The letter below appears in this week's The Tablet, issue of September 7.
Unwelcome squabbling
Your news story "Irish bishops criticised over vocations" (31 August) relates how Dominican Fr Gerald (sic) Dunne castigates Irish bishops for their seeming lack of enthusiasm for vocation promotion. Although this makes for interesting reading and may not be too far from the mark, it fails to address the fact that the lack of enthusiasm is not confined to bishops.
Fr Dunne rightly has a formidable reputation in Ireland for recruitment of energetic and bright young men to the Dominican way of life. I had the joy of observing many of these young Dominicans, suitably and proudly attired in their distinctive robes, in action at last years's International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.
In the current edition of 'The Kerryman', my local weekly newspaper, Dominican Fr Michael, not for the first time, sneers at what he considers trends among young clerics to wear their clerical habits in public and to praise the new Missal. Surely a house divided is unlikely to attract vocations.
Alan Whelan,
Beaufort,
Co. Kerry,
Ireland.
Dear Mr Whelan,
Thank you for your two letters, one to 'The Kerryman' and then this letter to 'The Tablet'
What to say, how to reply?
Firstly, it would be terribly dishonest of me to say that we were united and all singing from the same hymn sheet. The motto of the Dominican Order is 'veritas'.
This is not the place to discuss how divided we are but may I assure you with 45 years experience I am very aware of how divided the Irish hierarchical church is at present.
I can't see how walking about in fine and 'distinctive robes' on a summer's day in the RDS has anything to do with the state of vocations to the Dominican Order. I'm not at all sure what it has to with the Word of God and telling the world that we are all children of God.
You talk about these men being 'suitably and proudly attired....'. I can't help but think of 'Fr O'Connor' in James Plunkett's 'Strumpet City'.
You say I 'sneer' at current trends. Mr Whelan, let me assure you when it comes to 'sneering', I am down in Division E among the priestly class. Indeed, again from 45 years of experience, I am acutely aware of the 'sneering' and deviousness that is far too prominent among the priests. Of course, it's not universally practised, indeed I have come across the most noble and honourable of men who happen to be priests. I've no idea it they wear the Dominican habit in public. I doubt it.
I write this note watching the RTE programme on the scholarship facility the Jesuit Order offers young boys to its school in Belvedere.
Personally I'd much prefer to see far more positive talk about what the Jesuits do for less advantaged children in our city than to hear about the 'distinctive robes' men wear on a summer's day in Dublin. Actually, clothes have never made me feel proud.
As to the new Roman Missal, some of the Collects have up to 63 words in one sentence. In many cases it is almost impossible to find the main verb. Clauses within clauses make so many of the prayers most difficult to understand. I wonder how many people understand the meaning of 'prevenient grace'? Would you think most people going to Mass in Beaufort understand the word 'oblation'?
Best wishes.
Sincerely,
Michael Commane OP.
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8 comments:
I'd much prefer to listen to a long collect that has stood the test of time and that has been honestly translated than an unprepared rambling at the beginning of Mass from an unpredictable and lazy cleric who couldn't be bothered to understand what the Vatican II collects express. The latter is the kind of clericalism we don't need.
@Michael Commane
Great Response
@Fergus
I have no choice in the matter of what collect I hear, with this new 'translation' being forced on the Church. Most of them are now poor English. Translation is not transliteration. Much of the translation reads like it was put through a rudimentary Google translator!
Tony Flannery put it well today : "Even while attending Mass, as I do regularly, I sit there listening to the priest struggle with the new translation of the Missal, especially with the opening prayers and prefaces, and I know that whoever was behind this new translation was not motivated by desire to make the Eucharist more meaningful for the people, but instead was driven by a rigid ideological stance that had little or nothing to do
with the teachings of the Gospel."
For clarity the Michael who posted this comment is not I, Michael Commane.
Perhaps it's an age thing? Most priests in Ireland are now elderly. The older you get, the more difficult change becomes. I find very few of the collects difficult at all and I think I can pronounce them intelligently inspite of how much they say in a short text. (I'm under 40).
@Fergus
Clearly we move in different circles. Many of the older priests I know have no difficulty adapting to change. Quite the contrary, in my experience it is the younger priests and seminarians who are entirely resistant to change, with closed minds and a rigid world view: it is often hard to know which is more worrying, their ignorance or their attitudes.
You will not accept, I expect, that your statement "The older you get, the more difficult change becomes" is utter nonsense and cannot be generalized to a population. It is also utterly ageist, but then that particular attitude is alive and well for some.
I have no doubt given your erudition and education that you can pronounce the collects. So can my 8 year old son. He can also pronounce a lot of Ulysses in terms of individual words but I would not take bets on his comprehension. In terms of the collects, the question is not about the pronunciation, which pretty much any half-baked twit with a basic education might manage, but rather one of ability to both make sense of the collect and lead the people in prayer. If most of the people cannot follow the collect, whatever age they are, then it seems to me that the problem lies with the lousy translation. One of my nephews asked me if the writers of the new missal were native English speakers! I have to wonder.
"Pronounce" meaning deliver, say, read, proclaim, etc. My experience tells me older people do resent the degree of change younger people can either manage or look for. Different experiences.
The point I was making is being ignored, so I set those reading this a clear challenge. If it is that difficult for a cleric to understand the new translations of the Vatican II Collects and prefaces, then it is clear that the average priest does not understand what a collect is for the celebration of Mass, or how it is structured: describe the structure of a collect. Simple: describe the structure of the collects we use at Mass. (If one knows the structure, one can easily figure out the most complex of them)
@Fergus
Our experiences are clearly very different. I find your comment that "Older people do resent the degree of change younger people can either manage or look for" to be hilarious. You can't be serious. I suggest that if you were to say that in my local church you would find yourself in very hot water from the capable, adaptable and open minded older people I meet regularly.
Try it in a sermon on a Sunday with large congregation and see what reaction you get. Now there's a challenge for you (I am presuming, perhaps wrongly, that you are a priest).
As a layman, I understand a collect as having certain components: a calling on God and a recognition of God's qualities, a request, an expression of hope related to that request, a plea in the name of the Christ to be followed by the acclamation of the people.
But you miss the point. There is no requirement for collects to be complicated. The collects are difficult for the hearer to grasp, and given their convoluted language, also difficult for the presider to communicate in an appropriate way for leading the people of God in prayer. My earlier reference to a priest being able to make sense of the collect is not about comprehension: it is, rather, about how that prayer is communicated meaningfully to the people. It is clearly meant to be so communicated as it is said aloud for the whole assembly to hear. One presumes there is a reason for this!
Since we are so depleted of priests, might I suggest that Under-40 Fergus be transferred immediately to an inner-city parish or a shelter for the homeless where he can bring Christ's message to the poor, forgotten and heartbroken.
The fact that this 'young' man can engage in such tedium is a sign, surely, that he has way too much time on his hands. There are plenty of 'young' men 'Under 40' who are taking their lives because of the stresses of unemployment, the inability to provide for their children or pay their bills.
The respondent's propensity and ability to respond, endlessly, suggest he is not fully or gainfully occupied. I doubt very much if he's pacing the floor at night worried about the gas bill. More's the pity. It might save us from this miffed, puerile drivel. I'd tolerate this from a 16-year-old but find this attitude vaguely worrying in a supposedly-mature man.
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