QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

# 1

How will we learn the new words of the new Translation of the Roman Missal?

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has prepared a red booklet to assist us in transitioning from the Mass texts we know by heart to the new mandated texts. These red booklets will also contain music for the singing of various responses and ordinary parts like the Glory To God, Holy HOLY HOLY and various other acclamations. The five musical settings were determined by the Archdiocesan Music committee after review over one hundred settings. Be sure to pick one up at the church door as you arrive for Sunday Mass each week. 

Unfortunately, because of copyright agreements, this booklet can not be sold to persons outside of this jurisdiction. However, most of the Catholic music publishers are offering something similar.

 Check these sites:

(1) OCP presents a very similar booklet that will find inside the back cover of your current hymnal:   http://www.ocp.org/products/30102300

(2)  World Library presents a booklet that contains the NEW words of the Mass and complete Order of Mass including changes from The Roman Missal and our best-selling Mass setting by Steve R. Janco: Mass of Redemption. 
SEE: http://www.wlp.jspaluch.com/12118.htm

# 2

Since UD is not a parish as such, can we simply continue with texts and music we already know?

Yes, it is true that the University of Dayton's Chapel of the Immaculate Conception and other campus chapels do not have the status of "parish."  However, the new edition of the Missal and its translation belongs to the whole, polyglot Church. Catholics, in all English speaking countries, will have the same translation to help us realize that we are all in this together and that this new edition of the Roman Missal, used in local languages all over the world, provides us all with an opportunity to review, re-invigorate, and deepen our appreciate of the great Mystery of Christ that we touch whenever we "DO" the liturgy together. The new Missal in its English translation goes into effect on the First Sunday of Advent November 26-27, 2011. All current and older Sacramentaries may be recycled that day.

# 3 

When can I purchase the new Missal?

ANSWER: You can purchase the new Missal now with a guaranteed arrival date some time in the first week of October, depending on the publisher.

You absolutely need it by  November 25 because the new Missal goes into full effect on the First Sunday of Advent; this includes the Masses for the First Sunday of Advent which may be anticipated on November 26, 2011. From that day, only the new Missal and its new translation may be used. This implies that current, well-known, sung Mass settings can no longer be licitly used.

A word to the wise: start learning one Mass setting now.

I would urge all members of the Marianist Province of the United States to learn the Mass of St. Frances Cabrini by Kevin Keil. It is very very singable and easy to learn. Can be done a cappella, with organ or piano or guitar; it can be done with a small congregation or with a big church, big choir and multiple instruments, not unlike Mass of Creation.  If we all learn this one outstanding Mass, when we come together for common celebration our singing can be stronger and more easily faith-filled.

SEE:   http://www.ocp.org/newmasssettings/newsettings/stfrancescabrini

Yes, the US Bishops have authorized the use of the SUNG ordinary parts (not the dialogs) in order to make the Full Transition on the First Sunday of Advent easier. The new Missal expects that the "Ordinary" parts will normally be sung, not recited. However, during this time period, if you recite these parts you must use the current translation. If you sing them you MAY use the new translation and music. The new Mass setting (texts and music) go into full effect on the First Sunday of Advent. Get those recycle bins ready for a big influx of current Mass settings since they will no longer be permitted. All the major publishers have many new Mass settings to choose from.  Consult your local Diocesan Music Commission for recommendations.

The Sung Ordinary Parts include: The Gloria, Sanctus, Mystery  of Faith acclamation, Great Amen, and Lamb of God.




For a second setting, learn the simple chant that is embedded within the Missal. This will be perfect for ordinary weekdays, when the energy level is not high. (The Chant setting is easy and will most probably be used in a lot of situations across the entire English speaking world.) Every publisher will have this available in some for. Check you favorite website for pricing and order  information.

# 4

Where can I purchase the new translation of the ROMAN MISSAL now, so that we can have the opportunity to practice the texts well before the mandated date arrives?

Answer 4:

First off, all the books have the exact same content. When you shop, you are looking for particular kinds of things that you desire in a book including: readable and beautiful fonts, good paper, kind of binding, material for the cover and so forth. Pay attention to what is and is not mentioned in the advertisements. Caveat emptor. 

Secondly, If you have a Religious Goods or Church Supply Store in your area you can shop there.  You can also shop on-line, if you want more choices and better prices. Most companies are offering a discount if you order before a certain date. Each company seems to have a slightly different cut off date for the price break. You often find better deals on-line than in-store.

For myself, I am impressed with the book that Magnificat Magazine is offering.

See their web-page. Read about the ways they seem to be paying attention to details in the binding process, like the wonderfully bound liturgical books of the 1950’s.

http://www.magnificat.com/romanmissal/index.asp  

A good number of Brothers have told me that they have ordered the Missal from Liturgical Press at Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville MN.  Liturgical Press has a  long treasured history as trusted publishers of  both liturgical books as well as  theology and spirituality books. Check out their website to see if their edition meets your needs. The  artwork within the book has been provided Benedictine Brother Martin Erspamer, who for a long time was a Marianist (Bro. Steve).

See:  http://www.litpress.org/Features.aspx?ID=149

Others are saying that they like the one being produced by LTP.
Read up on it and see what  you think:

   http://revisedromanmissal.org/

This is a very well done web-site.  Even if you do not want their edition of the Missal, you can find many resources here for learning more about the Missal, with pull-down tabs for News, Resources, other Blogs, and workshops.

I know that many of you use the books published by CATHOLIC BOOK. I, myself, am not impressed with their editions, especially layout and font face. However, my friend, Tom Cousineau, owner of Henningers Religious Goods in Cleveland, insists that they have the best bindings. Your choice.

http://www.catholicbookpublishing.com/ShowProduct.aspx?ProductID=845&DepartmentID=88

Are there other questions…..mailto:jerry.chinchar@gmail.comsituations across the entire English speaking world.

Introducing the new educational Blog:
Mass, Missal, and Mission Blog to help Marianists prepare for the new translation of the Missal.

I had an inspiration. At least, it seems like an inspiration and I don’t get those everyday. So this is the beginning of a BLOG in preparation for the full implementation of the ROMAN MISSAL, editio typica 3, in its new English translation.  I want to encourage you to to drop me a line with questions that you think would be helpful for your local assembly to be more deeply engaged in the Liturgy and to pay more attention to parts of the Mass that may have been neglected in various ways.  Jerry.chinchar@gmail.com

As you know, the Missale Romanum—Editio Typica 3 [the Latin original] of the (new) Roman Missal was revised around 2002 to include some of the new Saints created under the auspices of JP2. The revised Editio Typica also changed a number of rubrics (official church law with regard to the “doing” of the Eucharistic liturgy).  We might consider some of them as a tightening up because of perceived abuses and we might consider some of them as expanding various usages.  Nonetheless, “rubrics”  are much more than “suggestions” and we would do well to understand what they are really inviting us into. Thus, I would encourage all of you “out there” to read the GIRM (General Instruction on the Roman Missal).  Please, Don’t think of the GIRM as primarily a rulebook. Rather, think of it as a helpful explanation of why we do certain things in the liturgy and of the various ways it invites us all to a fuller, deeper, more focused and aware participation in the divine mystery of our salvation. You can find it on-line [see link-1 below], or you can purchase it from Amazon.com [see link-2 below].  

Don't forget: The Roman Missal developed over a long, long history, starting with the era before internet, before word processing, before instant messaging, and even before the Printing press.

The Roman Missal is a great treasure for us because it contains prayers that transcend the ages; prayers which give voice to our common faith.  LEX ORANDI, LEX CREDENDI. That is a treasured expression in Latin which Basically communicates the principle: The way we pray in the Liturgy expresses the way we believe; thus, the way we believe gets expressed in the way we pray together.  The “we” must be understood in the bigger picture: WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER AS A UNIVERSAL CHURCH.

So, I am starting this little BLOG, to help the readers, (primarily my Marianist family: the Society of Mary, the Marianist Sisters, and the many lay Marianists), to enter more fully into the sacred action together with Catholic Sisters and Brothers AROUND THE WORLD. 

We walk the journey of faith together, each of our communities being attentive like Mary and attentive and responsive to “do whatever He tells us.”  One of the things he is telling us these days, I think, is that we belong to the Church and our celebration of the Eucharist makes the fullest sense when are truly in communion with the Church as the Body of Christ. Christ who reveals the Father (the visible image of the invisible God) and who —by our baptism—shares his divine life with us, nourishing and strengthening us each day as we come together in praise and thanksgiving, renewing our “yes” to “follow Lamb wherever he goes.”

Because there was hardly any catechesis done about the great liturgical prayer tradition of the Church back around 1970 when we first went to an English liturgy, more and more people across the USA are realizing that this is an opportunity to learn more, to participate more fully, and to let the Lord who gathers us together also send us forth to live the Mission of Love and Salvation.

Across these past forty years, there were many misunderstandings about the parts of the Mass and their meaning; thus, there were many good-willed but mistaken “adjustments” to the liturgical texts and movements. Sometimes we did not understand the true role of music and singing nor did we understand or enter into the common gestures that would help participation to be full, active and CONSCIOUS. A new opportunity presents itself to us now.

The new edition of the Missal (in its English translation) gives us a new opportunity to come to appreciate more completely the parts of the Liturgy which may have been excluded from our conscious participation.  Every human endeavor gets criticism of various kinds. This Blog does not have as a goal a focus  on the deficiencies of the new translation. Rather, I will try to point out "teachable moments"  embedded within the  Missal so that praying the Liturgy together can  be a more deliberate, significant, and meaningful experience, nourishing and strengthening us to embrace more fully our Baptismal identity as disciples of Jesus, as his very Body sent out in MISSION to our broken world.

So, while the Scriptures for any one liturgy are indeed important—and it is praiseworthy to concentrate on them—for our participation to be full we need to enter meaningfully into the sung dialogs, the prayers and the common gestures more deeply as well so that our covenant with the Lord might truly lead us out from Mass into Mission.

For music, it will mean--in some places—the putting aside of many favorite or well-known Mass-settings, taking more practice, placing less dependency of recorded music or simply passive listening; and in other places, it will mean expanding repertoire to be more congruent with the liturgy of the day and season, especially for the proper daily responsorial psalm, and the sung eucharistic acclamations, all of which have new texts.

I'm going to do this BLOG in two ways:

1) Sometimes as a FAQ: questions which have come and which may come up.

Among the changes your assembly will experience are:

* new wordings in familiar dialogs

* new texts for the MYSTERY OF FAITH ACCLAMATION (and the elimination of many old favorites;
* a new appreciation of what “progressive solemnity” means; what are the spots that the liturgy always expects song, and the fact that there are moments within the liturgy that have great urgency for singing and other moments that require less.

This may feel like going thru a conversion experience for some. Being inn this together as Church implies that we can't be Frank Sinatra with the Liturgy  (“I want it my way.”).

2) I will give cross references to sites on the internet that I have found to be helpful and insightful about the great prayer tradition in the Roman Rite.

FINAL NOTE for today:

• Sometimes I will compose an answer to the question at hand; 
• Sometimes I will give a cross reference to something on the web that I think addressees the issue well.

I encourage you to drop me a line with questions that you think would be helpful in your local assembly.  It would be  helpful to me if you tell me what parts were  particularly meaningful for you. Hopefully, the texts and links I provide will bring a realization that the efforts we put into the Liturgy, day by day, are worth it.

Grace and Peace to you!

FR. JERRY

[1] http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20030317_ordinamento-messale_en.html

[2] http://www.amazon.com/General-Instruction-Congregation-Discipline-Sacraments/dp/157455543X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315249508&sr=8-1

ALONG SIDE of this booklet,
I would recommend this very helpful commentary:

http://www.amazon.com/General-Instruction-Roman-Missal-1969-2002/dp/0814629369/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1315249508&sr=8-3

Another Shared Resource:
You-Tube like videos from a scholar Jesuit
about implementing the RomanMissal in our communities and apostolates.  Very Helpful!

While they may complain a bit about them, Marianists usually have admiration for Jesuits who share insights, do heroic ministry, or write outstanding articles.

Fr. John Baldovan, SJ, from Boston College, speaks from the heart to his Jesuit confreres about the new translation of the Missal and how they might deal with the changes in both rubrics and prayer texts.

Check out these five short videos.  I think you will resonate with the concerns and get something out of John’s information and insights. I think you will find him both engaging and interesting.

This is a five part series with each segment taking about 3 minutes.

Fr. John Baldovan, SJ with Five short flicks about “How to treat the new Missal”     http://www.jesuit.org/index.php/2011/05/31/video-series-offers-insight-and-assistance-in-transition-to-new-translation-of-roman-missal/

Grace and Peace to you!

  JERRY