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| Notes From Our Pastor |
Pastor's Page
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ,
As we begin our Advent Preparation for the Incarnation of Jesus Christ in the
Christmas season, some important changes our afoot—the new prayers and responses we
will be praying together at the central act of Divine Worship, the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass, which we celebrate as a community of faith drawn together by the Lord. For the
last several months, through articles in our Diocesan newspaper, The Messenger and
through weekly articles of faith formation in our parish bulletin, we have been doing our
best to ready our parish family for these important changes in the way we worship together
as the Mystical Body of Christ.
These changes have been a long time in coming. Some of the basic reasons these
changes are occurring in the prayers and responses of the Mass are as follows:
1. The new English language text is more accurate in its translation from the Latin text,
which is the reference for every translation into another language.
2. The new English translation makes better use of the biblical language of the liturgy,
which is present throughout the prayers at Mass. The new translation should allow for the
faithful to more easily grasp the biblical foundations of the Mass. It is my hope that
Catholics will take this opportunity to connect for themselves the riches of the table of the
Word with the Altar of Sacrifice, thus enriching their interior participation in the Holy
Mysteries of our salvation that we partake of every Sunday.
3. The new English translation uses a more sacred and poetic language that is more
fitting for the Worship of the Most Holy Trinity. One of the deficiencies of the previous
translation was its failure to use sacred, poetic language, thus failing to mark out the
difference between everyday talk and the language of Divine Worship. It is my hope that
the more precise, poetic, biblical, and sacred language will help us form a greater realization
of the Sacred Presence of the Most High God we encounter in the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass.
4. The new translation makes deliberate use of theological terms that point us to the
need to know the precise content of our Catholic Faith. The use of theological terms that
are not part of everyday conversation is a call to really learn the content of our faith and to
clarify matters of theological truth that we are too easily ambiguous about, thus leading us
down the road of “my faith is what I feel.” This new translation is a call to anchor
ourselves anew in the Faith that is True.
It will take us a while to learn all the new texts and prayers and to become familiar
with them. I realize that change is often upsetting, so in the coming months, as we learn
these new texts, prayers, and chants, we will need to be patient with this learning process.
No one expects us to get it right or to be totally comfortable with these new texts and
responses on the first Sunday we use them. To facilitate learning these new prayers of the
Mass, the parish has provided a “pew card” for your use that has all the responses for the
faithful printed on them. We will also be purchasing missalettes to aid your prayerful
participation in the Mass. These will help everyone learn the new prayers and to pray the
Holy Mass with attention.
I think there are numerous graces attached with this new translation of the Sacred
Liturgy. One, because all of us are learning the prayers together, we will all be focused on
praying the Mass with a new attentiveness. It can be easy to put your responses and
prayers on autopilot at Mass. The new translation requires a new attentiveness to both our
responses and the reality of what we are saying. Two, I think, after a few decades of
liturgical confusion, we have a tremendous opportunity to recover the riches of our sacred
liturgical tradition which have fortified and inspired the Church for centuries. It is my hope
that things that have been lost or forgotten might be found and remembered again. Finally,
I believe this new translation will serve as an impetus to rediscover in an ever more vibrant
and informed way, the living, beating heart of our Catholic Faith: Jesus Christ our
Eucharistic Lord.
God bless,
Father Phillip W. De Vous
As we begin our Advent Preparation for the Incarnation of Jesus Christ in the
Christmas season, some important changes our afoot—the new prayers and responses we
will be praying together at the central act of Divine Worship, the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass, which we celebrate as a community of faith drawn together by the Lord. For the
last several months, through articles in our Diocesan newspaper, The Messenger and
through weekly articles of faith formation in our parish bulletin, we have been doing our
best to ready our parish family for these important changes in the way we worship together
as the Mystical Body of Christ.
These changes have been a long time in coming. Some of the basic reasons these
changes are occurring in the prayers and responses of the Mass are as follows:
1. The new English language text is more accurate in its translation from the Latin text,
which is the reference for every translation into another language.
2. The new English translation makes better use of the biblical language of the liturgy,
which is present throughout the prayers at Mass. The new translation should allow for the
faithful to more easily grasp the biblical foundations of the Mass. It is my hope that
Catholics will take this opportunity to connect for themselves the riches of the table of the
Word with the Altar of Sacrifice, thus enriching their interior participation in the Holy
Mysteries of our salvation that we partake of every Sunday.
3. The new English translation uses a more sacred and poetic language that is more
fitting for the Worship of the Most Holy Trinity. One of the deficiencies of the previous
translation was its failure to use sacred, poetic language, thus failing to mark out the
difference between everyday talk and the language of Divine Worship. It is my hope that
the more precise, poetic, biblical, and sacred language will help us form a greater realization
of the Sacred Presence of the Most High God we encounter in the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass.
4. The new translation makes deliberate use of theological terms that point us to the
need to know the precise content of our Catholic Faith. The use of theological terms that
are not part of everyday conversation is a call to really learn the content of our faith and to
clarify matters of theological truth that we are too easily ambiguous about, thus leading us
down the road of “my faith is what I feel.” This new translation is a call to anchor
ourselves anew in the Faith that is True.
It will take us a while to learn all the new texts and prayers and to become familiar
with them. I realize that change is often upsetting, so in the coming months, as we learn
these new texts, prayers, and chants, we will need to be patient with this learning process.
No one expects us to get it right or to be totally comfortable with these new texts and
responses on the first Sunday we use them. To facilitate learning these new prayers of the
Mass, the parish has provided a “pew card” for your use that has all the responses for the
faithful printed on them. We will also be purchasing missalettes to aid your prayerful
participation in the Mass. These will help everyone learn the new prayers and to pray the
Holy Mass with attention.
I think there are numerous graces attached with this new translation of the Sacred
Liturgy. One, because all of us are learning the prayers together, we will all be focused on
praying the Mass with a new attentiveness. It can be easy to put your responses and
prayers on autopilot at Mass. The new translation requires a new attentiveness to both our
responses and the reality of what we are saying. Two, I think, after a few decades of
liturgical confusion, we have a tremendous opportunity to recover the riches of our sacred
liturgical tradition which have fortified and inspired the Church for centuries. It is my hope
that things that have been lost or forgotten might be found and remembered again. Finally,
I believe this new translation will serve as an impetus to rediscover in an ever more vibrant
and informed way, the living, beating heart of our Catholic Faith: Jesus Christ our
Eucharistic Lord.
God bless,
Father Phillip W. De Vous