Translation and Tradition: St. Francis Xavier and the Roman Missal
Student report by Samuel Backman (M.M. ‘12)
As representatives of congregations from varying denominations gathered for the 2012 Yale ISM Congregations Project, the focus of “time and life passages” led numerous individuals to assess the changing demands required by their own local church communities. Saint Francis Xavier Church of Lower Manhattan brought to our attention a “life passage” which not only affects the local parish, but the entire English-speaking realm of Roman Catholics. On the First Sunday of Advent in the 2011, Catholic congregations faced an adjustment in the language of their common prayer as they began use of the third translation of the Roman Missal.
Shortly before the recent implementation of the third edition, the parish itself experienced a rite of passage, namely a renovation and rededication of the church. Jacqueline Perez, a medical doctor who is very active in the church’s music ministry, stated that, prior to the renovation, “stations of the cross were so covered with soot, that every day was Good Friday.” However, through the great effort of the parishioners, this beautiful nineteenth-century structure has been renovated to its former glory. During the rededication in the June of 2010, Archbishop Timothy Dolan hailed this vibrant parish as a “booster shot of hope for the entire diocese.”
Since its founding in 1847, this parish has embodied the principles of inclusivity and outreach so prized by the Jesuit community. Reverend Peter Fink, S.J. asserts that the demographic of the congregation “truly reflects the diversity of its location.” However, these diverse strands are braided through the full and active participation in prayer called for by the Second Vatican Council. Because “St. Francis Xavier prides itself…as a community where music, drama, dance and symbolic gesture are an intimate part of our ordinary liturgical experience,” the new translation provided an opportunity to “experiment musically and textually with the third edition of the Roman Missal.”
Director of Music, John Uhlein stated his pragmatic concern that the parishioners quickly internalize the new musical settings of the ordinary of the mass. Furthermore, it is ideal that changes in the liturgical seasons are marked accordingly by the use of a different setting for each season. Because the syllabification of the new translation is more Latinate than that of the second edition, plainchant, or melodies in the style of plainchant, seem to be implied. The challenge, however, is to find mass settings in a variety of styles which have idiomatic syllabification. Though Uhlein claims that the adaptation to new congregational settings of the mass has taken a bit longer than anticipated, he realizes that the first year is still one of experimentation. In presenting at the Congregations Project, he asserted that his undertaking was “not so much a project as a search for a project.”
While finding musical settings appropriate to this new translation is an inevitable adjustment, Associate Pastor, Peter Fink reminds us that this change has deeper implications. Through the employment of the new translation comes a shift in Christological focus by which the divinity of Christ is now emphasized with greater scrutiny. Accompanying this shift is an increase in penitential language, which may well have prompted the congregation of the 5 pm Sunday to kneel during the Eucharistic prayers. However, it is not merely prayers of such girth as the Eucharistic prayers and Penitential Rite that have shifted in focus, but also the colloquial portions of the mass. For the last few decades, the laity would here the words: “The Lord be with you”, whereupon they would instinctively respond “and also with you.” However, in the third edition of the Roman Missal, the proper response to the antecedent phrase has been changed to “and with your spirit,” in accordance with the Latin “et cum spirito tuo.”
When presenting this change in seminar, Fr. Peter Fink asked the participants to discuss whether the new language is “distancing or more personal.” A diverse cadre of reactions emanated from the faculty and participants of the Congregations Project. Father Anthony Ruff, OSB, opined that the new language of this responsorial dialogue was “dehumanizing and potentially hurtful” to the congregants. Martin Jean countered this by claiming that the response “and also with you” sounded “distant, cold and flat”. Theresa Berger, Professor of Liturgical Studies at Yale Divinity School comments that, “as a native of Germany, [she] believes ‘and also with you’ to be much too terse.” She further stated her belief that, in adapting this new translation, “the English-speaking world returned to the fold.”
Amid the varied pool of reactions is one pragmatic realization among all parties: the third edition of the Roman Missal is in effect and no longer merely a consideration. This being said, the parish of Saint Francis Xavier is undergoing a true rite of passage: that which was outside the realm of their control called for an adjustment in the worship practices of the parish. Reactions among the parishioners have ranged from “limited delight to distaste”. Nevertheless, the issue does not seem to be divisive within the parish, as those who were displeased with the changes have weathered the storm. “When people come to Xavier’s”, Fink said, “it is not the translation of the mass that draws them, and a change in the translation certainly won’t send them away.” With a commitment to social justice, preaching the Gospel, and fine arts, this church has much in common even when the words of their prayer with are in flux.
As the clergy, staff, and laity of Saint Francis continue to adjust to this new translation, they do so with the aim “not only to continue to advance our own prayerfulness at worship, but to become an example and leader within the archdiocese of New York for bold, culturally attuned musical Mass settings that involve full congregational participation.”