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Mahony's Mass

VIDEO GUIDE FOR CARDINAL'S LITURGY PASTORAL NOW AVAILABLE

By Christopher Zehnder

For those who have wondered (or feared) what Cardinal Mahony's liturgical reforms might look like, there is now a way to find out. Last December the Los Angeles archdiocesan liturgy conference unveiled a "Video Guide for Gather Faithfully Together" which, says the "Leaders Guide" accompanying the video, "puts faces and voices to the Cardinal's vision." Though, says the pamphlet, the video does not portray "an exact blueprint" for parish liturgies, it does show "something of what any parish's Sunday liturgy can be."

The video is a walk into the future, showing us a Mass celebrated at the imaginary Our Lady of the Angels parish (St. Gertrude's church, Bell Gardens) for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, year 2000. Cardinal Mahony explains at the beginning of the video that "hundreds of Catholics from dozens of parishes gathered one day to make this video. They let themselves become the people" of Our Lady of the Angels. The video, says the cardinal is "like a part of my pastoral letter" with "nearly all the words" heard in the background being taken from the 1997 letter, "Gather Faithfully Together."

"By the year 2000, and beyond" Cardinal Mahony asks Catholics in the archdiocese to "work for a Sunday liturgy that is the center of vibrant parish life." Recalling that the 1997 archdiocesan conference on implementing the cardinal's letter featured a vespers service where liturgical dance was prominent and where the congregation blessed the cardinal, I was curious to see an example of the Mass Mahony wants for the new millennium. I was surprised to note nothing so extraordinary that one would be surprised to see the like in a typical Sunday liturgy as currently said. There was no liturgical dance, nothing remotely extemporaneous. In fact, the video Mass displayed a certain choreographed sobriety, a clear (as the cardinal would say) "attention to detail." The ministers of Mahony's Mass--the priest, the lectors, the servers--seemed to be consciously trying to evoke a mood.

What is this mood? What the cardinal emphasizes in the excerpts from his letter read on the video are reverence, mystery, joyousness, the sense of community--but reverence for what, the mystery of what, and joy on account of what? Clearly, all these "moods" center on the Body of Christ, on the knowledge that, as the cardinal wrote, "we are the Body and Blood of Christ;" but in the video one finds again the ambiguity found in the cardinal's letter as to what is most truly the Body and Blood of Christ--the Eucharist or the assembly? We hear the cardinals words, "[h]ere is a Church partaking of the sacred banquet...unfolding the wonder and thanksgiving Catholics feel toward the body of Christ--the consecrated bread and wine, and the Church. Both have the same name." Both the letter and the video, with its equal visual emphasis on the altar and the assembly, give the impression that Christ is present at Mass to facilitate community.

In the "General Questions" found in the "Leaders Guide" one finds the following quotation from Environment and Art in Catholic Worship: "Among the symbols with which liturgy deals, none is more important than this assembly of believers." This sentiment was expressed in the environment and floor plan of Our Lady of the Angels church. There, the only symbols besides the assembly were the altar, the presider's chair, the ambo and the processional cross. No cross over what would be the apse, no crucifix, no tabernacle could be seen. The "sacred space" in whose midst stood the altar was at the center of the church and surrounded on three sides by the assembly--the choir at the head (liturgical "east"), the congregation on the flanks. The furnishings of the sacred space were arranged in this order: behind the altar stood, on the liturgical "east", the presider's chair; opposite the chair, on the other side of the altar, facing the altar and the choir which sat behind the presider's chair, was the ambo; behind the ambo was what appeared to be a large baptismal pool, itself standing no great distance from the doorway of the church. The situation of the ambo recalled the position of ambos in very ancient churches.

The church floorplan allowed members of the congregation to view simultaneously the action at the altar and their fellow parishioners. Such an arrangement is important, for as the cardinal states in a passage from "Gather Faithfully Together" (quoted in the video), "Parishioners here can talk about the experience of standing and singing God's praise together; they can see how much their lives need to be filled with thanksgiving; and they recognize that their presence to one another at this table witnesses to the breadth of the Church in place and in time, a holy communion. They can talk about sacrifice and the mystery of Christ's passion, death and resurrection that is remembered and realized here in a powerful shaping of their own lives. Above all, they can talk about the way the Holy Spirit is invoked to transform these gifts and themselves. And so they are talking about the presence of Christ in the simple gifts of bread and wine, and in the mystery that is this Church. When we say 'Eucharist,' we mean this whole action of presider and assembly. That is the Eucharist whose grace and powerful mystery can transform us and, in us, the world."

As seen on the video, Mahony's liturgy is multi-lingual, including Tagalog, a dash of Latin (in the closing hymn), a Greek kyrie eleison in the response for the penitential rite, though English and Spanish predominate in the readings and prayers. The music, too, was eclectic. The assembly sang traditional hymns, "Glory and Praise" style songs, up-beat contemporary music, and a piece with the flavor of an African-American spiritual.

The Liturgy of the Word in the video began with an "entrance procession" which was simply the congregation entering the church, accompanied by the singing of the choir. This procession is an important symbol for Mahony, since it comes "from all directions," is "made up of all ages, several races, a variety of economic circumstances and political outlooks," and speaks "at least three first languages!" The procession of "presider" (Father John S. Schiavone), two altar servers (one male, one female), lectoress and crucifetrix followed.

Both in the opening procession and in their subsequent actions, the presider and the ministers assumed a formal, ritualistic demeanor. At times, however, this attitude could seem a bit contrived. The first lectoress, for instance, was almost funereal in her manner as she slowly processed from the assembly to the ambo.

Periods of silence were frequent during the Mass. One following the invitation to pray was, in the words of the cardinal, "long enough to settle into, and like song, it creates the Church." Other periods of silence followed each of the readings and communion. Pauses, too, helped the lectors "to communicate their passion" for the readings "without calling attention to themselves." The first lectoress, for instance, concluded the Old Testament reading in this manner: "There was some left over [pause, and then with slow emphasis] as the Lord had said. [pause] The Word [pause] of the Lord."

A procession preceded the Gospel reading. The presider with the altar servers processed with the gospel book from the altar, around the baptismal pool, and to the ambo. The homily which followed was the subject of some scrutiny. "A regular churchgoer," the cardinal writes, "usually knows within a sentence of two whether the homilist worked hard enough on the homily. Every Sunday at Our Lady of the Angels, the expectation is that not only did the preacher work on this homily, but so did the ten or so people who meet every week on Monday evening to read, pray with and talk about the scriptures for the coming weeks. The homilists are committed to being there and lectors often come as well."

Following a dismissal of the catechumens, who processed out with the gospel book, another procession opened the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Accompanied by a flautist playing the "Adagio" from the E-flat Flute Sonata by J.S. Bach, an older couple came forward with the altar linen and draped it over the bare altar. The altar servers next brought up to the altar the corporal cloth and a glass chalice. Then, another couple carried to the presider a shallow glass bowl (the paten?) filled with two large circular hosts that looked like pita bread, covering smaller chunks of bread. This bread had, presumably, been baked by members of the parish. The wine was brought forward in a large glass wine decanter.

Special emphasis is made of the collection in the video. "The parish bulletin regularly prints financial information," writes the cardinal, "to support both aspects of the parish's mission, caring for the poor and caring for the Church. Writing a check or coming up with cash is a vital liturgical deed in the root meaning of liturgy, a work done by people on behalf of the larger community."

Following the offertory, the presider chanted the dialogue preceding the preface. His strong voice did "make it clear," in Mahony's words, "that what is about to happen needs the full and active participation of everyone." The Third Eucharistic Prayer was also sung, the presider's well-trained voice beckoning the assembly, who all, except the choir, knelt. "Parishioners here," writes the cardinal, "can talk about the experience of standing and singing God's praise together; they can see how much their lives need to be filled with thanksgiving...they are talking about the presence of Christ in the simple gifts of bread and wine, and in the mystery that is this Church.... Great mystery is conveyed in the faces and postures, singing and silence, gesture and word. Everyone is attentive, bodies engaged as much as hearts. Over the altar and the gifts of bread and wine, all God's saving deeds are remembered, all is held up in praise of God, all is asked of God.... The Prayer takes only four or five minutes, but in its intensity it is clearly the center of this Sunday gathering. As we said long ago, the Church makes the Eucharist and the Eucharist makes the Church. And that is what we take part in on a Sunday morning. No wonder that when the great 'Amen' is concluded, one can sense a collective sigh, a deep breath..."

"How did this parish move from the eucharistic prayer to holy communion? What makes the Lord's Prayer and the peace greeting a ritual action and not just a routine?" asks the Video Guide. The question is presumably answered for the Our Father by noting that the assembly used the orans (hands upraised) posture while praying, without holding hands. The answer for the peace greeting is more difficult. This action seemed no more ritualistic than it is in typical parish liturgies. Indeed, it seemed a respite of informality in an otherwise formal structure.

At communion, another procession formed. Now, those in the rear of the church processed first up to communion "so that the whole room seems to be surrounded by a procession." Several glass cups were placed on the altar, and a Eucharistic minister filled them with "consecrated wine" from the glass decanter. While communion was distributed by priest and eucharistic ministers to the assembly, all receiving the "consecrated bread" on the hand, and all partaking of the "cup of consecrated wine," the entire assembly remained standing, singing a "single communion song." "Here is a Church," writes the cardinal, "partaking of the sacred banquet...unfolding the wonder and thanksgiving Catholics feel toward the Body and Blood of Christ--the consecrated bread and wine, and the Church. Both have the same name.... To be with these people is to know deeply that we are the Body and Blood of Christ. To be with them is to learn how to be in this world with reverence, with a love of God that is incarnate in how we speak to others, how we move amidst the holiness of matter and of time."

Before they left, the assembly heard from a representative from Amnesty International, who invited them to visit a table she had set up outside the church. Hearing from such people "of the good work that is being done and of help that is needed" is part of the liturgy, according to Mahony. Then followed the "true procession of the Church: one, two, and five at a time going back to neighborhoods and homes, roles and jobs, studies and waiting. But Sunday by Sunday the world is here being transformed in Christ!" "What is the most wonderful thing you have seen here?" asks Cardinal Mahony. "Los Angeles Catholics who know, love, and do their parish liturgy." This, he says, is "what the pastoral letter is all about. Go and do likewise."

"The Video Guide for Gather Faithfully Together" is available from Liturgy Training Publications (1800 North Hermitage Avenue, Chicago IL 60622-1101; 1-800-933-1800) for $39.95, plus postage.

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