Category: Liturgy and Music

The Vatican has settled the most prominent issue of contention regarding the English translation of the Mass. CWN reports that Cdl. Arinze has written to the heads of English-speaking bishops’ conferences with the news:

The Vatican has ruled that the phrase pro multis should be rendered as “for many” in all new English-language translations of the Eucharistic Prayer, CWN has learned.

Although “for many” is the literal translation of the Latin phrase, the translations currently in use render the phrase as “for all.” All new English-language translations will use “for many” when they appear.

This is good news for a couple of reasons: that debatable translation “for all”, placed so close to the words of consecration, scandalized traditionalists and gave many scruples about the validity of Masses said in English. As debaters on the issue point out, St. Thomas’ opinion even considered them essential to the consecration.
Restoring a undisputed translation of pro multis to the Mass removes an obstacle to reconciliation between the Church and disaffected members of the traditionalist movement. It also confirms to all the partisans struggling over the English liturgy that Pope Benedict and CDW are going to require that new translations conform to the Church’s wishes as expressed in Liturgiam Authenticam: the English version of Mass is supposed to be the Roman Mass, so the English words of the Mass should represent the ideas and concepts in the Latin liturgy.

NPM (pronounced “napalm”), an organization that’s done more than its share to degrade Catholic liturgy over the past 30 years, is running an online survey about what qualities in church music motivate Catholics to sing.
However, it’s obviously not a professionally-designed or run survey, and the response options are skewed. The only text-related quality they list as an option is “meaningful text”. For your average bad church musician, that means “text is emotionally relevant to Me,” not “text expresses Catholic theological content” or “text uses reverent, dignified English” — or even (shock) Latin.
Anyway, feel free to engage in some actual participation.

The Benedictine monks and nuns of St. Mary’s Monastery and St. Scholastica Priory in Petersham, Mass., share a chapel.

At vespers, they kindly provide the guests with the psalm texts and antiphon chant settings, so that we are able to join in quietly but correctly.
Fr. Keyes was there too:

John Foley, SJ and the other St. Louis Jebbies are interviewed in LA:

The Life Teen movement has been very interesting; it’s very powerful to see how parts of the Mass, especially the Eucharistic Prayer, become very holy to these youth. And to hear what they can do with older music — I once heard a reggae version of “One Bread, One Body” that I would have thought couldn’t be done, but it was, and done very well.

For some of us, singing OBOB in a reggae style would be a joke among the musicians, not something for the sacred liturgy. Blurring the line between satire and the Holy Mass is a risky idea.
No ganja during the postcommunion, please.
(via CWNews)

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is one of my living heroes. She has a tremendous independence of mind and spirit, with the confidence to issue orders and the humility to carry out orders. It would take a long essay to explain why she is the foremost Total Bad-Ass in the Bush Administration. Here is but one example: she is an accomplished amateur pianist:

After the Shostakovich, they turned to Brahms’s Piano Quintet in F minor: “Condi’s piece,” as Mr. Battey called it. This intense, intricate and extremely difficult work is one of Ms. Rice’s favorites. She reveres Brahms, she said, because the music is “passionate but not sentimental.” In the scherzo, the players set a breakneck pace. Sometimes notes splattered and coordination teetered on the brink. It hardly mattered. The music-making was risky and vital.

The New York Times, taking a break from viciously attacking associated with the Bush Administration, published this warm appreciation of Dr. Rice, and for that they should have one-half percent of their credibility restored.