I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to the changes to the Mass which will go into effect later this year (see Orthometer for the official Countdown Timer). I ordered a copy of Catholic Update Guide to The Mass (St. Anthony Messenger Press) to help me memorize the new wording and to better understand the reason for the changes.
It’s only 48 pages; I read it in an hour. The third and final chapter, by Fr. Lawrence Mick, was the really helpful and informative part. Father Mick does a fine job laying out the exact changes, what to say, when to say it, with some brief explanations.
The first two chapters, by Fr. Tom Richstatter, O.F.M., were intended to put the Mass updates in context with questions like “why do we go to Mass?” and “how has the Mass changed over time?” Father Richstatter (judging from his writing style) strikes me as a warm, generous man who is probably an excellent pastor, but I had trouble with some of his points.
First, there is a lot of effort to calm the reader, as if there was serious concern at St. Anthony Messenger Press that people are going to be deeply freaked out by the updates. It isn’t necessary; the changes aren’t THAT huge.
Second, Father Richstatter, in sincerely trying to put the reader at ease, seems too eager to justify the removal of good things which have always been important to the Church.
An example. In a section entitled “Where Did the Beauty Go?” he addresses the obvious loss of “magnificence” in our modern liturgical celebrations. He remembers “with nostalgia..the dozens of candles on the altars, the smell of the incense, the glitter of the spotlights on the gold thread in the priests’ vestments…the monstrance with its jewels…Where did the beauty go? Where is the grandeur? What has happened to my devotion?”
His response to the anguish that many of us share over the absence of beauty at Mass these days is: “I can only say that I am getting a new perspective. I see a new beauty and a new grandeur. It takes a different eye to see my God in the faces of my sisters and brothers with whom I share the broken bread…Today I judge whether a liturgy is “good” or “bad” not by the number of candles that are lit, nor by the cost of the vestments…Today a “good” liturgy is one which transforms me and my fellow parishioners…”
I agree completely with Father that if the liturgy doesn’t transform us interiorly then all the externals, no matter how costly or beautiful, are pointless. But why would the absence of beauty necessarily aid that interior transformation?
It’s fair enough to say that earthly beauty can be a distraction; keeping in mind that the intention behind its use is to give glory to God and to draw us closer to Him by virtue of its faint resemblance to His awesome beauty.
But is Father right in suggesting that the mundaneities of the modern celebration of the liturgy do a better job at that? Keep in mind the sad reality of what we’re talking about here: the lack of décor; the irreverent conversing and gum-chewing; the childish felt banners in place of statues; clanging acoustic guitars and pounding drum sets instead of well-trained choirs and finely played pipe organs; low-pile dentist office carpet and folding chairs instead of polished marble floors and strong, wooden pews; arbitrary, nonsensical digressions from the rubrics of the Mass to satisfy the egotistical whims of irresponsible priests…you get my point, I hope.
The modern liturgy is positively starving for some beauty and grandeur; it might even get some people’s minds off of themselves and thinking about the God of beauty and magnificence Whom we all worship.
I hope, if Father Tom Richstatter is reading this, I haven’t offended him; like I pointed out, he seems to be a very pastoral, big-hearted man. I disagree with his conclusions, is all. What about you?
Your paragraph was spot on, Dan. We’re mere mortals; we NEED our senses to help raise us to a higher level. People used to know that. I live in the same tiny town my great grandparents immigrated to and helped establish over a hundred years ago. BEFORE they built their homes, the farmers and townspeople put their money toward an amazing church, replete with statuary and gilding. That was their first priority.
If poor immigrants were alright with living in what would later be chicken coops in order to first deck out the church with nothing but the best, that tells you something; something about what their priorities were, and what they valued.
The 80′s and a liberal priest came, and turned the beautiful building into a stage, (actually, the building now resembles perfectly the ‘new’ church in the paragraph you describe- felt banners, check; gum chewing, check; drums where the tabernacle used to be, check; dentist office carpeting, check; trashing most of the good things in the process. Seeing pictures of the church at my parent’s wedding in the 60′s is so sad; it had been truly inspiring.
If people don’t agree with me, I like to use the restaurant analogy. Imagine you’re eating an amazing gourmet meal with a glass of very expensive wine. Does the meal gain anything by sitting in a beautiful restaurant, surrounded by silk linens, candlelight, and soft music? Would it be the same hunkering on your haunches in an alley full of rats and rotting garbage? Obviously you’d be eating the exact same meal, but it’s NOT THE SAME.
People are aesthetic creatures. We need to imitate the Heavenly banquet as closely as our poor, pathetic attempts possibly can- incense, jeweled monstrances, marble, statuary, heavenly music and all. Oh, and the seraphim do NOT have a drumset. I’m pretty sure.
Sorry for being so wordy- it’s a subject that fires me UP!
Great comment, Martha! Thanks!
I have been a Catholic since 1996 – I would love a more respectful, traditional, and reverent Church. Loved this post and the comment!
I agree, beautiful music and images help me focus on God
I have many married friends with children who all bought hideous couches/sofas/chesterfields (whatever term you like) for their “family rooms”: overstuffed, ugly designs on the fabrics, the drabbest of colours, no pleasing lines and what have you. They have all told me they hate their couches and wish they could “hide” them when they aren’t in use. I asked them why they bought them in the first place. The answers are as follows 1) they were cheap; 2) they were comfortable; 3) they were practical; 4) they were “kid” friendly.
Sounds like any Catholic church in my area built after 1968.
Sounds like the arguments people make about how the Vatican should be ashamed of itself to have all that art and furniture and architecture, and artifacts when the Pope pontificates on feeding the poor. What does any of that have to do with God?
Sounds like the “Jesus doesn’t care what you look like/wear/do/act when you come to church” response when one brings up the subject of aesthetics or art or beauty or decorum and religion.
So many of us spend so much of our lives surrounded by utilitarian ugliness: the cubicles and “work stations” we toil in, the messy cramped cars we drive to and forth on dirty and gridlocked highways to get to our drab cubicles, the often ugly but practical/comfortable choices we make in terms of the furniture we put in our homes, the clothes we wear, and even the behaviours we model and values we adapt. How often do you see people come to finer restaurants wearing beach flip flops, ball caps, logo t-shirts? I see it all the time. How often do you see people come to church this way? I see it all the time.
Many people don’t see the value of beautiful spaces because many people don’t see the value of manners, etiquette, and civility. Being in an awe inspiring cathedral brings you out of yourself. It asks something more of you.
I don’t go to church for me. I go for God. I go to bear witness to something greater, something so much more than my everyday bric-a-brac life filled with plastic office chairs, fluorescent lighting, and cracked vinyl interiors. I think the removal of all the beauty, and the art, and the craftsmanship, and the effort ,and the care, and the attention to detail from many places of Catholic worship was a gesture meant to appease people not God. It was meant to say, “See? We know that mass isn’t about the excess! We have our priorities straight!”
Cheap. Comfortable. Practical. Friendly. Those aren’t words I want associated with my religion or my faith. I want words like…priceless, challenging, sumptuous, and passionate. I find those qualities in Christianity, in Catholicism. I find it sad that we cannot see how they belong in the structures and spaces where we go to experience perhaps the most mind bending, miraculous, and magnificent moment – Christ presenting Himself once more in physical form – that we our blessed to be part of.
Many, many thanks, Burgo, for a powerful and eloquent reply. Very moving. I was going to write something else, but I think you’ve put a wrap on it. God bless!
Awesome. Just plan…..AWESOME!
Beauty is central to worship in the Eastern Orthodox Church. I don’t know much about the Catholic Church (although I’ve been learning a lot lately from reading a couple of great blogs!
), but being a restless person, I’ve always had the hardest time sitting through meetings, classes and church services. I can say that when I walk into the Greek Orthodox Church I go to, I sink into its sense of peace and otherworldliness, and I love seeing the rich colors and the gold in the vestments and the chalice and hearing the hum of chanting. Heaven on earth is what it is supposed to feel like, and it definitely contrasts our hurried, casual daily lives. The way we live, it is easy to forget that we’re spiritual people with yearnings for the divine. Church should bring you back to that reality.
Wow, that’s really well put. “Sinking into a sense of peace and otherworldliness” is exactly what should happen. Beauty is central to worship in the Catholic Church, as well, and one of the many things we have in common with the Eastern Orthodox Church. Here’s hoping the “two lungs” of east and west can breathe together again one day, and that American Catholicism in particular will learn a thing or two from the loveliness of Eastern Orthodox worship!