New members of the USCCB Committee on Divine Worship

Here is a list of the new members of the USCCB’s "Committe on Divine Worship" (note the name change of the Committee.)

H.E. Most Rev. Donald W. Trautman is not long the Chair.

H.E. Most Rev. Arthur J. Serratelli, about whom we have written fairly frequently on WDTPRS, is now Chairman.

I am sure we will remember them in our prayers as they begin their terms and work.

USCCB Committee on Divine Worship


Most Rev. Arthur J. Serratelli
Bishop of Paterson
Committee Chairman


Justin F. Cardinal Rigali
Archbishop of Philadelphia

Most Rev. Daniel M. Buechlein, OSB
Archbishop of Indianapolis

Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap.
Archbishop of Denver

Most Rev. George H. Niederauer
Archbishop of San Francisco

Most Rev. Kevin J. Farrell
Bishop of Dallas

Most Rev. Ronald P. Herzog
Bishop of Alexandria in Louisiana

Most Rev. Octavio Cisneros
Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn

[Final Member To Be Determined]

Subcommittee on Liturgy for Hispanics
Most Rev. Octavio Cisneros
Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn
Subcommittee Chairman

[Members To Be Determined]

Consultants to the
Committee on Divine Worship
Roger M. Cardinal Mahony
Archbishop of Los Angeles
Most Rev. John G. Vlazny
Archbishop of Portland in Oregon

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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38 Comments

  1. mariadevotee says:

    Chaput and Niedarauer on the same committee–on divine worship, no less! Oh to be a fly on the wall…

  2. Michael R. says:

    Liturgy for Hispanics?

  3. Ole Doc Farmer says:

    GAUDEAMUS (in general)

  4. jack burton says:

    “Consultants to the Committee on Divine Worship: Roger M. Cardinal Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles”

    I take it he is the official devil’s advocate? Seriously though, this group seems like quite the mixed bag. Thanks for the info father!

    Btw, I’m really starting to love Bishop Serratelli. :-)

  5. danphunter1 says:

    Awesome about His Excellency Bishop Serratelli’s apointment.
    God bless the Church.

  6. Bernard of Arezzo says:

    A ‘Liturgy for hispanics’ committee is not as strange as it might sound. Mass, for better for worse is said in the vernacular, and that includes Spanish and the Spanish translations are more faithful to the Latin too.) Also, hispanics have rich traditions of para-liturgical devotional practices that are worth preserving, Las Mananitas to the virgen of Guadalupe (Las Mananitas at my parish will start at 5 am on her feast; followed by all day vigil, procession and finaly a solem mass [in Spanish]) Las Posadas (recreating the holy families search for loging in Bethlehem), the ‘Lasso’ (a large rosary draped over couples at weddings) and so forth. It seems perfectly reasonable that the committe on Divine Worship would have a sub-committee to deal with these things, particularly for priests who are not used to these things and don’t know what to make of them.

    Given the number of hispanics in the US drifting into protestant sects, this is the best idea USCCB has had in a long time (and if I remember correctly, the bishops of Texas and the southwest had to twist their arm to get Hispanic ministry listed as one of the 5 goals for the next ten years).

  7. chironomo says:

    So… Mahoney as a consultant”? What precisely ould he “consult” on… perhaps if people need advice on bad architectural design, or maybe he could help in compiling a list of common liturgical abuses (he could just submit his Mass Book)… Seratelli however is the best thing to happen in this committee for a LONG time… at the very least he is not as likely to make this committee an “activist” group that has to put out “guidelines” to explain every document that comes from the Holy See.

  8. Jason says:

    Pardon me, but all I can think of when I hear “Hispanic liturgy” is an elderly white woman, strumming a guitar in front of a 95% non-Spanish speaking congregation, singing “Cordero de dios” or “Ven a la fiesta, ven a la fiesta de Dios” with an abominable Peggy Hill accent.

    I hope Bernard’s right. But I just can’t get out of my head the Mariachi Masses I’ve been to. Nothing so uplifting as four-part harmonies without reference to the quarter-step pitch variations between them, reinforced by the soothing thump of a bajo sexto.

    In a word, purgatorial.

  9. Stu says:

    I’d be happy to serve as the \”Final Member To Be Determined\”. I can get coffee and stuff. :)

  10. I just hope for some positive results. My skeptical side just worries that even with some of these great guys in there, the bureaucracy of the USCCB setup will just drown any progress. I always feel that instead of just helping present exatly what the Holy See gives us, the USCCB is all about filtering out the things they don’t want us to hear.

    Anyway, I’ll pray that things are turning around for the USCCB.

    (On the Hispanic ministries topic: living in a diocese with a large percentage of Hispanics, I find the vernacular divides parishes, so that people going to the same parish will never see each other if they speak different languages. I also find most Hispanic ministry causes a “ghetto mentality” and rather than helping people assimilate to the U.S., they just foster an overly hostle pride of their homeland, so that they never really fit into American society (not learning English fluently being the biggest example). I say this from having worked in an Hispanic parish for several years.)

  11. Bernard of Arezzo says:

    Roman sacristan: I see your concerns about the dual-language track dividing up the parish. But, for better or worse, we are going to have to live with that for a while… I don’t think the glorious return of widespread use of Latin is around the corner. In my parish, a great deal of effort has gone into blending the two tracks, with some success.

    Jason: I guess it all depends on where you live. I’ve seen Peggy Hill too; but she is the worst, not the best.

  12. Henry Edwards says:

    Once as incoming chairman of a university committee, I met with our dean to select the committee’s members and consultants. I objected at first when he suggested as (in essence) a “consultant to the committee” someone who I knew strongly opposed the reform that was the committee’s intended agenda. The dean replied that indeed was the point — that precisely because he thought otherwise, we needed to put him in a position where he could be marginalized and ignored.

  13. Paul Murnane says:

    Cardinal Mahony was also a consultant to the BCL, as it was then called. He\’s still riding the wave of his magnum opus, Gather Faithfully Together

    I imagine he fought quite hard to remain a consultant, although that\’s just speculation. I hope his influence is nil. I also hope the \”gravitational pull\” of SP is strong enough to reach us here on the Left Coast.

  14. ALL: Let’s keep the Card. Mahony bashing to a minimum, please. Let’s all just stipulate that his liturgical ideas are not so much in harmony with those of most of the people inclined to comment here… and go on.

  15. Esther says:

    I’m so happy to see Bishop Serratelli is the new chair! BTW, with the number of Hispanic Catholics we have in the US, it makes sense to have a subcommittee for Hispanic Masses.

  16. momof7 says:

    Spanish? wouldn’t they use the European or – Latin American based translation? Not a Spanish translation from the English NO. Does anyone know? Fr Z?

    When we attend Polish Mass- sometimes while visiting family in Chicago- the Polish translation is the Polish translation- it is not based from the English NO translation..

    Ironically, my kids like the Polish NO vs. the English NO even though they don’t speak or understand Polish. I do however, read write and speak and I view the Polish translation being much richer than the English NO version.

    There are many solely Polish parishes throughout the country, though they do not outnumber the Hispanic community. But they are Polish parishes with perhaps maybe one English Mass on Sunday. And we dont get a Polish committee??

  17. Here in Rome the various dicasteries call their consultants consultors.
    I’ve heard it said that there are consultors who are consulted, consultors who are not consulted and those who are not consultors who are consulted. ;)

  18. PATER, O.S.B. says:

    J.M.J.

    Dear Bernard of Arezzo,

    With the greatest respect to our neighbors down south, as an American of Cuban descent I am always a little put off by the immediate assumption that Hispanic = Mexican. This is perhaps understandable, depending on where you live. Nevertheless, not one of the above customs you mentioned are universal throughout the Hispanic community, which is quite diverse.

    Pax.

  19. dcs says:

    momof7 writes:
    There are many solely Polish parishes throughout the country, though they do not outnumber the Hispanic community. But they are Polish parishes with perhaps maybe one English Mass on Sunday. And we dont get a Polish committee??

    The last thing that reverent Polish-language Masses need is a committee to oversee them.

    (We don’t know Polish but the Polish Mass is our best option on days we can’t get out of the neighborhood.)

  20. Bernard of Arezzo says:

    Pater OSB: mea culpa. your right about what I did, and it was sloppy thinking/writing of me.

  21. Christopher Ignatius says:

    As a member of Bishop Seratelli’s diocese, I am ECSTATIC about his election.

  22. jack burton says:

    This isn’t meant as an attack on Cardinal Mahony, but I find it odd that he would be an advisor since his writings on the Liturgy are so radically impoverished. The impression here is that one does not have to care about or even believe what the Church teaches about the Liturgy to be considered a foremost expert. This is truly disturbing to me.

  23. Monica says:

    Could someone please tell me why there is a subcommittee for Liturgy for Hispanics. What? Are we not allowed to be mainstreamed into the rest of the US Church? Are we too dumb to have a classical Roman Liturgy with an organ and chant like some of the Anglo-speaking Masses? or are we always doomed to have guitars and simple-minded music at our liturgies because we’re seen as dumb or unworthy of worshipping with any kind of majesty or awe? Perhaps there would be no need for liturgical “subcommittees” if the Bishops would just do their job and make sure all liturgical directives and instructions are followed by their priests. A subcommittee for Hispanic liturgies but no subcommittee for the extraordinary form of our Rite. Many bishops need to stop acting like a bunch of spiritual politicians and start acting like Shepherds.

  24. Trad Tom says:

    While I am trying to be as respectful as possible to the positions these men hold, I find the committe make-up to be a “mixed bag,” at best. Cardinal Mahony receives a lion’s share of criticism, indeed, but my eyes rolled after reading the name of Most Rev.George H. Niederauer, Archbishop of San Francisco, as a member of this most august committee. Does Most Holy Redeemer Parish or the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence ring a bell?

    Thank God for Committee Chairman Bishop Seratelli!

  25. Matt Q says:

    Jason wrote:

    “Pardon me, but all I can think of when I hear “Hispanic liturgy” is an elderly white woman, strumming a guitar in front of a 95% non-Spanish speaking congregation, singing “Cordero de dios” or “Ven a la fiesta, ven a la fiesta de Dios” with an abominable Peggy Hill accent.

    I hope Bernard’s right. But I just can’t get out of my head the Mariachi Masses I’ve been to. Nothing so uplifting as four-part harmonies without reference to the quarter-step pitch variations between them, reinforced by the soothing thump of a bajo sexto.

    In a word, purgatorial.”

    Esther wrote:

    “I’m so happy to see Bishop Serratelli is the new chair! BTW, with the number of Hispanic Catholics we have in the US, it makes sense to have a subcommittee for Hispanic Masses.”

    Bernard of Arezzo wrote:

    “A ‘Liturgy for hispanics’ committee is not as strange as it might sound. Mass, for better for worse is said in the vernacular, and that includes Spanish and the Spanish translations are more faithful to the Latin too.) Also, hispanics have rich traditions of para-liturgical devotional practices that are worth preserving, Las Mananitas to the virgen of Guadalupe (Las Mananitas at my parish will start at 5 am on her feast; followed by all day vigil, procession and finaly a solem mass [in Spanish]) Las Posadas (recreating the holy families search for loging in Bethlehem), the ‘Lasso’ (a large rosary draped over couples at weddings) and so forth. It seems perfectly reasonable that the committe on Divine Worship would have a sub-committee to deal with these things, particularly for priests who are not used to these things and don’t know what to make of them.

    Given the number of hispanics in the US drifting into protestant sects, this is the best idea USCCB has had in a long time (and if I remember correctly, the bishops of Texas and the southwest had to twist their arm to get Hispanic ministry listed as one of the 5 goals for the next ten years).”

    Okay, my turn ** drum roll. ** I am still not sure of the national obsession with “Hispanics.” Why is this group so obviously paid attention to than any other? I find it be racist actually that there is specifically a “Hispanic Liturgy” anything. Are not the needs of other cultures and races important? Evidently not. Also, Arezzo’s comment that Hispanics are “drifting into Protestant sects” is rather disingenuous. Well, so are the Caucasians and other groups. Why are Hispanics going Protestant any more a reason to clutch the pearls than a Caucasian?

    I want to see a committee dedicated to Anglo-French Liturgies. I want “my kind” paid attention to as much as the Hispanics. How about Asian Catholics? Obviously off the map altogether.

  26. Matt Q says:

    [Members To Be Determined]… LOL

    Yeah, they want to see how many more whack-jobs they can stack the deck with against authentic belief. Well, nonetheless, since the Tridentine Mass has been made universally available, I’hve stopped boo-hooing about the Novus Ordo. That poor form has been on its way to self-destruction for forty years now. We can only hope His Holiness can save it before it really does morph into Proto-Masonic worship. As His Excellency The Archbishop Ranjith said, it all depends on where their obedience lies. I’m looking forward to seeing how this gang implements the coming changes from Rome. As I said before, Canterbury is alive and well in the Roman Church.

  27. Legisperitus says:

    I don’t particularly care if the Novus Ordo can be saved– just the souls of the people at it!

  28. Royce says:

    Monica,

    Three words: liberal white guilt. It’s patronizing, but it sure does make ya feel better about yourself.

    But wait, you mean that Marty Haugen’s “Pan de Vida” isn’t really Hispanic? Ahhhh! No lo sabia!

    However, to play Devil’s advocate a bit, I currently live in a moderately-sized city in South America. I have visited about 10 parishes in town looking for one with orthodox liturgy. Only one did not have guitars and banal music. So, I suspect it isn’t only condescension on the part of the hierarchy, though that’s certainly a big part of it.

    Que Dios te bendiga.

  29. Anne Scanlon says:

    Father Z.
    Thank you for the reminder to be charitable. We need to pray fervently for our Bishops all of them….!
    Anne

  30. Tom says:

    Speaking from my perspective within the Dallas Diocese, I cringe each time I encounter the phrase “Hispanic Ministry.” Hispanic Ministry is, to me, a disaster for the Mass and Church.

    Dallas parishes are deeply divided as the result of catering to Hispanics. Spanish-only Masses. Parishes operate frequently as two parishes within one.

    Hispanics keep to “their” part of the parish. Anglos keep to “their” part of the parish. Each group keeps to itself. The result is that Hispanics and Anglos interact infrequently with each other, particularly at Mass.

    The root cause of the above problem is, of course, the collapse of the Latin Mass, in either form.

    Although Hispanics are the leading non-Anglo group in Dallas, their are a number of Masses celebrated in languages other than English and Spanish. The same “this is my Mass” mentality surfaces among the other groups in question.

    Celebrating Mass in the vernacular has sent Catholics into different camps. That is very much the case in Dallas.

    Given the intense anti-Latin, anti-Tradition mentality that exists at parishes within the Dallas Diocese, the divides that exist in Dallas will only widen. The same problems exist throughout the Southwest and across America.

    “Hispanic Ministry” is a disastrous approach. Therefore, I have every reason to believe that our bishops will continue with said approach.

    By the way, I used to read in conservative Catholic publications that “Spanish” Masses were supposedly more reverent and traditional than English Masses.

    That claim, based upon my experiences, is false.

    By the way, I mentioned the above claim a few weeks ago to an Hispanic Catholic lady. She scoffed at the idea that “Spanish” Masses are more reverent and traditional than “English” Masses.

    She longs for the TLM. She believes that Jesus via the TLM will united Catholics.

  31. Royce says:

    I suspect that people have been snotty and exclusive long before
    Mass in the vernacular came around. Here in Fort Wayne back in the
    early 1900s the bishop shut down an Italian personal parish for being
    too exclusive, and they definitely didn´t have Mass in Italian.

  32. Jenny says:

    Final member TBD – I nominate Archbishop Raymond Burke!

  33. Matt Q says:

    Thank you, Royce, Tom and Jenny. Yes, on Archbishop Burke, or even Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln or the Most Reverend Michael Burbidge of Raleigh.

  34. Karen says:

    Of course I pray for ALL the bishops. In some cases it’s like when the Jews asked the rabbi in Fiddler on the Roof: “Is there a proper blessing for the Tsar?” And the rabbi said “Yes, May God Bless and keep the Tsar — FAR AWAY FROM US.”

    Can’t Mahoney be put out to pasture? Why does he have to have a finger on everything, when he’s so obviously “not with the program.” And I’m not even talking TLM/NO issues at all — I’m speaking of safeguarding the flock.

    Karen

  35. Matt Q: I removed your last comment. You are skating on the edge, my friend.

  36. Johnny Domer says:

    As a resident of Fresno, California, a huge hub of Mexican immigration (legal or otherwise), I can say that the state of Hispanic liturgy is quite poor; in fact, it’s pretty much exactly as lousy as English liturgy is. I don’t think Mariachi bands at Mass are any worse than Lifeteen rock and roll bands (in fact, I’d say they’re better just because they have some connection with tradition, as opposed to the garbage produced by the Christian rock industry; obviously neither is suitable for Mass). Their music (once we get past the mariachi stuff, which only happens occasionally) is just as awful and GIA/OCP’d as ours is. The Mexican priests who come in occasionally seem as poorly formed liturgically as American white priests are (although Hispanic priests, while they aren’t too slavish on “doing the red,” do seem to be better at “saying the black” than the white priests I’ve encountered both in California and at Notre Dame). I’d say that there is certainly a practical need for Spanish Masses here in the Southwest, but I wonder if it’s really as critical as some would say; I would guess that much more than 50% of people who attend your average Sunday Spanish Mass know English (at least this is true in Fresno itself, I’m not as sure about the outlying little towns). However, frequently I have gone to Mass at some churches (even when the Mass was in English) and thought it would be smarter to say “Paz de Cristo” or something during the sign of peace, just because there are so many Hispanics around.

    The obvious solution is twofold: Latin, and enhancing the manner in which the Mass is celebrated such that you don’t necessarily NEED a homily in one language or another. The liturgical rites themselves have been so impoverished (through abuses, poor musical and other aesthetic choices, using less desirable options such as versus populum and Eucharistic prayer #2, an overly casual ars celebrandi) in terms of how they present the divine mysteries that I think many people feel a big homily is necessary in order for them to “get anything” out of the Mass. If anything, I think homilies could be significantly shortened if they would deal less in vague generalities of niceness and give the laity more practical teaching on how to live the Gospel (teaching that is desperately lacking for Hispanics and everybody in general). The Mass ought to be able to do some preaching of its own, but it can’t when it’s hampered by our stupid 1970’s liturgical fads. With a more beautiful Mass, you could shorten the homily, make it more practical, give it in English AND Spanish, pray the Mass in Latin, and voila! we’re actually praying together. The rich white suburban lawyer and his family can go to Mass along with the poor Mexican worker and his family, and these two can feel themselves to be brothers in the Faith, and both can benefit equally.

  37. Matt Q says:

    Father Z wrote:

    “Matt Q: I removed your last comment. You are skating on the edge, my friend.”

    As you wish, Father Z. This is your website, your choice and I respect that, however I certainly hope you are not the kind of Catholic who can’t handle the truth of the goings-on of your Church and thus pretend that by not not speaking of it, it goes away. We have seen over the years this hasn’t worked.

  38. Matt Q: 10 minutes of careful reading on this blog would have resolved that question.

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