Catholic Sensibility

Two brief sections on the ambo:

§ 61 § The central focus of the area in which the word of God is proclaimed during the liturgy is the ambo. The design of the ambo and its prominent placement reflects the dignity and nobility of that saving word and draws the attention of those present to the proclamation of the word.(GILH 32; Cf. GIRM 309) Here the Christian community encounters the living Lord in the word of God and prepares itself for the “breaking of the bread” and the mission to live the word that will be proclaimed. An ample area around the ambo is needed to allow a Gospel procession with a full complement of ministers bearing candles and incense. The Introduction to the Lectionary recommends that the design of altar and ambo bear an “harmonious and close relationship” to one another(GILM 32) in order to emphasize the close relationship between word and Eucharist. Since many people share in the ministry of the word, the ambo should be accessible to everyone, including those with physical disabilities.*

* The elevation of the ambo, an access without steps, and in situations where it seems feasible, an ambo with a top section that is adjustable in height either manually or electrically will enable all to serve as celebrant, lector, and cantor.

§ 62 § Our reverence for the word of God is expressed not only in an attentive listening to and reflection upon the Scripture, but also by the way we handle and treat the Book of the Gospels. The ambo can be designed not only for reading and preaching, but also for displaying the open Book of the Gospels or a copy of the Scriptures before and after the liturgical celebration.*

* It has become customary to provide a place for the permanent display of the Scriptures in the sanctuary area. This can be done using the front of the ambo or another kind of pedestal.

Commentary:

“GILH” is the General Introduction to the Lectionary, which we examined about a year and a half ago. Check the sidebar for those posts.

I see a lot of ambo placement on the front edge of the sanctuary space. Gospel processions with the “extras” can get awkward. Not impossiblke, mind you, but deserving of a little more thought and care.

I’m not sure why the starred notes (nos. 83 & 84 in the document) aren’t incorporated into the text. They are sensible considerations.

About that permanent display of the Gospel Book–I see it in a few churches. My parish doesn’t have it, and we’ve been in discernment about the possibilities for several months now. I’m reticent about that “other kind of pedestal,” as it has the potential to make the sanctuary space more busy than it needs to be. Would you leave the book open or closed?

All texts from Built of Living Stones are copyright © 2000, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

I composed this psalm for friends over twenty-seven years ago. I noticed the comment from a visitor asking about a musical setting of Psalm 33 for a wedding. I have an audio of my psalm setting here:

The Goodness of the Lord

Using this for a parishioner’s wedding last year gave me an opportunity to update with the Revised Grail text and adjust a musical awkward spot or two. I found the Grail text to be very conducive to a metrical music setting. At least this one. Eloise, or any others, if you want a copy of this setting, please contact me.

Note: Gratis permission is granted to Todd Flowerday to post to the Internet individual audio files of musical settings of the Revised Grail Psalms. These digital files may be distributed to, and downloaded by, the general public for use within their religious communities, provided no remuneration is exchanged for this use. Any composer wishing to sell his/her settings of the Revised Grail Psalms, whether at cost or for a profit, should contact GIA for permission. All other policies regarding copyright notice and other licensing stipulations must be observed; visit www.giamusic.com/RGP for more information.

What is that Franciscan principle? Preach the Gospel–use words if necessary.

21. Above all the Gospel must be proclaimed by witness. Take a Christian or a handful of Christians who, in the midst of their own community, show their capacity for understanding and acceptance, their sharing of life and destiny with other people, their solidarity with the efforts of all for whatever is noble and good. Let us suppose that, in addition, they radiate in an altogether simple and unaffected way their faith in values that go beyond current values, and their hope in something that is not seen and that one would not dare to imagine. Through this wordless witness these Christians stir up irresistible questions in the hearts of those who see how they live: Why are they like this? Why do they live in this way? What or who is it that inspires them? Why are they in our midst? Such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one. Here we have an initial act of evangelization. The above questions will ask, whether they are people to whom Christ has never been proclaimed, or baptized people who do not practice, or people who live as nominal Christians but according to principles that are in no way Christian, or people who are seeking, and not without suffering, something or someone whom they sense but cannot name. Other questions will arise, deeper and more demanding ones, questions evoked by this witness which involves presence, sharing, solidarity, and which is an essential element, and generally the first one, in evangelization.”[Cf. Tertullian Apologeticum, 39: CCL, I, PP. 150-153; Minucius Felix, Octavius 9 and 31: CSLP, Turin 1963, pp. 11-13, 47-48]

All Christians are called to this witness, and in this way they can be real evangelizers. We are thinking especially of the responsibility incumbent on immigrants in the country that receives them.

Consider those “baptized people who do not practice,” presumably the target of the “new evangelization.” Some of those believers were turned off by repulsive behavior within Christian communities. An antigospel witness, in other words. It’s a difficult burden for us who remain–some of us who may well have participated in such behavior. How do we correct and reform ourselves and then wait patiently for others to notice? Vatican II was an act of evangelical witness. We have undone much of that, sadly, by taking the path of the elder son.

Dissatisfaction with just living a Christian life is understandable. It is a witness that depends on patience and faith. Patience that we might well be in an era of planting seeds, not harvesting a bounty. And faith that God truly works through us in unexpected ways, and by methods that confound human logic. However, it is essential that Christian continue to witness, and also to be prepared for those who approach us with these questions.

My younger brother, alienated from the Church, once asked me why I stayed. And more–why I worked for it. I don’t know that my younger self was prepared to give an evangelical answer. I hope I would be for the next person who asks me. What about you? What is the reason for your hope? And is that hope evident in your life? And if not, how can you get there?

Rod Dreher and a few on the Catholic Right are waxing outraged over this piece of the Fr Benedict Groeschel fallout: firing NCReg interviewer John Burger.

I’ve known a lot of colleagues in ministry get fired in far pettier circumstances. Often orthodox conservative Catholics crow when someone they dislike loses a job. Deal Hudson was famous for engineering it. And getting cheered on about it. If this latest episode is poignant for some of my brother and sister believers, then good for them.

I’m more sympathetic to John Burger than you might expect. But still: I hesitate getting fully onboard Rod’s train on this one.

That Fr Groeschel interview was an in-house puff-piece. It was conceived, it seems, as a feel-good feature about a popular guy who worked for the same outfit as the interviewer/editor. It wasn’t serious journalism as portrayed by the Sally Field character getting grilled by her newsroom colleague here. NCReg and EWTN and their followers were supposed to all read it, and feel a little bit better about themselves. There’s nothing wrong with good news, mind you. Until it ran off the rails of good public relations and became a wedge among those on the Catholic Right, and an occasion of shock elsewhere. In that light, Mr Burger didn’t do his job. His mistake was that he didn’t seem to recognize when the interview morphed from a friendly chat into a minor blockbuster hitched to Jerry Sandusky and the disgraced Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado.

Let’s say a food reporter visits a restaurant and sees a fly land in the soup. Maybe that’s news if the whole room is having an Amityville moment. Maybe not if a single wayward insect found its way onto the outdoor terrace. There’s a judgment to be made about what is essential to the story. With a feature that focuses on local restaurants as good places to eat, maybe the journalist just asks for another bowl, please, and reports on the blend of meat, veggies, and spices. The entomology not so much. Unless, of course, the newspaper is part of a conglomerate that owns a rival local restaurant chain. Then the whole story would be journalistic fodder. Maybe the same is true of NCReg and their handling of John Burger.

I’m usually not happy to hear of a person getting fired. A solid, experienced, qualified person is hard to replace, and involves its own costs: search committees, temporary work loads for colleagues, orienting a new employee. Not to mention moving vans, home sales, and change-of-address forms.

I’m sure the employees at the NCReg have gotten a message loud and clear: don’t screw up or you’re next. The only problem from a Christian viewpoint is that the message is to protect the organization at all costs. That doesn’t seem to be very different from the US bishops, the Legion of Christ, or Big Time College Football.

Let’s wrap up the discussion on altars. First the US bishops advise a careful balance between visibility and perceived remoteness:

§ 59 § During the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the altar must be visible from all parts of the church but not so elevated that it causes visual or symbolic division from the liturgical assembly. Methods of elevation can be found that still allow access to the altar by ministers who need wheelchairs or who have other disabilities.

And this discussion on saints’ relics we alreayd had when looking at the dedication rites.

§ 60 § In the Church’s history and tradition, the altar was often placed over the tombs of the saints or the relics of saints were deposited beneath the altar. The presence of relics of saints in the altar provides a witness to the Church’s belief that the Eucharist celebrated on the altar is the source of the grace that won sanctity for the saints.(Cf. RDCA IV, 5) The custom of placing small relics of martyrs or other saints in an altar stone and setting this in the mensa has changed since the Second Vatican Council. Relics of martyrs or other saints may be placed beneath the altar, as long as the relics are of a size sufficient for them to be recognizable as parts of a human body and that they are of undoubted authenticity. Relics are no longer placed on the altar or set into the mensa in an altar stone.(Cf. RDCA IV, 11c)

All texts from Built of Living Stones are copyright © 2000, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

I see some of my Facebook and orthodox conservative Catholic friends are waxing I-told-you-so on “top director” Nick Cassavetes’ suggestion that incest is okay. It’s all the fault, so we are told, of the gay marriage movement. And it was all entirely predictable.

The comments come after he unveiled his latest movie “Yellow” – in which a woman had an incestuous affair with her brother that is in prison – at the Toronto Film Festival. The movie does not yet have a distributor in the states.

Okay.

A guy who has directed seven films in sixteen years is not a “top” Hollywood director. He seems closer to being the Joe Shlabotnik of Tinseltown. And wonder of wonders–he has a movie made about incest.

So let’s review. A guy who wants to get his film shown in US movie theatres makes an outlandish statement or two about sex between consenting adults. The dude seems to want attention. In a capitalistic, wanna-make-money way. So the Catholic Right complies with the request, and the publicist earns a paycheck for the week.

I’d say Mr Cassavetes has more in common with Jerry Springer or Howard Stern than same-sex couples. Looks like simple exploitative, opportunistic entrepreneurship to me–the kind of stuff that political candidates favored by the orthodox conservative are lining up with this cycle.

The last few sections have treated evangelization in something of an abstract or theological way. Pope Paul VI suggests it’s essential to begin and end with the person, and their relationships:

20. All this could he expressed in the following words: what matters is to evangelize (human) culture and cultures (not in a purely decorative way, as it were, by applying a thin veneer, but in a vital way, in depth and right to their very roots), in the wide and rich sense which these terms have in Gaudium et Spes,[Cf. 53] always taking the person as one’s starting-point and always coming back to the relationships of people among themselves and with God.

The relationship with culture remains strained. An optimist would say interesting and challenging:

The Gospel, and therefore evangelization, are certainly not identical with culture, and they are independent in regard to all cultures. Nevertheless, the kingdom which the Gospel proclaims is lived by (people) who are profoundly linked to a culture, and the building up of the kingdom cannot avoid borrowing the elements of human culture or cultures. Though independent of cultures, the Gospel and evangelization are not necessarily incompatible with them; rather they are capable of permeating them all without becoming subject to any one of them.

The split between the Gospel and culture is without a doubt the drama of our time, just as it was of other times. Therefore every effort must be made to ensure a full evangelization of culture, or more correctly of cultures. They have to be regenerated by an encounter with the Gospel. But this encounter will not take place if the Gospel is not proclaimed.

Despite the strain, we always have to try. The believer is never released from this obligation.

The US Bishops offer their guidance on the size of the altar:

§ 58 § Although there is no specified size or shape for an altar, it should be in proportion to the church. The shape and size should reflect the nature of the altar as the place of sacrifice and the table around which Christ gathers the community to nourish them. In considering the dimensions of the altar, parishes will also want to insure that the other major furnishings in the sanctuary are in harmony and proportion to the altar. The mensa should be large enough to accommodate the priest celebrant, the deacon, and the acolytes who minister there and should be able to hold The Sacramentary [The Roman Missal] and the vessels with the bread and wine. Impact and focal quality are not only related to placement, size, or shape, but also especially to the quality of the altar’s design and worthiness of its construction. The altar should be centrally located in the sanctuary and the center of attention in the church.

In many churches the matter of square (or round) and rectangular is an issue. More churches opt for square these days. In my parish, the Liturgy of the Eucharist could be led from any of the four sides. Square permits a central location for the elements–an important sacramental emphasis that dodges the pre-conciliar “meal settings” of the clergy on the long altar.

I remember a few churches which attempted to place altar and ambo in the sacntuary, not unlike two sides of a balance. Not a bad idea, but I do like the central altar a bit more. People accustomed to thinking ot viewing the altar from the nave should note that a “central” location includes the center of a space from the back wall of the apse to the front border of the sanctuary. This ”center of attention” also puts to rest somewhat the reform2 “need” to advocate for the priest turning his back to celebrate toward the east.

Comments?

All texts from Built of Living Stones are copyright © 2000, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

A short section, but a valuable consideration: what to do when Gospel values move contrary to non-Christian considerations as we encounter them.

19. Strata of humanity which are transformed: for the Church it is a question not only of preaching the Gospel in ever wider geographic areas or to ever greater numbers of people, but also of affecting and as it were upsetting, through the power of the Gospel, (human) criteria of judgment, determining values, points of interest, lines of thought, sources of inspiration and models of life, which are in contrast with the Word of God and the plan of salvation.

The Church tells us evangelization isn’t only about geography and population, but also in the crucible of human ideas. I confess I don’t think about this aspect as much. I suspect it is more in the mind of Pope Benedict and his predecessor.

The “power of the Gospel” is one of persuasion and example. Some might find this thought more adversarial, but that’s not my interpretation, nor is it as much my style. (I tend to be more adversarial with believers.)

How to apply EN 19? In my current situation in a university town, I have opportunities, to be sure. I know the students have many more. Obviously, a believer must have a clear sense of his or her own criteria of judgment, personal values, thinking, and role models. But it is also possible to bring to one’s particular stratum a well-rounded approach. In thinking of role models, suppose one is a scientist. There are many scientists who were women or men of faith. Gregor Mendel, Teilhard de Chardin, and others who found the scientific and spiritual spheres working together for them. A person might not comprehend, say, Archbishop Dolan. But they might find the Jesuit astronomer Guy Consolmagno a step up the stairway they can handle.

And for us who believe, to always check out own strata: whom we admire, what catches our interest, and the like. Are we interested in science or football or quilting? Fine on any account. But how do we bring the Gospel to these efforts. And how do these efforts inform and strengthen the Gospel, or, in turn, where might they conflict.

A blocking back sacrifices personal yardage, and a physical body so that another may excel. But taking delight in trashing opposing players, or attempting to injure and demean them–that would be where a Christian would need to take a stand.

What might you be reading in this small, but powerful section?

At last month’s peer minister retreat my colleague Father Jim suggested a close look at the letter to the Ephesians as a reflection on call, baptism, and ministry. In look at this weekend’s Lectionary Psalm, I found an interesting chimera with a short passage from Paul’s letter. Psalm 116:1-9 & Ephesians 1:18-20. I’m using this for a group prayer later today. What do you think of it:

All: I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

(Pause)

I love the LORD because he has heard
my voice in supplication,
Because he has inclined his ear to me
the day I called.

(Pause)

May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones …

(Pause)

The cords of death encompassed me;
the snares of the netherworld seized upon me;
I fell into distress and sorrow,
And I called upon the name of the LORD,
“O LORD, save my life!”

(Pause)

… and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might …

(Pause)

Gracious is the LORD and just;
yes, our God is merciful.
The LORD keeps the little ones;
I was brought low, and he saved me.

(Pause)

… which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens …

(Pause)

For he has freed my soul from death,
my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
I shall walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.

(Pause)

All: I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

More legislation on how to affix an altar in the sanctuary, and what materials should be used for its construction:

§ 57 § The altar is the natural focal point of the sanctuary and is to be “freestanding to allow the [priest] to walk around it easily and Mass to be celebrated facing the people.”(GIRM 299)Ordinarily, it should be fixed (with the base affixed to the floor) and with a table or mensa made of natural stone,(RDCA IV, 9; Cf. GIRM 301, canon law 1235, 1236a) since it represents Christ Jesus, the Living Stone (1 Pt 2:4). The pedestal or support for the table may be fashioned from “any sort of material, as long as it is becoming and solid.”(GIRM 301; cf. canon law 1236) In the United States it is permissible to use materials other than natural stone for a fixed altar, provided these materials are worthy, solid, properly constructed, and subject to the further judgment of the local ordinary.(GIRM 301) Parishes building new churches must follow the directives of the diocesan bishop regarding the kind of altar chosen and suitable materials for new altars.

A few very brief comments:

Note that the mensa should be stone, but that a composite composition is possible, if made of all “worthy” materials.

Within the elements of universal legislation, the diocesan bishop may give additional directives, which should be followed.

And a personal remembrance. I found the altar at Our Lady of the Genesee Abbey to be striking when I first visited there as a college student. The guestmaster described that it was brought in from overhead by crane before the roof was complete.

All texts from Built of Living Stones are copyright © 2000, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

I like Scott Alessi’s piece on marrying at Sunday Mass. It’s a decision my wife and I have never come close to regretting. Here we are processing in together during the entrance song:

Isn’t that a great dress? My sweetie made it. Who’s the stiff in the suit? Not too nervous there, are we, bucko. The scan of the Mass just after we were called up for vows:

It can work. And once I get my sweetie’s permission to crack into the wedding picture album maybe I can scan more stuff.

The episcopal mansion used by the archbishops of Philadelphia has been sold to St Joseph’s University. That’s some domestic square footage–more than twenty-four times the footprint of my home. Just think: two dozen teenagers could be trying on their white homecoming dresses in its rooms this week–not even counting the 8.9 acres for lawn parties. The NCR piece includes an air image of the property. Just to the upper right of the house, you can see the emptied concrete basins that were once swimming pools.

It’s a good move. I wish it had saved jobs. Jobs are in short enough supply for Americans. Archbishop Chaput is moving in with the seminarians. It was a good era for the US bishops when some of their number lived in rectories, a care facility, or a humble apartment. Such are helpful gestures and show moral leadership.

EN 18 offers a definition of evangelization:

18. For the Church, evangelizing means bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new: “Now I am making the whole of creation new.”[Rev. 21:5; cf. 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15] But there is no new humanity if there are not first of all new persons renewed by Baptism[Cf. Rom 6:4] and by lives lived according to the Gospel.[Cf. Eph 4:24-25; Col 3:9-10.] The purpose of evangelization is therefore precisely this interior change, and if it had to be expressed in one sentence the best way of stating it would be to say that the Church evangelizes when she seeks to convert,[Cf. Rom 1:16; 1 Cor 1:18, 2:4] solely through the divine power of the message she proclaims, both the personal and collective consciences of people, the activities in which they engage, and the lives and concrete milieu which are theirs.

How important are perspectives? The image of converting humanity from the inside out isn’t one usually attached to much modern chat about spreading the faith, even the notion of the “new” evangelization. But it certainly colors one’s expectations, doesn’t it? Most Catholics today seem to have retreated from an engagement with the culture, as if it taints us by our very association with it. Evangelization might be less successful than it could be if we insist, or presume the insistence on being disengaged from the “concrete milieu” of the times.

The definition seems pretty audacious to me. Our goal is Baptism. Not semi-Christian sympathizers. Our aim is a life transformed according to the pattern of the Gospel. We also rely on the “divine power of the (Gospel) message.” Not our own persuasive abilities.

Finally, notice the targets of our commentary: personal and collective consciences, activities, and the life and setting of those attracted to Christ. The post-conciliar Church fields a lot of criticism for a perception its message is mere milquetoast. But I don’t see that in EN 18. Do you?

For the first time in twelve years, I’ll be working with a lector who is blind. My previous experience was a positive one, as the young lady prepared readings in advance and arrived at liturgy with a stiff piece of paper, rather parchment-like, punched with those small dots.

This semester, our parish has a grad student who reads via Braille. I sent her the readings for her assigned Sundays. She has told me she can “translate” these readings for her use.

A few discussion points for my commentariat, if you care to weigh in …

How many of you have had lectors who needed to proclaim the Scriptures from a Braille text? What are some of the ways in which you have interacted with these lectors to assist in their preparation?

On the institutional front, what do you suppose the approach is with Braille and the Lectionary? Does a Braille copy of a Lectionary reading have to have a copyright notice? Does it need to be aligned in sense lines like the Lectionary? What might other potential issues do you see as possibly coming from Rome or the USCCB on this front?