Jimmy Akin - Mass Revision - How the Liturgy Is Changing and What It Means for You

Mass Revision

How the Liturgy Is Changing
and What It Means for You

Jimmy Akin

SAN DIEGO
2011

2011 Catholic Answers, Inc.

All rights reserved. Except for quotations, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, uploading to the Internet, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from Catholic Answers, Inc.

Excerpts from English translation of The Order of Mass I 2006, 2008, 2011, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. (ICEL); excerpts from Documents on the Liturgy, 19631979: Conciliar, Papal, and Curial Texts 1982, ICEL; excerpts from the Ceremonial of Bishops 1989, ICEL. All rights reserved.

Excerpts from the General Instruction of the Roman Missal Including Adaptations for the Dioceses of the United States of America 2003, 2011, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. (USCC); excerpts from the Appendix to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal for the Dioceses of the United States 1982, USCC; excerpts from This Holy and Living Sacrifice 1985, USCC. All rights reserved.

The section titled Roman Missal Translation Highlights: 19632010 was prepared by Adoremus Bulletin ( 2010 by Adoremus). Reprinted by permission.

Summorum Pontificum and the letter of Pope Benedict XVI accompanying Summorum Pontificum are 2007, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. All rights reserved.

Published by Catholic Answers, Inc.
2020 Gillespie Way
El Cajon, California 92020
(888) 291-8000 (orders)
(619) 387-0042 (fax)
www.catholic.com (web)

Cover design by Devin Schadt

Typesetting by Loyola Book Composition

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 978-1-933919-55-3

Bonus Materials

Abbreviations

Introduction

The original edition of this work was published as Mass Confusion: The Dos and Donts of Catholic Worship in 1998, a time of great upheaval in the liturgy. Though it had been almost thirty years since the Mass had been revised and translated into English, the liturgy wars were still underway.

Roughly speaking, three major groups were involved. One group wanted to keep tinkering with the liturgypushing beyond what was allowed in the Churchs liturgical books, introducing new elements and prayers, changing traditional wording, striking references to the male gender, and other similar things. Opposite them on the spectrum were those who disapproved of the liturgical reform in its entirety and wanted to restore the liturgy to the form it took prior to the Second Vatican Council. In the middle where those who could accept the form of Mass that was introduced after the Council but who wanted it celebrated properly, according to the liturgical books, without unapproved innovations, deviations, and abuses.

Mass Confusion was written primarily for the middle groupto let them know what the Churchs liturgical law actually was. Frequently they had been lied to in parish settings, told by a liturgy director or even priest that something was acceptable when in fact it was not. As a result of this pattern of deception, many people became suspicious of anything they were told about the liturgy. It seemed advisable to produce a book that quoted the Churchs liturgical law so that people could see for themselves what was and was not allowed.

In the years since 1998, matters have changed. The three groups still exist, but the liturgical situation has substantially improved.

In the pontificate of John Paul II, the Holy See began a slow but steady application of pressure to rein in liturgical abuses. This effort involved a series of steps that each closed off an avenue of liturgical dissent and nudged the liturgy back toward its correct celebration. The most important of these was the release of a third edition of the Missale Romanum (the Roman Missal ) in the early 2000s. The full translation of this workwhich includes the prayers used at Masswas still years in the future, but its General Instruction (the part that contains the main rules for celebrating Mass) was translated and implemented early in the decade.