In June of this year the American bishops met to decide what will be the new translation for the responses at the liturgy. In a few years Catholics attending Mass will be saying, "And with your spirit," instead of "And also with you." Or will they?

We attended a liturgy in a Catholic parish recently. In the middle section of their worship guide was a page of that included the people's responses for the Mass. It provided a more inclusive translation of the typical responses. At the presentation of gifts, for instance, the people were to say in part, ". . . for our good and the good of all God's Church."
At the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer, when the priest said, "Let us give thanks to the Lord our God," the people were to respond, "It is right to give God thanks and praise," and not, "It is right to give Him thanks and praise." These more inclusive responses are not new to many Catholic congregations. They have been using them for a number of years. What it shows is that the people have a sense of what they want to say and how they want to praise God in the Catholic liturgy. Will the new pronouncements from the American bishops change these habits? Only time will tell, but there is a lesson to be learned here.

A Healthy Tension

Throughout the entire history of the Church there has been a give and take between the teaching authority of the hierarchy and the intuitive judgments of the people. The bishops make a pronouncement and the people, in so far as they are able, follow the spirit, if not always the letter, of the decree. They try to make it work, but if it doesn't, they work out an interpretation that fits their good sense. Those of good faith and sound judgment discover that some ways of acting or believing are more in keeping with what seems "right and fitting and just." Eventually the "powers that be" pay attention and adjust their teaching to proclaim what the majority of the people knew all along. One example of this was the Second Vatican Council. There was a movement well before the Council to make the Roman Liturgy more comprehensible and participative, to replace the Latin with the vernacular, among other things. The bishops affirmed this movement and made it legitimate for all. A more recent example was last year when the bishops made an attempt to disallow the response after the consecration of "Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again." It didn't happen because it was not accepted by a large majority of the faithful. That was never acknowledged but it had an impact on their deliberations. Both aspects of decision making in the Church are necessary; both the pronouncements of those in authority and the good sense of those in the pews. There is a power in each and the Spirit is operating from above and below all at the same time.

How does this play out in a parish? By listening carefully to all the folks, both those who are active and in positions of leadership, as well as those on the fringe who make judgments based on their own experience. These less active parishioners may not be able to articulate what they think and feel, nor may it fit into neat categories, but it can point to what it means to be Church just as surely as do the pronounce-ments of those in positions of authority or who have degrees in scripture, theology and canon law. There must be room for both to speak and be heard if there is going to be a Christian community that is an authentic expression of what Jesus taught, both through words and in action.

Tom Sweetser, SJ & Peg Bishop, OSF
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(www.pepparish.org)

Parish Newsletter - October, 2006
A Service of the Parish Evaluation Project
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Reproduced on the OPRFM website with permission