The New Mass: More Variety for Catholics

FOR nearly four centuries--from 1570 to the Second Vatican Council in 1963--the Roman Catholic Mass was about as unchanging and unchangeable as the motion of the earth. From Manila to Minneapolis, the language of the greater part of the service was the same softly mumbled Latin, punctuated by an occasional outspoken "Dominus vobiscum." The hands of the priest, his back to the congregation, were cocked precisely at the prescribed angle at each critical moment of the liturgy. Only in small enclaves of liturgical innovation, around monasteries or colleges, and in mission territories were other forms being delicately introduced.*

Then, as if the polar axis had shifted, came the liberation of Vatican II. The Mass was invaded by drums, guitars, mariachi ensembles; experimental liturgies were celebrated in the vernacular. There was Communion under "both kinds"--bread and wine--a privilege that the Latin-rite laity had not enjoyed in centuries. (Protestants customarily receive both bread and wine, but Catholics believe that the bread alone --the living body of Christ--includes the "blood" as well.) Now the Vatican and the many national conferences of bishops are in the process of adopting an official new Mass that combines both longstanding tradition and some of the best of the new experiments.

Unlike the old Mass, a Counter-Reformation product of the Council of Trent that outlined each word and move of the liturgy in some 57,000 words of meticulous rubrics, the new Mass is less a set of regulations than a series of options. Four alternative "Eucharistic prayers," for instance, may be chosen for the most sacred part of the Mass, the consecration of the bread and wine. Though the consecration words themselves ("This is my body . . . This is my blood . . .") are identical in each version, the four differing Eucharistic prayers are designed, in Pope Paul's phrase, to emphasize "different aspects of the mystery of salvation." One particularly eloquent version describes Christ as "a man like us in all things but sin./To the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation,/ to prisoners, freedom,/and to those in sorrow, joy." Developments in Eucharistic theology are also apparent in instructions for the new Mass, which emphasize its character as a "paschal meal," a "gathering of the people of God to celebrate the memorial of the Lord."

The manner of Communion reflects the new theology as well. The Host--traditionally, in the U.S., a small white paper-thin wafer--is now supposed to be more breadlike, so that it can be broken and shared by priests and people in a more vivid re-enactment of the Last Supper. The wine may be drunk directly from the chalice, sipped from a spoon, taken by "induction" (dipping the bread in wine), or even sipped through silver straws.

Original Covenant. Other innovations will seem familiar to Protestants and Jews. At the beginning of the Mass, the priest greets the people with: "The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all"--an old Protestant favorite from St. Paul (// Corinthians 13:14). The offertory prayer begins with a translation of the phrase that traditionally opens Jewish blessings: "Blessed are You, Lord, God of all creation." The debt of Christianity to Judaism's original covenant with God is given sharper focus in the scriptural readings at Masses. Instead of two readings--the familiar Epistle and Gospel--Sunday Masses will now include three, one from the Old Testament, one from the Epistles or another New Testament book, and one from the Gospels.

Pleasing Protestants. Omissions from the old rite are not likely to be missed by many: gone are repetitious signs of the Cross, redundant prayers, endless genuflections. What has been added--a heavy emphasis on participation of those present--is particularly significant for a church in which lay involvement has long been passive. The laity will now officially open the Mass with an entrance hymn, will initiate the offertory by taking the bread and wine to the altar, and will share with the celebrant, and with each other, a "sign of peace" just before Communion--a handshake or friendly embrace.

Though such "innovations" mirror early Christian practice more authentically than the Council of Trent liturgy, with its many medieval accretions, the new Mass has already stirred some resistance. Sometime after Pope Paul promulgated the basic Latin version last April, two longtime Vatican conservatives, Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani, 79, and Antonio Cardinal Bacci, 84, issued their own press statement calling the Mass "outrageous" and "a clear attack on dogma . . . such as to please the most avant-garde Protestants." The Pontiff replied that he expected Catholics to "promptly adhere" to the new rite, but extended the deadline for its mandatory use to Nov. 28, 1971 (the first Sunday of Advent, which begins the liturgical year).

The extension, however, was not to appease reluctant bishops but to give time to national episcopal conferences to consider the options and prepare vernacular translations. Italy, obediently, is already using the new rite, and bishops in English-speaking countries will also be able to be well ahead of the deadline. While the new Latin missal itself was in preparation, an International Committee on English in the Liturgy was at work for four years. It prepared a common English translation of the Mass for eleven English-speaking countries and for some 40 other areas--mostly missionary territories--where English is used. U.S. bishops approved almost all of a revised version in November, and all of the other English-speaking hierarchies have approved it as well. In Great Britain, the new Mass will begin in many dioceses on the first Sunday in Lent; in the U.S. on Palm Sunday, March 22; others are using it now. In most countries, the new rite should come as no great surprise, since many bishops have been adopting the reforms piecemeal, as the Vatican has permitted them.

Room for Change. The revised English version has already gone to U.S. Catholic publishers. Its language is, in most cases, a fresh, understandable, remarkably successful distillation of international English--plainspoken perhaps, but often poetic. Some foreign countries, such as Japan, have chosen to prepare their own translations from the English rather than the Latin text.

One part of the English translation will not yet be offered to U.S. Catholics: a new, ecumenical version of the Our Father, which lessens present differences between Protestant and Catholic versions by starting out simply. "Our Father in heaven." There are other changes in the familiar prayer as well. "Forgive us our trespasses" ("Forgive us our debts" in most Protestant versions) becomes simply "Forgive us our sins." "Lead us not into temptation" becomes "Do not bring us to the test" (the final test just before the Second Coming). American bishops have decreed that the old version will still be used in U.S. Masses, though a "Protestant-style" doxology--"For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever"--will now follow it after a prayer by the celebrant.

Other liturgical reforms may well come in time. The Pope's own preface to the new "order of Mass" encourages "legitimate variations and adaptations," and throughout the instructions there is a notable emphasis on adapting the liturgy to local customs and needs. "The spirit of the new missal," concludes Jesuit C. J. McNaspy, "is releasing rather than restrictive." While the Pope clearly intends the new Mass to be a working model, McNaspy and others are confident that the way is still open for the Mass to develop further.

-In one such experiment at Manhattan's Corpus Christi parish, near Columbia, Father George Barry Ford introduced an offertory procession and had his congregation praying the Mass aloud in English 34 years ago.

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