Mahony Unveils Directive for Revision and ‘Renewal’ of Mass

Setting a course for how millions of Southern California Roman Catholics will worship in the next millennium, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony unveiled a new directive Friday for revisions in the Mass.

The long-anticipated and lengthy pastoral letter, titled “Gather Faithfully Together,” calls for the use of inclusive language during portions of the liturgy, replacing traditional Communion wafers with bread, and incorporating ethnic and cultural expressions of praise and worship into the Mass that reflect the makeup of the parish. Parishioners will be encouraged to lift their hands in prayer while reciting the Lord’s Prayer.

Mahony repeatedly stressed that the changes are more than cosmetic. At their heart, he said, they are intended to enliven and renew the faith of the Los Angeles Archdiocese’s 3.5 million Catholics.

For non-Catholics, Mahony’s single-minded emphasis on revising the Mass may seem like so much church talk. But to Catholics, the Mass is the central act of worship, climaxing in the Eucharistic prayer in which the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

“The goal is not aesthetic liturgy or age-appropriate understandings of a catechism,” he said. “The goal is a church that is acting on God’s love for the world.”

Mahony has the authority to make such changes because of liturgical reforms approved 30 years ago by the historic Second Vatican Council called by Pope John XXIII. Even so, Mahony’s directive appeared to anticipate opposition from some Catholic traditionalists who began complaining about the proposed changes as early as June, when an early draft of the letter was leaked.

Stressing that Christianity’s third millennium is being celebrated as a jubilee year by the church, Mahony said it is a time for renewal.

“Jubilee is a time to acknowledge and celebrate that things need not be what they have been, that the future need not repeat the past,” he wrote. “Jubilee is a sorting out what of that past must be forgiven or set aside, and what of the past is worthy to be grasped and handed on, built upon, made our own and given to our children.”

Although other Catholic bishops, including Mahony, have previously issued letters dealing with portions of the Mass, church experts said the cardinal’s latest initiative is the broadest even attempted by an American bishop.

In Washington, an authority on liturgy with the National Conference of Catholic Bishops said Friday that Catholics in other dioceses can expect to see many of their bishops embarking on similar ventures as 2000 approaches.

“I believe that Cardinal Mahony’s effort in terms of calling people to a renewed understanding of the Eucharist [Communion] liturgy and calling them to a renewed commitment to a deeper awareness and greater sense of worship and reverence is a wonderful thing and a marvelous way to prepare for a new millennium,” said Sister Ann Rehrauer, associate director of the office of liturgy with the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Los Angeles’ revised liturgy, Mahony said, will incorporate revisions in the church’s lectionary or assigned readings from the Bible, and the church’s sacramentary, or official liturgical prayers.

The Vatican in 1992 turned down revisions in the lectionary approved by U.S. bishops because of concerns that the language was too inclusive. Since then, American bishops have redrafted the lectionary and last June resubmitted it to Rome for confirmation.

If that lectionary is approved, one change that churchgoers may notice is that in the Scripture readings the people will be addressed as “brothers and sisters” instead of only as brothers. The new language reflects a “better rendering” of the original texts, according to Rehrauer.

References to God and Jesus, however, would continue using masculine pronouns such as he, him, father and son.

Lifting one arms with upturned hands, known as the orant posture, would also be encouraged during the Lord’s Prayer. Such displays of public piety are particularly welcomed by charismatic Catholics and are frequently seen among Protestant evangelicals.

Looking at the ethnic diversity in the Los Angeles archdiocese, Mahony’s statement--which fills 15 pages of the archdiocesan newspaper, the Tidings--exhorts Catholics “to let the prevalent liturgy take on the pace, sounds, and shape that other cultures bring. . . . The language of Pentecost, many languages speaking God’s praise at the same time, is our language and our heritage. It goes far beyond vocabulary. It is God made manifest in the gifts of every people.”

He also wrote that, “the Sunday assembly should bring together men, women and children of all ages. It should be the one experience in our lives when we will not be sorted out by education level, skin color, intelligence, politics, sexual orientation, wealth or lack of it, or any other human condition. If the assembly is the basic symbol when the liturgy is celebrated, the comfortable homogeneity promoted by so many in this nation has no place. Homogeneity and comfort are not Gospel values.”

Each parish will work out the changes in its own way, Mahony said. But he set incremental deadlines for the liturgical renewal, with a goal that all be accomplished by 2000.

Stressing its importance, Mahony said even local pastoral initiatives in parishes must come second to implementing liturgical renewal.

“This will not be one task among many,” he said. “It will be the task of the next three years.”