Another Week, Another Missa Cantata

Off to Hobart again!  I plan to leave a little earlier than last Sunday, so as to have a more leisurely drive down – about 7:15 am should do.  Our February Missa cantata, for Sexagesima Sunday, will be at the usual time and place: St Canice Church, 11:30 am.

I note that the 15th anniversary of our Archbishop's consecration is coming up (I recall attending that occasion with my friends Ben and Jane – Ben, alas, is now departed this life, God rest him). He is now over a year past his expected retirement date: a friend mentioned recently that thirteen other dioceses around Australia are in a similar position, with bishops either about to retire or awaiting their replacement – surely some succession planning could have put coadjutors into place several years ago? While nuncios come and go, it seems a bit slack to let dioceses go years without a new bishop being appointed.

Given the impending Royal Commission, a good many ordinaries must be rather hopeful of retiring... not that they have much to answer for; it was their predecessors, most of them indeed deceased now, who it seems must bear the blame, either through neglect or collusion. I am unsurprised to learn that the vile Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles, now at last retired, has been suspended from all public functions by his successor now that the damning evidence of his easygoing treatment of pervert priests has been put online by that archdiocese: hopefully the Pope will degrade him from the cardinalate pour encourager les autres.

Your Grace, You're Wrong

Pity poor old Archbishop Doyle: just a few weeks back, when visiting my parish, he apparently went out of his way to tell priest and people that in reading the Scriptures at Mass, the phrase used must not be "A reading from..." but simply, strangely, "From..." – which is plainly contradicted by both the old and the new translations of the Mass, as easily confirmable online (see the musical settings ICEL provides, for the Old Testament and Acts, the Epistle and Revelation, and the Gospel: I assume no one would be so mad as to claim that "A reading" is only to be uttered when sung).  Indeed, the General Instruction to the Lectionary says:

121. The formula to be used is always: “A reading from the Book of…” “A reading from the Letter of…” or “A reading from the holy Gospel according to…” and not: “The beginning of…” (unless this seems advisable in particular instances) nor: “The continuation of…”

Still more embarrassingly for His Grace, the 2007 Australian edition of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal – which he must surely have seen and discussed as a member of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, since the Conference had to seek approval from Rome for the local adaptations made, none of which mandate what he claims – most explicitly states that the priest when reading the Gospel begins by saying:

134. At the ambo, the priest opens the book and... says: Lectio sancti Evangelii (A reading from the holy Gospel)...

Someone was asleep at meetings it appears!

 This bizarre determination not to say "A reading" – which is self-evidently the English for the Latin word Lectio that prefaces all readings from the Bible in the modern Mass – is traceable, I suspect, to some busy-body liturgy consultant who has neither Latin, nor an ability to think with the Church (its remote origins probably stem from the U.S.A. via Queensland): it is just the sort of mistaken idea that a person would seize on if they were insufficiently educated in the true principles of liturgy, probably as the result of a throwaway line from a lecturer.  (It may also have something to do with the 1992  Canadian lectionary – whose rules of course have no authority here.)  Neither that person, nor apparently His Grace, have bothered to read through the new translation of the Mass sufficiently carefully so as to realize their blunder.  It is rather poor for him who is the chief liturgist of his diocese to make so odd an error, let alone foist it on the people.

Certainly, wherever in Australia and New Zealand I've attended Mass, in backwards Tasmania alone have I ever come across this strange shibboleth: I would appreciate it if anyone who has encountered this mistake elsewhere could leave a comment detailing their experience thereof.  I am quite at a loss to know why this aversion to saying "A reading" arose, although I do know it's been trendy here for a decade or more.  Perhaps it is a last leftover of the aborted new translation of the Missal by bad old ICEL in the 1990's?  That would be typical of the outlook of this Archdiocese.

To add insult to injury, the new edition of the proper Mass for St Mary of the Cross quite explicitly says that each reading indeed begins with "A reading from..."

At least Doyle's retiring any time now, and hopefully the next Ordinary will be less clueless.  One can but pray.

Nunc pro Tunc

Archbishop Doyle having submitted his resignation in the usual manner in anticipation of his 75th birthday, he has since then received acknowledgement of the same, and in an open letter to the Archdiocese (dated 5th July) he informs us that it has been accepted nunc pro tunc - that is, it has been accepted, but he will remain in charge until a new Archbishop is appointed and takes possession.  He anticipates that a new appointment will not occur until the new year at the earliest; time will tell.

The fact that Rome accepted his resignation letter (sent on the 18th of May) with such un-Roman alacrity is a signal, to those cognizant of romanità, that his administration of the archdiocese has not been regarded entirely favourably – though it remains to be seen how long it takes for a successor to be appointed.  Again, the relative swiftness or slowness of the process is usually held to be a subtle indication of whether or not +Adrian is esteemed at the Vatican or not; but, given the paucity of suitable candidates for the episcopacy Australia-wide, it may well take a long time in any case, as is indicated by the way Australian sees have lain vacant for upwards of a year in recent times.

In any case, I and many of my co-religionists wish His Grace God's grace upon his retirement, and pray for a Catholic successor to the See of Hobart.

New Prioress at Carmel

This week's parish newsletter contained the following announcement:

On March 3rd the Carmelite Sisters held their triennial elections.  Mother Elizabeth of the Trinity has been elected as the prioress for the next 3 years.  As she takes up this office for the first time the Sisters ask your prayers for her and for the whole community, very united in this step, which is a major one for the Carmel after having the same prioress for the last 15 years.  Mother Elizabeth and the Sisters assure everyone of their continuing prayers and support for the whole parish community.

The immediately past prioress, Mother Stephanie, despite now being well into her eighties, has been prioress of the Carmel for as long as I've known the sisters, and had been prioress even before that in an earlier term of office; apparently, though she had previously been reëlected continually - and had had to obtain the necessary dispensation from Rome to continue on past the term limit specified in the Carmelite Constitutions - she has recently made it clear to her sister nuns that she felt herself unwilling to continue to bear the burthen of office, and hoped very much that they would elect a new superior.  The Carmel has half a dozen or so younger sisters, all of whom have joined in the last ten years, of whom Sister - now Mother - Elizabeth is the longest-professed; the older sisters are now very old (in their seventies and eighties), so it is a great blessing for the whole Carmel that they are of one mind and heart in the Lord and now have a new generation of religious coming along, united and strong in the Faith.

******

From the sublime to the less so... at Mass at Carmel this morning we had the rather uninspiring presence of Archbishop Doyle as celebrant.  Coincidentally, I had thought of him, who is rapidly approaching the age of resignation for bishops, while praying None last night (I read the end of Matins and all the Day Hours by aggregation, in bed): Fiant dies ejus pauci: et episcopatum ejus accipiat alter.