Liturgical Critiques

Tom Hoopes here. Lots of people are commenting on the liturgy at Nationals Stadium. To those who have been reading Pope2008.com (see "Liturgies") nothing in the liturgy was much of a surprise.

But the concern is understandable, given what Msgr. Guido Marini, the new papal Master of Ceremonies said:

"I hope the liturgical celebrations presided over by the Holy Father may be an example and also provide an orientation for the church in the United States."

It's important to note that Msgr. Marini was not here recommending papal stadium Masses as a model for your parish. He was speaking of Pope Benedict's Rome liturgies.

It will, however, be interesting to see Pope Benedict XVI celebrate Mass in a church this weekend. Will it be a Msgr. Marini Mass, or a Mass in which participating dioceses get to show off their pride and joy?

Comments

[Liz]

I do wonder why the Agnus Dei was different at the Papal Mass... it was repeated 4 times, but never sung with dona nobis pacem ending.

Can this be explained?

[Al]

An interesting point... As a music minister, I wonder why it seems very little thought was given as to what music his Holiness Pope Benedict would have preffered during his celebration of the Holy Mass? Whatever side of Liturgical debates you sit on, it just strikes me as a bit odd.

[William]

Could this have been the Amchurch's swan song? Let us pray to the Lord! Wuerl is now one of a handful of powerful, progessive bishops left in this country. What I mean, they are powerful and can still mix it up. Vatican II was co-opted by this claque and they have given us four decades of liturgical tripe, caused deep divisions within the Church, countenanced the bad and dissenting behaviour of priests, and emboldened lay Catholics in disobedience, e.g., Kerrey and Pelosi going to Holy Communion at the Papal Mass in DC. The only way we can address this situation with Christian charity is by politely rejecting their pomps and their works and by supporting wherever and whenever and by whatever means possible the return of the Church's traditional liturgy. As a Church prays so a Church believes--and all you need to do is check out one of the recent polls on American Catholicism.

[William]

Could this have been the Amchurch's swan song? Let us pray to the Lord! Wuerl is now one of a handful of powerful, progessive bishops left in this country. What I mean, they are powerful and can still mix it up. Vatican II was co-opted by this claque and they have given us four decades of liturgical tripe, caused deep divisions within the Church, countenanced the bad and dissenting behaviour of priests, and emboldened lay Catholics in disobedience, e.g., Kerrey and Pelosi going to Holy Communion at the Papal Mass in DC. The only way we can address this situation with Christian charity is by politely rejecting their pomps and their works and by supporting wherever and whenever and by whatever means possible the return of the Church's traditional liturgy. As a Church prays so a Church believes--and all you need to do is check out one of the recent polls on American Catholicism.

[RJackson]

Regarding the Agnus Dei, I'm almost positive that the choir meant to repeat it more than a simple four times (probably in several different languages) but were prompted to stop as the Holy Father was ready to proceed, thus they finished the last verse without the dona nobis pacem. Though I could be completely wrong.

[Frank]

The music at the Liturgy - Nationals stadium was a 'reflection' of the diversity of the US church, and by the way was TERRIFIC.....