• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • About
  • Symposium
  • Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Give us our words back! (1 of 3)

Jeff Ostrowski · August 25, 2013

457 Manuscript Gregorian HE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL famously declared in paragraph 23 of Sacrosanctum Concilium: “There must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them.” But have you noticed they changed all the memorable passages of Scripture? What was so unsuitable about the old versions?

“Therefore, what God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.” — Mark 10:9
CURRENT: “Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”

“Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” — II Corinthians 6:2
CURRENT: “Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

“Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s . . .” — Matthew 22:21
CURRENT: “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar . . .”

Did the good of the faithful “genuinely and certainly” require these changes? I’m fairly certain the piccoluomini would claim that these are not truly an “innovation” since Scripture has always been updated to some extent, but I’m not buying it. I cannot shake the feeling that our Pastor was correct years ago when he commented, “Jeff, if they don’t make changes like that, how do you expect them to keep copyrighting the Bible?”

I believe these changes have confused the faithful, helping create a situation where so many of our Catholic brethren possess a meager knowledge of the Bible. How we can expect anything else, when the translations are constantly changing?

A FEW WEEKS AGO, one of our readers emailed me an interesting quote. A former president of Universa Laus (a “progressive” group formed to counteract Pope Paul VI’s organization, CIMS) made the following statement on 27 June 2013:

DO NOT KNOW how many of you actually lived through the preconciliar period, but it is true to say that Catholics were an unbliblical people. Growing up before the Council, the prevailing mentality was one of “only Protestants read the Bible, Catholics don’t need to” — almost Calvinist in its arrogance. Yes, we knew the basic Gospel and Old Testament stories, but nothing apart from that.

When I left primary school in England, several years before the Council was summoned, every child in the class was given a copy of the Bible, courtesy of the local county council. This happened in every school. Because it was a Catholic school we received the Knox translation — very daring in those far-off days, because Douay-Rheims held sway for Catholics. (Every home had one, but no one ever opened it.)

When we were presented with our bibles, we were told “Whatever you do, don’t read it!”

I was born in the early 1980s, so I wasn’t there . . . but this statement just seems bogus to me. I have a hard time believing that nuns told young Catholics, “Whatever you do, don’t read the Bible!” Really? If anyone reading this was alive back then and recalls a teacher uttering such an injunction please let us know in the combox.


Click here to read Part 2.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

16 May 2022 • Harmonized Chant?

This year’s upcoming Sacred Music Symposium will demonstrate several ways to sing the CREDO at Mass. This is because—for many parishes—to sing a full-length polyphonic CREDO by Victoria or Palestrina is out of the question. Therefore, we show options that are halfway between plainsong and polyphony. You can hear my choir rehearsing a section that sounds like harmonized plainsong.

—Jeff Ostrowski
14 May 2022 • “Pure” Vatican Edition

As readers know, my choir has been singing from the “pure” Editio Vaticana. That is to say, the official rhythm which—technically—is the only rhythm allowed by the Church. I haven’t figured out how I want the scores to look, so in the meantime we’ve been using temporary scores that look like this. Stay tuned!

—Jeff Ostrowski
14 May 2022 • Gorgeous Book

If there is a more beautiful book than Abbat Pothier’s 1888 Processionale Monasticum, I don’t know what it might be. This gorgeous tome was today added to the Saint John Lalande Online Library. I wish I owned a physical copy.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“If he converses with the learned and judicious, he delights in their talent—if with the ignorant and foolish, he enjoys their stupidity. He is not even offended by professional jesters. With a wonderful dexterity he accommodates himself to every disposition. As a rule, in talking with women (even with his own wife) he is full of jokes and banter.”

— ‘Erasmus on St. Thomas More (England’s 1st lay Chancellor)’

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • 2022 “Vespers Booklet” (99 Pages)
  • “Playing the Pipe Organ” • By Richard Nixon
  • 16 May 2022 • Harmonized Chant?
  • Prayer of Abandonment,  Saint Charles de Foucauld
  • Worst Chanting I’ve Ever Heard

Copyright © 2022 Corpus Christi Watershed · Gabriel Lalemant on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.