Modernizing the Mass

Millions of Americans got their first bemused look at a Roman Catholic Mass by watching television coverage of John Kennedy's funeral, and even with the scholarly help of a priestly commentator it was for many a puzzling ritual. There, on TV, Boston's Richard Cardinal Gushing stood dressed in odd black garments, droning Latin phrases toward the east" wall of the cathedral, striding from one side of the altar to the other as he ceremonially poured wine into a chalice or read from a black-bound missal. Much of the mystery will soon be modified. Last week Pope Paul VI formally promulgated the first and almost only concrete accomplishment of the Vatican Council: a 12,000-word constitution that authorizes what could become the most sweeping liturgical reforms in Roman Catholic history.

Predictable Outcome. In what was from the beginning the most predictable outcome of the council, the constitution allows priests and bishops to administer the sacraments, and to celebrate about half of the Roman Mass, in living languages. It also lays down norms for a simplification and reform of the ceremonies of the Mass. If the reforms are to be handled by the Curia's slow-moving Congregation of Rites, they will be relatively modest. But council progressives hope that Pope Paul will let the job be done by the bishops and theologians attached to the Liturgical Commission, who have prepared a detailed outline of how they plan to change the central act of Roman Catholic worship.

In this program, the first part of the Mass, which consists largely of scriptural readings, would be read by the priest in the language of--and facing --his congregation. To emphasize congregational participation in the sacrifice, laymen would carry to the altar the wine and the hosts to be consecrated. The Canon, the most ancient prayer of the Mass, would remain in Latin; but rather than being recited silently, it would be said aloud, as is the custom in the ancient Eastern liturgies. On certain solemn occasions, such as Nuptial Masses, laymen would be able to receive Communion in the form of wine as well as bread. And the Mass would conclude not with the reading of the beginning of St. John's Gospel, a late Renaissance accretion, but with a final blessing of the people by the priest. Into this framework, bishops would be able to incorporate suitable local customs. When and to what degree the reforms will be carried out is still to be determined.

Ecumenical Overtones. The reform has striking ecumenical overtones. For if the Liturgical Commission has its way, the Roman Mass of the future will bear a much greater outward resemblance to the Anglican and Lutheran Communion services developed by the Reformation fathers 400 years ago.

The Roman Catholic Church also made a small move toward decentralizing its authority. In a papal letter addressed to the bishops, Paul VI gave them permanently 40 minor rights and several privileges that many of them had enjoyed on a temporary, renewable basis. Among these powers: permission to let illegitimate males become seminarians and to grant certain dispensations necessary before Catholics and Protestants can wed.

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