Online Edition – September 2005
Vol. XI, No. 6
News and Views
“The Medina Years” Focus of Liturgy Conference | Synod Working Document Includes Problems, Proposals for Correction | Liturgical Institute Schedules Spring 2006 Conference | Sacred Music Colloquium Held at CUA
“The Medina Years” Focus of Liturgy Conference
Acclaimed scholars of Catholic liturgy will address an international conference marking the contributions of Cardinal Jorge A. Medina Estévez, former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW). The conference will be held October 27-30, 2005, at the Colombiere Center in Clarkston, Michigan near Detroit.
The conference, titled “Sacrificium laudis: The Medina Years (1996-2002)”, celebrates the golden (50th) jubilee of Cardinal Medina’s ordination to the priesthood. He was bishop of Valparaíso, Chile, before being called to Rome by Pope John Paul II to head the CDW.
Cardinal Medina completed the task of revising the liturgical books of the Roman Rite in response to the mandate of the Second Vatican Council (1963-65). The Missale Romanum, editio typica tertia, was released in 2000, and the Instruction on translation, Liturgiam authenticam, appeared in 2001. He also oversaw the re-establishment of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL). It was Cardinal Medina, as protodeacon of the Church, who announced to the world the election to the papacy of his long-time friend, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as Pope Benedict XVI.
“This conference will showcase the talents of international, American, and local scholars of the liturgy”, said conference organizer Father Neil J. Roy, editor of the liturgical journal Antiphon. “Some of the speakers are not only distinguished scholars in their own right, but are official consultors to the Holy See. This means that Church authorities recognize and value the expertise of these scholars in the field of liturgy and sacramental theology”.
The scheduled speakers and titles of their addresses follow:
Carmina Magnusen Chapp, Academic Dean of Religious Studies Division, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Philadelphia: “Trinitarian Theology and the Missale Romanum: Issues in Translation”.
Monsignor Peter J. Elliott, Director, John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family, Melbourne, Australia, and CDW Consulter: “Liturgical Translation: A Question of Truth”.
Robert Fastiggi, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit: “The Sacraments, Obedience and Ecclesial Communion”.
The Reverend Manfred Hauke, Professor of Dogmatics and Patrology, Theological Faculty of Lugano, Switzerland: “The Theological Battle about the Rite of Exorcism, ‘Cinderella’ of the New Rituale Romanum”.
The Reverend Jo Hermans, secretary for liturgy of the Dutch Bishops Conference, and professor at two seminaries.
Helen Hull Hitchcock, co-founder of Adoremus and editor of Adoremus Bulletin: “A New Era of Liturgical Renewal: Foundations and Future”.
Dennis McManus, Director, Intercultural Forum for Studies in Faith and Culture, Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, Washington, DC.
Monica Migliorino Miller, Professor of Theology, St. Mary’s College, Madonna University, Orchard Lake, Michigan.
Daniel Van Slyke, Professor of Theology, Ave Maria College, Ypsilanti, Michigan: “De exorcismis: The Ancestry and Theology of the New Rite of Exorcism”.
Conference liturgies will feature Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony.
For registration information, call 888-638-5424, or visit the web site of the Research Institute for Catholic Liturgy at www.liturgicalrenewal.org.
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Synod Working Document Includes Problems, Proposals for Correction
In preparation for the Synodal Assembly of Bishops on the Eucharist, to take place at the conclusion of the Year of the Eucharist, on October 2-23, 2005, the Holy See produced a “working document” (Instrumentum laboris). It was published in July by the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, and is accessible on the Vatican web site (www.vatican.va).
The Preface of the Instrumentum laboris explains that the Synod’s title, The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church, “explicitly alludes to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council on the Eucharist, set forth for the most part in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium, 11, and taken up anew in the Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 1 and 13”.
The preface also explains that this document reflects the contributions of the bishops and “the entire people of God” following the Lineamenta’s questions, “which treated various pastoral aspects related to the Eucharist”.
The results of the official responses and the observations of “others wishing to take part in the Synodal process” were summarized and included in the Instrumentum laboris.
“The present document reflects the general contents of the submissions, and does not represent a systematic, complete, theological treatise on the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which already exists in the Church. Instead, it touches upon some doctrinal truths of notable influence in celebrating this sublime mystery of our faith” that highlights the “great pastoral richness” of the Sacrament, the Preface explains.
While the document “is principally concentrated on the positive aspects of the celebration of the Eucharist … [m]ention is also made of various insufficiencies and oversights”, the Preface says, noting that including these problems “provides the occasion for clergy and the faithful to consider the due reverence and piety towards the Eucharist which is to characterize their celebration of this Sacred Mystery.”
Thus each of the document’s four sections ends with proposals based on the responses the Holy See received to the Lineamenta document.
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Liturgical Institute Schedules Spring 2006 Conference
The Liturgical Institute of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in Chicago is planning a conference on the liturgical legacy of Pope John Paul II April 5-7, 2006. Scholars are invited to submit abstracts for papers concerning the contribution of Pope John Paul II to the renewal of the sacred liturgy, and how the late Holy Father enabled all to “appreciate the deepest spiritual dimensions of the liturgy”.
To submit a proposal, please e-mail an abstract of no more than 250 words to litinst@usml.edu before December 15, 2005. Please include your contact information, institution and program. Presenters will receive reimbursement of travel expenses, and room and board at the Conference Center at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary. For more information visit www.liturgicalinstitute.org.
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Sacred Music Colloquium Held at CUA
A colloquium on sacred music held at the Catholic University of America, June 21-26, 2005, demonstrated that the effort to revive Gregorian chant and choral polyphony within the Catholic liturgy, is skilled, exuberant, and growing. Participants at the 15th annual colloquium included cathedral musicians, organists, composers, choir directors, and parish singers from around the country.
The week-long workshop, co-sponsored by the Church Music Association of America (CMAA) and the Ward Centre in the B.T. Rome School of Music at Catholic University of America, featured daily liturgies in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, two scholas specializing in chant, two choirs working on polyphonic music, as well as recitals, lectures by experts in liturgy, and discussions of the practical aspects of parish music. The works demonstrated the viability of this music for cathedrals or parishes of every shape and size.
The average age of the participants was in the late 30s, and many had no prior training in chant. The classes and workshops afforded them a thorough understanding of the practical and interpretive skills necessary to bring chant to life in parish liturgies.
A Requiem Mass for John Paul II, included the Introit and Communio from the Graduale Romanum, and also the Dies Irae Sequence that many people wrongly think was suppressed after Vatican II. The Dies Irae is not forbidden and is a theologically sound text that has inspired composers for centuries.
Faculty were Wilko Brouwers of the Monteverdi Choir in Holland, Gisbert Brandt of the Archdiocesan choir school in Cologne, Horst Buchholz of the Denver Cathedral, Kurt Poterack of Christendom College, Scott Turkington of the Stamford Schola, Father Robert Skeris of Catholic University, Amy Zuberbeuler of Houston, and William Mahrt of the Stanford University, who was elected president of the CMAA.
The CMAA was founded in 1964, as a merger of American Society of St. Cecilia (1874) and the St. Gregory Society (1913). It publishes a quarterly journal, Sacred Music, and organizes workshops for church musicians. CMAA is open to all church musicians interested in a revival of sacred music.
Information: CMAA, Office of the Treasurer, 12421 New Point Drive; Harbour Cove, Richmond, VA 23233; or visit www.musicasacra.com.
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