Catholic Sensibility

The introduction of the GDC covers numbered sections 14 through 33. Titled, “Preaching the Gospel in the contemporary world,” the Congregation for the Clergy offers an apt parable to lead off the meat of the discussion on catechesis:

“Behold! A sower went out to sow. As he sowed some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil; and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns which grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing, and yielding thirty fold, sixty fold, and a hundred fold” (Mk 4:3-8).

14. The purpose of this Introduction is to foster in pastors and catechists a greater consciousness of the necessity to keep in mind the field in which the seed is sown, and to do so with the perspective of faith and mercy. The interpretation of the contemporary world presented here is obviously dependent on contingent historical circumstances.

Summing up, the introduction is aimed at pastors and catechists. The ministry of catechesis requires a perspective of the quality of faith. What do you make of the inclusion of mercy? What does that mean?

It’s also worth considering that the prescriptions of the GDC hold true as long as the diagnosis of the circumstances of history are accurate. One might also add the assessment of the culture–I certainly think that some approaches valid in one situation may be inappropriate even within the same nation.

Here is the five-year submission deadline for sung texts:

108. Sung texts and liturgical hymns have a particular importance and efficacy. Especially on Sunday, the “Day of the Lord”, the singing of the faithful gathered for the celebration of Holy Mass, no less than the prayers, the readings and the homily, express in an authentic way the message of the Liturgy while fostering a sense of common faith and communion in charity. [Pope John Paul II, Apost. Letter Dies Domini, 31 May 1998, nn. 40, 50] If they are used widely by the faithful, they should remain relatively fixed so that confusion among the people may be avoided. Within five years from the publication of this Instruction, the Conferences of Bishops, necessarily in collaboration with the national and diocesan Commissions and with other experts, shall provide for the publication of a directory or repertory of texts intended for liturgical singing. This document shall be transmitted for the necessary recognitio to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Some things to like: a singing congregation preaches the liturgy as much as anything, and also reinforces the basic definition of the Church as one and holy.

Meanwhile, crickets chirp on the directory of sung texts.

Image credit: St. Petka Serbian Orthodox Church, Troy, Michigan.

Hardcore Catholics know today’s feast day. No need for me to recount that here. I’m sure the Catholic blogosphere is chock-full of great reflections on it.

Here in the northeast quarter of Iowa, Raphael is one of our diocesan patrons. If you check the readings of the day, you’ll see “or” inserted between the Daniel and Revelation passages. I wonder how many parishes here will stop at “or” and not treat today as the higher level of liturgical observance that it is. Most September 29th Masses in the Archdiocese of Dubuque have been celebrated today. But I bet almost all of them only read two readings rather than three.

I don’t like that Michael gets the main stage today. One Lectionary improvement might be to add this passage from the book of Tobit as an option for the day:

Tobiah went out to look for someone who would travel with him to Media, someone who knew the way. He went out and found the angel Raphael standing before him (though he did not know that this was an angel of God). Tobiah said to him, “Where do you come from, young man?”

He replied, “I am an Israelite, one of your kindred. I have come here to work.”

Tobiah said to him, “Do you know the way to Media?”

Yes,” he replied, “I have been there many times. I know the place well and am acquainted with all the routes. I have often traveled to Media; I used to stay with our kinsman Gabael, who lives at Rages in Media. It is a good two days’ journey from Ecbatana to Rages, for Rages is situated in the mountains, but Ecbatana is in the middle of the plain.”

Tobiah said to him, “Wait for me, young man, till I go in and tell my father; for I need you to make the journey with me. I will pay you your wages.”

He replied, “Very well, I will wait; but do not be long.” (Tobit 5:4-8)

Raphael is the prototypical guardian angel. He doesn’t quite have his southwest Asian geography correct, but he will get his charge to the proper destination. Did you notice that the angel has come to Tobiah to work? I was also struck by the curious urging to hurry at the very end of this passage.

Another thought for a Lectionary reading would be toward the end of the book, when Tobiah, having absorbed his father’s lessons of generosity and gratitude, offers his travel guide half of all the riches he has brought back from his trip. The angel offers good Jewish advice, then reveals his true identity:

Raphael called the two of them aside privately and said to them: “Bless God and give him thanks before all the living for the good things he has done for you, by blessing and extolling his name in song. Proclaim before all with due honor the deeds of God, and do not be slack in thanking him. A king’s secret should be kept secret, but one must declare the works of God and give thanks with due honor. Do good, and evil will not overtake you. Prayer with fasting is good. Almsgiving with righteousness is better than wealth with wickedness. It is better to give alms than to store up gold, for almsgiving saves from death, and purges all sin. Those who give alms will enjoy a full life, but those who commit sin and do evil are their own worst enemies.

“I shall now tell you the whole truth and conceal nothing at all from you. I have already said to you, ‘A king’s secret should be kept secret, but one must declare the works of God with due honor.’ Now when you, Tobit, and Sarah prayed, it was I who presented the record of your prayer before the Glory of the Lord; and likewise whenever you used to bury the dead.When you did not hesitate to get up and leave your dinner in order to go and bury that dead man, I was sent to put you to the test. At the same time, however, God sent me to heal you and your daughter-in-law Sarah. I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand and serve before the Glory of the Lord.”

Greatly shaken, the two of them fell prostrate in fear. But Raphael said to them: “Do not fear; peace be with you! Bless God now and forever. As for me, when I was with you, I was not acting out of any favor on my part, but by God’s will. So bless God every day; give praise with song. (Tobit 12:6-18)

Give praise with song: the best advice in the whole narrative. Have an angelic day, you readers.

Not everything we will examine in the GDC applies always and everywhere:

10. It is evident that not all parts of the Directory have the same importance. Those dealing with Divine Revelation, the nature of catechesis, the criteria governing the proclamation of the Gospel message are universally valid. Those, however, referring to present circumstances, to methodology and to the manner of adapting catechesis to diverse age groups and cultural contexts are to be understood rather as indications or guidelines. (Cf. DCG (1971), Introduction.)

This document is addressed mainly to bishops. But not exclusively.

11. The Directory is addressed principally to the Bishops, Episcopal Conferences and, in a general way, in accordance with their competence, to those who have responsibility for catechesis. Clearly it will be of use in forming those preparing for ordination to the Priesthood, in the continuing formation of priests and in the formation of catechists.

Note that the GDC will treat not only the formation of the faithful, but also catechists and clergy. We will watch for those sections as we move through this document.

The immediate end of the Directory is to assist in the composition of catechetical directories and catechisms. Numerous notes and references have been included in this Directory, at the suggestion of many Bishops, which may be useful in drawing up such catechetical aids.

The GDC is not intended to be an exhaustive treatment for any one diocese, school, parish, or situation. Indeed that bar would be set too high. The clear intent is to give a framework, then permit the bishops and catechists of the Church to serve, addressing the most important concerns:

12. Since the Directory is intended for the use of particular Churches, whose pastoral needs vary greatly, it is obvious that only common or intermediate concerns could be taken into account. This is true also of the sections dealing with the organization of catechesis at different levels. Due note should be made of this observation while using the Directory. As has been already noted in the 1971 Directory, what may appear insufficient in areas where catechesis and catechetical resources have reached a high standard, may perhaps seem excessive in areas where catechesis has not yet undergone such development.

13. It is hoped that the publication of this document, testimony of the Apostolic See’s solicitude for catechetical ministry, will be received and carefully studied in the context of the pastoral needs of each particular Church. It is to be hoped that it will promote future study and deepen research so as to respond to the needs of catechesis and the norms and directives of the Church’s Magisterium.

Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed on, and triumph as it did among you (2 Thess 3:1).

So we come to the conclusion of the preface, signed by Archbishop Darío Castrillón Hoyos, the 1997 Pro-Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, and Archbishop Crescenzio Sepe, Secretary. We’ll delve into the meat of the document tomorrow, starting with the introduction. Menwhile, anything in the metapicture so far you see needs comment?

On composing new liturgical texts in the vernacular:

106. Regarding the composition of new liturgical texts prepared in vernacular languages, which may perhaps be added to those translated from the Latin editiones typicae, the norms currently in force are to be observed, in particular those contained in the Instruction Varietates legitimae.[VL 25] An individual Conference of Bishops shall establish one or more Commissions for the preparation of texts or for the work involved in the suitable adaptation of texts.  The texts are then to be sent to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments for the recognitio, prior to the publication of any books intended for the celebrants or for the general use of the Christian faithful.[VL 36]

107. It is to be borne in mind that the composition of new texts of prayers or rubrics is not an end in itself, but must be undertaken for the purpose of meeting a particular cultural or pastoral need. For this reason it is strictly the task of the local and national liturgical Commissions, and not of the Commissions treated in nn. 92-104 above. New texts composed in a vernacular language, just as the other adaptations legitimately introduced, are to contain nothing that is inconsistent with the function, meaning, structure, style, theological content, traditional vocabulary or other important qualities of the texts found in the editiones typicae.[GIRM 398]

The need may also be liturgical: the new catechumenate rites in the recent past, and today, the need for a Lectionary-harmonized set of auxiliary Mass texts (especially the Ordinary Time propers and presidential prayers). The blind spot of the CDWDS here is the thinking that the liturgy is somehow a set piece in no further need of reform–indeed, that we’re entering a steady-state period where we might see more calcification.

I really liked Valerie Schultz’s post yesterday at America’s In All Things blog.

So although I am not technically in recovery, I find that going to meetings twice a week seeps into my brain. I see how following the Steps can lead to a saner, more serene life for anyone, not just an addict or an alcoholic. Besides, we all have our addictions and shortcomings.  “Keep coming back,” the men say in unison. “It works if you work it.” I can see how that would be true.

I spent a few intense years in 12-Step groups in my second and third years in ministry. I was especially fond of an Al-Anon group that met on a weekday lunch hour in another town. Small group. No cross-talking. I learned a lot from those fine people.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

I struggled then to learn and live the Serenity Prayer. It’s a lifelong project, I’m convinced. Ms Schultz is spot-on with sanity and serenity for anyone. I don’t go to meetings with any regularity any more. I suppose a close woman friend from those 1989-91 days would be surprised. Her ex was an alcoholic, and I think my own fervor with working my program was a threat of sorts. You’re not anywhere close to being an addict or a drunk, she said. Twelve Step work keeps me healthier, I said. More sane. More serene.

Today, I’m always on the lookout for my own indulgences, my own issues, my own little addictions. I observe my urge to gobble food, to stay up a little bit later at night, to sugarcoat my life, to take short-cuts I know will cost me in the end. Some things I cannot change. So why waste energy trying?

A few people seem to think I write on conservative comboxes to “trick” people into being liberals. (somebody hinted at that this week on First Thoughts.) Ha. I’m just in it for the fun. I can’t change anybody. With God’s grace, I can only hope for some small measure of progress in my own life.

Courage to change what I can–that’s my own thinking, and my own behavior … and likely only on my better days.

Wisdom–that’s the key. How to determine what can be changed? Almost never is it something to do with somebody else. Sometimes, most days in fact, the most I can manage is the desire for wisdom. The Scriptures help:

Resplendent and unfading is Wisdom,
and she is readily perceived by those who love her,
and found by those who seek her.
She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her;
one who watches for her at dawn will not be disappointed,
for she will be found sitting at the gate. (Wisdom 6:12-14)

Rumored since February, Pope Benedict has authorized an administrative switch in the curia.

Effective Saturday, two key responsibilities are shifted from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments (CDWDS) to the Roman Rota.

Without having to deal with judgments on a null ordination or a marriage validly contracted but not consummated, the Holy Father commented that the CDWDS could …

… dedicate itself principally to giving a new impulse to the promotion of the sacred liturgy in the church, according to the renewal willed by the Second Vatican Council.

We haven’t seen much liturgical renewal promoted in the past several years, but hey–less of a juridical load has to be a good thing, I suppose.

This quote from Cindy Wooden’s CNS piece was interesting:

Canon law also allows for a declaration of the nullity of an ordination to the priesthood when it can be demonstrated that there was a defect in the rite used or that the person being ordained did not or could not understand what ordination meant.

Even these days, how many people get ordained who don’t understand what it means? I mean: what would that look like?

Another year of MR1 in the Chinese city. The diocesan chancellor, Fr Lawrence Lee:

Even if there is no catechesis, the faithful can get accustomed to it through repeated recitations but there will be a lack of understanding.

Hey, I don’t understand the darn thing, and I have to render catechesis on it. Very interesting, though that Hong Kong’s ordinary is a member of Vox Clara.

Interesting story on Vatican Insider. Do you wonder if President Bush or anyone else ever did read the letter? Their inside source:

Laghi knew his mission had failed, but he also realized that the Bush administration was very naïve about the consequences of war.

Ya think?

On a cultural note picking up that theme, there is this terrific song by a duet far more harmonious than the GOP and the Catholic Church.

Did you know that the Sunday before last was designated National Back to Church Sunday? Me either. For most all American Catholics it was Catechetical Sunday.

October is the peak month of the year for church attendance, Christmas and Easter excluded. My diocese instructs us to count heads the first four weekends in October. Nice for a student center, because the first weekend is always Parents’ Weekend and the third or fourth are Homecoming.

A few years ago, someone at the chancery asked our pastor, “Why, Father, is your church attendance at 102.6% of your number of registered parishioners?”

Big weekend coming up. We’ll have a wave of young people bringing their parents to church, especially the 10:30 Mass.

Meanwhile, LifeWay Research estimates that only one in fifty active Christians invite a friend or neighbor to Sunday worship? Are you part of the Two-Percent Solution?

So what’s the point of this document, then? We have a catechism; isn’t that enough?

9. The object of this Directory is clearly the same as that pursued by the 1971 Directory. It attempts to provide those fundamental theologico-pastoral principles drawn from the Church’s Magisterium, particularly those inspired by the Second Vatican Council, which are capable of better orienting and coordinating the pastoral activity of the ministry of the word and, concretely, catechesis. (Cf. GCD (1971), Introduction) The basic intention of the Directory was (and remains) that of offering reflections and principles, rather than immediate applications or practical directives. This method has been adopted principally for the reason that defects and errors in catechetical material can be avoided only if the nature and end of catechesis, as well as the truths and values which must be transmitted, are correctly understood from the outset. (Cf. GCD (1971), Introduction)

The concrete application of these principles and pronouncements by means of guidelines, national, regional or diocesan directories, catechisms and other ways deemed suitable for the effective promotion of catechesis is something which pertains to the specific competence of the various Episcopates.

This document provides the principles. It is up to the bishops as the chief catechists of the Church, to flesh out that skeleton, as it were.

Let’s note that in the assessment of communication, the message, the messenger, and the recipient are all of vital importance. Lose the listener and even terrific teaching will fail to carry the message to any effectiveness. Catechesis must be promoted properly–the responsibility of the bishops, a Rome concedes.

The CDWDS may take over, preparing translations and approving them:

104. For the good of the faithful, the Holy See reserves to itself the right to prepare translations in any language, and to approve them for liturgical use.[Code of Canon Law, cann. 333, 360; Pope John Paul II, Apost. Const. Pastor Bonus, 28 June 1988, art. 62-65: AAS 80 (1988) 876-877; cf. S. Congr. for Divine Worship, Letter to the Presidents of the Conferences of Bishops De normis servandis quoad libros liturgicos in vulgus edendos, illorum translatione in linguas hodiernas peracta, 25 October 1973, n. 1: AAS 66 (1974) 98] Nevertheless, even if the Apostolic See, by means of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, may intervene from time to time out of necessity in the preparation of translations, it still belongs to the competent Conference of Bishops to approve their assumption into liturgical use within the boundaries of a given ecclesiastical territory, unless otherwise explicitly indicated in the decree of approbation of the translation promulgated by the Apostolic See. Afterwards, for the purpose of obtaining the recognitio of the Holy See, the Conference shall transmit the decree of approbation for its territory together with the text itself, in accordance with the norms of this Instruction and of the other requirements of the law.

105. For reasons such as those set forth in nn. 76 and 84 above or for other urgent reasons of pastoral need, commissions, councils, committees, or work groups depending directly on the Apostolic See are established by decree of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments for the purpose of working on the translation either of individual liturgical books or of several.  In this case, insofar as possible, at least some of the Bishops involved in the matter will be consulted.

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Rita Ferrone writes in praise of rupture on PrayTell. Comments closed there, but she has a significant word for rupture:

Birth

I have another:

Conversion

Long-time readers know this is one of my favorite memes. But it’s also a serious consideration for the spiritual life.

That said, keep in mind that careful discernment is needed with the notion of rupture, conversion, metanoia, or whatever you call it. Which Jesus do you trust?

No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62)

Return home and recount what God has done for you. (Luke 8:39a)

You discern and trust the Jesus who is speaking at the moment. You don’t borrow someone else’s message that sounds better.

I’m sure y’all have seen this, right?

The 10 Commandments via Txt Msg

•  1. no1 b4 me. srsly.
•  2. dnt wrshp pix/idols
•  3. no omg’s
•  4. no wrk on w/end (sat 4 now; sun l8r) 
• 5. pos ok – ur m&d r cool 
• 6. dnt kill ppl 
• 7. :-X only w/ m8 
• 8. dnt steal 
• 9. dnt lie re: bf
• 10. dnt ogle ur bf’s m8. or ox. or dnkey. myob.

 M, pls rite on tabs & giv 2 ppl.

 ttyl, JHWH.

Praise and howling from the usual suspects on this initiative to send legal offenders to church instead of incarceration. I wonder how few realize that a penitentiary has roots in the ancient order of penitents, that serious sinners were placed into a monastery-like community to do penance, to labor, and to regain the trust of their community.

Olivia Turner, ACLU:

This policy is blatantly unconstitutional. It violates one basic tenet of the Constitution, namely that government can’t force participation in religious activity.

Force, no. But coercion as an alternative to prison–that would seem to be in place. What happens when the non-violent offender offended a church? Can you imagine a person defrauding a church of, say, a million dollars gong back to work for that or for another church?

Police Chief Mike Rowland:

Operation ROC resulted from meetings with church leaders. It was agreed by all the pastors that at the core of the crime problem was the erosion of family values and morals. We have children raising children and parents not instilling values in young people.

Do these people realize that crime rates have dropped significantly over the past few decades? Still, I wonder what they would say to having Wall Street swindlers doing pew time. There’s a vengeance mentality in the culture. I applaud alternatives to prison, but it would be better to have convicts serve the whole of society while being encouraged to rebuild their families. ‘Course this is all happening as some businesses decline to hire the ultimate criminals–the unemployed. No wonder they had to turn to churches.