Sometimes people send me "pastor’s pages" from their parish bulletins. Most of the time this is an opportunity to exercise patience.
I was alerted something written in a pastor’s page from "The Catholic Faith Communities of Saint Theresa and Saint Christopher" in
Tiverton, Rhode Island where Fr. Peter J. Andrews is pastor.
This benighted little blurb popped up,
But it is not just the sexual abuse crisis that muddies the waters of Church life and overall integrity. Liturgically we are at a cross roads, where some continue the work of reform set forth by the Second Vatican Council, while at the same time, others see reform as a return to a time and practice present for centuries before this last ecumenical opening of windows and doors. [The writer has set himself squarely in opposition to Pope Benedict. But wait… there’s more…] Newer translations of prayers and texts, warranted in so many cases, seem to go too far in [Get this howler…] an effort to rein in our theological and spiritual understanding of faith and are becoming stilted and difficult to understand. [Lemme get this straight… more accurate translations which, by the way, haven’t yet been used, will rein in understanding of the faith?] Instead of gathering [bzzzzz] folks with a common and comprehensible language in liturgy and prayer, [What he means here is lowest common denominator of language. Sorry, but I feel excluded by the banal evacuated version now in use.] I fear [Based on what? Evidence of some sort? This is fearmongering and rabble-rousing. He is trying to spoil the effort before it begins.] there will be separation and confusion. Instead of being one with the people who make up her members, one might see the Church disconnecting from the very folk she is meant to lead.
The new translation is not yet in use.
Therefore the writer is just talking out of his hat.
With no evidence at all, he is purposely trying to turn people against the new translation before it is implemented.
So… what does this mean for that parish when the new translation goes into force? How much whining will his people have to endure then?
Furthermore, while the translation seems to be the main object of his attack, do not forget that he placed himself firmly in opposition to Pope Benedict.
Finally… if the pastor doesn’t like the new translation, he can always use Latin.
