Mass changes don’t equate to Vatican III

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Jeff Ward

Updated: January 5, 2012 8:11AM

As you edge your way north of the half-century mark, it’s funny what you do and don’t remember. Of all the things that should’ve gotten a bit more blurry, I’d have thought it would’ve been the mental images of those first times in a St. Nick’s pew with my mother and grandmother.

But instead of a dim recollection, I can clearly recall Father Mayer, in his green chasuble (poncho), back to the congregation, reciting the Sunday liturgy in Latin. Meanwhile, my overactive 8-year-old imagination was making every effort to translate the proceedings into something more meaningful.

Though I can no longer remember what I came up with, I’m sure it wasn’t even close.

But then it all changed. Under the Second Vatican Council, Popes John XXIII and Paul VI essentially introduced a Mass for the masses. Now the priest faced the congregation, the pulpit came down to floor level and my limited translation skills no longer were required.

Suddenly, that Sunday service became accessible.

Praying that Vatican II liturgical lightning will strike a second time, and without soliciting any feedback, starting Nov. 27 the Catholic Church thrust yet another missal revolution upon its flock. But this new effort to avoid colloquialisms and return to something closer to the original Latin certainly isn’t any Vatican III. Instead taking of another big leap forward, it’s taking a giant step back.

Declaring “God merits elegant language and not ‘Hey, God, it’s me,’ ” Monsignor C. Eugene Morris, director of the Sacred Liturgy for the Pontifical College Josephinum, claimed the new wording “elevates our minds. It makes you slow down, be more deliberate and conscious.”

That might just work until everyone gets used to this version and starts rattling it off rote as they try to shake off their Sunday morning stupor.

Considering what’s got to be going through His mind, I’m not so sure anyone with God’s vast workload is all that concerned with athletes who insist upon pointing upward to him or the language folks use to address Him. I bet He (or She) simply is thrilled whenever we manage to pay attention.

So now when the priest intones, “The Lord be with you,” the correct response isn’t “And also with you,” it’s “And with your spirit.” Before communion, instead of “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you,” parishioners respond “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.” And I don’t think they’re referring to the top of your mouth either.

“Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth” has been replaced with, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will.” Say that 10 times really fast. God forbid we Catholics should ever be caught wishing peace to everyone on the planet.

Morris also said the more formal and repetitive wording offers “greater depth and richness.”

Please forgive my Jesuit-instilled cynicism, but doesn’t this “change” seem like a lot like a balding, overweight and wheezing-from-too-many-Camels middle-aged man putting on a toupee and somehow believing he’s 21 again? Perhaps all this revisionist energy might be better spent addressing the church’s real issues.

Father James Hurlbert, pastor of St. Alphonsus Church in Chicago, added that by forcing Catholics to abandon the previously memorized missal, “Maybe it will lead to a heightened appreciation of the theology and spirituality.”

No it won’t. Because neither of those inherent and ultimately intangible human yearnings is ever about the wording. Faith is a verb, not a noun. It requires action, not flapping gums. They’ll know we are Christians by our love, not by our phrasing. Insight comes from a willingness to rise above ourselves combined with careful consideration, not from parroting the carefully constructed words of an externally-based weekly ritual.

A ceremony like the Catholic Mass is supposed to be the means and not anything close to the end.

Not everyone within the priestly fold is happy about this “upgrade” either. A plethora of Irish priests protested the move and “challenged the scholarship behind the changes.”

Seattle priest Michael Ryan, who launched a Web campaign against the revisions, said, “People are the church, and this is not the bishops’ prayer, it is their prayer. Prayer is not something you tamper with lightly, and you’d better be sure when you do that it’s manifestly better.”

At least someone under the auspices of the white collar seems to get it. It’s not the church that makes the people, it’s the people that make the church.

Somehow, somewhere, Church hierarchy lost sight of one of the best biblical passages ever written. Please excuse my more casual rendition, but it goes something like this; “Whenever two or more of you raise your spiritual glass to Me, I’ll be more than happy to pick up the check!”