Well, I saw no neck braces at our local, rural Minnesota Catholic parish, and I didn’t see anyone storm out of the 8 a.m. Mass this morning. All in all, the implementation of the new translation of the Roman Missal seemed pretty effortless.
The most noticeable faux pas were the automatic instincts of the congregants to say “And also with you” at the very beginning of Mass, and at the very end. In the beginning of Mass, our priest smiled at the discordant responses and said, “Let’s try that again.”
One unintended consequence of the discord was that people were caught off guard. For example, during the dismissal, when the priest said, “The Lord be with you,” and he received a variety of responses, he then proceeded to “Go in peace.” Because of the previous confusion, there was a noticeable lack of response to “Go in peace,” either because people were uncertain if the response was the same, or they felt embarrassed by their previous response.
Throughout Mass, the priest reminded parishioners of upcoming changes, so that they could grab the pew card and find their place.
There was one minor mistake on the priest’s part, where he, too, relied on instinct and uttered text from the previous translation without catching himself.
Our children, equipped with child-friendly Missals from Holy Heroes were easily able to follow along and participate. They had listened to the Holy Heroes new translation on CD a number of times, so were probably more equipped for the changes than myself. In fact, at dismissal, I found myself instinctively uttering “And also…” until my daughter elbowed me, and what came out probably sounded like “And also with your spirit.”
Otherwise all went well. The pews were well equipped with helpful pew cards, and booklets inserted into the back of each hymnal. The hiccups were pretty minor ones and I suspect that, as in the U.K., where the change took place previously, the changes will become habitual and effortless in a matter of weeks.
What did you see, hear, experience?
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It’s always nice to be reminded that clergy are ordinary people too…one of our funnier moments (not with the new translation per se) was one day when our priest realized, no, there is NOT an app for that, not one that he has on his iPhone anyway.
The responses were loud and enthusiastic in our church this morning (St. Francis of Assisi, Henderson, NV). Father John explained what was going to happen, had everyone locate the prayer aids in the pews and, during the homily, described the first part of the Mass (Introductory rite) [the remaining parts, Liturgy of the Word, Liturgy of the Eucharist, and the Concluding rite, with be covered on subsequent weeks of Advent]). He’d wave the prayer aid at different parts of the Mass to alert people to be attentive. He had a smile on his face once Mass concluded and thanked us for our full and active participation.
One other note: I found myself lingering on the prayers of the priest, trying to understand what was being said on our behalf. I’d sometimes lose track of what was being done as I “slowed down” and occasionally missed words / thoughts / themes. But that will be overcome with time. The words I did “process” seemed to focus on God in a more reverent manner.
I’m glad this happened and am happy to witness this special milestone!
It went pretty well in my parish, with the exception of the Ecce Agnus Dei/Domine non sum dignus. There almost everyone, including Father, accidentally fell back on the old version. Other than the expected mix of response to “The Lord be with you”, it went quite well. Father even stopped his (very minor) alteration he’d been making to EP2.
I also was at Mass at the Guadalupe Shrine today…that went quite well with the exception of Father accidentally starting the wrong Creed (Apostle’s inst. of Nicene), which he just restarted and we were fine. The new Canon is absolutely wonderful!
Please see my weekly blog A View from the Pew on my website at www.denisemorencygannon.org. I’ve been posting under this blog title for quite some time. Thanks for reading. Denise
Sundays many pew sitters will follow along with the booklets, so except at the final blessings not too much confusion, but, the week-day Mass, another story, but in time & practice this will fall into place. When will the Holy Father come right out & command the Bishops to make Sunday the day of worship & to stop the singing during Communion as we should be reflecting on Jesus. In the Church that I am going to for the time being, there is a lady with a very LOUD voice standing on the side with the Precious Blood of Jesus singing & to make matters worse, the Priest was singing instead of telling us to receive the Precious Body of Jesus. Why is it that us Americans need to be entertained every moment with some sort of noise? +JMJ+
Very well. I enjoyed it. Sr. Barbara, who was our cantor, did a masterful job of leading the congregation. The Holy Holy Holy was recited in Latin, but did not have a Latin cheat sheet! So it was a bit ragged. Though I knew the changes, I was still taken back by the amount of modificaitons from the Eucharistic prayers. Which I enjoyed.
As another pastor in the media quoted: “We’ll stumble a bit, but remember we’re just here to praise God”.
I was surprised how well the transition is going from what I have seen and read. It will take some time but eventually we will all forgot that a change was even. Keep up the good work Tim.
I found the new translation stilted, and nonsensical, in other words, a return to the past. Some Catholics have gone over to the Lutheran Church. I won’t but I shake my head over some of the translations and wonder what they were thinking.
I was surprised when a Minneapolis news station led with the story of the “changes to the Mass” and a woman who was ‘stunned’ by the change. If one was ‘stunned’ by the change, then you must not have been to Mass, seen a parish bulletin, visited a parish or diocese website, listened to Catholic Radio, or watched EWTN for the past year or more. In my parish, rural Minnesota, there were a few stumblings and we pretty much said ‘and also with your spirit’ as well. However, I was most pleasantly surprised that the trio of ‘my faults’ was very clear.
Roman Missal III wk I———-It went beautifully. The secret to a successful outcome is no secret at all. Preparation!!!! We had ‘rehearsals’ and sessions to discuss the translation and practice the new sung responses. It all worked beautifully, and even the nay-sayers granted that it had gone well.
Patricia Stanley, simply because something is a “return to the past” does not necessarily make it “nonsensical.” In fact, the new translation does make a lot of theological sense, so it is therefore not “nonsensical.” I will, in part, give you “stilted,” though, but only to the extent that most people are not used to hearing Mass celebrated like this, and the words don’t sound familiar. It will take some getting used to, but I, for one, am pleased.
As for “what were they thinking,” I’m going to venture a speculation that they were thinking that it would get us thinking about what it is we actually profess to believe.
“And also with your spirit” was the most popular response all week here as well!! Many are still getting used to the responses, but are embracing it nonetheless.
Folks in our parish have done better on Sunday than the daily Mass goers. Also, I was surprised that the children didn’t do as well as I expected at our school Mass, but that they did follow along on their pew cards once the priest reminded them. He also gave a couple of alerts to them later in the Mass for the “big” changes, and they did well once they were signalled.
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