 84, from a heart attack and stroke.

Paul was a rock-solid Catholic, first generation Polish from Coos Bay, Oregon. He'd fit into the pre-Vatican II Church like a hand in a glove; losing it was like a death to him. I admired him for his unswerving faith as exemplified by his life.

He and I were both Depression products of the 1920s and 30s, when nothing was certain -- economic wastelands, family disruptions. For us and for a lot of Catholics, the Church was our one rock with an unchanging Mass, the priest on the altar in hourglass chasuble, burse on wrist, the Sanctus bell; comfort in an uncomfortable world.

I'd had the advantage of Jesuit schooling, when young scholastics back in the 1920s were talking about the possibility of a vernacular Mass. I made the Vatican II shift with some reluctance, keeping in mind that as long as the Offertory and Consecration remained intact, I could adapt. I did.

I think it will take some time for the liturgy to standardize. However, the Church is a teaching institution. I would like to see explanations of the Mass given pulpit attention, since I wonder how many of us in the pews connect the actions and words of the celebrant on the altar with the sacrifice Christ made for us on His cross.

The old Mass was, to me, like a drama, from its "Introibo ad altare Dei" to its "Ite missa est". Without some sense of Christ's sacrifice developing, I think we may run the risk of the reality lost in the rite.

Music vs. Communion
We have come across another situation involving the Eucharist in our parish. It seems the choir finds it more important to sing one more verse or refrain rather than go to Communion, so the Communion minister is left standing in the aisle (everyone else has already received Communion), the celebrant has already "cleaned up" the altar, the ciborium is back in the Tabernacle, and the priest is sitting down and the choir hasn't even processed to receive Communion yet.

When the choir finally receives Communion, the minister of Communion places a ciborium on the altar. The priest goes on with the end of the liturgy and the final blessing. We are a small parish and this is leaving many of us wondering. When did music become more important than Communion? It seems to be another occasion where all too often we make God wait until we're good and ready to pay attention to Him.

It sounds as if the choir members may be genuinely confused. Some liturgists have recently interpreted the rules to mean that there must be singing continuously throughout the entire time the congregation is receiving Communion. The source cited to support this view is the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani (GIRM) no. 86; but this paragraph also makes provision for the choir to receive Communion (see text in bold below):

Corpus Christi Is "A Big Deal" at Our Parish
Enclosed is a copy of our parish bulletin [Crystal Lake, Illinois]. Our pastor is constantly promoting the Blessed Sacrament. Every Tuesday we have adoration of the Eucharist all day long.

Note the celebration we had this past weekend for Corpus Christi. Yesterday there was a procession. About 150 people participated. The local street was blocked off by police cars at both intersections for about ten minutes. A fire truck and ambulance were standing by. It was like an announcement to the entire neighborhood: "Here comes the Body of Christ, and it's a big deal".

Bernstein Mass
I chuckled when reading the response by Catholic University of America's Father O'Connell to the Bernstein "Mass" protests [AB News June 2003]:

I wonder if, rather than addressing crises of faith, CUA has been helping to create them.

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