Get your vomit bags out.  :barf:

Revised Missal offers opportunity for liturgical formation
By Mike Nelson

The period before the revised translated texts of the Roman Missal are implemented provides an opportunity for the kind of liturgical catechesis --- and, by extension, a deeper understanding of Sunday worship --- that did not take place after the Second Vatican Council.

"The English version of the new Roman Missal gives us an excellent opportunity to revisit and renew the liturgical formation of all Catholics in the archdiocese," said Dr. Paul Ford, professor of liturgy and theology at St. John's Seminary, who led a presentation on the revised Roman Missal Nov. 12 at a meeting of the archdiocesan Liturgical Commission. The meeting, held at the San Fernando Regional Office in Mission Hills, was also attended by representatives of various archdiocesan departments and regional offices.

The revised texts are not expected to be implemented in the United States before 2011 or 2012, pending final ratification of by the U.S. bishops and the subsequent approval from Rome. The new texts include numerous changes in the way prayers are recited by presiders and assemblies at Sunday Mass.

On Nov. 12, 2002, the Latin Church members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a translation of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani (General Instruction of the Roman Missal) prepared by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy. The translation was confirmed by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on March 17, 2003; the GIRM was promulgated that year.

Recently, the U.S. bishops approved the English translation and U.S. adaptations of five final sections of the Roman Missal (the book of prayers used at Mass) in voting at their annual fall general assembly in Baltimore.

Liturgical officials in Rome, in accord with ICEL, have explained that these changes represent an effort to make English-language prayers conform more closely to the Latin that is the basis for all translations. The proposed changes --- which have caused consternation among some --- have been debated and discussed among U.S. bishops for several years.

Ford, who has worked with liturgical publishers as they prepare the revised texts for sales and distribution at the appropriate time, acknowledged that many people will continue to have problems with the revisions and the new texts. On the other hand, he suggested in his presentation that the new Roman Missal will be more readily embraced, or at least better understood, if dioceses offer proper catechesis prior to implementation.

"We are invited to receive this as a pastoral opportunity to teach our people how to pray the Mass," he said, noting that this catechetical process harmonizes with the Fifth Pastoral Initiative of the 2003 Archdiocesan Synod, "Eucharist and Sacramental Living." According to the initiative's pastoral priority:

"Each parish is to give priority to the Sunday celebration of Mass as the primary occasion and opportunity for revitalizing the spiritual life of the community and, accordingly, make appropriate provision for the full, conscious and active participation of the faithful."

As the archdiocese defines pastoral approaches to be used in catechizing its people, Ford stressed the importance of considering that "average person's encounter with the liturgy." Consideration of all the senses --- the languages of gesture, posture, color, as well as the texts themselves" --- is likewise key

Among the points that Ford and those present, in discussion following his presentation, agreed should be stressed in such a liturgical formation process:

---The primacy of the Word of God in the Eucharistic celebration.

---The need for all --- presiders and assembly --- to recognize silence as an essential element of the Mass, notably after Communion.

---The need to involve everyone --- lay and ordained --- in this liturgical formation process. "We're all in this together," said Gabriela Reitzell, newly-elected chair of the Liturgical Commission and director of liturgy at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. "My hope is that this will be emphasized in the training that will take place."

Msgr. Thomas Welbers, pastor of Good Shepherd Church in Beverly Hills and a commission member, stressed the need for presiders "to be trained in effective presentation, notably at the Eucharistic Prayer, to communicate that this is the prayer of everyone."

The training for priests is very important, added Father Lorenzo Miranda, pastor of St. Louis of France Church, La Puente. "Our people are starving for spiritual food," he said, "and the best place to provide that is at Sunday liturgy."

Other comments reflected the importance of well-prepared bilingual and multilingual liturgies to illustrate the council's vision for liturgy; involving different media (including videos for YouTube) to present catechetical training (perhaps utilizing college and high school media departments); and, perhaps most significantly, presenting the coming changes in the least unsettling way --- "in baby steps, with repetition," said Janis Nelson, commission secretary. "It will be important in this process to build bridges, and not polarize people."

Noting wryly that "there will be liturgical police on the left and right who will make our lives as difficult as they can," Ford nonetheless pointed out that the process of implementing change is bound to be an improvement over what took place after Vatican II, when changes were implemented with virtually no catechesis, leaving assemblies often bewildered and sometimes frustrated, at least initially.

"That's why it is so critical to begin this catechetical process before there is implementation," he said. "We won't do it all perfectly, but we will do it better than was done 40 or 45 years ago."



http://www.the-tidings.com/2009/120409/litcomm_text.htm



I shudder to think what they believe to be "better."
  :scared2: