Faith & Parish

CLEVELAND -- Holly Nixon used to need only 10 minutes before the 9 a.m. Mass to pick up her elderly, disabled mother and find a parking spot close to the sanctuary door.

That was before St. William Catholic Church in Euclid merged with nearby St. Robert Bellarmine, which then closed, shifting hundreds of people into St. William's pews.

"Now I have to pick her up at 8:30," said Nixon, noting that the parking lot, expanded since the January merger, fills up pretty quickly on Sunday mornings.

Nixon's mother, Loretta Valencic, has been attending Mass for more than 50 years at St. William. The church is now Ss. Robert & William Catholic Church, the result of an extensive downsizing by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese.

Seventeen new parishes, involving 39 churches, have been created as a result of mergers since last year.

Ss. Robert & William stands as an example of how the consolidation -- however painful for the parishioners losing their churches -- can lead to growth and good will.

WASHINGTON -- The new Roman Missal authorized Aug. 20 for use in the United States beginning in Advent of 2011 will pose significant challenges to both the musicians performing music based on new Mass texts and the congregations expected to learn them.

"The thing that's on most people's minds -- rank-and-file music directors -- is how to adapt to new texts, especially for things like the Glory to God, which is essentially the most heavily changed from the one we've been using for many, many years," said Charles Gardner, who is director for spiritual life and worship and director of liturgical music for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

In an Aug. 18 telephone interview with Catholic News Service, Gardner also expressed concern that "the most commonly used wording of the Memorial Acclamation -- 'Christ has died,' etc." might not appear in the missal.

The texts made public Aug. 20 for what is now called the Mystery of Faith did not include the phrase Gardner mentioned. One liturgical music figure said musicians should not be bothered by the changes in Mass texts. The new translation was designed to follow more closely the text in the original Latin.

WASHINGTON -- Although the third edition of the Roman Missal will become standard at English-language Masses in the United States beginning in Advent 2011, those participating in Spanish-language Masses here will have to wait a little longer for a new translation.

While the Vatican has given its "recognitio," or confirmation, to the English translation that will be used in the United States, the Mexican bishops' conference is still awaiting approval of its translation of the Latin text of the missal, said Father Richard Hilgartner, associate director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat on Divine Worship.

Once the Mexican text receives approval, the U.S. bishops "plan to take a good look" at it and might publish a Spanish-language edition of the Roman Missal for the United States based on that translation, although no final decision has been made, he said. But the Mexican bishops are about two years behind the United States in the translation and approval process, Father Hilgartner added.

WASHINGTON -- Even though the U.S. implementation date for the new Roman Missal has now been set, don't expect to find an English translation of the missal for sale at your local Catholic bookstore any time soon.

"There is a tremendous, tremendous, tremendous amount of work still ahead of us" before publication of the missal that will go into use on the first Sunday of Advent in 2011, said Msgr. Anthony Sherman, director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Divine Worship.

As the final version of the missal received from the Vatican is laid out in galley form for publication, Sherman and Fr. Richard Hilgartner, associate director, will have to go over each page to ensure that all of the U.S. sections are integrated with the universal text, that no sections are missing or repeated and that the translations from Latin in each section are consistent with the other sections.

At more than 1,000 pages, it will be the largest Roman Missal ever published in the United States.

"Even if we had a super-genius robot, people will still discover something missing," Sherman said.

Viewpoint

The following was edited from remarks delivered at the Celebration Conference on Effective Liturgy in Chicago, July 21-23.

Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement taught me something about liturgy. Remember those scenes in places like Selma or Birmingham, Ala., with the police dogs and the fire hoses? When those ordinary folks were marching, singing and facing incredible horrors -- the vicious dogs that were attacking even the children, the fire hoses that were coming out with such incredible force -- I asked, “How did they do that?” Here’s what I found out.