Ubi Petrus

I came across this site quite by accident the other day. The blogger, Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, takes some very deep looks into the proper translation of prayers, and currently the Liturgy. Given that we have just undertaken a new translation, it seems appropriate. Just a word of warning, he from what I can tell believes “pro multis” is properly translated as “for many”, so if that gets your doilies in a bunch consider yourself warned. Aside from that, a quote from his post on the Preface to the Roman Canon grabbed me as something I would probably do were I ever to have been in his position (note: do, not just want to do, thereby getting me in a world of trouble):

I am not an advocate of boisterous liturgy, but sometimes when I hear these prayers, and I sense the depth and the breadth of them through countless generations bursting from well-springs of Christian experience nourished by the actual blood of those who first prayed them, and I hear responses at Mass which are anemic, pale, timid, feeble, thin, mumbled, I simply want to stop everything, take people by the collective hands and say: “Do you NOT GET THIS??!” Like Leo the Great in his homily for Christmas I want to stop and shout “O Christian! Be mindful of your dignity!” We are not Christian and Catholic today by our own merits merely. When we pray these prayers we transcend by the Holy Spirit working in us as we pray, space (connecting us to Catholics everywhere) and time (connecting us with generations before us) and even the veil of this world (connecting us to the heavenly host before the throne of God). Our Mass is an echo of the past, a link with Catholics across the globe, and fore glimpse of the continuous liturgy in action before the throne of God.

So Father Jonathan nailed it again. In his blog he made some very insightful points which deserve more attention. While at the time I disagreed with his conclusion the Bush administration had failed to make its case, I now feel that at the least that belief was partly due to my haste to position and a lack of analysis of the situation vis-a-vis the Just War doctrine. I’m no Just War theologian so I won’t bother with going into that. One point Fr. Jonathan made that I think bears remembering, regardless of which end of the ideological spectrum you find yourself on was this:

I was keenly aware, however, that the administration may have been withholding some of its evidence about the nature of the threat for national security purposes. With this in mind, I suspended any sweeping public judgments. It is the ethicist’s role to outline principles for action, but it is the politician’s responsibility to act. When we elect a president and a congress, we give them access to more information than anyone else and ask them to make some decisions for us, based on their best judgment.

For those on the left it sounds like a sweeping and dangerous allowance of Presidential power. For those on the right, it sounds like an explicit affirmation of the decision of the President. In truth, it’s neither – it’s simply a statement of the way our republican (note the little ‘r’) form of government works. We elect them, and then entrust them with running the country. If the fullness of that realization doesn’t scare you even a little bit, you’re probably not paying attention. Republican (little-’r') government is a tough thing to get right. One would rightly think it a miracle we have survived this long with as few crises as we’ve had. But calling this country a ‘miracle’ is a topic for another post…

For I’m beginning down the road to teach myself Latin. I’m starting with John F. Collins’ Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin and I augmented it with Leo F. Stelten’s Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin. My wife already thinks I’m nuts. More nuts than normal, anyway. I hope to be able to read Aquinas and Augustine by the end of the year, and at some point I intend to augment this with a study of “classical” Latin. From there, with any luck, I’ll find a way to learn either Greek or Hebrew – I haven’t decided which just yet. But that’s a long way off…

Unfortunately for our late pontiff andindeed as well our current pope, it appears the long-desired episcopal reconciliation with the Anglican Church is pushing further and further away. As Fr. Richard Neuhaus rather pointedly blogged, “As of this week’s General Convention, however, one thing seems certain beyond doubt: The Episcopal Church in the U.S. has declared itself to be just another liberal Protestant denomination, in deliberate defiance of the Anglican Communion and in scornful indifference to a long history of hope for reconciliation with Catholicism.”

I have no intention of posting anything (now, anyway) on the merits of ordaining gays and lesbians to the priesthood, or the merits of women in the episcopacy. It is sufficient at this time to remember, “Roma locuta est, causa fini est” and thus the sad fact that the Episcopal Church has decided having women in the episcopacy is more important than acloser communion with their Catholic bretheren. I count this among the sad days.

According to Rocco, and as published now worldwide (apologies for my laxity) the U.S. Bishops have approved the new translation of the Mass. Further on, Rocco has provided an overview of the amendments the USCCB has made, all of which wait for the recognitio of the Vatican. Generally speaking, I’m with everyone else who agrees that it will probably take about two years before we see this new translation rolled out to its first use.

A friend complained this weekend (I’m apparently becoming the focal point of questions on our Church – not that I mind, but not that I asked either) that she had memorized the prayers and was quite proud that she did not need to read the Missal(lette). My response was to point to my mother-in-law and say, “the changes here are nothing in comparison to learning the Mass in a whole new language like she had to”. In the end, it is only a few words we lay people will have to learn anew and within a few weeks the new translation will be memorized just as the previous had been. In the interim, I can only hope that people use this newfound slight discomfort as an opportunity to rediscover, or perhaps discover for the first time, the momentous event that is the Mass. True, many have memorized, but I often wonder just how many have internalized. Time will tell.

Over at his blog, Father Jonathan has made some poignant points about the rank hypocrisy of the German government. To suggest there is such a thing as “safe” prostitution is to suggest that it is safe to troll through, say, inner-city Los Angeles screaming racial epithets. Sure, you may not get harmed. This time. But do it five or ten times a day and you’re likely to come across someone who may just not quite be interested in entertaining you at this time.

The fact that the move to make prostitution legal was considered by feminists to be a liberating move shows sadly now far the feminist movement has fallen these days. When a woman is only considered to be free and “liberated” when she can say, make or do anything a man can do, and is defined only by how much of the “traditional” male role she takes on something great is lost. Women have some of the greatest gifts in the world sheerly by virtue of being women; to suggest they need to become more like men to become “equal” is to show an utter disregard for the wonder and beauty that is the woman created by God. One can only hope the enlightened leadership of Germany is listening to the concerns of most of the world on this matter. I fear they may, however, play to their new sport which is to only listen to those with whom they already agree.

Over at Open Book, Amy Welborn is at it again. The post-Vatican II crowd that suddenly thinks the doors were thrown open for everyone to run the Church as co-equal magistrates simply can’t understand why anyone in an episcopal office might not agree with them. Amy really nails them with the following:

Here’s what I challenge writers like Ginnetty and Gallardetz to do: show me the money. Give me evidence. Do you think that in the JP2/Benedict/Bishop Finn/Chaput Church that the laity are being oppressed and demeaned, marginalized to pay, pray and obey once again? Prove it. Look at those dioceses and crunch some numbers and tell me if the ordained are in charge of everything, if laity are silenced. Survey the most active Catholic apostolates, movements and ministries – do web site statistics. Survey who’s out there speaking to Catholic audiences, who’s writing Catholic books and articles. Look at the biggest, most active Catholic groups out there, who they’re ministering to, and who’s doing the ministering.

Sure, that possibly does push the edge of the collegiality envelope. But then, so does insisting that the Bishops pray, play and obey.