WHAT'S GOING ON UP IN THE ARCTIC?

I have to admit when I first saw this picture, I thought it was a new church and I was thinking "What the hell is Dick Vosko doing in Alaska?" Ya know, with all the nice churches he's wreckovated and the hideous new churches he's built, something like this wouldn't surprise me.

Fr. Finigan explains what's really going on:
Above is the arctic cyberpod from which Fr Z and myself, the NLM, the Curt Jester and a few other secret bloggers send out death rays to modernist computers round the world, post inaccurate texts, compose viruses that will make computers used to compose clown liturgies give off incense through the air vents, and generally by such means bring the free world to its knees.

(I told him in his combox to count me in!)

Our latest planned jape was to devise a fiendishly inaccurate version of the ICEL texts and pepper the internet with this inaccurate, unfinished, unapproved and unduly altered text that was so totally lacking in integrity that it would cause general mayhem and confusion.

(I just got it, matter of fact... What's this? Father now closes the collect with "We ask this through Christ our Lord, and buddy"???)

Sadly when we heard of the need to write to the USCCB Secretariat of Divine Worship, 3211 Fourth Street, NE, Washington, DC 20017, our plans just collapsed into dust and ashes - we were completely foiled. None of us has written out a postal address for several months and we are out of those square pocket thingies with the gummed flap you have to lick and fold down, and those little coloured squares you have to stick on. So we had a nice cup of tea instead.

(DAMN! I got a whole boxful of those square pocket thingies with the gummed flap you have to lick and fold down. Can't help you on the little colored squares you have to stick on, though. Sorry.)

Peace,
BMP

ICEL/USCCB STRIKES AGAIN

Fr. Tim Finigan got a little slap from the folks over at ICEL over exposure of the January 2006 proposed translation of the Mass. Apparently, posting the translation on his blog is a "violation of ICEL's copyright".

Being the obedient priest that he is, Fr. Finigan removed the translation from his blog, and made it clear in his reply to the ICEL crew, but not without giving them a little slap of his own. KUDOS, Father!

Full text of letter from ICEL's Peter Finn and Fr. Finigan's reply here.

Coincidentally, the USCCB forbids use of the New American Bible for podcasting (remember - the USCCB and ICEL went hand and hand for a few decades now). This includes the Lectionary readings (the Psalms in the Lectionary are copyright ICEL; much of the rest of the Lectionary is copyright CCD). Brian Noe, who hosts the Verbum Domini podcast, was one who obediently stopped using the NAB translation upon demand from the USCCB. He has since switched to the RSV/2nd Catholic Edition (Ignatius Bible), and with no problem from them whatsoever. However, now the USCCB has their own podcast on the readings, in an attempt to compete with Brian Noe.

One fellow podcaster caught wind (I'm protecting this podcaster's identity here) and wrote the USCCB:
I am a podcaster among a group of faithful podcaster, both lay and clergy. As I was checking the readings for today's Liturgy, I saw the new podcast of the NAB, readings of the day. I am very saddened by this. How dare the USCCB chain the Word of God through copyrite, forbid good Catholic to use it in their podcasts and now duplicate what one podcaster has been doing for more than a year. If the USCCB would work with those responding to the New Evangelization call of John Paul II, there would be greater success and a lost less waste.

The best that the USCCB could muster for a reply was this:
Thank you for your recent email.
The USCCB administers its copyright so as to achieve the best possible balance between wide dissemination, the protection of the integrity of the text, and good stewardship.
I hope that you will take the time to listen to the new podcast. I think that you will find that it will be of great spiritual benefit to the faithful.

Protect WHAT??? Maybe their pockets, at best. HA!

I hope Fr. Finigan takes his missive as far as humanly possible. I'm behind you 100%.
Peace,
BMP

THE IMPROVED ICEL

Definitely a sign that ICEL's getting better.

In the spirit of fair play, I asked Fr. Bruce Harbert, executive director of ICEL, if he would like to offer a defense of the new translations. The following is Harbert's reply.

Previous liturgical translations followed a mistaken theory which saw language merely as a medium for communicating facts. Many elements rejected as "outmoded rhetoric" were in fact expressions of feeling.
When we call Jesus' mother "blessed," we are expressing our love for her. When we call God "almighty and everlasting" we voice our respect; when we ask God to do something "kindly" or "graciously" we gratefully acknowledge his mercy. Similarly, we speak of the apostles and the church with reverence as "holy," we say that we have sinned "greatly" to express horror at our sins, and we even speak lovingly of the Host as "spotless" and the Chalice as "precious."
Sometimes we convey emotion by three-fold patterns, as when we give "three cheers" for a person or team. Thus, in the liturgy, we echo the angels' song "Holy, Holy, Holy," we lament that we have sinned "through my fault, through my fault, through my grievous fault," we honor Christ as "the pure victim, the holy victim, the spotless victim."
Bishop Trautman, a fine Biblical scholar, says the New Testament uses "ordinary language, spoken in the market place, on the streets and at the supper table." True, but it also uses emotionally heightened language, as in Revelation or in John's Gospel at the Last Supper, where Jesus utters thoughts of the most exquisite intimacy. The liturgy must do the same: it must speak the language of Gethsemane as well as of the supermarket.
Much criticism has been voiced of the proposed response "And with your spirit" to the priest's greeting. "'And also with you' is enough," people say. But some Americans, instead of saying "Come here," will say, "Get your butt over here," to express impatience. When we speak of "your spirit" we are using a similar device, but in this case to express respect for the priest as a temple of the Holy Spirit.
We hear much about "active participation" in the liturgy as desired by Vatican II. I wonder whether that is the best possible translation of the Council's words. I can participate in an event without getting really involved, and I can get involved as a spectator at a game of football without participating. I think "active involvement" expresses better what the Council wanted: not merely "joining in," but being drawn in, heart and mind. For that to happen, the liturgy must express feelings as well as facts.

Source

If only Father Harbert could go over Bishop Trautman's head a little bit - just enough to erase the Trautman/Mahony agenda.

Doesn't it seem funny, btw, that one coast has a replica of whatever is on the other. For example:
PROGRESSIVE/LIBERAL LITURGICAL AGENDAE:
Left coast: Mahony / Right coast: Trautman
ALLEGED STEROID USE:
Left coast: Barry Bonds / Right coast: Gary Sheffield
PRIESTS IN ORDERS WHO HAVE AN EXCELLENT SENSE OF THE SACRED:
Left coast: Fr. Jeff Keyes, C.PP.S. / Right coast: Fr. Bill Casey, CPM

Peace,
BMP