Day of Summer Institute to be devoted to changes in Mass texts

By: By Jennifer Willems

Even as parishioners across the Diocese of Peoria prepare to enter Lent, plans are well under way to make certain that they will be ready to welcome the new translations of the Roman Missal by the first Sunday of Advent.

One major educational effort will take place at the Summer Institute when an entire day will be devoted to an overview of the changes and an examination of every part of the Mass, according to Dr. Vincent McClean, director of the diocesan Office of Catechetics.

Scheduled for June 10 and 11, the Summer Institute will be held at the Spalding Pastoral Center, 419 N.E. Madison Ave., in Peoria. The keynote speaker for the first day, as well as the clergy day on June 9, will be Father Robert Barron, a Catholic evangelist who holds the Francis Cardinal George Chair of Faith and Culture at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.

He will speak about “The Five Act Drama of Salvation.”

RE-TEACHING THE MASS
Leading people through the overview of the new translations of the Roman Missal on Saturday, June 11, will be Father Douglas Martis, director of the Liturgical Institute and chair of the Worship Department at Mundelein Seminary of the Archdiocese of Chicago. He was one of the presenters for a daylong seminar on the changes that was held last September for the priests.

McClean said diocesan clergy will offer the workshops that follow.
“The idea behind this is that we would do a re-teaching of the Mass, including the translation changes, and would come from the training at the Summer Institute with a cadre of facilitators who would go out to the parishes throughout the diocese to present the workshops,” McClean told The Catholic Post.

“These facilitators will be equipped with not only hard copy materials, but with a DVD presentation that will be appropriate for the schools, CCD programs and the laity in general,” he explained.

While the day is open to everyone, pastors are being asked to designate representatives from their parishes who can take on the role of facilitator and help them with the workshops in the fall.

The six regional directors of religious education will receive additional training so they can provide assistance in each of the vicariates, McClean said.

These workshops were one of the preparations Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, called for in his Ninth Festival Letter, “Credo! I Believe! A Reflection on the Sacred Liturgy.” Dated Jan. 2, 2011, the Solemnity of the Epiphany, it was published in full in The Catholic Post of Dec. 26, 2010.

MAKING MUSIC CHOICES
In the Festival Letter, Bishop Jenky also requested that a special committee of pastoral musicians be formed “to foster the renewal of our liturgical music and to prepare for the new sung texts.”

That has been done, with pastoral musicians from around the diocese coming together to form a Committee for Sacred Music. Dr. Sherry Seckler, director of sacred music for the Diocese of Peoria and cathedral organist, is heading that group.

Msgr. Stanley Deptula, director of the Diocesan Office of Divine Worship, said the committee’s goals are to select one or two Mass settings that can be used in parishes and institutions and at regional and diocesan gatherings; to prepare a “canon of chants” and to prepare a “canon of hymns.”

These are meant as recommendations, not mandates, he explained.
“What we’re hoping is that the special committee of musicians can offer some guidance,” Msgr. Deptula told The Post. “There may be some smaller parishes that don’t have the resources to discern what’s good or bad.”

He added that Bishop Jenky hopes to have common settings of Mass that everyone can learn and sing, which will be beneficial at liturgies at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria.

Msgr. Deptula used the “Mass of Creation” as an example of a musical text that “came up organically” and is used often because it is well known. “Five years from now, 10 years from now, we’ll see what Mass settings rise to top,” he said.

The biggest debate seems to be between using revised current settings or brand new settings of the Mass, Msgr. Deptula said.

“The unanimous consensus of the committee is we are finding new settings,” he said. “Revised settings will always be awkward and the people in the pew will always default to the settings we have now.”
While the committee’s final recommendations won’t be ready for a few more weeks, Msgr. Deptula said this is a good time for people to start praying with the new texts and “fall in love with the Mass.”

“If it’s only about words, then we’ve failed,” he emphasized. “This will only be a success if we use this to fall more deeply in love with the Mass.”

One of the resources Msgr. Deptula recommended is “Roman Missal: A Study Text with Excerpts from the New English Translation,” which was prepared by the Vox Clara Committee and is available at amazon.com. Sample texts and resources are also available from the U.S. bishops’ website, usccb.org/romanmissal.

SPALDING PASTORAL CENTER | 419 NE MADISON AVENUE | PEORIA, IL 61603 | PHONE (309) 671-1550 | FAX (309) 671-1595
© Copyright 2024 - The Catholic Post || All Rights Reserved || Design by TBare.com