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by Jim Holman.
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Forget the Middle Ages

LONG BEACH CONFERENCE EXAMINES NEW PASTORAL

By Dawn Gueranger

Speaking of Roger Cardinal Mahony's pastoral letter on the liturgy, the September 6, Los Angeles Times stated that "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 ever attempt by an American bishop."

On October 10, 1997 at the Long Beach Convention Center, the Los Angeles' Archdiocesan's Office of Worship held a day-long conference where an estimated crowd of 2,000 heard the cardinal's vision of the liturgy outlined for them.

After Cardinal Mahony led the audience in a prayer service, complete with liturgical dancers, Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, Pennsylvania, gave a talk where he exhorted the audience to forget the Middle Ages and look to the future. The conference then broke up into discussion groups, divided according the five pastoral regions of the archdiocese. Sister Ann Field facilitated the discussion group for Our Lady of the Angels, a pastoral region which covers most of the metropolitan Los Angeles area. Sister Rosario Therese provided Spanish translation for the group. Sister Ann was middle-aged and dressed in a black polyester pantsuit. In contrast, Sister Rosario Therese, was dressed in a traditional habit.

Sister Ann went over the cardinal's pastoral letter with great care. Throughout Sister's outline of the letter, some of the audience (including several priests) dozed off. After each section of her outline, Sister Ann instructed the audience to break up into smaller discussion groups. Cardinal Mahony, Bishop Stephen Blaire, and Monsignor Kevin Kostelnik (Cardinal Mahony's personal secretary) all sat in the audience at one time or the other during this session.

During the lunch break, this Mission reporter took the opportunity to interview conference attendees.

Arthuro Neri, a seminarian of the Society of the Precious Blood who is a 4th year theology student at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley doing a year of pastoral work in the Los Angeles archdiocese said, "It's a great experience being here and knowing what the archbishop is doing. Bringing together all the parishes to study the letter--it's great." When asked if the pastor at St. Agnes's church, where he worked, was going to implement the pastoral, he replied that the parish is conducting a study to see how it should be implemented. One priest from Guadalajara, Mexico talked about the cardinal's letter and how important it was to "live" the liturgy. "These are things that the Second Vatican Council called for but have not been implemented in the archdioceses and the parishes," he said.

Most participants interviewed were very upbeat and enthusiastic about the pastoral letter, citing the "unfinished work" of the Second Vatican Council. One priest not in active parish duty admitted that he was troubled by the fact that "it wasn't until the second to the last paragraph of the pastoral that the liturgy was referred to as the sacrifice of the Mass. The very essence of everything in the liturgy is the continuation of the Holy Sacrifice since the time of Jesus to the present time...the whole idea of the sacrifice being perpetuated was absent." Another thing that troubled this priest was that priests are called "presiders" in the letter: "anyone can preside," he said, "but only the priest can offer the sacrifice. The fact that the priest is the only one that can consecrate is not mentioned until the second to the last paragraph."

One interesting comment came from Sister Una Feeney, Sister of Social Services. When questioned if Una was her given name, she replied "I am Una, the Alpha and the Omega!" Sister Una was a facilitator at the conference.

The conference ended with a Vespers service. The cardinal, attended by Monsignor Kostelnik, presided over the service. As the service drew to a close, the audience was exhorted to extend their hands in blessing over the cardinal. His Eminence stood quietly, head bowed, as the People of God gave him their "blessing." As if on cue, a quartet of liturgical dancers flitted down the aisle up to the stage where the cardinal stood. Standing erect, with his eyes raised, one dancer lifted his oversized bowl of incense, as if in offering. The other dancers weaved in and out around him as he stood with his offering. His Eminence then commissioned the audience to "go out and implement the pastoral." The liturgical dancers then led the recession, dancing down the aisle, followed by banner bearers, Monsignor Kostelnik and then the cardinal. The crowd followed out into the lobby of the building.

The Office of Worship has planned a series of "Liturgical Formation days" entitled: "Implementing the Pastoral Letter: Gather Faithfully Together." Each of the five regions will host workshops that include such topics as: Altar Coordinator, Eucharistic Minister, Liturgical Dancer, Liturgy Committee.

Many Catholics are anxious about the proposed changes and are wondering what Cardinal Mahony will do next. An interesting observation, however, came from a priest who chose not to be named. "That letter," he said simply, "is dead on arrival."

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