Podcasts about eucharistic prayers

NOTE: Though I mentioned timestamping, I've decided to forego that for now to allow me to go ahead and get this episode out without additional delay. I may well add it in retroactively at some point but for now you'll just have to survive with the free full transcript, below. https://columbuscatholic.org/chancery https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253959/cardinal-hollerich-there-s-space-to-expand-church-teaching-on-all-male-priesthood  Hello everyone, welcome back to Popeular History, a library of Catholic knowledge and insights and I'm going to be skipping the brought to you daily part because I've switched, at least for the time being, back to a model that basically can best be described as brought to you as I am able: something every month, probably. Which, I admit, doesn't roll off the tongue quite so well, but it's the right move. Anyways, it's good to be back talking with you again, I've been using the time away wisely, taking care of family and household stuff that needed my attention. Thank you for understanding. This is going to be something of a glossary of various roles within the Catholic Church that are gonna keep popping up, so consider this your cheat sheets to consult as needed. Oh and good news, I learned how to timestamp show notes, at least on some catchers, so see if it works for you. Let me know if it doesn't. See the show notes.  Without further ado, let's get into these church roles, starting with church roles you may recognize from the Bible but which are no longer a thing unless you're like a Mormon or something. First, APOSTLE. The most familiar use of this term is referring to one of the 12 Apostles, Jesus' closest followers: Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, the other James, Judas (not *that* Judas), Simon, and Judas (yes *that* Judas). At least, that's the listing of the 12 as given in the book of Acts, my favorite reference point as this podcast talks about Church history and Church history actually happens in Acts, unlike the Gospels where it's pre-Pentecost so it's not really Church history yet, per se. And really, *that* Judas, Judas Iscariot, is replaced by Matthias for most purposes when you're talking about the apostles because since Judas betrayed Jesus he's a bit of an embarrassment to the group, which, fair enough. In the end, Apostle is the only one of these titles where I'm going to name the main holders individually in this episode, though of course through future episodes of the podcast I'll name all the Popes and Cardinals I have documentation of any kind for and we should also recognize that the term Apostle is used outside the Twelve as well at various points, including most prominently Saint Paul and even the almost certainly female Junia in his Letter to the Romans. The broader term for one of the earlier followers of Jesus is a DISCIPLE, and while this one does have some use in contemporary Catholicism, for example my parish has a slogan of "making disciples and disciple makers", the title of disciple as a specific identifier is something you're going to encounter in the Bible rather than in the day-to-day, where it's more of a general goal as a follower of Jesus. Meanwhile, an EVANGELIST is one who wrote one of the Gospels. Earlier I committed to the Apostles being the only one of these titles where I'd name all 12 of the main holders and I'm going to stick to that, but yeah, it's that simple. Note that this is actually more restrictive than being one of the writers of Scripture in general, for instance even though he wrote a good chunk of the New Testament, Saint Paul doesn't get described as an Evangelist. That isn't to say there isn't a bit of a tradition of using even this term someone analogously for anyone who spreads the message of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, for example the decidedly non-Catholic phenomenon of Televangelists get their name as a play on this word. Our last Bible-times Church role is that of PROPHET. Simply put, a prophet is someone inspired by the Holy Spirit to deliver a message, John the Baptist being the most famous New Testament example though especially if you look closely at the Book of Acts you can find other examples. There have been a number of folks who have made claims to be prophets in some form or another, generally the Church has frowned on such pronouncements. Officially, all new *public* revelation closed with the death of John the last Apostle around the year 100. However, the door to being a legitimate prophet is not completely closed, since *private* revelation is still possible, for example the various Marian apparitions like Lourdes and Fatima. What makes revelation considered "private" is not so much its actual privacy as its non-binding nature. All Catholics are obliged to accept public revelation, namely the Bible; no one is obliged to accept any private revelation like latter-day Prophets, though such individuals can gain the basic endorsement of the Church, which is what made Fatima, for example, so influential. That bit of a gray area bringing a Biblical role to the present is a good transition to the category of Church roles we'll talk about next, namely the basic roles in and structure of the Catholic Church today. As a periodic reminder, the default perspective and focus of this show is Catholic Christianity. I say that because there are plenty of Christian groups that follow models different than what I'll be describing here, though in broad terms what we'll be talking about is the dominant structure of Christianity and has been for centuries if not millennia. The fundamental concept to understand for this part–and really, to understand much of Catholicism–is APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION. Apostolic succession is the notion that the Apostles were the first BISHOPS and picked folks to succeed them in their ministry as bishops. I'm not here to convince you that that's what happened, but since this show runs with Pope-colored glasses, it's what we're rolling with. In this framework, not just anyone can have authority in the Church, only those who have this apostolic succession. You can still get wrinkles, like MYSTICS that influence the bishops, but ultimately, whether a mystic has lasting influence is going to depend on whether any bishops- that is anyone who has apostolic succession- listens to her. And I say her because such mystics are typically female. And actually, I wasn't planning on covering mystics in this overview, but I guess I really should give them their own timestamp in the summary here since I've gone off on a tangent. I talked about them earlier in the context of modern day prophets. Basically, a mystic is someone who has some sort of special connection to revelation, whether God or the Blessed Virgin Mary or whoever. But anyways, back to bishops, because while stuff like mystics are fun, the majority of church admin is done in much more mundane fashion by the regular clergy like the Bishops. Catholic Bishops are always male, because in Catholicism ordination is what makes someone a bishop, and Catholic teaching holds that women cannot be ordained. Another particularity of ordination is that someone who is ordained can't get married, though put a pin in that because it's going to get more complicated when we talk about priests and especially deacons. Only bishops can carry out ordinations, and it involves physical touch so they cannot be done remotely. To minimize concerns about who has apostolic succession and who does not, for many years the standard has been that at least three bishops should participate in the ordination of a bishop, though this is not strictly speaking a requirement. With all of this apostolic succession and ordination business, the Catholic world is divided in two: the CLERGY, that is, those who are ordained, and the LAITY, that is, those who are not ordained. There's also sort of a third category but shush I'm keeping it simple and don't worry we'll get into that before we're done today. LAY, the shortened form of Laity, can also be used as an adjective in Church terminology, for instance in the phrase LAY EUCHARISTIC MINISTERS, or LAY CARDINALS, in both cases emphasizing that the individual being described is not as ordained as one might expect. Meanwhile, CLERG is not a word, pleaae don't try to make it a thing. Anyways, once ordained, bishops are typically assigned a specific geographic area called a DIOCESE. Their main base of operations will tend to be in what's called a CATHEDRAL that's generally in the most prominent city in that diocese, and the Diocese is generally named after the city, for instance my home diocese of Columbus is named after the city of Columbus in Ohio. In some ways bishops are equals, for instance all bishops can ordain successors. But in other ways they aren't, for instance Catholicism is somewhat famously centered around the Bishop of Rome, aka the POPE, who is prominent because the Diocese of Rome was where Saint Peter, the foremost disciple, settled down, never mind that by all accounts he also ran the Church in Antioch for a while. Collectively, all the Catholic Bishops in the world are called the COLLEGE OF BISHOPS, and according to the very handy and highly recommended Gcatholic.org there are well over 5000 such Catholic bishops alive today. Of course, there are also a good number of bishops who aren't Catholic, meaning they aren't in communion with the Pope, especially the Eastern Orthodox. And forgive me if I explain being in communion as like the Church version of being facebook friends. It's obviously more solemn than that, but basically yes, it's a mutual public acknowledgement that you're on good terms with someone else. Bishops who aren't in communion with Rome are still bishops- meaning they still have apostolic succession and can still create their own successors, which has lead to a fair amount of drama, historically. When I mentioned not all bishops are created equally, I wasn't just talking about the Pope. There are several different kinds of bishops to consider, so let's hit the highlights. In addition to a regular bishop who heads a diocese, there's a higher level bishop called an ARCHBISHOP who runs what's called an ARCHDIOCESE or you might see the term PROVINCE. Technically I believe a province is the combination of an Archdiocese and any regular diocese that are under its jurisdiction, which are called SUFFRAGAN diocese in that context while the Archdiocese is called the METROPOLITAN, which is also a shorthand way of referring to the archbishop in that arrangement, or you might more fully call him the METROPOLITAN ARCHBISHOP. To return to my home diocese as an example, the Metropolitan for the Diocese of Columbus is the Archbishop of Cincinnati. Not every Archbishop is a Metropolitan Archbishop, because not every Archdiocese has a suffragan diocese. You can also find cases where a person is personally made an Archbishop but is not put in charge of an Archdiocese, those cases are called "PRO HAC VICE", which is basically Latin for "for this occasion”, meaning while the person is being made an archbishop their diocese is not being made an archdiocese. There are weirder scenarios that can pop up as well, but I'm trying to focus on the highlights to keep this manageable and will point out the more unusual stuff when and if it pops up. In terms of territory, the next step above a province would typically be a REGION, which is generally just an administrative subdivision of a national bishops' Conference. Columbus is in a region with all the dioceses–it's hard to pluralize that–in Ohio and Michigan, called Region VI. This particular layer of admin is completely unremarkable and has no special titles or roles associated with it. At the top of the national level there's generally what's called a BISHOP'S CONFERENCE, an organization made up of the bishops and perhaps their equivalents across a given nation. Depending on the scale of things you might also see bishop's conferences that cover multiple countries or I think I've even seen some sub-national bishops' conferences here and there, it just depends on what makes sense given the geopolitics and the nature of the Catholic Community. Though there isn't a special churchy title for the leadership of a Bishops' Conference- they're just called President or whatever- I will tend to note when someone I'm going over holds a leadership post here since it's at the national level. Getting back to church titles rather than standard admin structure, it's worth noting that, in a nutshell, the older a diocese is the more prestige and gravitas it has. Historically, the oldest diocese in a given country had special importance and was something a bit above a regular archdiocese called a PRIMATIAL SEE held by a PRIMATE- not the monkey though sure joke away– oh and see by the way is just another word for a diocese, that's S-E-E. It's specifically referring to the bishop's "seat", which is the same concept that makes the head church of a Diocese called a Cathedral, cathedra being a Latin word for Chair. And yeah, it's a bit weird to have so much focus on what someone is sitting on but keep in mind thrones for kings kind of fill the same concept, it's basically the idea that it's the office that has its own importance that accumulates with each officeholder. Some diocese are dignified at an even higher level and are called Patriarchates, with bishops of those diocese being called Patriarchs. Historically the core group of patriarchates was Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem. Others have been added through the years, notably Moscow in the East. Generally Patriarchates are more associated with Eastern Orthodoxy since the highest ranking churchmen there are the Patriarchs, though the Popes would also flaunt their Papal powers over the church generally by setting up some new Western Patriarchates as well, like Lisbon and Venice. I'll definitely be spending a lot of time talking about all the various patriarchates in the main narrative, so stay tuned. Recently a new role has been developed, and of course I mean recently in church terms so, you know, in living memory, and that's the role of what's termed a "MAJOR ARCHBISHOP", just half a hair down from a Patriarch in dignity, and of course overseeing a "MAJOR ARCHBISHOPRIC". Check out my episode on Sviatoslav Shevchuk for more on that, basically the Vatican wanted to grant the Ukranians higher honor but could not fully commit to a new Patriarchate because of pressure from Moscow, so the position was developed as a compromise. There are now a total of four Major Archbishops, all Eastern Catholics. To explain very briefly, now that I'm mentioning Eastern Catholics, the Catholic Church is actually made up of a total of 24 sui iuris- that is, "self governing" Churches, called Particular churches. The one you're probably most familiar with is the biggest, what's called the Latin Church, but the other 23 are equally important at least in theory even though in practice they often get sidelined or overlooked. A single city may have multiple bishops because of these different rites, and also because of non-Catholic bishops, for example there are currently five people claiming the role of Patriarch of Antioch, three Catholic bishops from different sui iuris particular churches in union with Rome, and two Orthodox bishops not in union with Rome. None of these Patriarchs of Antioch are based in Antioch, modern Antakya. It's complicated. Collectively members of these non-Latin Sui Iuris churches are called Eastern Catholics and In most cases these are the results of various splits and reunions throughout Church history, resulting in a variety of local traditions maintained because 1 tradition is beautiful and 2 union with the Pope is more important to the Pope then making everyone do exactly the same thing, though there have certainly been pushes for that, and I hope that somewhat tongue-in-cheek brief overview isn't too insulting but long story short the variety resulting from these different traditions could easily double the length of this episode, but given the main purpose of this was to allow Cardinal-Watchers to follow Cardinal Numbers without getting too lost I'm going to let the Latin rite examples I've given form the core and I'll explain Eastern titles- such as calling most bishops EPARCHS and most Dioceses EPARCHIES- as they appear in individual episodes. Now, believe it or not, there's still a few more bishop-tier titles to go. First, a TITULAR BISHOP is a bishop who has been assigned a non-functional diocese, which sounds like a bit of a raw deal- and to be clear, it is- but it generally allows them to focus on other stuff they need to be doing while officially giving them the status and dignity of being a bishop. There are also titular archbishops and even titular patriarchs, basically the next few terms function as adjectives. Another modifier you might see before someone's bishop title is "Auxiliary". An AUXILIARY BISHOP is a bishop who assists in the administration of a see- typically an archdiocese or a patriarchate- while being titular bishop of another see. This keeps one person as the overall pastor but allows for easing the burden when there's a lot of bishopping to be done. There's another kind of bishop called a COADJUTOR. As the co- part might suggest, a coadjutor bishop acts alongside the regular bishop. Generally speaking a coadjutorship is a short term arrangement, designed to ease the transition when the regular bishop retires, with the coadjutor having automatic succession. Unlike Auxiliary bishops, coadjutor bishops are not typically given a separate titular see reflecting this even closer association with the diocese. Normally the goal is one bishop per diocese and one diocese per bishop, coadjustorships are treated as an exception to that ideal for the sake of smooth transition. Another adjective you'll see applied to someone's title as bishop is emeritus, and this one I think is more familiar to folks. A BISHOP EMERITUS is the former bishop of a diocese. In modern practice most Bishops are required to submit their resignation to the Pope once they turn 75, so that's the typical retirement age, but early retirements due to health reasons or air quotes "health reasons" are not unheard of, and sometimes folks are left in their posts for a bit longer. When a diocese has no serving bishop, that period is called a SEDE VACANTE, or "vacant seat". Most folks hear that in connection with the Pope, though the term can be used for all diocese, not just Rome. If the vacancy is a longer one, you'll often see what's called an APOSTOLIC ADMINISTRATOR appointed for the interim, someone to keep things running who may or may not already be a bishop of another diocese, often the metropolitan. Finally, there's a broader term that includes but is not limited to bishops that I've been studiously avoiding: an ORDINARY. Most often the ordinary is a bishop, but there are some special jurisdictions outside the normal diocesan structure that are served by a non-episcopal-AKA non-bishop- ordinary. Such jurisdictions are called ORDINARIATES. And yeah, don't let the wording fool you, ordinariates headed by an ordinary are not, you know, the ordinary arrangement, those are for special circumstances. The most common type of ordinariate is a MILITARY ORDINARIATE. Given the special needs of armed forces and the families serving in them, many nations have a specific ordinariate dedicated to military families. There is also something called a PERSONAL ORDINARIATE, which in modern times is best understood as a bridge between Anglicanism and Catholicism, something Anglican leaders aren't particularly thrilled about but that didn't stop Pope Benedict XVI from setting up the structure a few years back. This is also as good a time as any to note that a CHAPLIN is like the priest-level edition of an ordinary, in the sense that they're dedicated to a specific group of people that isn't a geographic thing, and also in the sense that it's often something you'll see in a military or other institutional context, and *also* in the sense that a chaplain might not actually be a priest even though they carry out many similar functions, much like an ordinary may not actually be a bishop. Alright, next up, let's start looking at what's going on within a typical diocese, especially at Mass, that most Catholic of ceremonies. As you might have guessed, we're going to be talking a fair bit about PRIESTS today, so let's dive in there. Priests, like bishops, receive Holy Orders through ordination. They effectively function as a stand-in for the bishop, serving as his delegates in the local churches called PARISHES. They have apostolic succession only in a secondary sense- their holy orders are valid because of their bishop's valid apostolic succession, and they cannot ordain successors themselves. Unless of course they also happen to be a bishop, which, yes, Mr Offscreen Pedant, bishops are also priests, but I'm speaking specifically about priests who are not also bishops. All bishops are priests and deacons to boot, holy orders is a three-part deal that stacks up like that. Of course, not all deacons are priests, and not all priests are bishops. It's a squares and rectangles kind of thing. The primary function of a priest is to administer sacraments, especially saying Mass and hearing confessions. I actually have my sacraments series done for the Solemn High Pod, so check out the three part Popeular History episode 0.20 if you want to know more about Mass and the sacraments. If 0.23 and dare I hope 0.31 are done by the time you're listening to this you can check out those as well for more on the Mass. Like Bishops, priests are generally expected to practice clerical celibacy, especially in the Latin church but also in the East in the sense that they cannot get married after ordination. So if they want to join the ranks of the married clergy, they better already have the married part done before they do the clergy part. A priest is the most essential person when it comes to Mass, because priests are the ones who either celebrate or say Mass–either of those verbs will work, by the way, and I'm not actually aware of a difference in meaning. Anyways, this is brought home by the fact that priests can literally say Mass by themselves, with no one else present. And I don't want to go too far into theology in this org chart overview, but I really should note that ultimately, on a theological level, it's not so much the priests themselves saying Mass or hearing confessions, rather it's Christ acting through them. What about deacons? Well, first off, there are two kinds of deacons in current practice: TRANSITIONAL DEACONS and PERMANENT DEACONS. The transitional deaconate is a step towards priesthood, and typically lasts a year. It's the first rung of Holy Orders, the first ordination the future priest will receive. In the case of permanent deacons, rather than a stepping stone the diaconate is its own vocation, with the recruiting focus being on men ages 35-55 or so depending on the diocese. Even in the west married permanent deacons are normal, though still with the same caveat that I mentioned for eastern priests earlier: once you're ordained no more new marriages for you. Deacons have an assisting role at Mass and administering other rites and sacraments but historically their main role has been more in the realm of what's called works of mercy, aka helping the poor, as that was the original idea behind setting up the diaconate as outlined in the biblical Book of Acts. It was only in recent times–recent times in the scale of Catholicism of course meaning in you know, living memory, it's a big timeline–anyways it was only in recent times that the permanent diaconate was revived after a millenium of suppression. Technically, to be sure, there were some deacons in the middle ages–Pope Gregory VII gained his reputation as Deacon Hildebrand- but outside of the Papal court, where titles tend to carry on regardless, DROPDROP they were scarcely more than a step to the priesthood, DROPDROP that transitional model I mentioned earlier. Before that decline, deacons were actually generally more impactful than priests, often serving as the bishop's right hand, especially in the form of ARCHDEACONS. This model is still largely present in the Eastern Churches, especially if you recall that Arkdiyakon role I mentioned in the context of the Thomas Christians I mentioned last month. Finally, I should note that there is strong historical evidence for a female diaconate in the early Church, for example in Romans 16 Saint Paul refers to a certain Phoebe as a deaconess, and unlike in the historical argument over female priests and bishops, the Church accepts a form of female diaconate as a historical reality. However, it is argued that women deacons were not ordained, that their role was fundamentally different from that of male deacons. Whether to revive an unordained form of female diaconate is an active topic of discussion in Rome. Of course, we're well into the weeds now. Things have changed. But before we make our way back to the modern Church, let's take a quick look at how Holy Orders worked prior to the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s. Before Vatican II, Holy Orders didn't start with the diaconate, the priesthood was actually the culmination of a seven-step process that began with what's called the minor orders. The lowest rung of this ladder was the PORTER, being basically the church doorman. After that, the LECTOR, in charge of some of the Bible reading at Mass, and a role which largely survived the council but was taken out of the context of a step on the path to priesthood, to the extent that even shock of shocks women can be Lectors. Next up was the ever crowd-pleasing role of EXORCIST, one trained to cast out demons, and perhaps surprisingly that's another role that's still with us, now taking the form of a special category of priests. As I understand it, to this day each Diocese has at least one exorcist, though their identities are typically kept secret because, ya know, kooks who won't stop bugging him because, I mean, real-life-exorcist. Cool. Finally, up at the top of the minor orders there was the role of ACOLYTE. Think alter server but one of the more active ones, not just a candle-holder. And yes, a role that was once higher than an exorcist is now generally occupied by a middle schooler. Right above the minor orders was the first rank that required ordination- no, not the deacon, the SUB-DEACON. Like all the other minor orders suppressed in the West, this role has been preserved in the East. Take this how you will, but the East has tended to more scrupulously preserve tradition than the Latin Church. It probably helps that they have no one with sufficient authority to come close to mucking around with tradition. I honestly don't think we'll be talking about sub-deacons much, but just know they're, well, right below a standard-issue deacon in the medieval pecking order, as you might have guessed, assisting at mass in similar but different roles. This office went away in the West with the abolition of the minor orders in Vatican II. After the sub-deacon the medieval and early modern seven stages of Holy Orders culminated with the familiar roles of Deacon- full on deacon this time- and then priest. Note that Bishop was not really considered a part of this progression in this model. Now, let's take a moment to chat through a couple other church roles largely or totally left to history while we're in the neighborhood. First, who can forget the fact that there's a whole Canterbury tale dedicated to the PARDONER. This wasn't someone who specialized in hearing confessions and absolving sins as you might expect after that episode we did on the newly elevated Cardinal Dri, the elderly Argintinian Capuchin with that focus. Instead, the focus of the Pardoner was on selling indulgences, those get-out-of-Purgatory-free cards that brought enough scandal to destroy the unity of western Christendom. And yes, I'm kind of acting like you already know about the Protestant Reformation in the same episode where I explain at a basic level what a priest is. Anyways, speaking of Protestants–or quasi-Protestants, or whatever you want to call them, perhaps just Anglicans– speaking of Anglicans, in many ways they're an even better time capsule for preserving some things lost to modern Catholicism than the East. Obviously not in all stripes of Anglicanism, as that wide tent contains a lot of innovations, but, well, on the traditionalist Anglo-Catholic end of the spectrum you can still find things like CANONS and PREBENDS. Canons with one N of course, the church kind, though of course the martial Pope Julius II was fond of two-N cannons as well. Anyways, even ruling out the military cannons I need to specify, as there are not one not two but three distinct meanings of a one-N canon in medieval Catholicism and actually in contemporary Catholicism as well, though the role of canon- by definition our focus on this episode on roles in the Catholic Church- the role is much less common than it once was. But first, the most common meaning of the term Canon in contemporary Catholicism is in the context of Canon law, because that's the term for way the Church governs itself and specific sections of the overall governing document are called canons. Similarly, church councils, that is, gatherings of church leaders, also tend to produce canons, especially the great ecumenical–that is, universal–councils of old that we'll start discussing when we get to the fourth century. So for example someone might cite the first canon of the Council of Nicea, where the Church of old ruled on the pressing question of how being castrated would or would not impact one's ability to serve as a priest. There's also something called the Canon of the Mass, and really the root word helps to understand the meaning of both this and the law slash council thing, because a canon in Latin is something like a fixed measuring stick. The fixed part of Mass is the section of prayers that are always the same, or at least that were always the same until our old friend Vatican II made other options available (again, as I understand it). Nowadays the Canon of the Mass, also called the Roman Canon, is additionally referred to as Eucharistic Prayer 1, implying the existence of Eucharistic Prayer 2, which isn't just a theoretical thing but a real life shorter form that liturgical traditionalists like myself tend to hate. There's also Eucharistic Prayers 3 and 4, which are less egregious, but still, stick with Eucharistic Prayer 1, aka the Roman Canon, if you would be so kind. The third kind of Canon is, at last, the role, and interestingly the etymology here is the same root as the others, giving the sense of something standardized or fixed in place. In this case, the standardization is because the "Canons" of a cathedral or other significant church were a group of priests who had decided to live communally and establish their spiritual and physical lives around a set of rules, you know, standardizing them. Canonizing their lives, if you will. They were basically members of a religious order, though not one centrally governed. Oh, and I suppose I should also note that the term canonization fits into this overall picture in a similar way: it's called canonization because what canonization does is standardize the cult of a particular saint across the universal church. Oh and stop saying cult like it's a bad thing, in this case that's just the word used. It's not a wink and a nod to kool-aid. Also, a canon in the sense of a cathedral canon or other role in a religious order is different from a canon*ist* or a canon lawyer, which is one who studies and explains or practices Church law, respectively. Clear as mud? Fair. Oh, and the PREBEND I mentioned, well, that's basically just a fancier kind of Cathedral canon. Let's move on though. The last historical Church role I want to talk about today is the KING. Or the EMPEROR. Or, you know, whoever the relevant feudal LORD would be. Because such secular leaders were nevertheless seen as having a critical role within the Church, with the civil government and the Church not then tending to have the separation we're used to these days. Really, nobility in general was a big deal for the church until the last century or so. Ok, so we've talked about the various forms of bishops and their territories, and about who you might see at Mass. What about those between? Well, one of the most important functions in Church organization is training up the next generation of leadership, and that training of new priests tends to take place at special institutes called SEMINARIES. You can basically think of seminaries as universities for future priests, and there's also a junior league of sorts for younger students that's basically a kind of boarding school called a MINOR SEMINARY. Those who study at seminaries are called SEMINARIANS, and those who teach there are nowadays generally titled PROFESSORS having the same basic sense as in the secular world but with Catholicism baked in. Kind of like this show verses a generic non-Popeular podcast. The head of a seminary is generally called a RECTOR, though I'm sure there's some variety in that. As you may know depending on what's common in your neck of the woods, rector can also have the same basic sense in secular institutes of higher learning as well, which makes sense when you take a look at the root word there: basically, "ruler". Etymology is our friend here, there, and everywhere. Outside of seminary education, there's also the topic of the general administrative structure of a given diocese. Obviously the bishop is on top, and as you probably already guessed the priests of the diocese typically have admin roles in addition to saying Mass. As an American Catholic, I'm mostly used to hearing the term PASTOR for a priest who's tasked with running a local church community called a PARISH, though I gather canonically the Anglican sounding term VICAR is more precise. You'll also hear the term PARISH PRIEST used in the same sense. A single parish may have more than one priest assigned to it by the diocesan powers that be. A secondary priest is called a PAROCHIAL VICAR in more  official stuff but ASSOCIATE PASTOR is the term you'll hear in common parlance, at least in American use. You might also see someone described as a CURATE, which in modern use designates a priest who assists the principal Vicar or Pastor or Rector of whatever, but historically would refer to the pastor themselves, and yes, it's complicated. There are higher levels to consider as well, both administratively and in terms of honorary titles. For example, MONSIGNOR is a special honorary title given to seasoned priests at the discretion of the Pope. It's not really a role, since it's purely a title and has no special function, but I figured I'd include it here. There are three levels within being titled a Monsignor, first a "CHAPLAIN OF HIS HOLINESS", second an "HONORARY PRELATE", and finally a "PROTONOTARY APOSTOLIC". These sorts of honorifics are currently out of favor in Rome given Pope Francis' strong preference for simple aesthetics and not seeking honor and titles, but he's pushing against a very long tradition of honors and titles in Roman culture, long enough that it goes back to the Cursus Honorum of ancient Pagan Rome, and I expect with the back-and-forth way the Papacy and the Curia operate, we haven't seen the last of ecclesiastical honorifics. After a fat Pope, the saying goes, a skinny Pope. Oh, there's even a kind of honorific for church buildings that functions in kind of the same way as making a priest a Monsignor, namely the status of BASILICA, which is basically just a way for the powers that be to say "hey check out this church it's extra nifty". Of course, not all higher titles within a Diocese are honorifics, there are functional roles as well. The overall day-to-day admin of the diocese is typically not run by the Bishop personally but by an office called the CHANCERY run by a CHANCELLOR, another term you may have heard in higher education because there's historical overlap between higher education and the admin of the Catholic Church or, you know, medieval courts in general. VICE-CHANCELLORS are also a thing, being second in command, behind the Chancellor. If you want a little more insight into what a Diocesan Chancery does, my home Diocese of Columbus has a write-up on their website that explains it better than I would so allow me to just quote them: "The Chancery includes those offices and persons who directly assist the Bishop in the pastoral and administrative governance of the Diocese of Columbus. The Chancery, on behalf of the Bishop, expedites canonical matters; collects and preserves diocesan and parish records; assists parishes and priests with civil matters; maintains files on priests and parishes; collects statistical information for the Diocese; facilitates communications with other dioceses and the Vatican; provides information on the Church or directs inquirers to appropriate sources; facilitates pre-Marriage dispensations and permissions and transmits to other dioceses pre-marriage files; and oversees diocesan offices." The rough Papal equivalent to the diocesan Chancery is the Roman CURIA. In Rome, the Church bureaucracy is sprawling. It's no secret that bureaucracies tend to grow over time when left unchecked, and historically Rome was just about the last place to look for a check on a bureaucracy. Even the ancient pre-Christian Romans exalted bureaucracy, with their skills as administrators being credited as a major unifying force for the Empire. Of course, administrative skills and bureaucracy can almost be contradictory concepts– after all, getting things done requires moving beyond committee after committee. But ultimately the purpose of the Curia is to spread the faith handed down from the Apostles throughout the world, and with that emphasis on handing down, tradition is a huge part of things. When you combine an emphasis on tradition with a massive scale- there are well over a billion Catholics in the world today- and a global scope–well, the Curia is absolutely massive and, despite repeated efforts at overhauling things, it's complicated as well. It would be deeply ironic but not inaccurate to call it Byzantine, a term for “really really complicated” drawn from another institution derived from ancient Rome, though the Byzantine empire is no more and the papacy is more globalized than ever. Pope Francis has been toying with the formula more than any other Pope in recent history, time will tell if the changes stick. One of the most apparent changes Pope Francis has made to the Curia, certainly in the context of our rundown of specific terms, is rebranding the various PONTIFICAL COUNCILS and CONGREGATIONS to DICASTERIES. The practical effect of this is minor but it's helpful to recognize these terms as referring to high level Curial departments–often but not always headed by Cardinals, indeed Pope Francis has structured things so there is no longer any official bar to Dicasteries headed by, say, a woman, though that hasn't actually happened yet. In any event, the heads of Dicasteries or Congregations or Pontifical Councils or whatever you want to call them are called PREFECTS, with the second in command being listed as SECRETARIES, and then things like UNDERSECRETARIES appearing further down the chain of command but still fairly high on the overall curial org chart. The CARDINALS I mentioned there are a special role connected to the Diocese of Rome. As a group they are called the COLLEGE OF CARDINALS, in much the same way that the bishops throughout the world collectively make up the COLLEGE OF BISHOPS. Most famously, it is the eligible Cardinals under the age of 80 who pick the next pope in a closed voting contest called a CONCLAVE during a Papal Sede Vacante, in a period of “vacant see”, you know, “empty chair”. Meetings of Cardinals more broadly speaking are called CONSISTORIES, because yeah, pretty much everything has a special term here, that's why you're listening to this episode. The office of Cardinal has historical connections to the clergy of Rome but it is not by definition an ordained role, meaning there could conceivably be women as Cardinals in the future as I discussed in my September 28th episode this year. There are three fundamental orders of Cardinals, the names of which are rooted in the origins of the college but which are no longer tied to their respective levels of Holy Orders in any particular way as all modern Cardinals are at least priests and most are bishops. Nevertheless, Cardinals are Categorized as either CARDINAL-BISHOPS, the highest level, or CARDINAL-PRIESTS, in the middle, or CARDINAL DEACONS, the lowest category, though really if you're a Cardinal even at the lowest level you're still pretty high up in the Church's pecking order. Special roles within the College of Cardinals include the PROTOPRIEST and the PROTODEACON, the longest serving of those respective orders. Historically, it was the Protodeacon's job to crown the Pope, though Popes haven't opted for crowns in decades. It's also the job of the most senior cardinal deacon participating in the Conclave to announce the new Pope through what's called the HABEMUS PAPAM, Latin for "we have a Pope". A specific name for a specific speech. Speaking of Conclaves and Papal Sede Vacantes and such, the CAMERLENGO OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH is the one who runs the show when there's no Pope around, assisted, of course, by a VICE CAMERLENGO. And to give you an idea of *just* *how* *wonky* the Curia can be, though the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church is generally a Cardinal, he should not be confused with the CAMERLENGO OF THE COLLEGE OF CARDINALS, a role dedicated to administering the financial affairs of the Cardinals which has, mercifully, recently been allowed to lapse. So, yeah. There are a huge number of special roles and titles connected to the Curia. We'll be seeing them in action repeatedly as we go, but I don't want to get too hung up on them in this overview. Needless to say, Rome is a special case, full of special cases. Before we go, I do want to point out the NUNCIOS are effectively Papal Ambassadors, and the offices they head are called NUNCIATURES. A small step down the latter of diplomatic precedence there are PRO-NUNCIOS who have PRO-NUNCIATURES and who perhaps aspire to be full-on Nuncios one day–yes, oddly, in this case the "pro" prefix actually signifies as a *lower* rank. Finally, it would be just plain wrong of me to skip the fact that there is an important role called the LIBRARIAN OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, and which was historically also known as the BIBLIOTHECARIUS. Don't worry, we'll be following them especially closely. Anyways, any more standard diocese, including Columbus, may not have something as deep and extensive as the Curia, but they still have their own complexities not only within but also beyond the walls of the Chancery, often being subdivided into units called DEANERIES, which are groups of parishes. These multi-parish groups are headed, as you might have guessed, by someone called a DEAN, though you might have also guessed that a more official and less intuitive name exists in canon law: a deanery can also be listed as a FORANE VICARIATE, headed by a VICAR FORANE. There are other roles that aren't geographically based but are still critical to the functioning of the diocese, such as NOTARIES, who are permitted to draw up official documents on behalf of the local Church, and CONSULTORS, who, well, are there for the bishop to consult with on specific topics where he may need their advice. Ok, we're getting there. Now, you might think you know what RELIGIOUS means, but in a Catholic context it has a narrower definition. Being *a* religious means you have taken RELIGIOUS VOWS, specifically THE EVANGELICAL COUNSELS of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience. Obedience, in this case, meaning obedience to a religious superior. Welcome to the world of RELIGIOUS ORDERS, which you might also know variously as RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES, INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED LIFE, SOCIETIES OF APOSTOLIC LIFE, or even CONGREGATIONS, depending on a variety of factors and generally distinguished at a deeper level than I want to get into today. A fair amount of the variety comes from the various religious orders having their own distinct rules, called, well, RULES, and particular focuses, called CHARISMS. They also traditionally have distinct uniforms, called HABITS. You can typically recognize members of different religious orders by their habits, for example white and black robes will most often be a Dominican, brown or sometimes gray will trend to signify a Franciscan of some sort, though there are a lot more religious orders than there are basic colors so brown is also the dominant color in the unrelated Carmelite order. Anyways, the most classic form of a religious order is a MONASTERY with the members of the order being known as MONKS in the case of males or NUNS in the case of females– and monasteries have always been segregated by gender though there were historically sometimes what was called DOUBLE MONASTERIES with male and female wings. Given everyone involved had taken a vow of chastity, such a separation was seen as a practical step. Now, you might be surprised to hear me mentioning nuns in the context of a monastery, rather a CONVENT, a similar institution, which in contemporary English is where you'd expect to find nuns, with monasteries being reserved for monks. But I want to give you some historical understanding as well, and historically the distinction between a convent and a monastery was not one of gender but of specific type. Monasteries tended to be more rural and therefore removed from worldly concerns but could be communities of either gender, while convents tended to be more urban and therefore a bit more integrated into secular society. But that historical sense has faded sufficiently in English that you'll get weird looks if you say there are nuns in a monastery or monks in a convent. You may be technically correct, which is indeed the best kind of correct, but just be aware that the non-gendered sense of the terms is now not as common as it once was. Either way, members of religious communities are generally called BROTHER or SISTER as the default form of address unless another title supersedes. The head of a monastery is typically called an ABBOT in the case of a male CONGREGATION or an ABBESS in the case of a female congregation- the congregation being the community itself. Second in command in the case of a larger community or perhaps in overall command of a smaller community that is itself subordinated to a mother house is a PRIOR or PRIORESS, the former for a male community and the latter for a female community. In terms of the overall building, if the person in charge is an Abbott or Abbess then it's an ABBEY, if it's run by a Prior or a Prioress it's called a PRIORY, though it's not unusual for folks to simply fall back on the simplified and gendered newer meanings of monastery and convent I described earlier. A generic term for those in charge of a religious community is a SUPERIOR, or perhaps MOTHER SUPERIOR, with the leadership of the overall global order being typically called a SUPERIOR GENERAL. There's also a middle range of governance called a PROVINCE, giving that word a similar meaning to what we saw on the Diocesan side of things. All of these communities vary in a number of ways. Some are more removed from worldly affairs, with few to no outside visiters, those communities are called CLOISTERED. These communities go back to the origins of Christian monasticism, where an individual would often feel inspired to withdraw from the world and live a life of severe ASCETICISM, that is, renouncing pleasure and embracing prayer and PENANCE-reparations for sins-  in the hope of spiritual rewards. In the common narrative, folks would come out to such HERMITS, who might be called DESERT FATHERS or DESERT MOTHERS, and seek to follow their example, forming a community. The term for the individual ascetic who vows to follow the evangelical counsels is a hermit like I mentioned or you might also call them an ANCHORITE, and that form of monasticism is EREMITIC, from same root word as "hermit". Once you're talking about living in community, that particular form of monasticism is called CENOBITIC monasticism, combining the greek words for "common" and "life". Not all monasticism is that degree of renunciation of the world, though certainly that form was most established in the early Church. But over time other orders with various special charisms- special focuses- emerged, with the rise of the MENDICANT orders- those that essentially live by begging- occurring in the 13th century, with the Franciscans and the Dominicans being classic examples. Male mendicants are called FRIARS. In time there would also be MISSIONARY orders such as the Jesuits or the Salesians, as you might guess those being dedicated to spreading Christianity to areas where Christianity was a minority. Members of missionary orders are simply called brothers or sisters, leaving the monk and nun labels to those living in more traditional communities. In a number of cases the communally living religious orders have established affiliated entities designed to allow those who live outside their actual communal life to nevertheless observe some form of their rule and wear some form of their habit. These are called THIRD ORDERS, the first and second orders being by implication the monks and the nuns in their communities. Members of third orders are also called TERTIARIES. Historically similar to third orders were things like BEGUINES and their male equivalents, BEGHARDS, though those were as much defined by their lack of official status in the Church as anything else, which makes them an awkward addition to this episode. So I'll leave it at that. Anyways, with the permission of their superior- keep in mind obedience is one of the monastic vows–the others being poverty and chastity if you need a refresher–anyway with the permission of their superior male religious are able to receive ordination and become clergy. Religious who become priests are called RELIGIOUS PRIESTS, which is fair enough as a title but does have an amusing effect in that priests who are not members of a religious order are called SECULAR PRIESTS, a term that made me laugh when I first saw it and which still makes me chuckle from time to time. They can also be called DIOCESAN PRIESTS, but what's the fun in that? Believe it or not, this overview has left a lot out. Like, I never told you about how CATHOLICOS was originally a title for a bishop whose territory was more devoted to a region than a specific city, but that it evolved to be the highest title in the Church of the East. But that's in part because while I intend to cover all 23 SUI IURIS–that is, self governing– churches that make up the overall Catholic church, nevertheless the ROMAN or LATIN CHURCH is the dominant stream of Catholic history, making up over 98% of Catholics today. In case I haven't made it clear enough yet, let me emphasize again that this stuff does get complicated and you don't need to feel bad about not knowing it all offhand. I've thought about this stuff for hours daily and I don't meet that bar, this episode required research like every other. But I hope this guide helps bring some clarity and can serve as a useful reference as you go. If I didn't explain it here, and possibly even if I did, I promise I'll explain it when it comes up as we go. Thank you for listening, God bless you all!

The Eucharistic Prayers is what today's episode of the Karate Priest is all about. Listen now! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thekaratepriest/message

In this week's episode, Fr. O'Brien and Fr. Kerry continue their walk through the Holy Mass and talk about the different parts of the Eucharistic prayers. Resources: Go to Mass

In this week's episode, Fr. O'Brien and Fr. Kerry talk about what and why there are differences between the four Eucharistic Prayers. Resources: “Pray the Mass” w/ Fr. Mike Schmitz The Liturgy Guys Podcast

The Liturgy Guys reflect on the four Eucharistic Prayers and some of their, "particular features."

We're back with another discussion on one of the Eucharistic Prayers. Fr. Sean and Julia talk about the second Eucharistic Prayer this week. Enjoy this episode and visit https://www.petersburgparishes.org/podcast/ to tune in to previous episodes across various podcast platforms!

St. Joseph is becoming more and more prominent in the eyes of the Church.  It wasn’t long ago that St. Joseph’s name was added to the Eucharistic Prayers in the Masses of the Catholic Church.  Fr. Don Calloway also wrote a wonderful book in 2020 called “Consecration to St. Joseph: the Wonders of Our Spiritual Father” that has meditations to warm your heart greatly toward St. Joseph.  Now, we have a whole year dedicated to him as Pope Francis has declared the year from Dec. 8, 2020 to Dec. 8, 2021 as the Year of St. Joseph.  It’s very fitting, then, that we ask St. Joseph to accompany us through this year in particular.  I am confident St. Joseph will be helping us in a special way as we journey along this Way of Perfection.  For Carmelites, he is known as the Protector of our Order.  St. Teresa of Avila had a great devotion to St. Joseph.  My guest today, Deacon Rusty Baldwin, is going to highlight some points for us to consider from her writings on St. Joseph.  More than that, Deacon Baldwin asks us how we are imitating St. Joseph in our own life.  As a supplement, you may want to read from Pope Francis’s Apostolic Letter “Patris Corde”  found on the Vatican website at  http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_letters/documents/papa-francesco-lettera-ap_20201208_patris-corde.html    

In this episode of Work of Human Hands Father Anthony Cekada finishes a discussion of Chapter 12 that began in the previous episode. Father examines in detail the elements that make up the new “Eucharistic Prayers” which were mostly contrived and have no roots in Christian tradition. He then goes on to look at the “institution narrative” as set up against the traditional words of consecration and concludes, using Magisterial teaching and sacramental theology, that the New Mass, even in the Latin, is invalid. Should you wish to obtain a copy of Work of Human Hands to follow along, you may do so at SGG Resources: http://sggresources.org/products/work-of-human-hands-by-rev-anthony-cekada Original Air Date: August 11, 2015 Show Run Time: 1 hour 3 minutes Show Guest(s): Father Anthony Cekada Show Host(s): Stephen Heiner Season 4 Sponsor: Novus Ordo Watch http://novusordowatch.org/ Episode: https://www.truerestoration.org/season-4-work-of-human-hands-episode-12-deplorable-impoverishment-part-2/ Work of Human Hands: https://www.truerestoration.org/category/radio/work-of-human-hands/ Subscribe: https://www.truerestoration.org/member-signup/ Work of Human Hands℗ is a Production of the Restoration Radio Network. Copyright 2015. All Rights are reserved.

Father Anthony Cekada continues his monthly commentary on his bestselling work on the liturgy. This month we examine the "Preparation of the Gifts" - the replacement for the immemorial Offertory Prayers. If you want to learn the roots of the new "preparation of the gifts," the play-acting of the laymen who bring up "their" gifts, and the origins of the new and impoverished prayers, take a listen to this month's episode. Host Stephen Heiner speaks with Father about the changes in common with Luther, Pius XII's warnings in Mediator Dei, and how these changes perfectly prepare the faithful for what follows: the "Eucharistic Prayers." Should you wish to obtain a copy of Work of Human Hands to follow along, you may do so at SGG Resources: http://sggresources.org/products/work-of-human-hands-by-rev-anthony-cekada Original Air Date: June 25, 2015 Show Run Time: 52 minutes Show Guest(s): Father Anthony Cekada Show Host(s): Stephen Heiner Season 4 Sponsor: Novus Ordo Watch http://novusordowatch.org/ Episode: https://www.truerestoration.org/season-4-work-of-human-hands-episode-10-preparation-of-the-gifts-new-offerings/ Work of Human Hands: https://www.truerestoration.org/category/radio/work-of-human-hands/ Subscribe: https://www.truerestoration.org/member-signup/ Work of Human Hands℗ is a Production of the Restoration Radio Network. Copyright 2015. All Rights are reserved.

Father discusses the possibility that John Paul I was murdered, the circumstances surrounding his death and its connection with the Vatican Bank scandal at the time involving mafia banker Roberto Calvi, who himself turned up dead in London in 1982. Other subjects include marrying ones cousin and ploygamy in the Old Testament and the Novus Ordo "Eucharistic Prayers". Please visit wcbohio.com for more content.

Ian encounters the Expansive Language Prayers for the first time at the Forma Conference. We discuss inclusivity in music, and formation in/through the liturgy. Read more »

In this podcast, I talk about the theology, meaning, and mystery of 'prayer postures' at the Catholic Mass. Throughout the Eucharistic Prayers and during the 'Our Father Prayer' in particular, the validity of the entire memorial sacrifice is at risk when the laity repeats and imitate prayers and prayer gestures reserved to the celebrant priest alone, such as praying in the orans posture individually or while holding hands. This abuse needs to end. The post Holding Hands and Other Abuses at the Catholic Mass first appeared on DavidLGray.INFO.

In this podcast, I talk about the theology, meaning, and mystery of 'prayer postures' at the Catholic Mass. Throughout the Eucharistic Prayers and during the 'Our Father Prayer' in particular, the validity of the entire memorial sacrifice is at risk when the laity repeats and imitate prayers and prayer gestures reserved to the celebrant priest alone, such as praying in the orans posture individually or while holding hands. This abuse needs to end.

When the priest refers to the "pilgrim Church on earth" in the Eucharistic Prayers we here at Mass, what does he mean? While on pilgrimage in Lourdes, France, we invited His Excellency The Most Reverend Paul Loverde, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Arlington, to join us in the Luxurious Corner Booth of the FRENCH Catholic Cafe to explain what it means to be a Church on pilgrimage and how we can each live our own life as a pilgrimage as well.

Episode 23 (1:25:01)In this episode: Review of a preface; Study Group 10; Continued Analysis of the Roman Canon; Study of Eucharistic Prayers 2-4; The Announcements Direct Download HereRelated Web Sites:Fr. Bill's web pageMysteries of the Mass Web PageSubscribe via iTunes

Episode 22 (1:16:25) In this episode: this reflection on the New Roman Missal translation; The history of the Eucharistics Prayers; The Preface; Eucharistic Prayer I and its development; Q & A Related Web Sites:Fr. Bill's web pageMysteries of the Mass Web PageSubscribe via iTunes

1352-1355.   The Eucharistic Prayer.   Fr Guy looks in detail at the constituent elements of the four Eucharistic Prayers … Continue reading →

Episode 18 [341] (35:26) In this episode: The Preface, History of Eucharistic Prayers; Postures and Gestures at Mass; Concluding Rites.Related Web Sites:Fr. Bill's web pageMysteries of the Mass Web PageArchdiocese of Portland Adaptations to the GIRMSubscribe via iTunes

Episode 17 [341] (35:26) In this episode: The Preface, History of Eucharistic Prayers; Postures and Gestures at Mass; Concluding RitesRelated Web Sites:Fr. Bill's web pageMysteries of the Mass Web PageArchdiocese of Portland Adaptations to the GIRMSubscribe via iTunes

Today's host(s): Scot Landry Today's guest(s): Fr. Jonathan Gaspar, Priest-Secretary to Cardinal Seán O'Malley and Director of the Archdiocesan Office for Worship, and Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth, Executive Director of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) Today's topics: The new translation of the Roman Missal Summary of today's show: On the First Sunday of Advent at the end of November, the Church in the United States will mark a historic moment where the texts of the Mass we celebrate each day will change. Why are they changing? What are they changing too? How will it affect how we sing at Mass? Is it taking usback to the Middle Ages? All these questions and more will be answered as Scot Landry is joined by Fr. Jonathan Gaspar of the Archdiocese's Office of Worship and Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth of the International Committee on English in the Liturgy, which was largely responsible for this new translation of the Roman Missal. 1st segment: Scot said the first Sunday of Advent this year marks a momentous occasion in the history of the Church, because we will begin praying the liturgy in new ways that will help us deep the sense of reverence and the sacred. One of the worldwide experts on these changes is with us. The ICEL has a major task to help creation translations that are faithful to the original Latin texts of the Church's liturgical texts. Msgr. Wadsworth said ICEL is a commission of 11 bishops who represent the territories of the world where the Mass is celebrated in English: the US, Canada, Ireland, England & Wales, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, and South Africa. ICEL is responsible for all of the liturgical texts, including those for the Mass. It started its work even during the Second Vatican Council, translating texts at the time. It's a collaboration of 11 bishops' conferences, which have responsible for the liturgical texts in their countries, and ICEL provides assistance to them. ICEL was originally funded by an initial contribution from the 11 conferences, and since that time it collects copyrights on the liturgical texts from the publishing of the books containing the works. It enables them to subsidize the production of liturgical books in poorer areas. Msgr. said the staff of the permanent secretariat which is located in Washington, DC, is 5 people, with collaborators all over the world. Msgr. said when there's a text to be translated from Latin, they have a base translation by a person authorized by the Church to undertake the work. They have linguistic ability as well as a theological background. Their first draft goes to a committee of four bishops who have those same gifts and they assess the translation line by line and word by word. From them, the text goes to the 11 bishops of the ICEL board, who meet at least once per year. At that point the text, which is called the Green Book, goes to the individual bishops conferences and all of those bishops study and reflect on the text and consult anybody they want to help them. All of that comes back to the ICEL offices and they apply them to the text. On the large-scale, the Church has given general guidelines, which were mostly issued in 2001. And then more specific guidelines have been issued in the Ratio Translationis for the English language, which are the specific considerations which have to be born in mind when translating into English. What the bishops are often able to identify are those things which might be insensitive in relation to their own territory. English is a worldwide language, but it's used differently in different places. Scot asked how they balance the concerns between countries and bishops. Msgr. said they balance the universal with the local. The liturgy belongs to everyone and there is a single English text for everyone to have. Because the character of the text is more formal than the English we use today, that's the level in which English is used throughout the world. Ultimately, the text is established by a process of voting. There has to be a greater than two-thirds majority of the bishops for a text to be established. After all the amendments and suggestions have been applied, it is called the Grey Book. The bishops then vote on it. That establishes the text, which goes back to the Congregation for Divine Worship in Rome who needs to authorize the text for publication and implementation. The text is voted up or down in its entirety. The Congregation, assisted by the Vox Clara committee which helps the Congregation with anything in English, can amend the text as they see fit at any stage of the process because they have overall authority over liturgy in the Church. The first version of the current Latin missal came after the Vatican Council in 1969 and the English was published in 1973. In 2001, new guidelines for translation were issued and the updated version of the Latin missal in 2002. So it's taken about 10 years to implement the translation of the new Roman Missal in English. Scot asked how many languages the Latin is translated into. Monsignor thought it was in the hundreds of languages. In addition to the 11 members of ICEL, there are more than 20 that use the English liturgies even though English isn't the main spoken language of the place. Monsignor said it's the work of many hands. The Liturgy is the center of our life as a Church and so great care must be taken in every step of the process. 2nd segment: Monsignor said when the current translation was implemented in 1973 and it was thought there would be a revision done pretty quickly, within 5 or 10 years, but it's taken 40 years. Scot asked why they thought a revision would be needed.It was because it was our first experience of vernacular liturgy instead of Latin. We're still very young in our experience of that. In the 1980s, ICEL surveyed people on what they expected from a revision. First, they thought the present translation doesn't convey all of the content of meaning of the original Latin text. Second, there is an absence of the special vocabulary we use in speaking about our faith that convey so many important concepts. Third, it was thought the language we use in everyday language was not suited to use in liturgy. Monsignor himself has experienced this moving from the United Kingdom to the United States. The difference is language is diminished by using more formal language, such as we would use in poetry or literature. This is a style of language we share across the world. Fr. Jonathan said he compares it to the new renovated apse at St. John's Seminary. Father said he had been at the seminary for eight years and they had a beautiful painting over the apse of the chapel that depicts the Pentecost scene. Just this past summer, that painting was restored and removed years of smoke damage from candles and incense. Now when you look at it, you see not only St. Peter, but also the keys in his hands. By analogy that's what the new translation is giving us. The old translation gives us the big picture, we see Peter. But in the new translation we see Peter in 3D. All of the imagery the Church gives us is restored in this text. Scot asked if the absence of vocabulary was because of the quickness or the desire to make it as colloquial as possible. Monsignor said it was a little of both. The old translation was completed in just about 2 short years from beginning to end. The guidelines issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship at the time favored a more conversational style of English. There has been a change in the translation approach. The cumulative effect is that ideas that are very important in the liturgy are lessened, so now we are expanding some of those concepts in the new translation. Scot asked about the new words that may be unfamiliar to some Catholics. Monsignor said we have a lifetime to plumb the riches of the liturgy and catechesis can help us to deepen our appreciation for these mysteries. Scot asked why the new translation will be more beautiful? Monsignor said one of the characteristics of the original Latin texts is that they're beautiful themselves. Many of them date back nearly two millennia. The new guidelines instruct that when translating, the beauty of the form and structure of the original texts must be respected. Fr. Jonathan commented on the new translation of the Gloria: “We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory.” Some might say that's just a wordier way of saying what we've been saying along: “We worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory.” Monsignor said in the old version all the repetition that is found in the Latin text is suppressed. Repetition is a device in poetry that brings greater emphasis and as you say it, the rhythm of the text is evident. There is music within words and one of the great aspects that has guided this process has been to make that music more evident. Often the bishops of the committee asked to sing the prayer to consider it. These are living, breathing texts for living celebrations of the liturgy. Scot asked why it's central that the liturgy not only be spoken, but that we bring back more sacred singing in the Mass? Monsignor said the liturgy is something we do together, it's not a private prayer. It's a form of worship that envelops the whole of the church and singing is a way we united our voices and we give a heightened expression to the something that is really important. The beauty of the chant is to call to mind the contemplative, where the whole intention is to draw us in more deeply to the reality of that moment of the Mass and music is a more powerful way to do that. Music unites truth and beauty. Scot said the first time he's seen a priest sing the Mass it was beautiful, even though he just had a good voice. Fr. Jonathan said it's not just for musicians. To hear someone who doesn't have a trained voice do so is beautiful. St. Augustine said, “Only the love sings.” When we sing, we put our praise of God into song, not because we have good voices, but what we're called to express in our worship, which is the praise and love of our Father through the liturgy. 3rd segment: Scot said there's been a lot of focus on the different responses that the congregation will be saying. Monsignor said the greatest amount of change is in the prayers said by the priest. All of the prayers that change each day and the prayers of the Eucharistic Prayer have changed, but we will be drawn into those prayers as we hear them over and over. Monsignor said there are 10 Eucharistic Prayers in the Roman Missal, the four main ones and then six for particular needs and reconciliation. they've all been set to music in both a simple and solemn tone. This version of the missal will have more music than any previous version. This is music that is not the hymns, but all the chants for the order of the Mass. It is all Gregorian chant. This doesn't supplant all other forms of music, but it belongs to the whole Church and is a form of music we will share with all parts of the world that worship in English. Special chants for particular times of the year are included, including Holy Week, Palm Sunday, the Triduum. Scot said the words of the Gloria are changing. Does that mean all of the sung Glorias that people sing now will go away? Monsignor said each national conference of bishops has issued guidelines to help composers through this transition. In the case of settings of the Mass that are already familiar, they have mostly been revised to bring them into conformity. A certain bit of flexibility is allowed, but there is a move away from paraphrase. Fr. Jonathan said he has many hopes with regard to how the new translation affects the music of the Mass. It's the first time we've received one musical setting of the Mass that he hopes will become common. On a local level, in the 289 parishes of the Archdiocese, there are many beautiful settings of the Mass are sung and many he would never be able to sing with because he hasn't heard them before. One setting means it's one we can all know and sing and pray together. It doesn't exclude other settings from publishers, but the chant in this missal is very beautiful. He's had reports from music directors who had been skeptical that to their surprise the people are responding to the chants and that even the children are singing them and loving them. Scot asked why Gregorian chant is recommended so strongly versus more contemporary music. Monsignor said the chant has three qualities that make it special: First, it's universal that belongs to everyone in the Church and doesn't have a direct secular equivalent. Second, it is thus very spiritual music. It doesn't bear the mark of changing styles in music, it's timeless. Often people find it attractive because it can't be placed in any particular time period. Third, it bear repetition. If we sing it every day, it doesn't get stale. Many of the current styles are appropriate for instrumental accompaniment and large groups of singers, whereas they are not appropriate for weekdays and smaller congregations. Fr. Jonathan said a lot of musicians ask if they can use an organ with the chants, he says it's okay to help them in the beginning, but ideally Gregorian chant puts the emphasis on the word that is being sung. The musicians also say they don't know how to sing chant, but he points to the example of the children's choirs. If you put a line in front of them, even in Latin, the children pick it up very easily. You don't need special training in chant. He's hoping to offer workshops on chant in the upcoming year. 4th segment: Scot mentioned some criticisms of the new translation. Some say it brings us back to the Middle Ages. Monsignor said this is just not true. The texts of the Mass go back to first millennium, but the current translation is well-translated and faithful. What about some of the new words feeling clunkier, like consubstantial in the creed. Fr. Jonathan said there's a whole theological language we're going to notice and it's very precise, especially with regard to the relationships within the Trinity. It's going to require catechesis and is a wonderful opportunity for priests and deacons to preach on Sundays about our liturgical texts, which is one of our main sources of our preaching in the Mass. It begins the first Sunday of Advent but is a work of catechesis that continues in years to come. Some people say it will be hard to implement on the parish level. Monsignor said the Church is very resourceful with many men and women of great gifts that will be brought into play. We're continually invited to greater and more active participation in the liturgy and this is the opportunity to assess our experience of the liturgy and dare to do things differently. What about the claim we'll be praying more Latin? Fr. Jonathan said we've always had the option to pray in Latin, which is the official language of the Church. This new translation from Latin into English. It does not require more Latin being sung, but it wouldn't be a bad thing to hear the original Latin melodic line to give people a sense of the long history we have as Catholics. What about the fact that two-thirds of people on Christmas for whom this will be new? Monsignor said the experience of the liturgy once it's implemented will carry people along. It's important to address the Christmas phenomenon. It's important for them to know that the Church they belong to is a living reality that is changing and growing. The Church will be extending an invitation to everyone who comes to Christmas to be more actively and consciously engaged in the life of the Church. For some people who aren't involved in the Church may be unsettled at first, but it might sharpen the invitation for them to rejoin us on a regular basis. Fr. Jonathan said the biggest misconception was that this text somehow came to us from a committee of one or two in the Vatican. Monsignor effectively rebutted that claim. So many faithful people, including the bishops and the thousands who assisted them, produced a text that really reflects the work of many hands. Monsignor encouraged everyone to joyfully receive this gift from the Church. Apart from expressing all the truths of the faith we believe, it's the most powerful way we receive grace from God to become holy. We sing in the middle of the Mass, “holy, holy, holy,” and the purpose of the Mass is to help us become what we sing.

Bishop Conlon links together Eucharistic Prayer, Saints Cosmas and Damian (brothers whose feast day is Sept. 26) and who and how hospitals and a system of health care were created by the influence of Catholic nuns.