Priest offers list of Liturgical Musts

[Lux_et_veritas]

In the January 5th, 2006 edition of the Wanderer, on the front page is an article entitled, Priest offers list of Liturgical Musts. It highlights some suggestions made by Fr. Jay Scott Newman, a convert from the Episcopal Church and has been a priest for 12 years. The Wanderer repbulishes this list of suggestions and acknowledges that it has been widely discussed on the internet. I did not recall seeing it here, so my apologies if I missed the discussion.

I found a copy of the text and will begin with the first part. Follow the link after that.

I was baptized in the Episcopal Church, and there I learned to worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. When I became a Catholic, one of the most difficult adjustments for me was learning to accept the generally wretched state of the sacred liturgy in most parishes: banal language, casual atmosphere, mediocre secular music, ugly buildings badly decorated. In all too many places, the result is simply unspeakable. But this need not be.

 The Catholic Church gave us Chartres and Canterbury; she gave us plainchant and Palestrina. The Catholic Church saved the language of Cicero, and gave birth to the Christian poetry of the West. The cultural and artistic riches of the Western Church are still in our storehouse; we need only deploy them in a way adapted to the present structure of the Roman Rite.

 I have been a priest for more than twelve years, and in that time I have served four parishes, one college chaplaincy, and one seminary. In all of those posts, the following characteristics were observed (mutatis mutandis), and the results were splendid. I offer these suggestions for those who seek to “re-enchant” the sacred liturgy for the purpose of leading those who worship more deeply into the Paschal Mystery.

 **For the building and its contents**

 1. The tabernacle MUST be on the rear wall of the chancel and on the central axis of the church. Putting the LORD anywhere else turns everything else on an angle, and no ideological justification will change the way in which this simple fact destabilizes the liturgy.

 2. The priest’s chair should face the ambo, not the congregation, and it should ideally be located on the opposite side of the altar from the ambo. When he is seated, the celebrant (like the congregation) should be facing the proclamation of the Word of God; to have him face the people from his chair makes him the focus of attention and invites him to behave like a talk show host.

…click to read more…

 

[David_Zampino]

Lux_et_veritas:

In the January 5th, 2006 edition of the Wanderer, on the front page is an article entitled, Priest offers list of Liturgical Musts. It highlights some suggestions made by Fr. Jay Scott Newman, a convert from the Episcopal Church and has been a priest for 12 years. The Wanderer repbulishes this list of suggestions and acknowledges that it has been widely discussed on the internet. I did not recall seeing it here, so my apologies if I missed the discussion.

I found a copy of the text and will begin with the first part. Follow the link after that.

I was baptized in the Episcopal Church, and there I learned to worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. When I became a Catholic, one of the most difficult adjustments for me was learning to accept the generally wretched state of the sacred liturgy in most parishes: banal language, casual atmosphere, mediocre secular music, ugly buildings badly decorated. In all too many places, the result is simply unspeakable. But this need not be.

 The Catholic Church gave us Chartres and Canterbury; she gave us plainchant and Palestrina. The Catholic Church saved the language of Cicero, and gave birth to the Christian poetry of the West. The cultural and artistic riches of the Western Church are still in our storehouse; we need only deploy them in a way adapted to the present structure of the Roman Rite.

 I have been a priest for more than twelve years, and in that time I have served four parishes, one college chaplaincy, and one seminary. In all of those posts, the following characteristics were observed (mutatis mutandis), and the results were splendid. I offer these suggestions for those who seek to “re-enchant” the sacred liturgy for the purpose of leading those who worship more deeply into the Paschal Mystery.

 **For the building and its contents**

 1. The tabernacle MUST be on the rear wall of the chancel and on the central axis of the church. Putting the LORD anywhere else turns everything else on an angle, and no ideological justification will change the way in which this simple fact destabilizes the liturgy.

 2. The priest’s chair should face the ambo, not the congregation, and it should ideally be located on the opposite side of the altar from the ambo. When he is seated, the celebrant (like the congregation) should be facing the proclamation of the Word of God; to have him face the people from his chair makes him the focus of attention and invites him to behave like a talk show host.

…click to read more…

An OUTSTANDING article!!! I, too, am a convert from the Episcopal church, and frankly, one of the things that keeps many “high church Anglo-Catholics” in ECUSA or in one of the Continuing Anglican traditions IS the hash many places have made of the Liturgy.

Blessings,

 

[Lux_et_veritas]

David Zampino:

An OUTSTANDING article!!! I, too, am a convert from the Episcopal church, and frankly, one of the things that keeps many “high church Anglo-Catholics” in ECUSA or in one of the Continuing Anglican traditions IS the hash many places have made of the Liturgy.

Blessings,

Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. I happen to think the good father is right on target, including the issue about all-male altar boys. Actually, it is hard to single out any one part because I agree whole-heartedly on it all.

I agree on the liturgy too. Things will change with time - maybe decades. It is very promising what I see out of the 20 and 30-somethings coming out of the seminary these days. A good chunk of them are solidly orthodox in their theology and their taste for the liturgy is very traditional. I’ve seen several, who have only been ordained from 1-3 years doing ad orientem Masses in latin, sometimes private, or in public. They celebrate extremely reserved and not flambuoyant. When these guys say the words at Consecration, they look down, for example, into the Chalice, not up at the people. It’s all about taking the focus off of yourself so that people can focus on God. These are very subtle things. However, I’m convinced that more and more seminaries will begin to teach their seminarians these kinds of things, versus the lessons in showmanship which have made many priests into appearing as “talk show hosts” as he suggests.

 

[JimG]

I like this part, but it will be hard to implement in most churches:

If the choir is visible to the congregation, move them to a place where they will not be. This is absolutely essential to celebrating liturgy as worship rather than liturgy as entertainment.

And also this:

Say Mass as though the people were not present.

 

[Lux_et_veritas]

JimG:

I like this part, but it will be hard to implement in most churches:If the choir is visible to the congregation, move them to a place where they will not be. This is absolutely essential to celebrating liturgy as worship rather than liturgy as entertainment.And also this:Say Mass as though the people were not present.

Yes, both of these go to the concept of enabling people to focus on God, by removing any and all distractions. Even the priest himself can become a distraction, without realizing it. Many are taught these distractive behaviors in the seminary and it will be changing, I’m convinced.

I’m in the choir at my parish and we remain up in the loft unless it is an orchestral Mass where we need to be downstairs with the orchestra. But, we are still out of sight.

Years ago i use to play in a folk group . While it was all nicey-nice, we were right up front, “on display”. I can attest that it is easy to feel that you are the center of attention when you are singing in such a situation. It makes it more like a performance than simply musical prayer. It felt funny with people clapping following a given song because God was suppose to be at the center of the Mass not us. Cardinal Arinze briefly touches on it here. He speaks of clapping following dance, which he says does not belong in western liturgy. I’ve read elsewhere similar words on clapping in church following any kind of performance at Mass time.
Arinze: So all those that want to entertain us – after Mass, let us go to the parish hall and then you can dance. And then we clap. But when we come to Mass we don’t come to clap. We don’t come to watch people, to admire people. We want to adore God, to thank Him, to ask Him pardon for our sins, and to ask Him for what we need.

More on Liturgical Piety by Cardinal Arinze can be found here:

 

[JimG]

I’ve alwasy felt rather uncomfortable about applause for the choir even–especially–when their music has been so magnificent as to enable the congregation to lift their minds and hearts to God in an uplifting way. It is rather like applauding the priest for a beautiful liturgy.