I am not that interested in rubrical detail, I try to say the red and do the black but there are lots of rumours going around about "the red". Chant Cafe this morning carries this about a new General Instruction of the Roman Missal:
This evening I receive a phonecall that read from the new translation and apparently the permission for "other appropriate songs" besides the propers has been seriously diminished. If what the caller said is correct, the introit, communion, and offertory clearly establishes the proper as the text.
There have been numbers of rumours, some of which seem to have a basis in fact, all based on the obvious that the Pope and Cardinal Canizares want a return to a more "Catholic" celebration of the Mass but are reticent about pushing too hard.
It is pretty obvious the Pope wants to limit liturgical abuses and to return to a God centred prayerful liturgy, in particular he wants to limit the indult for communion in the hand. There is a strong move to encourage more Latin in the liturgy to aid silence and prayer, and yet he is adverse to any more violent changes in the Liturgy.
One of the reasons given by one source for the alacrity in publishing the new translations of the Mass is that there was a strong possibility that an instruction might be given that all future Missals should be published in the vernacular and Latin side by side.
Speaking of which Father Simon Henry has a very interesting post on how the CTS have misrepresented the rubrics of the Mass in their material for the new translations.
4 comments:
The Irish Bishops published a New GIRM including adaptations for the Dioceses of Ireland in 2002. This was for the New Missal which will be used for the first time this year. There are differences between the Irish and US version of the GIRM. Each country was to adapt the GIRM and receive its recognitio from Rome. Cardinal Arinze as Prefect for the Congregation of Divine worship granted the recognitio in 2005. I an not 100% certain but I remember seeing a GIRM in the CTS shop in London. I cannot recall whether this was a translation of the GIRM or was it Published by the Bishops of England and Wales.
There will be differences in each country because of adaptations by conferences.
For some years now, even if there is an opening hymn, I always recite the Entrance Antiphon. I recite the Communion Antiphon before giving Holy Communion to the people, as the rubrics direct. (At most of the weekday Masses I celebrate there's no singing). Many priests recite the antiphon after Holy Communion. Others omit it and I know some who replace it with 'O Sacrament Most Holy . . .' I must confess that that makes me squirm, not because of the words but because it is a pious prayer replacing what should be prayed and that is nearly always a Scripture text.
I was unaware for many years that the 'default position' for the prayers at the Offertory is that the priest says them quietly, which I normally do now, though not always.
By accident I recently came across the complete Missale Romanum 2002 online: http://www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/t4.htm .
This is also in the rubrics: Valde optandum est, ut fideles, sicut et ipse sacerdos facere tenetur, ex hostiis, in eadem Missa consecratis,. . .' which means that it is much better for the people, as the priest does, to receive hosts consecrated in that Mass'. I have a thing about that and try, insofar as I can, to make sure that all receive Holy Communion with hosts consecrated at that Mass. Occasionally I find myself in a position where this cannot be followed to the letter. The widespread practice, going back centuries, of filling the tabernacle with hosts that will last for a long time is, in my opinion, close to being a serious abuse in that it implies no difference between the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and a Communion service. It also seems to indicate a lack of trust in the Lord's Prayer: 'Give us this day our daily bread'. I once saw an older priest, whose commitment could not be questioned, instructing a younger concelebrating priest to take Communion from the tabernacle. And this was in a retreat house. On another occasion, at a priest's funeral in a cathedral, despite the fact that there were 60 or 70 concelebrants, an 'army' of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion placed a huge number of ciboria from the tabernacle on the altar before Communion, even though sufficient hosts had been consecrated at the Mass.
I suspect that probably a majority of us priests have never studied the GIRM or the rubrics closely and have becme used to using variations that have no basis, though not out of any malice or rebelliousness.
On the other hand, I know that I must focus on the Lord at Mass and not get distracted by what I see as 'mistakes' by other priests. There have been times when I discovered that it was I who was making mistakes all along.
Slightly off-topic: whatever happened to the Westminster Hymnal?
@sixupman
Re; Westminster Hymnal
The full music edition was reprinted by St Austin Press a few years back.
They did have a shop in Brockley, Kent, but that has closed but they have a website I think.
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