Interview with Archbishop Ranjith on Sacramentum Caritatis

There is an interesting interview floating around the web. Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith - a native of Sri Lanka - is the Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and lately is quoted almost as much as the head of the CDW - Cardinal Arinze. Like his boss, Archbishop Ranjith is quite frank and quotable.

This interview comes via Union of Catholic Asia News (UCAN). Fr. Zuhlsdorf has it in its entirety, with his emphases.

Here is a sample from the interview on the recent exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis

Some negative aspects have been the quasi total abandonment of the Latin language, tradition and chant; a far too facile interpretation of what could be absorbed from local cultures into the Liturgy; a sense of misunderstanding of the true nature, content and meaning of the Roman rite and its norms and rubrics, which led to an attitude of free experimentation; a certain anti-Roman "feeling," and an uncritical acceptance of all kinds of "novelties" resulting from a secularizing and humanistic theological and liturgical mindset overtaking the West.

These novelties were often introduced, perhaps unknowingly, by some foreign missionaries who brought them from their own mother countries or by locals who had been to those countries on visits or for studies and had let themselves be uncritically absorbed into a kind of "free spirit" that some circles had created around the Council.

The abandonment of the spheres of the Sacred, the Mystical and the Spiritual, and their replacement by a kind of empiricist horizontalism was most harmful to the spirit of what truly constituted Liturgy.

Links:

• The Interview from UCAN


• UCAN Homepage
  

Problem in Sacramentum Caritatis 23

This is very sad to see, but I'm grateful it is coming to light so quickly. As the faithful, we have a right to proper translations - unedited by the translators themselves. May God help anyone who, not by lack of skill or human error, is hindering the Magisterium and providing us with watered down documents.

Here is yet another disturbing example of an "error" found in the English translation of Sacramentum Caritatis - the recent Exhoration by Pope Benedict.

This time, it concerns paragraph 23. Fr. Zuhlsdorf writes:

Par. 23 deals with the priest who acts in persona Christi in the Eucharistic liturgy. This is a central point for Benedict because the priest is a manifestation, in a personal way, of the High Priest Jesus Christ who is the true Actor in the liturgical action (actio). Because the liturgy is always first and foremost Christ’s and not our personal possession, even the alter Christus the priest, acting in persona Christi, must not hijack the liturgy and impose his own person on it. By his fidelity to the Rite, to the rubrics, the priest gets himself "out of the way", as it were, so that Christ is more apparently the true Actor.

Leaving aside the bulk of par. 23, I ask you to consider the following:


LATIN
Quod peculiari modo in humilitate exprimitur quacum sacerdos actionem ducit liturgicam, in oboedientia erga ritum, cui corde et mente respondet, omnia vitans quae speciem praebere possunt alicuius propriae importunae actionis.

ITALIAN
Ciò si esprime particolarmente nell’umiltà con la quale il sacerdote guida l’azione liturgica, in obbedienza al rito, corrispondendovi con il cuore e la mente, evitando tutto ciò che possa dare la sensazione di un proprio inopportuno protagonismo.

OFFICIAL ENGLISH (2-4-2007)
This is seen particularly in his humility in leading the liturgical assembly, in obedience to the rite, uniting himself to it in mind and heart, and avoiding anything that might give the impression of an inordinate emphasis on his own personality.

SLAVISH ENGLISH FROM THE LATIN
Which is expressed in a special way in the type of humility with which the priest leads the liturgical action, in obedience in respect to the rite, with which he complies, avoiding all things which could present the appearance of some unsuitable actio of his own.

The concept actio is critical for understanding what His Holiness is expressing in the Exhortation. The English version entirely erases the concept actio.

Read the rest of Fr. Z's post here...

Leading the liturgical assembly? Huh? This must have been translated after lunch and a little too much wine at the Enoteca Antica.

Forgive me for asking, but why have "experts" translating things when you could have amateurs doing it with better accuracy? Without the editing of the official documents, perhaps such things wouldn't take as long to get out the door! (scroll to the bottom of this article - right before the footnotes begin - by Vatican Watcher Sandro Magister, who explains the translation frustrations in Rome)

Is it just me, or is anyone else wondering how such blatant things don't result in "reassignments" until they have a department or team capable of straightforward translations that have not tampered with original meaning?

The internet is totally blowing any cover things like this once had with the passing of time. In darkness such things prevail. In the light, they can be seen for what they are.

One can only imagine why the motu proprio hasn't been released just yet. Perhaps Papa Bene is going over the translations himself before that gets messed up.

Finger paint anyone?

Sacramentum Caritatis - English Translation Corrected!!!

Fr. Zuhlsdorf reports that the English translation of Sacramentum Caritatis, has been corrected with the following:

Fr. Z writes:

Now it seems that the official English version has been revised and corrected, at least in respect to par. 62.


The Latin: exceptis lectionibus, homilia et oratione fidelium, aequum est ut huiusmodi celebrationes fiant lingua Latina.

The OLD official English: with the exception of the readings, the homily and the prayer of the faithful, such liturgies could be celebrated in Latin.

The NEW official English: with the exception of the readings, the homily and the prayer of the faithful, it is fitting that such liturgies be celebrated in Latin.

It seems that the English translation and that of other languages is being carefully scrutinzed right now and hopefully, we can expect to see what is owed us: Genuine translations.

Here is an excellent example of how good the internet can be. It was less than 10 hours following the release of the Exhortation that this particular watered-down translation was spotted. Fr. Zuhlsdorf's blog was crashing the server with so much sudden traffic. Other bloggers picked up what he was providing, and what other Latinists were finding was being shared publicly. It comes as a welcome surprise that by making these things highly visible, as they should be.

Just think, before the internet age, even if a Latinist found an error, how could he get the word out to create such an outcry? There are many forms of "gatekeepers" and the old guard, with it's banalization of the faith and the liturgy is simply not going to get away with it any longer.

Go read Fr. Z's post

EDIT: You may want to read the followup post Fr. Z has made: Who's guarding the guards?

Exhortation: Knowing and using Latin

At the blog of Fr. Zuhlsdorf (aka, Fr. Z), we are getting some ongoing discussion about translation and how it applies to the exhortation: Sacramentum Caritatis. This is interesting, in general, on the issue of Latin translations, even aside from the exhortation.

Keep in mind that Fr. Z's website is being inundated with hits - to the point that it has taken the server down. To prevent his hosting service from shutting him down completely, Father has been putting up a one-pager asking people to visit in non-peak hours. I have had no problem reading his site at 4:30 or 5:00am, but can't get in during regular working hours. He is continuing to work on a more permanent solution to fix the problem caused by so many interested people visiting his site.

All I can say, is just keep trying at different times. Perhaps he will continue to put one or two of his last posts up on that one pager as I saw this morning.

Sacramentum Caritatis: Introduction - Food of Truth

As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to do a slow read of the new exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis, and will periodically post on sections in the order they appear. I am merely looking at this from a spiritual standpoint, since I am not a theologian. I just know that from what little I have read, I have been moved deeply. Pope Benedict's style works for me as he builds a foundation from the ground up, layer by layer. People often go after specific points that interest them and never go back and read the full document. I'm guilty of this and have promised myself - and God - that this is one document I will chew on very slowly.

I won't make a post on every paragraph so I encourage you to do your own slow read. Feel free to add any comments on those things I do cite.

I would like to start with paragraph 2: Food of Truth (emphasis mine with bold and/or red text)

The food of truth

2. In the sacrament of the altar, the Lord meets us, men and women created in God's image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:27), and becomes our companion along the way. In this sacrament, the Lord truly becomes food for us, to satisfy our hunger for truth and freedom. Since only the truth can make us free (cf. Jn 8:32), Christ becomes for us the food of truth. With deep human insight, Saint Augustine clearly showed how we are moved spontaneously, and not by constraint, whenever we encounter something attractive and desirable. Asking himself what it is that can move us most deeply, the saintly Bishop went on to say: "What does our soul desire more passionately than truth?" (2) Each of us has an innate and irrepressible desire for ultimate and definitive truth. The Lord Jesus, "the way, and the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6), speaks to our thirsting, pilgrim hearts, our hearts yearning for the source of life, our hearts longing for truth. Jesus Christ is the Truth in person, drawing the world to himself. "Jesus is the lodestar of human freedom: without him, freedom loses its focus, for without the knowledge of truth, freedom becomes debased, alienated and reduced to empty caprice. With him, freedom finds itself." (3) In the sacrament of the Eucharist, Jesus shows us in particular the truth about the love which is the very essence of God. It is this evangelical truth which challenges each of us and our whole being. For this reason, the Church, which finds in the Eucharist the very centre of her life, is constantly concerned to proclaim to all, opportune importune (cf. 2 Tim 4:2), that God is love.(4) Precisely because Christ has become for us the food of truth, the Church turns to every man and woman, inviting them freely to accept God's gift.

I want to zero-in on that sentence highlighted in red. Note the footnote number (3). Going back to the document and scrolling to the bottom of where references are listed, this quoted statement comes from Pope Benedict himself, as follows:

(3) Benedict XVI, Address to Participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (10 February 2006): AAS 98 (2006), 255.

What my eyes really focused on was the word "lodestar". There are two definitions at Yourdictionary.com:

1. A star, especially Polaris, that is used as a point of reference.
2. A guiding principle, interest, or ambition.

Do you see how good it can be when we encounter a word that we don't commonly use and it eventually grabs our attention. Just a simple understanding of this word gives real power to that statement by Pope Benedict.




It brings back a conclusion I made very shortly after I heard Pope Benedict speak to the Cardinals as they headed into Conclave: Jesus Christ: "The Measure of True Humanism". For days I was being pursued like a jackrabbit running from a hawk by these words:

Animation by Coolnotions

How many winds of doctrine we have known in these last decades, how many ideological currents, how many fashions of thought? The small boat of thought of many Christians has often remained agitated by the waves, tossed from one extreme to the other: from Marxism to liberalism, to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism, etc.

Every day new sects are born and we see realized what St. Paul says on the deception of men, on the cunning that tends to lead into error (cf. Ephesians 4:14). To have a clear faith, according to the creed of the Church, is often labeled as fundamentalism. While relativism, that is, allowing oneself to be carried about with every wind of "doctrine," seems to be the only attitude that is fashionable. A dictatorship of relativism is being constituted that recognizes nothing as absolute and which only leaves the "I" and its whims as the ultimate measure.

We have another measure: the Son of God, true man. He is the measure of true humanism. "Adult" is not a faith that follows the waves in fashion and the latest novelty. Adult and mature is a faith profoundly rooted in friendship with Christ. This friendship opens us to all that is good and gives us the measure to discern between what is true and what is false, between deceit and truth.

I say these words chased me, because I was still living a materialistic, relativistic lifestyle where work and hobbies were placed before God in many respects. I kept trying to get away from these words, but turning on the radio - there it was. Turning on the TV, ditto. Opening up my newspaper - "Dictatorship of relativism". I realized I did not even know what relativism was and looked it up in Yourdictionary - in part hoping it would stop chasing me.

Relativism: A theory, especially in ethics or aesthetics, that conceptions of truth and moral values are not absolute but are relative to the persons or groups holding them.

Upon reading that definition of this philisophical term, I immediately had a sinking feeling, all the while a lightbulb went on. I asked myself, "What is truth?" I sat at my desk pondering this simple question and by the grace of God learned something that would guide me ever since.

Image by Coolnotions

Truth is like North,
where the compass needle points.
I cannot head North
by going any other direction
in which I please
all the while bending the needle
to suit my desires.

Truth is either black or white,
but it is never shades of gray.

Truth is fixed.
It is static or unmoving;
never dynamic or moving.

Truth is timeless;
not unbounded by this generation or the next.
It is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow.

When praying from the Common of Pastors during Lauds, we encounter the passage (Hebrews 13:7-9a):

Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you; consider how their lives ended, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teaching.

It brings us back to the lodestar. As Fr. Corapi says, "Truth is not a something, it is a Somebody and that Somebody is Jesus Christ". That Truth is a point of reference which is fixed and unmoveable. It is absolute because anything else would be less than perfect, and God is perfect. It's not a matter of, "I'm ok, you're ok", it's a matter of, "is it ok with Jesus, who is Truth?"

Pope Benedict now, and yesterday as Cardinal Raztinger, has worked feverishly to get us to want to seek Truth. Truth is not always something that "feels good", but more often is difficult. Our Lord did not say the path was broad and easy. He said it was narrow and difficult. Therefore, when in doubt, take the narrow and difficult path.

We can't hit others over the head to get them to follow truth as it is not the way of Our Lord, who gives us the freedom to choose. This is why Pope Benedict does not engage in smack-downs. God does not force us into compliance, and neither will the Pope. It is something we must freely choose. Obedience to Truth is not slavery as some would have us believe. Rather, it is the other way around. Slavery to sin holds us captive from Truth. Only the those who are truly free can choose obedience.

Let the Truth set you free!!!

More interesting news on Sacramentum Caritatis

I have been very busy with work and family so I have not had a chance to continue reading Sacramentum Caritatis. However, skimming a few internet posts, consider reading those below.

Anything linking to Fr. Z's website may or may not be working when you go to click on it. If you get an error, or a single page talking about high traffic, just try his site a little later - in off peak hours. The only problem is that you need to consider there is no single clock on the internet. Peak hours here in the US are in the evenings from 7-9 for my site. But, Fr. Z is in Rome, and there are people viewing from Down Under, and many other continents. Just keep trying back. And, if you frequent his site, consider hitting that donation button and give him something to upgrade. While this site is free, the level of content he had was not. The more hits he gets, the more bandwidth he needs and the more it costs. I sent my donation in because I pretty much read his articles daily. It's one of the first stops I make in the blogosphere.

Sandro Magister: "Sacramentum Caritatis": Everyone to Mass on Sunday

Fr. Zuhlsdorf: Another yranslation error in Sacramentum Caritatis and some sharp comments

Fr. Zuhlsdorf: Killing the Exhortation by Silence




THE JOURNALISTIC LACK-OF-INTEGRITY AWARD

In general, mainstream media in typical fashion has taken this beautiful document and communicated to the public in their headlines:

From the New York Times: Pope Reaffirms View Opposing Gay Marriage and Abortion

From Associated Press: Pope Reaffirms Traditional Views

From Reuthers (via ABC News): Catholics must oppose gay marriage

I'm not sure which should get the trophy. Let's award it to all three and the many other news outlets which blew the real news coverage of Sacramentum Caritatis. What else would we expect. The Angel of Darkness is alive and well.

Sacramentum Caritatis - Ongoing Discussion

Pope Benedict signs the Exhortation

As you may know by now, Sacramentum Caritatis is 58 pages long when printed.

I have skimmed the document and there are many things I could pull out and make mention of. But, news organizations like EWTN (via CWNews) have done this, as has Fr. Z. Domenico Bettinelli has two posts up - one on politicians and the Eucharist, and another on Latin in the Liturgy. Drew at the Shrine of the Holy Whapping had an excellent commentary which speaks for me in terms of how this document is going to play out. I was disappointed in reading some of the combox responses in other blogs covering this, when people were visibly down because the Pope didn't smack anyone over the head. In part, Drew writes (emphasis mine and comment in red brackets)

As you know, the Exhortation for the most part has not taken upon itself to decree changes to the Missal or the General Instruction. Does this mean the document is of no consequence to the "reform of the reform?" The answer to this must be a resounding "No": Cardinal Ratzinger, in his books on the liturgy, gave much of the intellectual foundation of the "reform to the reform" simply by pointing out the problem, offering an alternative vision, and letting this vision grab the attention of Catholic intellectuals and youth [precisely my thought as I skimmed the document]. The reform of the reform is impressive for its success thus far given that it has not, for the most part, been promoted by sanction or decree, and yet it not only exists but grows [Bingo! The Holy Spirit at work!]. Indeed, the weakness of the original liturgical reform was that it was done by decree, and in light of this the strength of the reform of the liturgical reform is that it has, among the laity, people who are actively concerned, committed, and, er, participating in promoting it.

The Exhortation plays an important role in this movement, then, by codifying Ratzinger's ideas on liturgy into the written magisterium of the Church. He gave the reform of the reform much of its steam by expressing these ideas in popular books; it can only continue to pick up steam now that these ideas are more fully incorporated into the magisterium. The momentum of liturgy seems, from my vantage, to be clearly swinging in favor of a this reforming of the reform: by this exhortation, will it not continue to pick up speed, and continue to be desired by the people and priests themselves? Certainly, creating an environment in which the Church wants the "reform of the reform," though this takes longer than reform by fiat, is more effective in the long run. [The Holy Spirit doesn't have to make a change in a day, but may work over decades and centuries. It took 40 years to fully reveal just how misunderstood and misapplied Vatican II truly was]. It may be less satisfying than a glorious smack-over-the-head delivered to those with whom one disagrees, but glorious smacks-over-the-head are not effective in the long term [and, to desire smacks-over-the-head is somewhat disordered against charity. God does not force anyone to follow his will and such smack-downs reflect a desire to force people into submission. Rather, this approach puts the food out there for those who are hungry to partake]. How many people, pining for a liturgical smack down akin to Pius X's smack-down against "Modernism," are willing to concede that Modernism dissapeared consequent to being "smacked down?"

My thoughts for the last year or so, are that some of the most progressive-minded priests who have participated and orchestrated a loosening of all things Catholic - including the liturgy - are going to be retiring or heading to final judgment. They will have a few young disciples who will continue to create confusion, but for the most part, this JPII generation of priests and seminarians are being guided by documents just like this, which lift the ambiguity "reform" was previously cloaked in.

Hence, I have much hope and excitement out of this document which some see as having few teeth. The Holy Spirit often works silently in the background, and the work he is doing is in the hearts and minds of seminarians and priests who have been authentically seeking Truth.

Drew beautifully articulates this point:

After Mass today, I met one of the seminarians for my diocese--a reverent guy my age, also in love with the Church. These future leaders of the Church have had their hearts moved and formed by the exhortations of Cardinal Ratzinger and Benedict XVI, and it is precisely to loving and willing hearts that exhortations are recieved and by them are enacted. This exhortation, then, is a seed planted in the heart of those who want to reform the liturgy and the Church, and it is precisely the desire to reform the Church, it seems to me, which is the way to effect a reform of the Church that is sincere and lasting. Reform of the Church, then, begins in the reform of the heart--and in exhorting the willing heart. It is easy to call such Christian exhortation "ineffective" because the effects take time to come to fruition: but is that ineffective governance, or is it good psychology? Reform by fiat, which is not also reform of the hearts of Christians, waits only until the cat is away to quickly decay.

Theology was behind this document, and it should drive our meditations. The problem for the past 40 years is people wanting to conform the theology to their thoughts and feelings, rather than conforming thoughts and feelings to the theology.

I look forward to exploring this document with you, and to bring you links to other good posts on the subject. But, I think we will start back at the beginning and digest this slowly one post at a time. It may take a while, but will give us something to chew on for a while.

What's new? Translation error found in Sacramentum Caritatis

The good news is that Fr. Zuhlsdorf is getting lots of traffic at his blog with everyone wanting his take. As you know, Father always sharpens his pencil on translating Latin and this was no exception. While the error was initially found by someone else, it fell under the Z-light.

The bad news is that Fr. Zuhlsdorf is getting lots of traffic at his blog - so much, the hosting service keeps shutting it down or it's crashing. It's about 3am there now, so he probably doesn't know the blog is down again. The link is there for later use - right now it may not work.

---

Bad translation in English version of Exhortation about Latin
by Fr. Z on March 13, 2007 (with his original emphases)

For a long time I have warned people about bad English translations of papal documents.

There are methodological problems in that the documents are no longer composed in Latin.

The Latin text, which is the official text, is itself a translation.

However, since no on refers to the Latin text… few people know this. Thus, they are always working with compromised versions of documents.

Moreover, the texts they are working with were those released at the time of the presentation of the document, even though the LATIN is itself revised before publication in is final official form in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis. But no one goes back to revise the vernacular versions in keeping with the changes in the Latin Lot’s of people are misquoting documents because the vernacular docs themselves were never updated.

That said, let us take a look at the Exhortation’s paragraph on Latin in the liturgy and see if there is a disconnect. I tip my biretta to "stefano" who was alert and caught this before I did.

Latin: exceptis lectionibus, homilia et oratione fidelium, aequum est ut huiusmodi celebrationes fiant lingua Latina.

In Latin, the phrase aequum est means "it is reasonable, proper, right". It can be rendered as "it is becoming", to use a somewhat archaic turn of phrase.

German: es ist gut, wenn außer den Lesungen, der Predigt und den Fürbitten der Gläubigen die Feier in lateinischer Sprache gehalten wird.

Italian: eccettuate le letture, l’omelia e la preghiera dei fedeli, è bene che tali celebrazioni siano in lingua latina.

French: excepté les lectures, l’homélie et la prière des fidèles, il est bon que ces célébrations soient en langue latine

Spanish: exceptuadas las lecturas, la homilía y la oración de los fieles, sería bueno que dichas celebraciones fueran en latín

Portuguese: exceptuando as leituras, a homilia e a oração dos fiéis, é bom que tais celebrações sejam em língua latina

Polish: z wyjątkiem czytań, homilii oraz modlitwy wiernych, dobrze będzie, jeśli takie celebracje będą odprawiane w języku łacińskim (Literally: "It will be good, if such celebration will be officiated in Latin language").

Are you sensing a pattern in the rendering of aequum est, or rather how aequum est in Latin is more than likely the accurate reading of the original language of composition of the Exortation?

Let’s see the English.

English: with the exception of the readings, the homily and the prayer of the faithful, such liturgies could be celebrated in Latin.

WOAH…. wait a minute… "could be" celebrated? That changes the entire impact of what the Pope said. All the of the other languages reflect one concept and the English alone says another thing entirely. The English implies that the value of Latin is, at best, a neutral thing. The Latin and all the other languages imply that Latin is positive.

I think we must conclude that whoever did the translation into English chose not to stick to the original text which they were given to work from.

Sacramentum Caritatis

I am at work and just wanted to get the link out to the Pope's exhortation based on the October 2005 Synod on the Eucharist.

Here are some links:

Fr. Zuhlsdorf announces it has been released with his initial thoughts on the complexity of it.

The Official Vatican Text

More later.

EDIT: Fr. Z's Initial Thoughts....