Recently in Liturgy Category

One of my readers sent me this video he created. I went to a Maronite Divine Liturgy once and it was quite beautiful. Just hearing the liturgy in Aramaic is quite cool. The Maronites also have always been in union with the Pope.

Coming to you on EWTN!

Our brand new show is a story of clergy and laity with extraordinary liturgical abilities who fight against the various liturgical catastrophes around the world. Our liturgical heroes do not have superhuman abilities, but follow the supernatural inspirations of grace in the reform of the reform.

Our heroes include Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Pell, Cardinal Hoyos, Cardinal "do-it-yourself liturgy is over" Arinze, Monsignor Marini, Father "Slavishly accurate liturgical translations" Z, Father Fessio S.J., Helen Hull Hitchcock, Jimmy Akin, Colin Donavan, Shawn Tribe and a cast of thousands dedicated to protecting and enriching the liturgy.

Each week our heroes fight against villains that do no simply rollover at the mention of the GIRM. A good action show requires capable villains that you love to hate and you won't be disappointed by villains such as Bishop Fishperson and his hordes of liturgist minions such as Syler the liturgist who has the power to suck the beauty out of anything he touches. Though this is actually a common power to most liturgists who suck the liturgy dry of beauty in the name of relevance. Each week you will be sitting on the edge as you wonder will the heroes defeat the plans of Fr. Richard S. Vosko in his latest wreckovation scheme or whether a clown Mass will go on as scheduled.

So whether our heroes are fighting to protect against attempts to quash the Extraordinary Form of the Mass or ensuring that the Ordinary Form of the Mass is celebrated as it was intended you will stand up and cheer as our heroes go up against the worst of liturgical villains each week.

"Heroes" is an epic drama that chronicles the lives of those protecting the liturgy and go beyond just griping and moaning about it. This is must see TV to save our litugy.

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 14, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The Holy See has approved three alternatives to "Ite, missa est," the final words said by the priest at Mass.Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, today notified the participants in the synod of bishops on the word of God about the new alternatives. The final message is currently rendered in English: "The Mass is ended, go in peace."

Benedict XVI has approved the alternatives, which were requested at the 2005 synod on the Eucharist to express the missionary spirit that should follow from the celebration of Mass.

According to Cardinal Arinze, the Pope had asked for suggestions to be presented. The congregation received 72, from which they prepared nine proposals. The Holy Father has chosen three.

The alternatives are in the revised third "editio typica" of the Roman Missal, which was printed last week, the cardinal said.

The alternatives are:

--"Ite ad Evangelium Domini nuntiandum"
--"Ite in pace, glorificando vita vestra Dominum"
--"Ite in pace" with "alleluia, alleluia" added during Easter season.

In English, these could be rendered along the lines of "go to announce the Gospel of the Lord"; "go in peace, glorifying the Lord with your lives"; and simply, "go in peace (alleluia, alleluia)." [artcle]

Other considerations are:

• Go in peace, please don't race the priest to get outside first.
• Go in peace, coffee and donuts are available in the parish hall.

Rich Leornardi has video/photographs of Bishop Clark's "installation" Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes parish for his newly appointed pastoral administrator and supporter of women's ordination Sr. Joan Sobala.

The first video of the Bishop clapping along in beat to the "hymn" reminds me of the invention I am working on. It is called a "Clap Trap" and its purpose will be to trap any clapping going on during Mass. Whether it is in beat to a so-called hymn or applause for something it would emit a counter frequency to null out the clapping. In parishes I sometimes visit I find that clapping is trending up and I encounter it more and more.

As then-Cardinal Ratzinger wrote in The Spirit of the Liturgy:

"Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment."

Earlier today driving around Savannah, Georgia I saw a Protestant Church called "Christ Church" with a sign advertising the use of Gregorian Chant. I wonder if this is a quirk or a new trend? Certainly would like to see it catch on in actual Catholic churches.

Craptacular!

By now I am sure that you have heard that the US bishops rejected the proposed translation of Roman Missal.  I do have an exclusive thought.  The bishops have sent along some guidance to the International Commission for English in the Liturgy (ICEL) as to what would be acceptable. The following are some actual example pages shown.

Along with some rubrics for the GIRM.

Bishop Trautman called the sample changes "Great for both John and Mary Catholic and Dick and Jane Catholic." Catholic blogger Father Z called these proposals ineffable and that he would rather be strung up on a gibbet than use this translation for Mass.

Where else then at the always creative Creative Minority Report.

I hope that I don't come off as paranoid or as someone who relishes conspiracy theories.  I have no tinfoil hat and I am afraid that even the thickest grade of tinfoil will not protect us from this threat.  Now this intro may seem a little overblown, but let me give you some documentary evidence before I make the case about this looming threat. Please forgive me for these graphic images, but sometimes we must see the reality to be shocked into action.

These photographs were all taken during Catholic Masses or were from events such as a Eucharistic Conference.  These puppets seem to come in all sizes from cute and cuddly, human size, to gigantic.  Though there is a surprising consistency to all of them of a lack of joy and a very dour disposition.  At first I thought it was just a coincidence to find all of these puppets used in liturgical contexts within a relatively short period of time.  I soon started pondering if perhaps something more nefarious was behind all of this.  I know I for one do not welcome our new puppet overlords.

As a SF fan I thought about Robert Heinlein's novel The Puppet Masters where an alien slug-like creature took over the leadership and started to take control.  When I first started seeing this puppets I thought their introduction was totally alien to the liturgy, that is when it struck me "alien" to the liturgy - what if aliens in the liturgy?  I started to try to think what if I was part of a liturgically minded alien race whose different forms often looked like puppets. What steps would I do to infiltrate and then slowly become accepted until it was too late. Well if I was such an alien obviously I would go to the Religious Education Conference in Los Angeles.  This would be the perfect hub to take control since many diocese send their people involved in liturgy there and they they pass on the latest liturgical fads to their own diocese.  So I started to do some more investigation and it was not long till l found a picture of Rev. Joe Kempf.  during the Gospel reading for a young adult liturgy at the RECongress in 2008.

Now you might somehow barely fathom puppets at Mass for children, but to give the Sesame Street treatment to a group of teenagers and above? Obviously these alien puppet-like creatures have hypnotic control or how else can you explain young adults being treated like this?  I then wondered if they infiltrated the Diocese of Los Angeles Religious Education Conference than what else might they have they taken over?  I once again tried to tap myself into the mind of these liturgically minded aliens as a kind of alien profiler.  If I was in their shoes (or i guess in some cases a sock) what would I do to give me a strategic position and at the same time give me a good defensive stronghold once our plans were fully discovered?  

It then dawned on me that Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral was a horrible design for a Catholic Church, but a great design for a defensive bunker.  All that concrete would be perfect defense. But what alien artifacts might be already inside the Cathedral?

Why in the world would anybody pay one million dollars for this actual tabernacle in the Cathedral?  The only sane interpretation is that the money was needed to create this alien artifact whose purpose I can not discern. If I put up a quiz with this picture and asked - alien artifact or tabernacle - which would you choose? Though it could be related to one of the liturgical puppet races since is has that same sad dour look to it.  But if the L.A. Cathedral was actually designed as a bunker then this means this conspiracy goes all the way to the top!

No wonder Cardinal Mahony speaks so often about illegal aliens!  He has been covering for the liturgical puppet aliens all along.  First you slowly introduce all kinds of odd elements into the liturgy and pretty soon people won't bat an eye at puppets being involved.  Though I think I can discern a weakness in these human looking helpers for the liturgical puppet aliens. The answer was in front of us all along. Obviously they are deathly afraid of precious metals which is why they can only use glass chalices.  Long after Redemptionis Sacramentum was published glass chalices and pitchers are still being used.  We must hunt down these liturgists within.  I suggest a crucifix made out of precious metal such as silver to test them.  No wonder liturgists have done their best to get rid of silver and gold crucifixes.

Wake up people and act!  Or else instead of mariology we will be force to learn marionetteology.

Update: I had originally identified Robert Scholla, S.J. as the priest with the puppet as per the REConference website. It was mistaken, the priest in the photo is Rev. Joe Kempf.

Here's an idea. I would really like to see a new document come out from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. In it the document would call for guitar and percussion instruments to be given high esteem. Liturgical dance would also be called out to be given pride of place. While we are at it we could also have experimentation with the liturgy to be also given pride of place. The document could then go on to list songs by Marty Haugen and David Haas and similar contemporary composers in other countries to be given high esteem.

Now you might wonder if I have flipped my lid, but the actuality is that words just don't mean what we think they mean. For example Vatican II called for the pipe organ to be given high esteem and for Gregorian Chant to be given pride of place. After reflecting on this I realized that pride of place and high esteem means to virtually eliminate it from the liturgy. Or at least that seems to be the result of the interpretation of these documents. If only we could make impoverished elements of the modern liturgy the pride of place and high esteem that they gave the pipe organ and Gregorian Chant.

Today the New Liturgical Movement posted an excellent interview with Fr. Weber by Zenit concerning Gregorian Chant.

You don't often see a headline like 'Body Of Christ' Snatched From Church, Held Hostage By UCF Student

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A University of Central Florida student, upset religious groups hold church services on public campuses, is holding hostage the Eucharist, an object so sacred to Catholics they call it the Body of Christ. Church officials say UCF Student Senator Webster Cook was disruptive and disrespectful when he attended Mass held on campus Sunday June 29. It was during that Mass where Cook admits he obtained the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is a small bread wafer blessed by a priest. According to Catholics, the wafer becomes the Body of Christ once blessed and is to be consumed immediately after a minister passes it out to churchgoers. Cook claims he planned to consume it, but first wanted to show it to a fellow student senator he brought to Mass who was curious about the Catholic faith.

"When I received the Eucharist, my intention was to bring it back to my seat to show him," Cook said. "I took about three steps from the woman distributing the Eucharist and someone grabbed the inside of my elbow and blocked the path in front of me. At that point I put it in my mouth so they'd leave me alone and I went back to my seat and I removed it from my mouth."

A church leader was watching, confronted Cook and tried to recover the sacred bread. Cook said she crossed the line and that's why he brought it home with him.

"She came up behind me, grabbed my wrist with her right hand, with her left hand grabbed my fingers and was trying to pry them open to get the Eucharist out of my hand," Cook said, adding she wouldn't immediately take her hands off him despite several requests. Diocese of Orlando spokeswoman Carol Brinati said she was not aware of anyone touching Cook. She released a statement Thursday: "... a Catholic Campus Ministry student representative filed a complaint with the Student Union regarding the behavior of the two young men. A Student Government Representative called Catholic Campus Ministry to apologize for this disruption."

Cook filed an official abuse complaint with UCF's student conduct court regarding the alleged physical force. Following that complaint, Brinati said church members filed their own official complaints of disruptive conduct. Punishment for either offense could result in suspension or expulsion.

"The church feels that I'm the problem here," Cook said. "The problem is actually that this is a publicly-funded religious institution. Through student government here, we fund them through an activity and service, so they're receiving student money."

Cook is upset more than $40,000 in student fees have been allocated to support religious organizations on campus for the 2008-2009 school year, according to student government records. He denied he is holding the Eucharist hostage to protest that support. Regardless of the reason, the Diocese says its main concern is to get the Eucharist back so it can be taken care of properly and with respect. Cook has been keeping the Eucharist stored in a plastic bag since last Sunday.

It is of course difficult to know what actually happened here, but if somewhat accurate kudos to the EMHC there for being so attentive. The hostage taken part is hyperbole, but let us pray for a reverse case of Stockholm syndrome.

Here is a sign I would like to see in some parishes. Though my own parish does have a "Out of respect for our Lord" sign that lists what should not be worn.

Here is a rather interesting idea created by Fr. Johannes of St. Josef parish in Triesenberg, Liechtenstein.

Some might know Sticker Albums for sporting events. Well, let me say it doesn't always have to be football or soccer. Our motto is: "STICK around for God." Every Sunday the children receive a sticker that illustrates the gospel reading.

They can place it and collect it in their album, which moreover has curious or interesting facts about the Church and her liturgy: "Why are there often steps leading to a Church? What does Advent mean? What is so "white" about White (Whit) Sunday?..."

A copy of the Sunday Sticker Album (5,5 x 8,5 inches, 40 pages, ca. 70 stickers) serves a whole liturgical year (A,B or C). It is generic and unused copies can be used again 3 years later when the reading cycle returns.

On the site Sunday Stickers there is a video presenting this.

Many people have seen the strange giant puppets at the Call to Action conference at the end of April.

I has nothing though on the Palm Sunday Mass that occurred at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Mn.

For the faint of heart who can't handle the 15 minutes of creepiness, the Fratres blog has a bunch of still pictures which are "highlights."

Here is just an example:

Hey haven't I seen those characters somewhere else?

Oh yeah, that's it.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Canberra issued a letter on the liturgy for Pentecost Sunday as the Australian bishops began full implementation of the new General Instruction for the Roman Missal This is quite a wonderful letter and he touches on so many aspects on the Mass and how it is celebrated that I am totally in agreement with. I also really like the tone of the letter in while he is correcting some abuses and areas that need improvement in the celebration of the sacred liturgy he is mainly reflecting and teaching on the reform of the Mass and how it should be celebrated. [Via Overhead in the Sacristy]

The new version of General Instruction is one of a number of indications that the Church is moving into a new phase of the ongoing journey of liturgical renewal, the roots of which reach back to the Second Vatican Council and beyond. In earlier times, it seemed that the process of liturgical renewal begun by the Council was complete. But that is not the case. The journey of liturgical renewal, we can now see, is only in its early phases, and the appearance of the General Instruction is one indication of this. Other still more important indications will be the appearance in the not too distant future of the new translation of the Roman Missal and the new translation of the Lectionary. Now is the time, the Spirit is saying to the Church, to take stock of the liturgical renewal of the last forty years, to discern as clearly as possible what has succeeded and what has failed, and to make adjustments in the light of that discernment.

This means that all of us will have to be open to learn, and that is not always easy. Over recent decades, liturgical habits have taken hold, some of which have been beneficial, others detrimental to the celebration of the liturgy. It is never easy to break the hold of bad habits, especially when we do not see them as bad. Openness to learn always involves humility, a preparedness to recognise that I do not know all the answers. In the case of the liturgy, that humility involves a preparedness to learn from the Church, to whom alone the liturgy belongs; and in the new General Instruction and the new translations of the Missal and Lectionary, it is the voice of the whole Church, the Bride of Christ, that we hear.

He then goes on and makes some general observations on several subjects.

Silence Our worship generally has become very chatty, to the point where one of the challenges now is to allow silence to play its part in the liturgy. This might begin with our places of worship. Where once our churches were places of silence for the sake of prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, the custom has arisen in more recent years for people to talk freely in the churches, certainly before and after Mass. The same is true of the sacristy: where once silence was the rule (again for the sake of prayer and recollection) often now the sacristy has become a noisy and distracting place. Once was too that the priest was expected to pray the prescribed prayers as he vested for Mass, and this was one factor which contributed to an air of silence in the sacristy. I wonder would it be possible to encourage an air of silence or at least quiet in sacristies before Mass, and to make our churches places where there is a silence which supports prayer. Of course there are times when one has to talk in a sacristy or a church, but it is a question of the prevailing atmosphere. In that sense, I am speaking more about prayer than about silence for its own sake. ...

On language:

The style of language used at Mass will change when the new translation of the Roman Missal appears, perhaps late in 2009. It will be a more elevated and sacral idiom, which may feel strange at first. But it is important to realise that the language of the liturgy was never everyday language; it was always more elevated and even slightly old-fashioned. That is because it is ritual language. For the celebrant to say at the start of Mass, Good morning, everyone and for the people to reply Good morning, Father is everyday language which in other contexts would be perfectly appropriate. But in the liturgical context it is out of place because it misunderstands ritual and the language that it requires. It can suggest a casual or informal approach to the liturgy which focuses more on the priest and the people than on their common worship of God. Therefore, in this new phase of renewal, another thing we need to understand better is the kind of idiom appropriate for worship.

He says perfectly why this type of language seems so out of place for me. The "good mornings" and "have a nice day" are so casual that they disrupt and set the wrong tone for the sacred mysteries as we once again return to Calvary in that one sacrifice that brought us our redemption. Even worse is the practice of some priests to poll the congregation at the end of Mass as to who is visiting, has birthdays, or anniversaries. This is liturgically jarring for me to go from Golgotha to a warm up act at a comedy club.Good intentions of why this is being done aside, it transforms the role of the priest being In Persona Christ to his being a Master of Ceremonies and to create an artificial sense of community that ends up downplaying our real community with all of our prayers being directed in worship to God. When we are in union with Christ and his Church as we receive Communion that is when we are in the fullest sense community.

The Bishop has so much to say that I just direct you to his full letter where he also writes about sacred music, the body as in regard to gestures, beauty, and creativity. Towards the end he also gives specific directions in the Order of Mass and then a some reflections on Communion services. His letter really covers a lot of area and even addresses the excessive use of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, lay preaching, etc.

As a side note considering that the Bishop is Australian I found his "The Sign of Peace is not just a hearty G'day to the world; ..." pretty funny to my American ears.

Jeffrey (and all the people on your blog; you may publish this if you wish),

I am writing for two reasons:

1) to assure individuals (who spend too much time on the internet) that my previous and only contribution to a blog (supporting Tom Stehle for using the eucharistic acclamations from Mass of Creation) on April 1st was genuine, and to say that

2) I pray for us all, (especially) for those who think my prayers might not be heard as well as theirs. Don't we all want God's Reign to come? My music is not at the heart of what we seek and do as Christians. What we sing is not as important as how we live.

If you need a reason to verify this, or if you (or anyone who reads your blog) would like to communicate with me for any reason, my e-mail is

Quietbreezemusic@aol.com

Blessings to you in this wonderful season of Pentecost (when all voices and cultures were understood and heard by the grace of the Holy Spirit).

I have no illusions about the qualiity or the longevity of my music but, as i said, earlier, I trust God's Spirit to "hold our faith together" into the future.

As you will probably appreciate, I won't respond to any blogs again. It is hard to engage with people who dislike you so much.

What I would ask is that, if you want to put this on your blog, please give me the gift of publishing it in its entirety, without any additional italics or boldface.

God's peace (that passes all understanding),

Marty Haugen

This email is a reference to a previous post of mine when Marty Haugen posted at Catholic Sensibility.

Well that was interesting, if rather strange such as the assertion that those who don't think his music is appropriate for Mass think that his prayers prayers might not be heard as well as ours. While he has certainly been a lightning rod I certainly can't remember anybody making such an assertion. I really can't blame him for starting out a little snarky with "who spend too much time on the internet" considering how much snark has been aimed in his direction. But he seems a bit thin skinned since in his original email he had said that God's people had suffered because the Catholic Church won't ordain women. I guess it is okay to attack our faith, but wrong if we question the appropriateness of his music during the Mass. I really don't hate his music and think it is fine as far as Praise and Worship music goes outside of Mass, though I might quibble about the lyrics at time.

As a side note I was going to post on Jimmy Akin's Why is Christian Art so bad, but I don't want to get any emails from Thomas "Painter of Blight" Kinkade.

I'm wondering how many of you reading this found that, in your parishes this weekend, the liturgical feast of Pentecost was eclipsed by references to Mother's Day?

Fr. Jay Tomorrow at Young Fogeys asks a good question. In my own limited experience it seems to me that Mother's Day trumps whatever Sunday is on the calendar. With a very early start of Lent this year I suspect that we have a rare collision of Mother's Day and Pentecost.

Though prior to Fr. Toborowsky brining this up my mind was on a different track considering this intersection. Considering that Pentecost is the birthday of the Church a.k.a. Holy Mother Church I say why not say Happy Mothers Day also to the Church. To thank Jesus for giving us the Church in the first place. We are quite thankful to our mothers appropriately for the gift of life, what better than to thank Holy Mother Church for the gift of divine life within! Our mother's experienced pain to bring us into the world, Jesus suffered immeasurable pain on the cross to bring us into a world without end. The sacramental life of the Church first gives us everlasting life in Baptism and nourishes us on our pilgrimage towards death and then to life in Christ. The Church throughout the centuries has been a mother to us. Correcting us when we fall into error and raising us in praise when we follow the road to sanctity. The road where we get rid of the narrowness in us to approach the narrow gate which is really wider than the arms of a mother's embrace.

St. Augustine certainly realized this dimension when he said "You cannot have God as your Father unless you have the Church as your mother." Unfortunately there are a great deal of motherless children out there. Orphans that don't realize they are orphans. Pentecost is a feast of unity as everyone who heard the Apostles speak on this day heard it despite language differences.

Benedict XVI affirmed that this Sunday, the feast of Pentecost, "We will pray in a particular way for the unity of the Church. [...] If our hearts and minds are open to the Spirit of communion, God can work miracles again in the Church, restoring the bonds of unity. Striving for Christian unity is an act of obedient trust in the work of the Holy Spirit, who leads the Church to the full realization of the Father's plan, in conformity with the will of Christ."

Let us pray that just as Eve is a mother to all of us, that Holy Mother Church will also be a mother to everyone. Plus let us both praise our mother and Mother Church.

As a side note my own mother died of cancer over five years ago. Thank God that my own Catholic faith allows me to still say Happy Mother's day to her and to say prayers for her.

It is that time of year again depending on what diocese you live in. Tonight if the Vigil of the Ascension Rant for Catholic bloggers living in diocese that have moved Ascension Thursday to Sunday.

Fr. Erik Richtseig has a good natured rant on the subject which I totally agree with. The Apostles didn't meet in the upper room for six days and so this Holy Day of Obligation math doesn't quite work out. I think that bishops who have decided this for their diocese should have to annually explain why this is too much of an imposition on Ash Wednesday. I would love to hear the argument why this is a good idea when on a non-Holy Day of Obligation like Ash Wednesday people seem to come out of the woodwork to get to Mass. Besides I totally hate the idea of a Holy Day of Obligation being seen as a imposition in the first place.

It is also annoying that in a universal Church I will watch the Pope on TV tomorrow celebrating the Ascension while I will have to wait for Sunday and of course in the Liturgy of the Hours you have to branch off from the normal course of readings for a little detour.

Here is a very unofficial translation of comments by the Pope following a concert in honor of the third anniversary of his pontificate. The translation is from the comment box at The New Liturgical Movement and here is a sample.

We have had the joy of listening with attentive participation to difficult concert pieces of Luciano Berio, Johannes Brahms and Ludwig Beethoven. I am happy to underline how the music of Brahms has enriched with religious trust Holderlin's ''Song of Destiny''. This leads us to consider the spiritual value of the musical arts, called in a unique way to fill the soul of man with hope, so marked and often wounded by his earthly condition. There is a mysterious and profound link between music and hope, between song and life eternal: it is not for nothing that the Christian tradition portrays the spirits of the blessed in the act of singing in choir, taken up in ecstasy by the beauty of God. But authentic art, like prayer, does not alienate us from the reality of every day, but rather directs us back to it to ''irrigate'' and make it to blossom so that it may give place to the fruits of goodness and peace.

The magisterial interpretations that we have listened to remind us as well of the value and universal importance of artistic patrimony: I am thinking especially of the younger generations who in their exposure to such patrimony may be ever again inspired to build a world according to the designs of justice and solidarity at the service of man, valuing the diverse expressions of world culture. I am thinking also of the importance of an education to authentic beauty for the formation of the youth. As a whole, art contributes to the sharpening and orienting of the spirit towards the edification of a society open to the ideals of the spirit. Italy, with its exceptional artistic heritage, can undertaken in this regard an important role in the world: the quantity and quality of the monuments and works of art which she possesses make her a universal ''messenger'' of all of those values which art expresses and at the same time promotes. The joyfulness of song and of music are likewise a constant invitation for believers and for men of goodwill to commit themselves to giving humanity a rich future of hope.

After last weeks extreme enjoyment of multiple papal speeches I was going into withdrawals, but his wonderful comments on the role of music, liturgical and otherwise, have giving me my fix.

Now if only the Vatican would do something about providing translations in a timely manner. The Church did a pretty good job of this on Pentecost and it has gone downhill ever since. Though I guess barring the Holy Spirit acting in such a manner again or a Trekian universal translator I would certainly settle for them simply hiring capable translators full time to provide this service.

No it is not in the Onion unfortunately.

As you would expect their is lots of commentary on the music for the Papal Mass today. Jay Anderson reports that Fr. Neuhaus said ""An Overweening and Preening Exercise in Multicultural Exhibitionism"

Rich Leonardi posted

Whoever wrote Archbishop Wuerl's welcome for the Papal Mass at Nationals Stadium should resume his career as a diversity consultant.

Ditto for the liturgist. The "multicultural" music (Raymond Arroyo's description) for the offertory and the beginning of the Eucharistic prayer simply has no place in the Mass. We've heard so much about "active participation" by the laity. Explain to me how anyone in attendance can hum these ... pop stylings, much less sing them. (Is that a bass guitar and saxophone I hear as Communion is distributed?) Appalling.

Catholic Minority Reports:

Raymond Arroyo, commenting on the odd choices for some of the music in the liturgy at Nationals Stadium, after listening to an absolutely awful conga version of an offertory hymn (including bongos and a kettle drum) just said that "the music in this liturgy, is out of character for papal masses of late. The music has a sort of amazon flavor to it!"

I went to an Easter Vigil Mass this year where the kettle drum was quite prominent in a five minute or longer Alleluia. I thought for a bit that someone was doing a drum solo. The singing of the alleluia itself was pretty hard to describe unless you imagine Tarzan doing this - and unhappily this is not hyperbole. Though to be fair the "Hallelujah" chorus from Handel's Messiah was extraordinarily well done so there was a bit of an oasis in a liturgical dessert.

Now I realize that those involved in the musical selection surely had good intentions and in their way thought they were honoring the Pope. It seems to me though that a musical selection of this type is kind of like dedicating a Automobile Combustion Engine Museum for Al Gore with a massive tree burning demonstration afterwards.

If those involved have a copy of Cardinal's Ratzinger's book Spirit of the Liturgy I bet it is in mint condition totally unstained by any fingerprints. The tone deafness of the selections serve as a antithesis to everything the Pope has written about the liturgy is it is hard to fathom how this was not taking into account. If Bishop Trautman was Pope than they would of hit it out of the ballpark. In contrast the sacred music used during Vespers last night was phenomenal and the beauty of it with the Pope present brought tears to my eyes.

Amy Welborn writes quite well about the problems of critiquing the Mass in general and on this occasion and about the obvious reverence and deportment of the people at the Mass. I just think that this was despite the music and not aided by it. Visiting various parishes I really try to shut down the :Mass Reviewer" in me because it is quite destructive to entering into the prayer of the Mass. So instead of being angry I usually try to shunt off criticism into humor instead and to laugh off some of the sillier displays of liturgical silliness. As Jimmy Akin says it is not God's will that the Mass be a source of anger for us. So while I think critiques are somewhat necessary if we are ever going to truly start a reform of the reform, we can do it in a manner that will actually lead to reform and not just bitterness.

Update: Looking at Father Z's post on the subject he says "It is almost as if the organizers of this Mass had never read a single thing of what Joseph Ratzinger has written about sacred music and liturgy." Fr. Z will be updating this post.

NLM focuses on the postive and has many wonderful images.

Jeffrey Tucker at NLM writes:

Indeed, when Marty Haugen's Mass of Creation finally came on at the Sanctus, it was a moment of dignity—so much so that I want to take back all my negative comments back when I thought that this Mass setting was unsuitable for a Papal Mass. I don't think anyone knew before this what the phrase "unsuitable" could really mean.

When I read the late Fr. Richard W. Gilsdorf's Sign of the Times there was one thing mentioned in the book that really stood out for me and something that he repeated. While in seminary he learned the phrase "You can tell a good priest by how he cares for the fragments." While this is of course a generality in my own limited experience it is something I found to be true.

One of my favorite parts of the Mass is the purification of the sacred vessels. There is just so much to love in the Mass, but there is a special joy for me to watch a priest take the time and care when purifying the sacred vessels. When I watch a couple of priests that I know it seems to me that when they are doing this that it reminds me so much of Michelangelo's Pieta with Mary holding Jesus. There is such evident love and care in performing this seeming mundane action that it all the more brings to me the reality of Jesus being sacramentally present in the Holy Eucharist. The attention to detail to ensure that even the smallest fragment of Our Lord is treated with the reverence and worship our Lord deserves can say more than a dozen homilies on the Eucharist.

As I was heading into the direction of the Church one of the first doctrines that I believed in was the Eucharist. While I came to intellectually accept the reality of the Eucharist it was how the Eucharist was handled in what became my parish Church when I started attending Mass that I came to more fully believe. The use of Patens reinforced this reality to me that care must be taken to ensure that the fragments must not fall to the floor and way the priest would look at the host and into the chalice after the consecration in an obvious act of adoration also helped me to adore Jesus with them.

I truly wish I could say the same thing for other parishes I have attended. Where you hardly see a genuflection upon entering and leaving the Church and Patens are nowhere to be seen. It seems strange to me that even parishes that have introduced Eucharistic Adoration that there are so few acts of piety towards the Blessed Sacrament before, during, after the Mass.

A trend I have noticed in more in more parishes is that the sacred vessels are not being purified during the Mass. Now I am aware the that in the GIRM there is an option that if there are several vessels to purify that this can be done after Mass. Though what I notice happen is that the chalices and ciboriums are being taken by EMHC's somewhere like a room behind the sacristy. The GIRM specifies that they when they are purified after Mass that they be taken to the altar or credence table. I suspect what is going on is that the EMHCs are then purifying the sacred vessels themselves in defiance of the fact that the indult for them to do so has been removed and are being rather sneaky about it. Besides the fact that their doing so is not allowed I think it also robs the faithful of the act of purifying the sacred vessels.

But then again often in the same parishes the purifications of the sacred vessels is not quite done as a sacred act and sometimes as if the priest was just going through the motions with no seeming care that a fragment of the Eucharist might end up on the floor. I think of how Saint Elizabeth Ann Seaton came into the Church partly because of her witness of Eucharistic piety and I wonder how the lack Eucharistic piety might affect others. If we truly believe that Jesus is sacramentally present in the Holy Eucharist shouldn't we all act accordingly? Does the cacophony often present before and after Mass show this reality? Do people rushing to the parking lot right after Communion display this reality? Does our choice of clothing truly reflect that we will be witnessing Christ when we receive his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity? Are we growing in holiness and accepting the graces we can receive from the sacraments? This is an area we all must work on (especially myself) and just receiving Communion worthily is not enough. Before Christ we are never truly worthy and the Eucharist is a gift beyond are wildest imaginings and we all need to be acting accordingly. I thank God for the priests and laity who show this respect and I pray that more will do so.

"Lord, I am not worthy that thou should come under my roof but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed."

Some words should just never be put together. Case in point Ecumenical Circus Mass in Monaco. Unfortunately the pictures backup the headline.

I remember as a teenager reading a book by Stanislaw Lem* where as I vaguely remember they would try to make breakthroughs in technology by placing random words together and imagining a technology that the words suggest. I think you could also do the same with liturgical abuses and place random words together and come up with a liturgical abuses that somebody has either already tried and will try in the future.

Christopher at Catholic Church Conservation also has as he say a "little bit of fun" making this video.

*And yes I know that while Stanislaw Lem was an atheist he was also a friend of Karol Wojtyla in Poland and they use to have discussions together.

Marty Haugen replies about comments on the criticism of the selection of his music for the Papal visit.

    For twenty plus years I have been told, mainly anonymously through the internet, how I have been personally responsible for destroying Roman Catholic worship. I have never responded; however, I wish to offer a few comments now.

    First of all, although I am not Roman Catholic, I have a deep love and respect for and faith in the worship tradition of the Roman Catholic Church. My own hesitancy about joining the Church is not about its eucharistic theology, but rather around the unwillingness of the Church to commission, ordain and welcome all humans as Jesus did–male and female, married and unmarried, saints and sinners. I believe that the Church, God’s people and all of creation have suffered from this omission.

    I do not think of my own music as central or important to Roman Catholic worship, present or future. I began writing as a parish musician; I still keep the vision that to be “catholic” is to learn and love and embrace the best of the past tradition and to welcome the “best” of what is new, as Gods [sic] speaks through all cultures and expressions (see “Lumen Gentia” [sic]). I leave it to communities and to the Holy Spirit that will (more than us, thank God) guide the future choices that will last.

    I had nothing to do with the choice of “Mass of Creation” for a Papal Mass. Having said that, I believe that attacks upon Tom Stehle in his efforts to engage a congregation with what he hoped would be familiar and meaningful to them (using parts of the liturgy with currently approved texts) were unfair, un-Christian and beneath those of us who truly care about how God speaks through our Sacraments.

Well I don't think that he has destroyed Catholic worship which is an over the top accusation.  My main complaint is that his music has become such a standard and quite over used.  It just does not deserve the "pride of place" it has received.  It is not the writers of music that are at fault really, it is those who continue to promote inferior pieces of sacred music.  Even the Saint Louis Jesuit's never intended that there music would be used at Mass.

The above was posted on a new to me blog Commander Craig's Corner who is also doing blog talk radio on Saturdays and has upcoming interviews with Deal Hudson and Fr. Fessio.

In response to Jeffrey Tucker's complaint of the report that The Mass of Creation by Marty Haugen will be used during the Pope's visit. Well maybe it is a good thing that the Pope will be forced to endure the liturgical impoverishment that we so long have suffered under. You certainly get the idea that Thomas Stehle, who is reported to be responsible for music during the Pope's visit, by what he has written has never read the Pope's book Spirit of the Liturgy since he basically contradicts it.

Mike Roesch blog direct a link to an article by Dr. Michael Foley on the Kiss of Peace on Dr. Philip Blosser's Scripture and Tradition blog.  This is an excellent piece that focuses on the history, theology, and practice of the Kiss of Peace and critiques the modern usage within the Latin Rite.

I think the critique is quite compelling and I would certainly like to see something done to repair this and to return to some form of previous practice.  Even before when I knew nothing about the past practice of the Kiss of Peace I had found it at odds with the liturgy and somewhat of a disruption in its practice.  I once attended Holy Rosary which is a Dominican church in Portland, Ore and they omitted the Kiss of Peace (which is allowed since it is optional) and I found its absence much better suited to the flow of the liturgy.

An actual nice article on the TLM in Palo Alto with zero journalist boilerplate we have come to expect on the subject.

The capybara kap-i-'bar-uh, hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, is a semi-aquatic rodent of South and Central America. It is the only species in its genus, which belongs to the family Hydrochoeridae, order Rodentia.

When the Spanish missionaries found the capybara in Brazil during the 16th century, they wrote to the Pope to ask - there's an animal here that's scaly but also hairy, spends most of its time in the water but occasionally comes on land; can we classify it as a fish (and thus, the indigenous people could continue to eat it during Lent)?. Not having a clear description of the animal (and not wanting the petitioners to starve), the Pope agreed and declared it to be a fish.

May are spiritual and physical fasting make more room for Christ and may we all grow closer to Christ and Have a Holy Lent in preparation for the feasts of feasts - Easter!

A reader sent me information about St. George Parish in  Baton Rouge and Dexter.  Now you might ask who is Dexter?

You guessed it.  Dexter is the lovable Puppet Dog that is used to explain the Mass and they stop the Mass for Dexter to weigh in.

The Children's puppet Masses (two words I hate putting together) are suppose to be so popular that for one weekend all Masses will include Dexter the Puppet Dog - at least I think it is a dog. Do not give what is holy to dogs, unless they are a puppet dog.  But hey it must be alright because he has a cool 12 on his shirt which is so scripturally based.  Now maybe in some wild way you can attempt to justify this for a children's Mass, but for all Masses during a weekend?  Hey let us get purple dinosaurs as altar-dinos because wow wouldn't that be fun and the children would love it.  They could sing little songs explaining what they are doing.  Besides what's the limit as long as children are learning something?  Besides isn't the combination of Mass and puppet - Muppet. 

Now puppets used as a teaching tool are probably a great idea if used in for example the parish hall, but puppetry and Calvary are a non-starter.  Now I grew up in children's theater and my father was both an actor and a puppeteer and I got to help him out at times.  So I don't have puppetphobia and think in the right setting an explanation of the Mass using puppets for children could be useful, but not during Mass.  Tommorow is the feast day for Saint John Bosco who was a juggler, magician, and acrobat and used these skills in his evangelization effort with children - but does anybody seriously think that he would ever have considred doing this during Mass?  I think the is more likely have turned his dog Grigio on any puppets trying to appear at Mass.

My reader informs me that  they have it on good authority that the Bishop of Baton Rouge knows about this and has no problem with its continued use.

I am starting to wonder if Louisiana is now the headquarters of the Puppet Mass since a Fr. Sweet in Shreveport is a ventriloquist who does Mass with his puppet Charlie.  I assume In Persona Puppet.

Update via a commenter: You say "the Bishop of Baton Rouge knows about this and has no problem with its continued use". But in fact the pastor was told the day after this occurred (some weeks ago, well before advent) by the chancery that it was not okay, and that it was never to happen again...the bishop's office was NOT okay with it. Apparently this was the idea of a lay ministry coordinator who doesn't know much about liturgy at all. The pastor and associate pastor (not to mention most of the parishioners, who were quite properly aghast) were very uncomfortable with it.

Update: People who defend this are blind. First, as a parishioner at this particular parish I'd like to correct some facts. Fr. Mike, our pastor, came to us in November of 2005 so he just celebrated his second anniversary as Pastor. Also, this puppet mass never happened before Fr. Mike was pastor. Last year was the first year this ocurred and this year was the second. It was after this year's Mass that it was announced that all Masses on one weekend would be puppet masses because of the "popularity." While some of us are truly outraged to make it look like this has been going on for many years and that the Pastor is trying to weed this stuff out is false. Such things as this, liturgical dance, and other abuses continue to be a problem in our parish and it seems that everyone wants to turn a blind eye.

After seeing the pictures in the post below here are some pictures to cleanse your palate.   Te Deum laudamus! has some wonderful pictures of a wedding that took place using the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite at the Assumption Grotto in Detroit, Michigan.

I am thinking of starting up a campaign to donate money to the the Cathedral of Auch in the Diocèse of Gers.  Surely their funds must have run low and couldn't buy proper candle holders.  At least that is the most charitable explanation I could think of.

Though my charitable imagination fails at the other pictures in the series at Catholic Church Conservation which are not for the liturgical faint of heart.

With the last picture in the series I am really hoping that the ball shown is the one from the TV series The Prisoner and in this case is being used to pacify liturgical performers.

There has been a lot of buzz in St. Blogs over the Pope celebrating the Solemnity of the Baptism of our Lord using the Sistine Chapel's original altar and praying the Mass Ad Orientum.  In previous years a wooden platform was built over the original altar with a smaller altar placed on it.

Zadok the Roman has found and example of highly ironic reporting on this.

In a departure from tradition, Benedict did not celebrate the Mass at a small altar set up to face the congregation. 

No doubt we are in for a rash of stories of the Pope turning his back on the people as we got as journalistic boilerplate in coverage of the Motu Proprio.   Anybody who has read then-Cardinal Ratzinger's book Spirit of the Liturgy know precisely the Pope's view of celebrating Mass Ad Orientum.  Fr. Z. says "I contend that more damage was done by turning around the orientation of Mass than perhaps any single other change." and I am inclined to agree with him. Facing the people can too easily lead to "Ad Entertainer."

Good coverage of this can be found at: