Shedding some light on liturgy
From the issue of 1 Jan, 1970
One of the world?s leading experts on liturgy Jesuit Father Keith Pecklers visited Brisbane recently to talk with priests about proposed changes to the English texts for the celebration of the Mass. PAUL DOBBYN reports
AS a United States university student in 1970, Jesuit Father Keith Pecklers noticed many of his friends weren?t attending Mass and wondered why.
His attempts to find an answer launched a quest that would see him become a world expert on the development and nature of Catholic liturgy.
Along the way, he would also come to write six books, each in its own way analysing the nature and history of this liturgy ? one significant publication ?Worship? asking among other questions: How do we live our lives differently as a result of our Christian worship?
And he would also become an on-air expert on Church affairs for America?s ABC News, most visibly as a commentator reaching millions of people around the world during Pope John Paul II?s funeral.
Fr Pecklers was still on this voyage when he travelled from Rome to Brisbane earlier this month to deliver a series of in-service talks and workshops for 150 priests from all over Queensland.
He was preparing the priests for the changes that will occur in the not too distant future when the new English texts of the Roman Mass come into use.
The in-service was organised by the Archdiocese of Brisbane.
When The Catholic Leader caught up with the Jesuit who is now professor of liturgy at Rome?s Pontifical Gregorian University and professor of liturgical history at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute, he was coming to the end of a two-week visit to Australia.
Fr Pecklers had been running the in-service for Queensland?s priests all week and was preparing to deliver a homily at a final Mass at St Bernard?s parish, Upper Mt Gravatt.
The previous week he?d given lectures and talks at St Bernard?s and at Townsville?s Sacred Heart Cathedral. Prior to this he?d spent three days at the Broken Bay Pastoral Institute.
A fortnight earlier, he?d spent time in Nairobi in Kenya ? giving a series of 10 lectures on liturgical renewal at Hekima Jesuit school of theology before returning to Rome.
In this brief time slot in a busy life, he discussed the new translation into English of the Roman Missal; the ?regrettable polarisation? often caused by disagreements over the nature of liturgy; and the clergy shortages which are leading to the Mass becoming ?an endangered species?.
So what were some of the changes that he?d discussed with the state?s pastors and when could we, the laity, expect to start encountering them?
?An example is the people?s response ?And also with you?.
?The new response will be ?And with your Spirit??, Fr Pecklers said.
The next question asked was probably typical: ?Why the changes??
?In 2002 the Third Edition of the Roman Missal was published in Latin,? he explained.
?This paved the way for translations into vernacular languages guided by principles established in the 2001 document Liturgiam Authenticam.
?The English language world, under the leadership of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), is now producing a new translation of the 2002 Roman Missal as are the other language groups.?
Fr Pecklers said the new English edition of the Roman Missal was expected to be out in 2010 or 2011.
Inevitably the process has not been without some challenges.
?Various bishops around the world argued to leave the people?s sections alone.
?The argument was raised quite substantively but, at the end of the day, because of the Liturgiam Authenticam guidelines, it was clear the whole lot would have to be re-translated.
?There are changes to the common parts of the Mass such as the Confiteor, Gloria, Creed and the Eucharistic Prayers.
?However, some parts like The Lord?s Prayer will be left
untouched.?
Fr Pecklers said he saw the Second Vatican Council as ?groundbreaking? not just in its approach to the liturgy but also in the renewal of the Church as a church of the people.
?What was recovered was the idea of Church as people who had a full, active and conscious participation in worship.?
Liturgy, Fr Pecklers said, was defined by Vatican II as the ?very nature of the Church?s unity since its beginning?.
?Ironically and unfortunately since then, the liturgy has often become a source of polarisation ? the Tridentine Mass being but one such example,? he said.
?What we all must remember is that when we speak about Catholic worship ? the whole notion of it ? is that it?s something much bigger than a particular church, diocese or even country.
?We?re part of a tradition that?s much older than we are ? actually some of our prayers and texts go back to the 5th Century and even earlier.?
Fr Pecklers said however there was substantial room within the Roman rite to adapt.
?In Australia?s case, take the growing acceptance of the importance of Aboriginal tradition and how this plays out in Catholic worship.
?However, we also need to remember that Catholic worship is never done in isolation but in communion with the whole Church.
?We always need to remember that God?s world is infinitely bigger than Brisbane or the United States or wherever.
?The alternative to this is liturgical isolationism where it becomes only about us ? the risk is to become idiosyncratic and isolated.?
Fr Pecklers said this was one of the great aspects of Catholic worship.
?When we gather as a people we do so intentionally to remember the whole world to God ? including those who don?t believe, and especially those who are suffering.
?So we are intimately linked with Church as it celebrates the same Eucharist whether it?s in Iraq, Afghanistan, Dafur, north-east India or East Timor.?
The reality was that the coming new texts alone were not going to provide the sole answer to problems besetting the Church, Fr Pecklers said.
?The quality of preaching is obviously vital ? for example homilies need to deal effectively with current issues in peoples lives.
?The Church also needs to consider the changing role of the laity especially women.
?It also needs to be looking at ways to make better use of the gifts of the laity in the liturgy.
?The Church is having to deal with the fact of clergy shortages around world ? an example close to home was the priest I met in Broken Bay who was pastor to eight parishes there.
?This situation is increasingly leading to people being denied the Holy Eucharist; Mass is increasingly becoming an endangered species.
?Lay people are going to the tabernacle for Communion services but that?s not the same as Mass.?
Those days of the 70s and his university friends who became disconnected from worship and strayed away from the Church may be long gone.
But Fr Pecklers? quest to explore ways to connect the faithful with the liturgy is certainly far from over.
( Copyright -- Catholic Leader, Brisbane )