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PAGE 6—September 9,1976
Worship: Yesterday,
Today And Tomorrow
BY MSGR. JOSEPH M. CHAMPLIN
Our parents of First Communicants
at Holy Family Parish, Fulton, N.Y.,
gather in small groups at different
homes for the second of their
instruction classes. During the course of
that session they view a film-strip called
“Understanding the Liturgy” which
sketches the historical development of
the Mass.
The reaction of these adults to this
audio-visual always seems to be the
same. “We never understood before that
the changes in the liturgy being
introduced now are not really
something new, but more a going back
to the old ways of the Church in the
early Christian days.”
They refer by such a comment to
recent reforms like altars facing the
people and congregational participation.
Those two developments and other
similar liturgical revisions thus follow
the principles for updating Catholic
worship approved by the Second
Vatican Council and published in the
Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.
Article 23 states:
“That sound tradition may be
retained, and yet the way be open for
legitimate progress, a careful
investigation is always to be made into
each part of the liturgy which is to be
revised. This investigation should be
theological, historical and pastoral.
Also, the general laws governing the
structure and meaning of the liturgy
must be studied in conjunction with the
experience derived from recent liturgical
reforms and from the indults conceded
to various places. Finally, there must be
no innovations unless the good of the
Church genuinely and certainly requires
them; and care must be taken that any
new forms adopted should in some way
grow organically from forms already
existing.”
These columns during the weeks
ahead will in part consider that
historical aspect of Roman Catholic
liturgy. By examining worship
yesterday, we can, as our First
Communion parents did, gain a better
understanding of worship today.
The goal of liturgical reform,
however, is not simply to recreate
something from the past. Instead, “the
aim to be considered before all else,” in
the words of Vatican II, is “full and
active participation by all the people.”
To encourage such involvement the
Council Fathers recognized and directed
that certain elements of the liturgy
subject to change should be modified if
they no longer help, but instead hinder
a congregation’s full sharing in the
Sacred Mysteries.
These articles of mine, by also
describing actual examples of successful
worship today around the United
States, will attempt to illustrate how
concerned parishes or worshiping
communities are adapting the liturgy in
that fashion to meet current
circumstances.
Those illustrations may recount a
huge diocesan celebration with
magnificent music of the past and the
present, a moving parish Thanksgiving
Day liturgy, a practical program for
more effective use of the reformed Rite
of Penance or a very popular Lenten
sacrifice calendar.
Finally, in these columns we will
occasionally peek at worship tomorrow.
The Church is a pilgrim Church
always on the move. As members of
such a changing body, we must be
careful about clinging to practices which
are not essential, but accidental. Not all
change is progress, but all progress does
involve change.
Time will tell just how much of this
adapting we can expect in the United
States. For example, will there be
additional eucharistic prayers? Will the
official translations of liturgy texts be
improved, made less sexist? Will
Communion in the hand become an
accepted practice in our country? Will
permanent deacons anoint the sick? Will
general absolution be more common?
Worship Yesterday, Today and
Tomorrow shall consider some of these
possibilities for the future as well as
explore how our present liturgy has
roots in the past.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12th - 7:00
p.m. (ABC) - SEVEN ALONE (1975)
Part II.
9:00 p.m. (ABC) - STREET
KILLING - An unpromising made-for
TV film starring Andy Griffith as a New
York City prosecutor on the trail of
organized crime (what else!).
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13th -
8:00 p.m. (CBS) - CHITTY, CHITTY
BANG BANG (1968) - This fun-packed
children’s fantasy takes widowed,
erstwhile inventor Dick Van Dyke, his
two children, and girlfriend Sally Ann
Howes (whose movie name is Truly
Scrumptious!) on a magical mystery
tour of story-telling involving “evil”
barons, cavernous castles in the air,
rescued children, and a wonderful flying
car named Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Have fun! (A-I)
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15th -
9:00 p.m. (NBC) - KINGSTON -
Raymond Burr plays an investigative
reporter in search of a multinational
builder of nuclear power plants who has
assumed control of the economy in
several countries.
9:00 p.m. (CBS) - THE STALKING
MOON (1969) -- Salvaje, an Apache
feared for his cruelty, follows the trail
of those who have taken his young son
MINDSZENTY STATUE ~
America’s first outdoor statue of
the late Cardinal Jozsef
Mindszenty of Hungary will be
dedicated at St. Ladislaus Church
in New Brunswick, N.J., on Sept.
26, where the primate spoke three
years ago. (NC Photo)
and leaves his own path of dead settlers.
Sam Varner, former Army scout who
has taken the boy and his mother to his
New Mexico ranch, waits for the
inevitable showdown with his elusive
pursuer who strikes without even being
seen. This Western has the usual amount
of physical violence, but its
cat-and-mouse story is plotted almost
totally for its suspense potential.
Gregory Peck is excellent as Varner, and
Nathaniel Narcisco has the proper
menace as the stalking Apache. But it is
Robert Forster as a half-breed scout
who comes up with the film’s most
memorable performance, in a
throwaway role at that. (A-I)
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17th -9:00
p.m. (ABC) - THE LOVE BOAT - ABC
has scoured its top sitcoms for the cast
of this made-for-TV movies. Tom
Bosley, Gabriel Kaplan and Hal Linden,
among others, try upstaging one another
in four interrelated stories about the
misadventures of passengers and crew
on a cruise ship.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18th -
9:00 p.m. (ABC) - LITTLE LADIES
OF THE NIGHT - Look out, folks!
Here comes ABC’s version of the
‘mature’ new season: a runaway
teenager, the program notes tell us,
finds herself drawn into the cold world
of pimps and prostitutes. ABC cautions
“parental discretion.”
9:00 p.m. (NBC) - CHARLEY
VARRICK (1973) - Charley Varrick,
(Walter Matthau) smalltime bank hood,
operates in the tank towns of New
Mexico where the take is in the $10-to
$20-thousand peanut category, which
guarantees that the cops will not apply
too much heat to Charley’s modest
avocation. On a routine heist that runs
amok, Charley discovers that the haul is
three quarters of a million; the bank, it
turns out, is a Mafia drop, and before
Charley can pop another wad of gum
into his mouth he is contending not
only with the police, but with a Mafia
hit man (Joe Don Baker).
The plot is a natural for Siegel’s
action talents and provides Siegel with a
really stunning climax featuring a neat
twist involving a car and plane duel.
What is more to the point, however, is
the film’s aptness as a vehicle for what
would seem to be Siegel’s recurring
theme of the little man, the individual,
at odds with an oppressive system and
overwhelmed by a series of events
outside his control. As such, the film’s
milieu is determinedly amoral and
offers, without question, a brutal world
in which the criminal is indeed the sung
and unsung hero. By no means a film
for the kiddies. (A-III)
photomeditation
USCC SPOKESMAN
Photo and Text By Father Carl J. Pfeifer* S.J.
Congress Asked To Change
ANOINTING THE SICK
A sense of peace pervades the sickroom . .. The priest signs the sick man’s head
with oil.. . in the form of a cross . . . Family and friends surround the sick man . ..
supporting him with their presence . .. and their prayers . . . The small bedside
crucifix silently suggests . . . the source of their faith and hope.
They believe ... as do Christians of all traditions . .. that Jesus Christ. .. himself
no stranger to pain and weakness ... is alive and with us ... to bring us healing.
The Sacrament of Anointing the Sick ... is a sign of that faith ... in the healing
presence ... of him whose word and touch . . . made the blind see . . . the deaf
hear . . .the lame jump with joy .. . and the tormented in spirit find peace.
Their faith echoes that of the earliest Christian communities . .. who followed the
Apostle James’s instructions ...
“Is there anyone sick among you? ... He should ask for the presbyters of the
church . . . They in turn are to pray over him .. .anointing him with oil in the Name of
the Lord. . . This prayer uttered in faith will reclaim the one who is ill. .. and the
Lord will restore him to health . . . Hence . .. pray for one another .. . that you may
find healing.” (James 5:14-16)
Revenue Sharing Proposal
BY JIM CASTELLI
WASHINGTON (NC) - A spokesman
for the U.S. Catholic Conference
(USCC) has called on Congress to
remove a provision barring
discrimination by religion in
administering general revenue sharing
funds because of a concern the
provision might backfire against church
agencies.
The revenue sharing program now
prohibits discrimination based on race,
color, sex or national origin; new
legislation drafted by the House would
add “religion” to that list.
The intent of the addition, according
to Eugene Krasicky, USCC general
counsel, is to prohibit state governments
and agencies receiving revenue sharing
funds from discriminating by religion in
providing services.
But, Krasicky said, the impact of the
new language may be to spark court
cases aimed at ending revenue sharing
funds channelled by local governments
to religious agencies which give
preference in service to members of
their own church.
Krasicky made his comments in
testimony before the Senate Finance
Committee now considering revenue
sharing.
“Throughout our national history,”
Krasicky said, “state governments have
provided considerable financial
assistance to the charitable and welfare
activities of church and church-related
institutions.
“To a lesser, but still substantial
extent, state governments have also
provided financial assistance for the
health, safety and secular education of
children attending church-related
schools.
“We see a potential threat” in the
new language “to the continuation of
these traditions,” Krasicky said.
“We do not think that the House of
Representatives intended to create this
threat,” he said. “Indeed, the House
sponsors. .. have assured the U.S.
Catholic Conference that they had no
such intention.
“Nevertheless, our experiences with
church-state litigation convinces us that
the threat exists and must be removed
by a more precise wording” of the bill.
Krasicky said the USCC favored the
simple deletion of the word “religion.”
“Religious discrimination by the state
or federal governments is already
forbidden by the Constitution,” he said.
“The United States Catholic Conference
wholeheartedly supports these
prohibitions and does not wish to see
them diminished by one jot or title.
“All we want to prevent is the
expensive and time-consuming dispute
that may well result” if “religion” is
retained in the bill, he said.
— >
Vietnamese Religious Leaders Invited To U.S.
^
NEW YORK (NC) - Seven
Vietnamese religious leaders have been
invited to visit the United States by 170
U.S. Catholic, Jewish and Protestant
leaders, including 11 Catholic bishops.
Signatures for the letter of invitation
were gathered by Clergy and Laity
Concerned here, an interfaith
organization formed originally to
oppose U.S. involvement in the war in
Vietnam.
“We invite you into our churches,
temples, homes and communities,” the
letter said. “We invite you to share with
us your life, worship and community as
it was experienced during the war and as
it is today in this time of
reconstruction.”
The letter was addressed to Cardinal
Joseph Marie Trinh Nhu Khue of Hanoi,
Archbishop Paul Nguyen Van Binh of
Saigon, two Protestant clergymen and a
Buddhist leader.
In announcing the invitation to the
Vietnamese religious leaders, Clergy and
Laity Concerned distributed copies of a
letter sent earlier this year by
Archbishop Nguyen Van Binh to La Vie
Catholique, a French Catholic
publication.
In the year since the “revolutionary
authorities” came to power, the
archbishop said, “freedom of religious
belief has been observed, liturgical
ceremonies take place normally and
conversions to Catholicism continue to
occur.”
Conceding that “in some places,
particularly in remote areas, there have
been a few regrettable incidents from
the religious point of view,” Archbishop
Nguyen Van Binh said that Catholics
“are not burdened by obligations
contrary to the Christian faith.”
He said Catholics want to share in the
reconstruction of Vietnam and he
expressed the hope that religious
organizations occupied with charitable
works would not refuse aid to Vietnam
on the grounds that it has become a
Communist state.
“Christian charity does not concern
itself with knowing to which category
one or another person belongs,” he said,
noting that the country has numerous
post-war problems.
Other reports from Vietnam have
presented a different picture of the
country. They have described job
discrimination against Catholics,
attempts to discredit the Church at
Communist-run reeducation classes,
efforts to stack the clergy and hierarchy
with government sympathizers, and the
imprisonment of about 200 priests,
including Coadjutor Archbishop
Francois Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan of
Saigon.
The Catholic signers of the invitation
to the Vietnamese religious leaders
included: Bishop John Dougherty,
auxiliary of Newark, N. J.; Bishop
Lawrence Graves of Alexandria, La.;
Bishop Andrew Grutka of Gary, Ind.;
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, auxiliary of
Detroit; Bishop Vincent Harris of
Austin, Tex.; Bishop Amedee Proulx,
auxiliary of Portland, Me.; Bishop
Walter Schoenherr, auxiliary of Detroit;
Bishop Francis Shea of Evansville, Ind.;
Bishop Edward Herrmann of Columbus,
Ohio; Bishop James Niedergese of
Nashville, Tenn.; Bishop Paul Anderson
of Duluth, Minn.; peace activist Jesuit
Father Daniel Berrigan; Sister Mary
Luke Tobin of the Sisters of Loretto;
and Dr. Joseph J. Fahey, general
secretary of Pax Christi-USA, the U.S.
section of the international Catholic
peace organization.
Copyright (c) 1976 by NC News Service
LIFE IN MUSIC
BY THE DAMEANS
SHOWER THE PEOPLE
You can play the game and you can act out the part
Though you know it wasn’t written for you
Tell me how can you stand there with your broken heart,
Ashamed of playing the fool?
But one thing can lead to another
It doesn’t take any sacrifice — oh
Father and mother, sister and brother
If it feels, nice, don’t think twice
Just shower the people you love with love
Show them the way that you feel
Things are gonna work out fine if you only will
Do as I say — yeah — shower the poeple you love with love
Show them the way you feel
Things are gonna be much better if you only will.
You can run but you cannot hide
This is widely known
And what do you plan to do with your foolish pride
When you’re all by yourself alone?
Once you tell somebody the way that you feel
You can feel it beginning to heal
I think it’s true what they say about the squeaky wheel
Always getting the grease.
Shower the people you love with love
Yes and show them the way that you feel
I know things are gonna be just fine if you only will
What I’d like to do to you — shower the people you love with love
Show them the way you feel
Things are gonna be much better if you only will.
Shower the people you love with love — yeah )
Show them the way that you feel, (repeated several times in background)
They say that every night
They say the rain must fall
Just like the pouring rain
Make it rain, make it rain
Love, love, love and sunshine
Oh yes, make it rain
Love, love, love and sunshine. (c) 1976 Warner Bros. Records, Inc.
Written and performed by: James Taylor
“Shower the People you Love with Love” is a thought which strikes all of us
who are afraid to express how we feel about others. James Taylor’s insight
reminds us that we must be authentic persons who dialogue with others.
Dialogue is not just words; real dialogue is telling another “the way that you
feel.”
Think about the people in your life — father, mother, sister, brother, friend.
Do they know you as you really are? Or do you “play the game” or “act a part”
with them? Do you run from people even though you know ultimately you
cannot hide?
Why do so many people fail to “shower the people” they love with love? This
question hits at the heart of the song. As Taylor suggests, perhaps its because of
“foolish pride —” a refusal to say “I’m sorry” when the situation calls for this
type of love. There are times when tensions build up between persons who love
each other and they never talk about it. When this happens, there is a total
breakdown of communications. Taylor says that when you express your feelings,
you “feel it beginning to heal.” That is a great feeling but before this can
happen, we must swallow our pride — a painful thing to do.
Another reason for not showering the people we love with love is fear — fear
of not seeming cool (the games we play), or possibly sounding corny, or feeling
we have nothing to offer others, or fear of rejection, or fear of our vulnerability.
And of all these fears, perhaps the worst risk is that we show our real selves to
the person we love.
These reasons are both real and human. We know we could find ourselves
alone. However, if we do that kind of love, as James Taylor says, “things are
gonna be much better.” To actively express our feelings of love promises us an
experience of the heart that we cannot have if we hold tightly to our feelings.
The real paradox of love is that once it is given away, it is received. Usually
when we give something away, we lose it. Love doesn’t work that way. As we
break through our fears, shyness or pride and shower our love on others, we will
know the sunshine in our hearts. Things will be much better “if you only will.”
(All correspondence should be directed to : The Dameans: P.O. Box 2108, Baton Rouge,
La. 70821.)