The most colorful American Bishop at the First Vatican was Augustin Verot who entered the Council as Bishop of Savannah, but came home as Bishop of St. Augustine, Florida.

Apparently, he spoke frequently, for long periods, and used Latin puns and sly remarks to enliven his discourses. He was called l’enfant terrible. But he courageously put forth the case for a precise definition of the papal infallibility so it would not later be broadened too far by the advocates of the decree.

Although primacy and infallibility are distinct teachings, Verot’s emphasis is today important as Second Vatican works to complete the doctrine by defining the role of the bishops united with the pope.

TOO MUCH LITURGY?

Specialists in the liturgy used to complain of “too much lethargy” among the clergy and laity. There is almost bound to be, in the wake of the new decrees, the complaint of “too much liturgy.” The liturgical momentum of the Council has produced changes that call for serious thought by all Catholics.

(A) These are no “changes for the sake of change.” They are a renewal, a “making new again the forms of divine worship.” When the Mass is celebrated in English, it will correspond better to the way it was the night of the Last Supper. Our Lord spoke to His Apostles in the vernacular which was Aramaic. We need a fresh look at the history of the Mass, and a fresh study of the old debate between “intelligibility” and “preservation”, between “understanding” and These are no “changes for the sake of change.” They are a renewal, a “making new again the forms of divine worship.” When the Mass is celebrated in English, it will correspond better to the way it was the night of the Last Supper. Our Lord spoke to His Apostles in the vernacular which was

(B) The changes are only part of a much wider reexamination of Catholic living. Religion was never intended to be a closed circuit arrangement between men and God. Our faith is public as well as private, social as well as individual, externalized as well as living in the Spirit. The Council Fathers believe that more “open” liturgical forms will open up our lives, both to the impulses of God’s grace and to the needs and pressures of one world. In this way, we will not confine our Mass to a “Sunday-best” mentality, a separate compartment held away from home and work and recreation. It will penetrate and permeate the whole week.

(C) But the Church is patient and understanding, even in the aftermath of an almost unanimous approval of the new changes. It is important that bishops and priests, and laymen who feel the impact of the renewed liturgy, be patient too. Our archdiocese will proceed with the Church Universal, aware that some older people, and sometimes younger ones too, do not understand or like these changes. We do not need browbeating, or coercion, or exclusion. Rather by instruction and conversation, and particularly by dignified rites carried out in the new manner, all of our people will come to grasp the meaning of it all. Our Lord came to cast fire on the earth, and he wanted it enkindled. But he did not bruise the smoking flax. It is hoped, of course, that most Catholics will not be as slow as an earlier generation was to accept frequent communion, or our own generation to apply the papal social teachings.

To help all of us keep pace with the Church, a series of sermons on “Liturgy and Life” will be preached in all our churches this fall. But the real work will be done in the home, where the new liturgical forms can become a lively and rewarding study. Ask your pastor or the Notre Dame Book Shop for one of the fine new books on the liturgy now available: COME, LET US ADORE (Diekmann), THE REVIVAL OF THE LITURGY (edited by McManus), THE FUTURE OF THE LITURGY (Nocent), or OF SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENT (Howell).

EACH ONE IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE

The big news in the Council is the introduction of earphones of multilingual translation. At first it may be a bit cumbersome, because the talks must be turned in several days early so that the five translations will be accurate. But it will surely help to overcome the discordance of Latin spoken in a dozen different accents.

After an especially tedious speech last week, one bishop said he wished they would add a sixth button on the earphones.

“There should be one marked ‘Silence,’” he explained.

THENS-AND ROME

The day I receive The Bulletin with Father Mulroy’s account of Mass at St. Joseph’s in Athens, facing the people, we had a similar experience at the Council.

Mass is celebrated that way every day, of course, in the Basilica, and all the Council Fathers take part in the dialogue. But this was special. The Mass was offered for Pope John XXIII on the anniversary of his election.

When the celebrant said “introibo and altare Dei”, 2,300 bishops of this congregation answered, “Ad Deum qui laetificat juventulem meam.” The celebrant was Pope Paul VI.

Paul J. Hallinan

Archbishop of Atlanta