Summary of this Issue

The Year of the Priest began on June 19^th, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A link to the Congregation for the Clergy’s Web site dealing with this subject is provided. Also, Jeff Mirus from Catholicculture.org gathered several pertinent articles and references on these topics.

Mark Mallett uses a true story he heard about a priest to lead to a powerful reflection on what the priesthood entails.

In case you’re not aware, our Mass Missal is in the process of being renewed. Bishop Arthur Serratelli, chairman of the US Bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship has written an insightful document explaining the reasons for the change, as well as the various challenges in coming up with the new missal in what is termed a historic moment in Liturgical Renewal.

The Youtube video of this issue is a potent Pro-life testimony delivered by Fr. John Lemire to youth taking part in the National March for Life which took place in Ottawa in May.

Michael Foley wrote a thought-provoking essay on the four principal ends of the Mass, and compared them to the most important lessons learned in the character development during childhood.

Carl Anderson, the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus offers an analysis of the root causes of the current economic crisis based on some recent Papal writings.

The long awaited CCCB report regarding the allegations Development & Peace funding groups promoting abortions in the Southern Hemisphere has been found to be woefully lacking and inadequate. It has been described as a whitewash of D & P funding activities “despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary”. Links to the report as well as responses are provided.

New articles are found in the Pro-Life Corner.

Links to commentaries by David Warren on Canada Day, and the funeral of Michael Jackson.

Upcoming Events of Note:

·         July 2^nd to August 10^th: Shakespeare in the Parks will present the comedy: "Much Ado About Nothing" in many Ottawa parks this summer. Details are given.

·         September 19^th at St. Pat’s Basilica, “HOW BEING CATHOLIC IS ABOUT RESTORING CIVILIZATION” by David Warren

·         November 27-28^th, Fr. Benedict Groeschl from EWTN comes to St. Pat’s Basilica

The Congregation for the Clergy came up with a Web site for the Year for Priests, and it looks great. Click on: website from the Congregation for the Clergy

From CatholicCulture.org:

·         Overview

·         Documents

·         Priest Saints

·         Websites

·         Books

·         Prayers for Priests

So, you saw Him too?

This is based on a true personal story recounted by a priest about an event which occurred while he was in seminary… click on so, you saw Him too?

…this is a great reflection for the Year of the Priest.

The New Missal – Historic Moment in Liturgical Renewal

http://www.catholicculture.org/

Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson (New Jersey) is the chairman of the US Bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship. Last October he addressed the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions on the significance and goals of the revision of the Roman Missal, currently in progress. The revision is proceeding according to the principles set forth in 2001 in Liturgiam authenticam, an instruction of the Holy See which replaced the document in force since 1969, Comme le Prévoit, now regarded as seriously flawed.

As Bishop Serratelli pointed out, the main difference between the two instructions is that the heady 1969 concept of “dynamic equivalency” is now replaced by a more traditional concept of “formal equivalency”. With “dynamic equivalency”, the translator was encouraged to attempt to capture the concept presented in any given liturgical prayer without attempting to reproduce in the new language the particular words and phrases used in the Latin. This gave translators tremendous leeway and, given the times, led to a marked horizontalization and banalization (if such are words!) of the liturgy. Liturgiam authenticam’s “formal equivalency” insists that not only the underlying concepts but the precise words and phrases used to express them be preserved in the translation, ensuring superior fidelity to the mind of the Church.

What lies beneath this shift is an important liturgical recovery, the understanding that the liturgy is primarily the work of God and that its words and actions are supposed to reflect not so much individual styles of piety as the living Faith of the Church, into which each believer must be incorporated. Or, as Bishop Serratelli put it:

In the liturgy, the words addressed to God and the words spoken to the people voice the Faith of the Church. They are not simply the expression of one individual in one particular place at one time in history. The words used in the liturgy also pass on the faith of the Church from one generation to the next…. The liturgy is the source of the divine life given through the Church as sacrament of salvation. As Pope Paul VI once said, it is also “the first school of the spiritual life, the first gift which we can give to the Christian people who believe and pray with us….”

Bishop Serratelli then went on to enumerate the seven characteristics of the new translation:

• The translation must capture the teleological focus of the Latin. Latin prayers tend to conclude strongly with a teleological or eschatological point. Thus, for example, an English expression such as “grant that we may learn to love the things of heaven by tempering earthly desires” would, following the teleology of the Latin original, be rendered as “grant that by tempering earthly desires we may learn to love the things of heaven.” The first ends on our desires; the second on heaven.
• Biblical references must be made clear. Examples abound, but the classic one is “Lord I am not worthy to receive you”, which does nothing to recall the Scriptural context on which it is based. This will now be rendered, as it was in the earliest English translations, as “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof”, a clear reference to Matthew 8:8.
• Patristic references must similarly be made clear. Thus for the memorial of Saint Augustine, we will remember his famous dictum (“If you have received worthily, you are what you have received”) when we pray “May the partaking of the table of Christ sanctify us, we pray, O Lord, that, being made His members, we may be what we have received.”
• The richness of the Latin vocabulary is to be preserved. Rather than translate a variety of Latin words with the same English word again and again, the variety will be retained: for example, “nourished, fed, recreated, made new” and “we pray, we beseech, we ask”.
• The translation must preserve the Latin’s poetic qualities. The Latin abounds in concrete images, parallelism, and anthropomorphic expressions. Instead of saying “in your pity hear our prayers”, we will say “in your pity give ear to our prayers.” Similarly, the prayer “Grant us, Lord, to begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service that, as we fight against spiritual evils, we may be armed with the weapons of self restraint” will not end up as something anemic and colorless like “Grant that we may fast in order to grow spiritually.”
• The translation must preserve the exactness of the Latin original, which is already composed in a style befitting the liturgy. For example, a prayerful reflection on the offertory gifts as they are prepared for the sacrifice of the Mass might well read as “grant that we who celebrate the mysteries of the Lord’s Passion may imitate what we enact”, but because the word “enact” is suggestive in English of a performance, it will be translated “may imitate what we now do”. Thus the correct word is chosen to capture the precise meaning of the Latin “gree” in this context.
• The translation must preserve the concision and nobility of the Latin tone. The language and vocabulary of the street and the supermarket are not appropriate to the liturgy, yet over the past generation or two, our English translations have grown increasingly common, ordinary, informal. This is not the language of public discourse, and such language is not used in the Latin. Neither should it creep into the English translation.

Bishop Serratelli’s address provides as succinct a summary of the purpose of the new translation of the Roman Missal as I have yet seen. You can read the complete text in our library, but this summary is sufficient to acquaint you with the main virtues of the new translation, which is expected to be completed and published before the end of 2010. Further information about the translation, along with catechetical materials designed to introduce it, may be found on the USCCB web site, Order of Mass Translation.

An inspiring Pro-life Youtube video

Human Being 8 weeks after conception

Fr. John Lemire, Chairman of Priests for Life Canada, speaks to youth at the March for Life Youth Conference, Ottawa, sponsored by Campaign Life Coalition, Friday, May 15, 2009. Fr. John’s lively and captivating talk encourages youth to become pro-life active and invigorates all pro-lifers to continue their battle to promote the culture of life.  (24 minutes). Click on the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTZiN1jMeYw

The Mass and the Four Most Important Lessons Childhood (character formation)

This is a powerfully written and profound article describing the purposes for which Mass is comparing it to character building of our youth…..visit the following site:

http://catholictradition.blogspot.com/2009/02/mass-and-four-most-important-lessons-of.html

Root causes of our economic collapse

A great article was recently published in ZENIT, featuring writings fro our last two Popes warning of the dangers facing Western Economies. Click on Moral Responsibility Is Key to Economic Recovery, by Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus.

John Pacheco

Development and Peace Scandal

The long awaited CCCB report regarding the allegations D & P funding groups promoting abortions in 3^rd World countries has been found to be woefully lacking (to be charitable). It has been described as a whitewash of D & P funding activities “despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary”.

To read the report, Click on the following link:

http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/report_of_inquiry_committee.pdf

To read LifeSiteNews detailed response to this report, visit the following site:

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jun/09063010.html

Our own SOCON detailed reaction:

·         A Time for War: A Response to the D&P Abortion Scandal Report (Part 4 of 4)

·         A Time for War: A Response to the D&P Abortion Scandal Report (Part 3 of 4)

·         A Time for War: A Response to the D&P Abortion Scandal Report (Part 2 of 4)

·         A Time for War: A Response to the D&P Abortion Scandal Report (Part 1 of 4)

In the wake of the CCCB report, click on the following to get some ideas on how to respond:

Speaking up for the Unborn in the Global South

Pro-life Corner

Helping people die well: video interview with Dr. Jose Pereira tells of the slippery slope of assisted suicide. June 19, 2009. Click on http://listenuptv.com/listenup/video?video_id=130

Destroying for Life…Dr. Margaret Somerville: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Technology/Destroying+life+science/1719495/story.html#Comments

“Is late-term abortion ever necessary?” by Mary L. Davenport, MD, FACOG:
http://www.frc.org/infocus/is-late-term-abortion-ever-necessary 
 ……..  Dr. Davenport used to perform abortions and is now president elect of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

———————–

√ Best PRO-LIFE news Website to stay up to date with latest developments:

· http://www.lifesitenews.com/

√ Best PRO-LIFE Reference Material:

· http://www.ewtn.com/prolife/

· http://www.priestsforlifecanada.com/English/Resources/

√ Best Blog Sites:

· http://www.prowomanprolife.org/

· http://www.4mycanada.ca/

· http://www.socon.ca/or_bust/

· http://bluewavecanada.blogspot.com/

Commentaries by David Warren

·         Great reflection on Canada Day: My Canada includes Canada

·         On the death on Michael Jackson: Sad Clown

UPCOMING EVENTS

Shakespeare in the Parks 

Shakespeare's comedy "Much Ado About Nothing" will be performed in various parks in the Ottawa region from July 2 to August 10, 2009.   Shows are at 7 pm.   "Pass the hat" donations are collected at the end of the show (suggested donation of $10).  Please see the link below for further information, including the schedule of performances.

The play is being presented by "A Company of Fools”, which is Ottawa’s only professional Shakespeare company and has been performing since 1990.  The mandate of the Fools is to produce innovative, entertaining and accessible shows based on the works of William Shakespeare.

For details, visit: http://www.fools.ca/

Christ the King

HOW BEING CATHOLIC IS ABOUT RESTORING CIVILIZATION

A talk by journalist David Warren at Saint Patrick’s Basilica in the “Scavi”

Entrance off Gloucester Street (between Kent and Lyon streets)

Saturday, September 19 at 7:30 p.m.

Free admission (Freewill offering)

Information: 613-233-1125

Coming to Saint Patrick’s Basilica
November 27-28, 2009

Father Benedict Groeschel CFR

Author, EWTN host, and founder of the Franciscans Friars of the Renewal

Talk times and subjects to be determined
Mark your calendar!

Biography:
http://www.goodcounselhomes.org/about/groeschel.php

His Order:
http://www.franciscanfriars.com/

Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olY9UyRP850

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olY9UyRP850&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcMKXlSv5gk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heMMr5qMMQM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URGvnDunXaw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27-JP7mkGcw&feature=related