What are your thoughts on the "Misa ng Sambayanang Pilipino"? (Inculturated Filipino Liturgy)

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laudarebenedicere

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There has been a move here in the Philippines to inculturate the liturgy of the Mass which is called “Misa ng Sambayanang Pilipino” (Mass of the Filipino People). It includes the use of Filipino gestures, flower petals being strewn in the aisle, use of pot in place of incense, the presider carrying the cross during the processional, communion to be given first to the elder persons, who in turn will feed it to their children, dancing in the liturgy. What are your thoughts on this?

For me, it is unnecessary and inappropriate:

First: Filipino culture varies from area to area. There is no definite Filipino culture. This action means favoring one culture over another

Second: The Roman Liturgy has already been part of Filipino culture since it was introduced by European missionaries in the 16th century. In history, effective methods of inculturation of Filipino culture to the Catholic faith were done OUTSIDE the Mass (such as dancing to patron saints after the Mass), while strictly following the Roman liturgy.
 
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For references, there is a youtube video on Cardinal Tagle offering the Misa ng Sambayanang Pilipino. There are also explanations by the TV Maria and Radio Veritas Channel
 
In addition, in Filipino culture, pot is used for cooking and not for worship!
 
laudarebenedicere said:
It includes the use of Filipino gestures, flower petals being strewn in the aisle, use of pot in place of incense, the presider carrying the cross during the processional, communion to be given first to the elder persons, who in turn will feed it to their children, dancing in the liturgy. What are your thoughts on this?
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I live in the Philippines and I have never seen nor heard of this.
 
Never heard of this until today :philippines::philippines::philippines:
 
There was a Fillipino Benedictine Monk who wrote a good body of work on inculturation. He worked at the Vatican for some time and is worth reading.


Inculturation is a 2 way flow.
The Roman Rite of Liturgy is culture itself.
 
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My thoughts:

Filipino gestures - maybe, I have no clue what this means.

flower petals being strewn in the aisle - sure, why not?

use of pot in place of incense - as in ganja? Absolutely not! There’s no legitimate liturgical use of such a powerful mind-numbing drug. Also, it would give scandal. Not only that, it would be incredibly insensitive to the needs of those (like me) who are in recovery from addiction.

the presider carrying the cross during the processional - it seems more fitting to me that he carry the book of the Gospels.

communion to be given first to the elder persons - seems like it would involve some logistical awkwardness, but sure.

who in turn will feed it to their children - no no no. Too much chance of accidents, plus it lessens the august nature of the Communion rite.

dancing in the liturgy - probably not; at least, not in a Latin Rite mass. Dance in the Liturgy | EWTN
 
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This is offered every year during the Philippine Conference on the New Evangelization in the Archdiocese of Manila (usually by Cardinal Tagle)
 
If it’s approved by a Cardinal and the Pope is not objecting, then I don’t see why I, a non-Filipino living in another country, should be opining on it.

Having a liturgy incorporate aspects of the culture where it’s taking place is not some new idea and honestly it makes no difference to me as I’m not Filipino and it’s not happening in my country, let alone in my diocese.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
If it’s approved by a Cardinal and the Pope is not objecting, then I don’t see why I, a non-Filipino living in another country, should be opining on it.

Having a liturgy incorporate aspects of the culture where it’s taking place is not some new idea and honestly it makes no difference to me as I’m not Filipino and it’s not happening in my country, let alone in my diocese.
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This x1000.

This forum is made up of a majority of American members. We all probably need to remember that the Latin Rite Mass is not uniform throughout the world with our experiences (and in fact, there’s variation enough in the US vs Europe to stop assuming we know how it should all go, sometimes, and those differences are pretty small compared to what we might find in Africa or Asia).

Our opinion counts for absolutely nothing; it’s the Vatican that has (name removed by moderator)ut on these matters with the local bishops.
 
Cor_ad_Cor said:
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Tis_Bearself:
If it’s approved by a Cardinal and the Pope is not objecting, then I don’t see why I, a non-Filipino living in another country, should be opining on it.

Having a liturgy incorporate aspects of the culture where it’s taking place is not some new idea and honestly it makes no difference to me as I’m not Filipino and it’s not happening in my country, let alone in my diocese.
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This x1000.
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For the most part concur.

However, Redemptionis Sacramentum quotes the GIRM in noting that “It is not licit* for the faithful ‘to take . . . by themselves . . . and, still less, to hand . . . from one to another’ the sacred host or the sacred chalice.”
*
The GIRM says “permitted”. The Latin says non licet, so it could translate either way.
 
There is another great author who writes on liturgical inculturation. He has worked as a missionary, theology teacher, is an American Jesuit Priest, is easy to read. Fr. Peter Schineller.
Liturgical Inculturation is part of the post VII, post colonial style spreading of the Gospel.
 
Up to date, it is not yet approved by Rome. No recognitio or any form of approval issued by Rome since it was presented in the 1990s. This is the reason why I brought this topic here. If it were approved already by the Holy See, then I don’t have any right to ask for thoughts
 
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If you mean pot as in weed/marijuana, then that is just evil. The rest of it sounds fine though, good for them
 
If Rome hasn’t said anything and the cardinal is permitting it, then it may be that the Pope is leaving it to the Cardinal.

In any event, we’re mostly from US here, so we are not monitoring this issue.
 
On this part I offer my apologies. Probably I wasn’t clear. The pot I’m referring to was a clay pot - a container, typically rounded or cylindrical and of ceramic ware or metal, used for storage or cooking. I also meant thurible instead of incense. Again, my apologies
 
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I would just like to confirm what laudarebenedicere said. This odd Mass is not approved by Rome. Request to Rome for approval was first submitted in 1991 and there is no indication it will be approved.
 
If Rome has serious concerns then they’ll reject it out of hand. However, if they don’t do this but also don’t explicitly approve it, then it means they’re not too fussed but also don’t want to encourage others to get bright ideas of their own.
 
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