Adoremus Bulletin For the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy
JULY 2019
News & Views
Vol. XXV, No. 1
Eternal Prayer in an Age of Technique: A Catholic Proposal for A Liturgical Apologetics
Holy See Confirms Changes to Italian Our Father, Gloria
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Vatican City (CNA)—The Apostolic See has confirmed the translation of the third edition of the Roman Missal prepared by the Italian bishops’ conference. The translation has garnered attention for its changes to the Our Father, as well as the Gloria. The newly-approved Messale Romano will translate the penultimate line of the Our Father (ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem) (lead us not into temptation) as “non abbandonarci alla tentazione” (do not abandon us to temptation). The existing version had translated it as “non ci indurre in tentazione” (lead us not into temptation). In the Gloria, the line “in térra pax homínibus bónae voluntátis” (on earth peace to people of good will) will be translated “pace in terra agli uomini, amati dal Signore” (peace on earth to men, loved by the Lord). It was translated “pace in terra agli uomini di buona volontà” (peace on earth to men of good will). The Italian bishops’ conference had approved the new edition of the Messale Romano during their November 2018 general assembly. The Apostolic See’s confirmation of the text was communicated during the conference’s meeting last month. News reports in English may have given the impression that Pope Francis had changed the Our Father for the whole of the Church, rather than his having confirmed a change made by the bishops of Italy. The new Italian text is a translation of the third edition of the Missale Please see TRANSLATION on next page
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By Hannah Brockhaus
If we are to perform liturgical apologetics, we must begin from the material. But this is not a task, writes Timothy O’Malley, “equivalent to the aesthete who likes old things. The goal is not to return to Palestrina because his music is old and thus sufficiently traditional for the liturgy. The end is not to recreate the frescos of Fra Angelico (an example, above) in every church. Instead, if one is to foster the singing of polyphony, it is because such music provides an encounter with radical materiality, with the contingency of sound itself. If we are to place frescos in churches, it is because such images enable the human person to see how his own flesh was involved in the process of salvation.”
By Timothy P. O’Malley
A
ir travelers are aware of a temptation endemic to the act of frequent flying. We grow used to the marvel of manned flight. As the plane ascends above terra firma, we put our headphones on, refusing to turn our eyes to the extraordinary landscape below us. A century ago, our ancestors would have marveled at our capacity to leave behind our earth-bound status, to survey creation from 20,000 feet. Our forebears used to perilous journeys across violent seas would have been awestruck at the ability to travel—with perhaps a bit of turbulence our only hindrance—from New York to London in six hours. We, on the other hand, perceive this act of flying as part of doing business. It is one of the techniques that we use to accomplish our work in the world. Human life is defined in our age, as sociologist Jacques Ellul recognized, by the proliferation of such technique. Most of us are not sufficiently attentive to the manner in which such technique is changing how we understand what it means to be a human being. The jetliner, the smartphone, and the Internet are not neutral technologies. The airplane has changed the way that we travel, allowing the human being to transcend
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Adoremus Bulletin JULY 2019
temporal and spatial contingencies that once defined the human person. Nor are the smartphone and the Internet merely neutral instruments that we can use to navigate everything from the city’s grid of streets and avenues to the online information highway. Through both the smartphone and the Internet, once more, contingency disappears. All knowledge, all entertainment, through a supposed bird’s eye view, is now available to us. In essence, we have recreated ourselves as gods.
“ What happens when the salvific contingency of the Church’s liturgical life meets a culture with a seemingly infinite power to transcend time and space?” The Church, of course, has its own technologies—techniques through which the human person learns not to escape the world but to dwell contemplatively within it. Often, these ecclesial techniques intended to save us are at
least partially opposed to the technologies of our age. The liturgical act, for example, is not about escaping contingency. Instead, we who stand before the living God to offer a sacrifice of praise are embracing the salvific nature of our contingency. We are creatures, rather than the Creator. What we are capable of knowing, willing, and doing is limited. The Age of Technique But what happens when the salvific contingency of the Church’s liturgical life meets a culture with a seemingly infinite power to transcend time and space? Sacrosanctum Concilium presumed that the human person, who would perform the liturgical act, was aware of the precarity of his or her existence. We recognized ourselves as betwixt and between heaven and earth, situated within a world but made for contemplation of the invisible God become visible. The liturgy was to become the privileged ecclesial pedagogy by which we might come to terms with this “betweenness.” Sensible signs would lead us to contemplate the glories of the triune God through sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. But now, over fifty years after the Council, we Please see APOLOGETICS on page 4
Apology Necessary Sorry to say, says Timothy O’Malley, but Catholics’ understanding of the liturgy is sorely lacking—and now more than ever the Church needs a liturgical apologetics................................ 1
Laying Down Tracks Adam Bartlett speaks with choral musician Matthew Curtis about how his venture Choral Tracks helps train the faithful in ancient music with the engine of modern technology............... 9
Words Down Under Looking at the well-versed genius of the late Australian poet Les Murray, Joseph O’Brien reads the life and works of this Catholic poet between the lines of the liturgy ............................ 3
Growing Mystery Father Philip-Michael Tangorra’s new book Holiness and the Sacramental Life, according to Brian Kranick, offers a solution to the mystery lacking in modernity............................................12
Big Church on Campus Amid the darkness of secular life at University of Wisconsin, Randall L. Milbrath and Matthew Alderman shine a light on the new St. Paul’s University Catholic Center.................................... 6
News & Views...................................................2 The Rite Questions....................................... 10 Donors & Memorials................................... 11