What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

Not to be outdone by his brother’s Ray Charles stylin,

Pope Benedict practices his new Air Piano moves.

As you know, the Holy See granted approval (recognitio) to the translation of significant parts of the 2002 Missale Romanum’s Ordo Missae, the parts that remain the same nearly every day.

Here is the letter from the Prefect of the CDWDS, His Eminence Francis Card. Arinze, to the President of the US Conference, His Eminence Francis Card. George.  You might say the letter is very "frank".

So, we have taken a big step in the right direction.

Here is my transcription of the text with my emphases and comments:

Prot. n. 1464/06/L

23 June 2008

Your Eminence,

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments is pleased to enclose the decree by which it has granted recognitio for the territory of your Conference of Bishops for the new English-language translation of significant parts of the Ordo Missae as found in the Missale Romanum, editio typica tertia, including most of those texts used in the every celebration of Holy Mass.  [As we will see later on, there are still some things to be done.]

The Dicastery has no little satisfaction in arriving at this juncture.  [Considering how long they had to wait to get the texts from the Conference…] Nevertheless, the Congregation does not intend that these texts should be put into liturgical use immediately.   [In other words: THEY CANNOT BE USED until WE say they can be used!] Instead, the granting now of the recognitio to this crucial segment of the Roman Missal will provide time for the pastoral preparation of priests, deacons and for appropriate catechesis of the lay faithful. [Notice the difference: preparation and catechesis.  I wonder if that shouldn’t be the other way around, in a sense.]  It will likewise facilitate the divising of musical settings for the parts of the Mass, bearing in mind the criteria set forth in the Instruction Liturgiam authenticam, n. 60, which requires that the musical settings of liturgical texts use only the actual approved texts and never be paraphrased.  [Write new music settings, but the words better adhere to what we have sent.]

As regards the text enclosed, this Dicastery wishes to draw attention to the following points:

1. The attached text is to be considered binding. [Roma locuta est.  You cannot now push for changes.  It’s over.] For its part, this Congregation is confident that the universal use of these texts will greatly contribute to the building up of the Faith throughout the broad and diverse English-speaking world.  [This sentence is an answer to an implict objection, one raised explicitly for a long time before this recognitio came.]

2. It is to be borne in mind that use of this text is restricted by copyright.  Therefore, all pertinent copyright legislation in civil law is to be observed in accordance with the statutes which this Congregation approved for the Mixed Commission known as the [ICEL] International Commission on English in the Liturgy.  [Pretty hard to grasp this.  I have a hard time understanding how the texts of Mass or of Sacred Scripture (Lectionary) can be copyrighted.  Rather, why would they want to?  I suspect it has to do with money.  The production of liturgical books is a source of income for a Conference now gutted by cuts in giving by lay people – for obvious reasons.  Also, the copyright can insure that the texts are reproduced properly, accurately.  Once upon a time there was a license from the Holy See and, way back, an excommunication for those who made illicit changes to texts, again for obvious reasons.]

3. Although the Mixed Commission [ICEL] took the initiative of distributing, along with these Parts of the Order of Mass, an adapted text of Eucharistic Prayer IV, Higher Authority [!] has determined that as regards to either modification of the typical edition of the manner of translating it: non expedire.  [What does this mean?  Briefly, "no".  Latin expedio means a whole raft of things, but eventually in the phrase res expedit, or impersonally expedit, constructed with the dative (e.g., alicui – literally "it helps out, furthers, promotes) it thus means "it is serviceable, profitable, advantageous, useful, expedient".    Note also the word "although".  You know there is a "no" on the way.  So, read this as "It’s not useful to adapt texts of EP IV."  What isn’t clear is precisely who the "Higher Authority" is here.  It is either the Congregation itself or the Holy Father himself: those are the only two options.  But this will be clearer in a moment.]<

4. Likewise, the Holy Father ["Likewise" and "the Holy Father", following the above "Higher Authority" means that the "Higher Authority" was Pope Benedict himself.] has decided that, in response to a recommendation of the Eleventh Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (October 2-23, 2005), a selection of additional formulae of dismissal for the faithful should be introduced in n. 144 of the Missale Romanum and consequently these materials are included in the attached text.  [I suspect that this will include phrases commonly in use, such as "Go in the peace and love of the Lord!", and will not  include "Have a nice day!  See you ‘round", which would be more in keeping with the older ICEL versions.]

With every prayerful good wish, I remain

Devotedly yours in Christ

+Francis Card. Arinze
Prefect

+A. Malcolm Ranjith
Secret.

Soon, I’ll start looking at some of these texts which were approved.

Check this poll:

Remember the entry More wymynpriest pretend ordaination B.S.?

Get out there folks!

The tides have turned toward the dark (and dopey) side.

Today we are joined by His Hermeneuticalness, Fr. Timothy Finigan, of Blackfen, England (fl. 2008).  He speak with me in an interview about the recent conference held in Oxford at Merton College for priests wanting to learn about the Extraordinary Rite and about the celebration of other sacraments.

The audio of interview was made with a skype to landline call, and so I had to work with the audio a bit to get the balance something close to… well… balanced.  I’m hopeful that in the future I will learn to do this better.

Also, we have another installment of stories about the fictional don Camillo Tarocci, (+ A.D. ... ?) parish priest of "The Little World" created by Giovanni Guareschi.

I began a new project in PODCAzT 66 (continued in 67), namely, to read stories from The Little World of Don Camillo.  At this point, some thousand or so of you have listened. 

These delightful pieces are set in post-war Nothern Italy. 

They blend brilliant insight into the human condition with solid applied Catholic Faith. 

Today we hear two tales:

Out of Bounds  ... and
The Treasure.

 

 08-08-04 Fr. Finigan on the Oxford TLM conference; don Camillo (Part III) [60:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The iTunes feed is working again… mysteriously.  Check it out!

Some of the last offerings (check out the PODCAzT PAGE):

067 08-07-29 St. Augustine on Martha, active v. contemplative lives; don Camillo (part II)
066 08-07-25 don Camillo (part I): VM - advice on getting TLMs & “pro multis”
065 08-07-19 St. Ambrose “On mysteries”; Interview: Fr. Robert Pasley
064 08-07-15 Bonaventure on Christ “the door”; Interview – Fr. Timothy Finigan
063 08-07-12 Interview: Fr. Justin Nolan, FSSP; consecrated hands, Holy Communion and the Rite of Baptism
062 08-06-26 Interviews with and by Fr. Z; What has Bp. Fellay really said?
061 08-05-17 Pope Leo I on a post-Pentecost weekday; Fr. Z rambles not quite aimlessly for a while
060 08-05-16 Pentecost customs; St. Ambrose on the dew of the Holy Spirit
059 08-05-15 Leo the Great on Pentecost fasting; Benedict XVI’s sermon for Pentecost Sunday
058 08-05-14 Ember Days; Chrysostom on St. Matthias; Prayer to the Holy Spirit
057 08-05-13 John Paul II on the unforgivable sin; Our Lady of Fatima and the vision of Hell
056 08-05-12 Octaves – Fr. Z rants & Augustine on Pentecost
055 08-05-03 Tertullian, again; Fr. Rutler and Fr. Z on Archbp. Marini’s book
054 08-04-29 Pro-Abortion Politicians and Communion; St. Ambrose and Emperor Theodosius

I got this note from a reader:

I have this morning received more news from Mr. Edgar Fernandez of Una Voce Mexico.  Not only will the F.S.S.P. have two priests and its own church (San Pedro Apostol) at Guadalajara, but the Archbishop of Mexico City has also invited it to establish an apostolate.  They will likely send one of their priests from Guadalajara to Mexico City on Sunday afternoons to celebrate Mass, starting later in autumn.  Currently, the Fraternity celebrates Mass daily at San Isidro Labrador Church in Guadalajara.  The priests are Frs. Romanoski and Franz Prosinger.  [Prosinger had been in Rome, many years ago, as the point man for the FSSP back then.  Those years saw little success.  But now Fr. Kramer is doing a wonderful job.] 

As you may recall, the latter is a polyglot co-founder of the Fraternity in 1988, and was for some years running a mission among the Indians in the Archdiocese of Cuzco, Peru.  He understand that he has special faculties to celebrate the Braga Use [Restricted actually to Braga, however… if I am not mistaken.]  as well as the Roman one.  Once the F.S.S.P. takes charge of San Pedro Apostol, it will offer Gregorian Masses twice on week-days and three or four times on Sundays.
 
Meanwhile, a monastery in Cuernavaca now has the T.L.M. as its conventual Mass (for some time), and there is a Saturday evening Mass of Sunday obligation every Sunday in the Archdiocese of Monterrey.  So Monterrey, Cuernavaca, and Guadalajara currently have every-Sunday Gregorian Masses.  By Christmas, we can likely add Mexico City to that list.
 
Mexicali, Torreon, and Tijuana have T.L.M.s but not on a Sunday basis.  I expect that the Fraternity will soon begin training Mexican diocesan priests!  Alleluia!

Fr. Paul Harrison at Thoughts from Walney Island has a few interesting impressions from the recent TLM conference in Oxford.

Thoughts on the LMS conference at Merton College.

Yesterday I returned from the Latin Mass Society conference at Merton College, Oxford. It was an excellent week, in very good company. I have to say it has given me plenty to think about in the weeks ahead!

I had signed up for the absloute beginners course for the Traditional Latin Mass. My tutor was Fr Gee from the Archdiocese of Southwork ( with some help from Fr Hermanuetic himself!!). They were very helpful in getting me started with a couple of dry runs. I also attended a crash course in Latin – which was rather good.

A number of things struck me during the week.

It seems to me that a real effort is being made by our Holy Father to re-discover reverence in our celebration of the Mass. This is more than just genuflecting correctly, it is about being in the presence of the All powerful and living God and His Son Jesus Christ. It how we must worship with everything we have. This was emphasised by the Masses I attended. On Thursday we had High Mass. It may surprise some that this was the first time I had been to High Mass. On Friday we had Pontifical High Mass – this was splendid and ( in my opinion) spectacular. One thing that really struck me was the sign of peace. This began after the fraction of the Host. Then the main celebrant exhanged peace the deacon and then this was passed to the priests. It was all so dignified. I had a real sense that the peace of Christ was being passed on.

I was also struck by the silence especially at the Canon of the Mass – I may return to that on another occasion.

I had also had a great sense that "the genie is out of the bottle" What I mean is things will not be the same again. Its not just that the Traditional Latin Mass is allowed, its the fact that Pope Benedict has ushered in a new approach to the Liturgy that is more in keeping with what the Vatican Council wanted. Something has stated than cannot be stopped.  [As His Hermeneuticalness recently said to me in an interview to be issued in a PODCAzT: "It’s unstoppable".]

Finally, I bought a biretta – so the conference had a real effect on me – a photo of this momentous event will appear soon! 

Father receives highest WDTPRS kudos for the observations and the purchase of the biretta!

My friend Fr. Ray Blake, PP of St. Mary Magdalene in Brighton following the conference at Merton College, Oxford, had a very good comment about the TLM:

I love the constant call of Dominus Vobiscum and response Et cum Spiritu tuo, it is almost as if the priest and congregation need the reassurance of one another as they enter the divine presence. I love the symbolism of the celebrant being dragged about the altar by his assistants: being held at the altar lest he should flee. I love the of the idea of the scriptures being proclaimed as if the most important thing is hearing the voice of Christ and the actual meaning of the texts, important as it is, is secondary.

One of the most teaching things was Bishop McMahon of Nottingham celebrating Vespers, he knew more or less what to do but in practice had to be guided by his assistants. There was an moment were obviously someone was saying to him, “Turn, turn around, no, not to the left, turn to the right”. What it was saying, seemed to be that even a Bishop is subject to the liturgical rules. We give ourselves to the Liturgy, so we might be conformed to the mind of the Church, rather the Liturgy being given to us, so that we might do with it what we want.

Well done.

There is a profound point of the constant call and response in the TLM.

When I was in seminary in the USA, there was on the faculty a fellow who had been a signer of the infamous NY Times ad protesting Humanae vitae.  Raising the question "Is the same [INSERT RATHER RARE NAME HERE] as on our faculty?", which didn’t exactly win laurels from the same wacko faculty of heretics and man-haters.

But dum spiro spero.

I read a good story at CNA today:

Former encyclical protestor signs ‘Humanae Vitae Pledge’

Front Royal, Va, Aug 3, 2008 / 01:37 pm (CNA).- In this weekly email newsletter, President of Human Life International, Father Thomas J. Euteneuer, [Who is willing to stand up in public and say the hard word of truth.] shared a letter he received that caused him “to shed tears of gratitude.”  The author, a former priest who had protested Humanae Vitae in 1968, had written to tell Fr. Euteneuer about his conversion from dissident priest to his acceptance of the controversial and prophetic encyclical.

The writer of the letter had decided to sign HLI’s “Humanae Vitae Pledge,” promising loyalty to the teachings of the Catholic Church, obedience to the teachings of Humanae Vitae, and “to embrace God’s precious gift of life.”

“There is for me a special significance in signing this Pledge, and [it] will give me a peace of mind and heart that I have not experienced since 1968. In 1968 I was a young Franciscan priest studying in the Graduate School of Religious Education at Catholic University,” the man wrote.

The writer knew many who signed the document in protest of Humanae Vitae such as Fr. Charles Curran, Fr. Dan Maguire, and Fr. Robert Faricy, S.J. “Since they, as well as many other professors and graduate students were signing the Protest Document, I went along and did so also.”

“In 1975 for personal reasons not related to any doubts or questions about the Faith, or the Church, or the Religious Life…I requested and obtained…a dispensation from Pope Paul VI returning me to the Lay State. Later, I was married in the Church and raised my two children in the Faith….I have had many conversations with my Pastor and with his assistant (who is my spiritual director) about my days as a Franciscan Priest, and have been active in many of our parish’s lay apostolate and ministries.”

“But I have always regretted having signed the Protest Document against Pope Paul’s teaching in 1968, and having learned a few years ago that Fr. Faricy had publicly repudiated signing the Protest, I had wished that I, too, could repudiate in some official way, having signed the Protest….And so your ‘Pledge’ document offers me an opportunity to correct my mistake, and find healing – and telling you about all this helps me to feel that my repudiation of the Protest is now known and accepted in a kind of semi-official sort of way by an ‘authority’ in the Church.”

“And thank you for reading this, thereby humoring an old man, who despite everything else, knows that he is a ‘priest forever, according to the Order of Melchizedek.’"

Fr. Euteneuer explains that this conversion story demonstrates that: “in Christ’s Kingdom it is never too late, even after forty years, to fully embrace the Truth. All of us make mistakes and all of us sin, but He gives us all a chance to be reconciled with Him and turn our sorrow into joy.”

The HLI president chose to share the letter to honor the “priest’s desire to let his repudiation be a public testimony to others.”

The pledge can be found on CNA’s site for the 40th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae.

Laus Deo!