ESTERDAY AFTER MASS, a gentleman whom I don’t know approached me in the church parking lot. In an excited tone of voice, he exclaimed: “I read your article in the bulletin this week; it was superb. You’re an excellent writer, and your article last week also hit the ball out of the park.” I can’t deny: I was thrilled to receive such a compliment. A few months ago, I was asked by my pastor to contribute a weekly column to our bulletin. In my heart, I had doubts as to whether anyone would read my articles. I do remember Father Valentine Young being astonished when someone told him they never read the bulletin. His response was: “What do you do during the homily?”
Feedback And Praise • The daily offering by Raphael Cardinal Merry Del Val says: “I am ready to accept indifferently from Thy hands, and in the way most pleasing to Thee: health or sickness; riches or poverty; a long life or a short one; friendship or hatred…” That means we must always do what’s right: Period. Saint John Bosco reminded his boys they must never commit sin in pursuit of “human respect.” Nevertheless, it’s really nice to get positive feedback. The gentleman—whose wife was seated in his vehicle—struck me as quite sincere.1
The bulletin articles I’ve written so far are below. I tried to keep them pithy, and powerful. You can judge for yourself whether I was successful:
(1 of 3) Jeff Is Ignorant • Truly brilliant minds such as Newman, Fortescue, Knox, or Skeris would laugh if they knew that I was putting myself forth as an author. And I certainly don’t pretend to know much! One thing that’s always confused me is the existence of contradictions in church law.
(2 of 3) Jeff Is Ignorant • For example, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal clearly states that “Songs or hymns may not be used in place of the responsorial Psalm” (§61). Yet we know that sometimes hymns are prescribed by the liturgical books themselves to replace the Responsorial Psalm. Moreover, the GIRM explicitly says one may replace the Responsorial Psalm “with a metrical psalm.” As a matter of fact, a “metrical psalm” is nothing more than a hymn; e.g. look up THE PSALTER OF JOHN DAYE in the famous edition by Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins. How can such a contradiction be explained?
(3 of 3) Jeff Is Ignorant • Sometimes, a contradiction is the result of faulty translation. The document on the liturgy promulgated by Vatican II—“SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM”—contains some faulty English translations. Consider the following sentence:
Quæ totius populi plena & actuosa
participatio, in instauranda
et fovenda sacra Liturgia,
summopere est attendenda…
Here’s the usual translation:
In the restoration & promotion of
the sacred liturgy the full & active
participation by all the people is the
aim to be considered above all else…
But that’s a flawed translation. The actual meaning is:
In restoring and nurturing the sacred
Liturgy this full and active
participation of all the people
is very much to be considered…
But sometimes it’s not a matter of a faulty translation. For example, here’s a section from SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM which I struggle to understand:
34. The rites should be distinguished by a noble simplicity; they should be short, clear, and unencumbered by useless repetitions; they should be within the people’s powers of comprehension, and normally should not require much explanation.
It’s nonsense to say the rites should be “short.” Indeed, the post-conciliar reforms made the MASS OF THE CATECHUMENS much more lengthy than it was before! I’d be interested to know how readers interpret that sentence. If only the word “short” could be changed to “not excessively lengthy,” I believe I could live with that.
1 As church musicians, we almost never get compliments. I’m not sure why that is. As a result, those rare occasions when we do receive complimentary words feel especially meaningful and fulfilling.
