The Armchair Liturgist: The Trinity in Song

A feast to celebrate this weekend, and perhaps a dilemma for the pragmatists among us. If you’re using four-part hymns, many of them have a final verse invoking the Trinity. Do you sing all the verses? Do you stick tight to the two-verse syndrome and tell people to sing the first and last verses? Or are the Trinitarian doxologies a bit of overkill for a feast you know will be preached?

Any favorite pieces of sacred song you’ll be employing or wish that you could program?

 

FIYH Introduction 2-3: Proclamation

The introduction of FIYH continues on the theme of the proclamation of the Gospel. While this document intends to cover the Sunday homily, other forms of proclamation are noted, charity, and the Eucharist itself:

“Proclamation” can cover a wide variety of activities in the church. A life of quiet faith and generous loving deeds is proclamation; the celebration of the Eucharist is the proclamation “of the death of the Lord until he comes.” But a key moment in the proclamation of the Gospel is preaching, preaching which is characterized by “proclamation of God’s wonderful works in the history of salvation, that is, the mystery of Christ, which is ever made present and active within us, especially in the celebration of liturgy.” (Sacrosanctum Concilium 35.2)

The bishops take up the basic pattern set forth in Presbyterorum Ordinis 4. They endorse the conciliar teaching that preaching is an essential portion of the Church’s sacraments:

 

The Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests (Presbyterorum Ordinis) is especially clear in relating the ministry of preaching to that of the celebration of the sacraments. Since these sacraments are sacraments of faith, and since “faith is born of the Word and nourished by it,” the preaching of the Word is an essential part of the celebration of the sacraments. This is especially true in the celebration of the Eucharist, the document goes on to note, for “in this celebration the proclamation of the death and resurrection of the Lord is inseparably joined both to the response of the people who hear, and to the very offering whereby Christ ratified the New Testament in His blood.”

Any thoughts to offer?

(All texts from Fulfilled in Your Hearing are copyright © 1982 USCCB. All rights reserved. Used with permission.)

 

Going Clubbing

If any readers are in the KC area, come on out to Lowell Observatory just outside Louisburg KS for tonight’s public program. Have you never been to an astronomy club before? No problem. Here’s how to star party with the rest of us:

1. Try to arrive before sunset. That will give you a chance to check the layout and park in a good place. More on that good place later.

2. If you have a telescope, even a cheapie, bring it. If not, most club members will willingly show you stuff and many will give you a good stream of information. Our club has a few telescopes available and a club member or two staff them to let you see the universe at your request.

3. If you know a little bit about astronomy, feel free to ask to see planets, stars, and objects by name. If you run out of suggestions, somebody will show you something they like.

4. On public nights, many clubs will engage a presenter on a topic. Time for fielding questions is often given. Our club has a weekly presentation in our thirty-seat common room. Check the Lowell Observatory link above. Practically every astronomy club has a web page. It’s worth a look and a bookmark on your browser.

5. After nightfall, observe proprieties with lights. It takes the human eye several minutes to adjust to the darkness. You may see serious astronomers using very dim red light to check charts. Some have laptops with very dim displays. When looking for faint objects in the scope, the human eye can detect fine and subtle details when dark-adjusted. Flashlights, cell phone displays, and especially motor vehicle headlights are a big problem. When I go clubbing, I park away from the group, a bit down the road and behind the observatory building. Our car’s headlights turn on automatically, so I’m careful about where I’m pointing so as not to disturb others.

The moon is a few days from full, so tonight won’t be a decent night for seeing subtleties in the distant universe. Moonlight washes out the fainter objects from view. Not as bad as a headlight in your face, but troublesome enough for the deep sky observer.

Cool image of the moon here, right? It shows how the moon’s slightly elliptical orbit bring it closer and farther as the phases progress day to day.

Carpe noctem!

 

Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem 1-3: “Whether and Where”

The frequent complaint of traditionalists and conservatives is that post-conciliar reformers did not toe the line of Vatican II. What they fail to realize is that bishops were entrusted with what was seen as the continuing effort of Church reform.

In our discussion of deacons, we read that bishops were left to determine the establishment of the permanent diaconate:

1. It is the task of the legitimate assemblies of bishops of episcopal conferences to discuss, with the consent of the Supreme Pontiff whether and where—in view of the good of the faithful—the diaconate is to be instituted as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy.

Bishops needed reasons for deacons, and needed to communicate with Rome:

2. When asking the Apostolic See for approval, the reasons must be explained which favor the introduction of this new practice in a region as well as the circumstances which give well-founded hope of success. Likewise, the manner will have to be indicated in which the new discipline will be implemented, that is to say, whether it is a matter of conferring the diaconate on “suitable young men for whom the law of celibacy must remain intact, or on men of more mature age, even upon those living in the married state,” or on both kinds of candidates.

Notice that a question would be left open: single young men, married men, or both. In most places, it is both, though there are few single deacons who have never married. I’ve known one in the past thirty years.

3. Once the approval of the Holy See has been obtained, it is within the powers of each Ordinary, within the sphere of his own jurisdiction, to approve and ordain the candidates, unless special cases are concerned which exceed his faculties.

Let the Ordinaries, in drawing up the report on the state of their diocese, also mention this restored discipline.

The local bishop determines the particulars. Any comments as we begin the first three of thirty-six sections on the restoration of the permanent diaconate?

 

FIYH Introduction 1: The Primary Duty of Priests

From the start, the bishops zero in on a point relevant to our recent discussion on lay preaching and clergy responsibilities:

“The primary duty of priests is the proclamation of the Gospel of God to all.” These clear, straightforward words of the Second Vatican Council (Presbyterorum Ordinis 4) may come as something of a surprise to us. We might more spontaneously think that the primary duty of priests is the celebration of the Church’s sacraments, or the pastoral care of the People of God, or the leadership of a Christian community. Yet, the words of the document are clear: the proclamation of the Gospel is primary. The other duties of the priest are to be considered properly presbyteral to the degree that they support the proclamation of the Gospel.

It was almost three years ago we discussed PO 4, back on the old blogspot location.

How does this statement on the “primary duty of priests” square with the centrality of the Eucharist? With the option for lay preaching? Even with the role of the deacon?

(All texts from Fulfilled in Your Hearing are copyright © 1982 USCCB. All rights reserved.)

 

Phoenix On Target

Every since undergrad geology, I’ve loved the artistry of geomorphic maps. They just strike me as so art deco in a geeky kind of way.

Above is Mars, and the yellow ellipse is the target for the Phoenix lander (illustrated, left) due to arrive on Mars on the 25th of May. Emily at the Planetary Society explains the navigation and engineering behind the landing site. Any guesses as to why it’s a cigar-shaped target and not a bull’s eye?

Here’s a trivia point … see the latitude and longitude on the map above? If the Martians were sending their Phoenix to Earth at the same coordinates, the target would be just west of Canada’s Great Bear Lake, near the border of Yukon and Northwest Territories.

What about the Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity? By Earth coordinates, Spirit would be a bit more than 100 miles off the NW coast of Fiji in the Pacific Ocean. Opportunity would be about 200 miles off the coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean, south of Ghana.

One challenge in Marts exploration involves satisfying the energy requirements to run these explorers. The rovers we targeted for the Martian equator to maximize their ability to draw solar energy to power their systems. Even so, during the Martian winters, Spirit and Opportunity have struggled to stay in operation. Phoenix lander will be right on the edge of what passes for the Arctic Circle. It will get nearly 24 hours of sunlight, but at a more oblique angle than the rovers’ solar panels.

Ten years ago, NASA lost its first polar lander as it aimed for the South Pole of Mars. Hopefully fortune will be with Phoenix on its mission.

 

Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem Introduction

On 18 June 1967, Pope Paul VI issued a motu proprio providing the Latin Church general norms for the restoration of the permanent diaconate. Before we get into the rites of ordination proper, I thought it best to look at this document, Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem first. Then we’ll look at the 1973 apostolic letter, Ad Pascendum, to give some background on the immediate post-conciliar thinking regarding deacons.

Though we’ll keep a special eye on the interface between liturgy and the diaconate, we’ll also touch on other ecclesial aspects of ministry, teaching, service. Commentary, especially from deacons, will be most welcome to clarify and move the discussion.

Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem begins with an unnumbered introduction:

Beginning already in the early days of the Apostles, the Catholic Church has held in great veneration the sacred order of the diaconate, as the Apostle of the Gentiles himself. bears witness. He expressly sends his greeting to the deacons together with the bishops and instructs Timothy[Cf. Phil. 1:1.] which virtues and qualities are to be sought in them in order that they may be regarded as worthy of their ministry.[Cf. 1 Tim. 3:8-13.]

Deacons were the first of the traditional orders to be discerned and filled by name in the Biblical witness.

Furthermore, the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council following this very ancient tradition, made honorable mention of the diaconate in the Constitution which begins with the words “Lumen Gentium” where, after concerning itself with the bishops and the priests, it praised also the third rank of sacred orders, explaining its dignity and enumerating its functions.

On Catholic Sensibility, we looked at Lumen Gentium 29 in September 2006.

Indeed while clearly recognizing on the one hand that “these functions very necessary to the life of the Church could in the present discipline of the Latin Church be carried out in many regions with difficulty,” and while on the other hand wishing to make more suitable provision in a matter of such importance wisely decreed that the “diaconate in the future could be restored as a particular and permanent rank of the hierarchy.”[Cf. AAS 57 (1965) D. 36 n. 2S.]

The ministry of the Church has been hampered at times by prelates who have doubted the efficacy of deacons. There was that unfortunate shutdown in the Mexican state of Chiapas several years ago. Evangelicals make huge inroads in Latin America, and the curia fusses about peripherals. Ad Gentes, the document on missionary activity, adds to the conciliar witness of Lumen Gentium:

Although some functions of the deacons, especially in missionary countries, are in fact accustomed to be entrusted to lay men it is nevertheless “beneficial that those . . . who perform a truly diaconal ministry be strengthened by the imposition of hands, a tradition going back to the Apostles, and be more closely joined to the altar so that they may more effectively carry out their ministry through the sacramental grace of the diaconate.”[Ad Gentes 16] Certainly in this way the special nature of this order will be shown most clearly. It is not to be considered as a mere step towards the priesthood, but it is so adorned with its own indelible character and its own special grace so that those who are called to it “can permanently serve the mysteries of Christ and the Church.”[Cf. AAS 57 (1965) p. 46.]

The restoration was not intended to be broadly instituted across Roman Catholicism. The pope left the matter to be decided by bishops on a national level:

Although the restoration of the permanent diaconate is not necessarily to be effected in the whole Latin Church since “it pertains to the competent territorial Episcopal conferences, with the approval of the Supreme Pontiff, to decide whether and where it is timely that deacons of this kind be ordained for the care of souls,”[Cf. AAS 57 (1965) p. 36.] we therefore consider it not only proper but also necessary that specific and precise norms be given to adapt present discipline to the new precepts of the Ecumenical Council and to determine the proper conditions under which not only the ministry of the diaconate will be more advantageously regulated, but the training also of the candidates will be better suited to their different kinds of life, their common obligations and their sacred dignity.

There’s wisdom here. First set forth the norms, then implement a training adapted to the needs of the candidates and the pastoral situation.

Therefore, in the first place, all that is decreed in the Code of Canon Law about the rights and obligations of deacons, whether these rights and obligations be common to all clerics, or proper to deacons—all these, unless some other disposition has been made, we confirm and declare to be in force also for those who will remain permanently in the diaconate. In regard to these we moreover decree the following.

And in the days ahead, we will get to the particular decrees of Paul VI. Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem contains thirty-six numbered sections, covering the question of having deacons or not, requirements for entry into this order, intellectual and spiritual formation, married and older men, the “care and feeding” of deacons, their ministries, relationship with the bishop, and even what they are to wear.

Any comments as we commence into a close look at Catholic deacons?

 

The Real State of Real Estate

The homestead gets packed, cleaned, sorted, and given away in little or big bits each day. It’s a waiting time now, as we prepare to leave Kansas City, our home for the past six years. We’re eagerly, anxiously, and a little worriedly anticipating our move to Iowa.

It’s a strange limbo at the parish. This is usually the time of year I start planning for the coming ten to twelve months: recruiting committee members, charting out schedules, collaborating with staff colleagues on next year’s events, and the like. It seems rather strange to be shutting down an office, organizing computers, books, and files while leaving things in other people’s hands. No new music to review, no more engaged couples, no more reviews of sacramental policies. I’ve already had my last turn as adult group accompanist, my last choir practice, and my last meetings for liturgy committee, music committee, art & environment.

I’m grateful for the flexibility of my present and future employers to work with me on a timetable that adjusts to our ability to rent our current house and find a new one in Ames. At the moment, we’re awaiting a sound renter delivered from a rental management agency. Once we get the 12-month lease signed, we’re free to bid unconditionally on a new house. One nice home has already slipped through our grasp, and choices two and three were snapped up while the first bid went in.

It’s hard not being a little alarmed by what’s going on in real estate these days. I’ve resigned myself to taking a  monthly loss on renting our Missouri home. I just hope it’s something we can manage in the long-term.

Anita keeps reminding me God has His own purpose in the way things unfold, but I can’t help but wish I would have been fired or something last year.

Meanwhile, my baptismal patron stays upright and above ground.

 

FIYH Foreword

The Foreword of the USCCB document Fulfilled in Your Hearing sums up the when and why:

In 1979 the Bishops’ Committee on Priestly Life and Ministry decided to address the question of preaching with respect to the Sunday homily for the following reasons:

1) the conclusions of numerous surveys indicating the questionable quality of preaching and homily preparation often experienced in Catholic churches;

2) to bring the attention of bishops and priests to the need for programs that emphasize homily preparation and delivery;

3) to provide useful information to bishops and priests in their efforts to improve the quality of their homilies;

4) to suggest to the NCCB certain recommendations regarding the improvement of the homily on national, diocesan, and parish levels.

With the publications of Fulfilled in Your Hearing, the Committee believes it has responded to these reasons. It now hopes that the information contained herein will serve not only to enhance the quality of preaching in the Sunday Assembly, but also to assist priests and bishops as they endeavor to fulfill their primary duty, namely, the proclamation of the Gospel of God to all.

It does indeed seem timely in light of our recent discussion on lay preaching and the questions of clergy competence to take a look at this important document. Sadly, few clergy and not many bishops are aware of it. I think our readers will be surprised at some of its recommendations and insights. Hopefully, we can enjoy a fruitful and edifying discussion in the weeks ahead.

 

Next Up: Deacons

As a preliminary to tackling the ordination rites for deacons, priests, and bishops, I thought we would take a look at the two apostolic letters (motu proprio) from Pope Paul VI restoring the permanent diaconate (Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem in 1967) and establishing norms for the order (Ad Pascendum in 1972). From there, we’ll look at the ordination rites for the deacon.

My non-deacon readers and I both would find invaluable the commentary of any deacons out there who wish to add to the discussion. Certainly if any deacons have any special reflections on these documents and the rites as we progress through, feel free to e-mail me and supply in advance (or even after the fact) anything that will shed light on the Order of Deacons, their formation and ordination, and how they serve the Church.

I would include the restoration of the permanent diaconate as one of the success stories of the post-Vatican II scene. There’s no doubt many fine people serve the Church as deacons and their service has added great honor to the Body of Christ.

 

Wedding Lectionary: Song of Songs 2:8-10, 14, 16a; 8:6-7a

For those who think the ideological struggle between Catholic music contemporary and traditional is new to the Judeo-Christian experience, think again. If the Psalter is seen as the Temple hymnal for serious Jews, then the Song of Songs must surely be the Twenty-five Greatest Pop Hits For Your Wedding songbook every decent cantor winced, gagged, and pouted about when the engaged couple pulled out a scroll of their wedding suggestions. Song of Songs doesn’t even mention “God.” Anywhere in the book. No doubt, many good religious people were offended by it.

The Catholic Lectionary offers one choice from the Song of Songs for weddings. This passage includes a melding of fragments from what James Fischer calls a “springtime song of love” in the Collegeville Bible Commentary. The shepherd boy pursues (one might even say stalks) the young girl like a frantic animal:

Hark! my lover–here he comes

     springing across the mountains,

     leaping across the hills.

My lover is like a gazelle

     or a young stag.

Here he stands behind our wall,

     gazing through the windows,

     peering through the lattices.

My lover speaks; he says to me,

     “Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and come!

 

“O my dove in the clefts of the rock,

     in the secret recesses of the cliff,

Let me see you,

     let me hear your voice,

For your voice is sweet,

     and you are lovely.”

 

My lover belongs to me and I to him.

 

The widest separation in the Lectionary follows. The gazelle leaps six chapters and delivers to his bride a serious charge, setting aside the playful infatuation:

     He says to me:

 

“Set me as a seal on your heart,

     as a seal on your arm;

For stern as death is love,

     relentless as the nether world is devotion;

     its flames are a blazing fire.

Deep waters cannot quench love,

     nor floods sweep it away.

Not many couples choose this option for weddings. But some swallow a snicker at the outdated love imagery just to get to the final commitment of married love. It is good that an engaged couple be playful. And if that sense of attraction and play is tempered with the awareness that true love is a difficult path, I wouldn’t be too worried. In fact, I’d recommend this passage if any couple asked me.

 

Carnival 54, Where Are You?

The 54th Carnival of Space, that is, hosted by David of Altair VI. That’s Altair VI the blog, not the planet. I’ve been lined up to host the event next week.

Meanwhile, here’s a Cassini radar image of the highlands of Xanadu, one of the regions identified on Titan, moon of Saturn as a quasi-continent. Scientists are assuming the meandering channels bear methane or ethane rivers. The Cassini site always gives the dimensions of these images, but I like checking my Earthling atlas for comparisons. This rectangle of Titan is a shade smaller than Iceland. (For the American-centered universe, that’s about the size of West Virginia.)

 

The Armchair Liturgist: Baptism Dilemma

Recently I was speaking with a colleague who was concerned about her pastor’s liturgical practice. I thought this might be a matter especially for the clergy in my reading audience as to how to handle a rather delicate situation.

My friend is a pastoral associate, working for a priest about twenty years ordained. He doesn’t seem to use chrism for infant baptisms. According to my friend (and I hope I have this wrong) the required anointing in his view is to be done with the oil of catechumens after the baptism. The pre-baptismal prayer of exorcism is done without oil.

(Just for reference the pre-baptismal exorcism is optional, but the anointing with the oil of catechumens accompanies the prayer. Chrism is always used after infant baptism. I reminded my friend of this and she thought she had it right.)

When my friend gently approached him that his practice was incorrect, he rebuffed her. Would a liturgist’s viewpoint help? I didn’t think so. So I’ll turn it over to you.

How would you approach this priest if he were your pastor? Or a brother priest in another parish? Is this a grave enough issue that you would speak with him were he not your pastor? (Do you think I should butt in?) Would you just call the bishop or the dicoesan liturgy office?

 

The Homily: Grace, Talent, Training, or Happy Accident?

Archbishop Flynn’s smackdown of lay homilists is getting some little netplay (as opposed to airplay) today. dotCommonweal has a good discussion on their site. The usual apologists appear and do their best (or less than best) to make a case.

Clergy, by virtue of their ordination, not only have the right, but they have some special quality of the Spirit that permits them to preach liturgically. It’s a matter of obedience to the revisionist 2004 Redemptoris Sacramentum, and those who disobeyed before ‘04 should’ve known they were heretics, transgressors, or whatever.

Preaching is a spiritual gift given for the benefit of the particular community. If lay people are part of that movement of the Holy Spirit (God again!) who are the hierarchy to frustrate God?

They do train preachers, don’t they? Do seminaries or lay theology schools give out certificates?

Or can anybody blunder into this ministry just by checking the right box on the time/talent survey?

This all makes me think the Church needs to go back to basics on preaching. What is the purpose? How does it get done?

It’s rather curious that Roman Catholics have a system of discernment for preaching (presumably the grace department) entirely independent of considerations such as talent or training. In other words, if we go by the book, the first time a preacher will preach is after he has been discerned, schooled, and ordained. Put another way, once the guy’s a priest or deacon, we’re pretty much stuck with however he’s turned out as a homilist: good, bad, or ugly. But don’t worry, says the institution. It’s God’s will, and plus, the priest will have a hissy if you take his privilege away.

On the talent end of things, one might say that the gift of preaching and its execution would come first. Then a vocation to orders discerned because the person preaches well, or because that gift works in concert with other abilities the Church deems useful for the ordained. The problem here, of course, is that the Roman system is wholly not supportive of such a thing. Not to mention that vocation directors don’t approach lay ecclesial ministers or others of their ilk for seminary candidates.

And then you have the training end of the affair. One dotCommentator wrote, “Is preaching formation always a good thing? I’ve sat through homilies that I thought were articulate, full of illustrations, energetically delivered–that left me completely cold. But the preacher would have done very well in homiletics class.”

Why is it that most Catholic minds ponder training or education, they automatically think classroom? As if the only way to teach is to row the desks and clean those blackboards. This goes back to the other issues and begs the question: How can priests learn to preach if they can’t practice as lay people? How can they practice if lay people can’t preach? This might well be a skill, talent, or ability well suited to apprenticeship, at least in part.

I have to come to the undeniable conclusion woven by the Curia: Preaching is so important that (1) only clergy can do it (2) we’re going to strip away any pretense of ability or training to reinforce it really must come from God … no matter how bad it gets.

Do I have that about right?

By the way, does anybody think it’s opportune to take a look at the 1981 USCCB document, “Fulfilled in Your Hearing (The Homily in the Sunday Assembly)” or should it wait its turn till after other documents?

 

Lay Preaching Ends, Look For Clerical Narcissism

CNS picks up the story as their lead headline today. Before Redemptionis Sacramentum a bishop had the power to authorize lay preaching in his diocese. Aware that some canonists disagreed, it is deceptive at best, and at worst a bold-faced lie to suggest lay preaching in general is a “liturgical abuse,” as some have said.

Archbishop Flynn or any archbishop is well within the power of the old interpretation of CCC 766-767 to put the clamp on the non-ordained preaching. Too bad Flynn takes it so personally:

There has to be that kind of training and theological background that even a person with a master’s degree in theology would not have. The church does not want people just standing up there and giving opinions or even things they’ve read in books.

Hopefully some presbyters are getting the message, too. A show of hands, please, on all the regurgitated internet or preaching service homilies we’ve heard from the clergy …

To preach the Gospel is an extremely important part of the mission of any priest — I cannot overemphasize its importance. I would feel deprived, because this is my vocation to preach the Gospel.

Archbishop Flynn has a curiously individualistic take on this. I wonder what happens when priests who feel this way end up in a concelebration. I suppose when you’re the bishop you pretty much get to call the shots.

And if I were celebrating Mass, and it came time for me to preach — which should be the fruit of my prayer, my experience and the experience of those who (are) in (the) congregation — it would be disruptive to me to have someone else come and break open the word of God.

So much for the liturgical role of the diaconate in Minneapolis-St Paul.

I realize I’m being a bit unfair to the archbishop. While I have no doubt he is a devoted man of God and probably a decent priest and bishop, the public reasoning given on the end of lay preaching seems pretty milquetoast. It would be enough to say Redemptionis Sacramentum forbids it, that he agrees with that ruling, and with the new bishop hitting town it’s a good time to clean up lay preaching. End of story. Or maybe the yammering about personal deprivation and disruption is just some good old fashioned Catholic Guilt coming to the fore.

If so, good. That means the man’s human.