by Fred Moleck
Hope from the Synod
If you're a Catholic news junkie like I am, you probably had been reading daily coverage of the Synod of Bishops in Rome in the first part of October from the National Catholic Reporter. John Allen, Jr., is the reporter and filed his observations by way of the Internet at the NCR website.
Ever since I can remember, I wanted to be first to see a newly released movie, to read the hottest book on the circuit, and to view the latest model of hot sports cars.
If I'm able, I still go to the first run of a new movie, read avariciously the latest book that's featured on National Public Radio, but now I could care less about new cars. I guess St. Paul was right: "I have put away childish things."
Everyday, I would bring up NCR's website, hit the link to the story line and was sucked into the stuff that had gone on in Rome. There were no surprises as to celibacy, the Eucharist, and divorced Catholics.
There were some gratifying interchanges that lend some hope for us who labor in the liturgical and music vineyards of the Roman Church.
Anything that even smacks of being hopeful is welcomed during these days of hurricanes, earthquakes, dead American soldiers, and the federal government's crises du jour.
Allen reported that the general attitude of the participants regarding the past forty-some years of liturgical renewal was overwhelmingly positive. All of the pre-synod rumors and scuttlebutt about the reinstitutionalization of the Tridentine rite was false.
The only rumble about the rite was tangential to a discussion concerning the reconciliation of the Lefebvrites. The discussion went nowhere. In fact the Latin rite liturgy was a nonissue.
The regulation of Latin rite liturgy remains in the competency of the local ordinary.
Another flourish was the great concern expressed over the quality of celebrating the liturgy, with emphasis given to the style and prayerful manner of the presider.
Within that context was the insistence on better preparation for the homily. The preaching is to be Scripture based with the intent of breaking open the word of God for the members of the assembly.
That in itself indicates a passionate interest on the part of the bishops who spent much time on the examination of liturgical matters.
From the bishops of the developing third-world countries was another plea for authentic acculturation that would respect and include elements from the culture whose members would be celebrating the liturgy. Such elements were translations done by experts whose native language is the language of the people who would be celebrating the rites.
Two Oceanian bishops championed the use of native instruments, seeing them equally worthy to the organ and chant.
It is a hopeful wish that the universal Church polity understands that "universal" means universal – over the Alps and way past the Mediterranean.
Three liturgical nuts-and-bolts recommendations were made:
1. Move the exchange of peace from the Communion rite and place it after the general intercessions. (Let's see if that one flies.)While I am doling out doses of hope, here is another one: In the next issue of the GIA Quarterly, the master in the Masters Corner will be Father Mark Francis, the superior of the Congregation of St. Viator, who writes about his reflections at the synod as an elected delegate from the Union of Superiors General.
2. Construct short acclamations for the assembly during the eucharistic prayer.
3. Expand and create dismissal formulas to make obvious the liturgy's call to mission.
His office didn't make him a master, but his advanced degrees in liturgy, his publications, and his former professorships turned him into a peritus... and he's still normal.
Hope. I'm counting on it.
You can reach Fred Moleck via email at fmoleck@earthlink.net