Sunday 26 August 2012

Pater Noster



I got an ear-wigging today from a lady who was very upset at our having had the Lord's Prayer sung in Latin at mass. I suppose  the fact that I help out with the music led her to infer that it was my choice. It wasn't but I was more than happy to go along with it. Even my protestation that I had been taken by surprise by the (new) priest's decision did not prevent my getting the brunt of her wrath and so I was hardly prepared to deal with a pile of assertions about it not being fair to the "young people" who "don't do Latin" and felt deprived of being able to say the Our Father. Nevertheless, I managed to point out that Latin had never been "stopped forty years ago", as she put it and  not only did  the holy father himself use it at World Youth day masses but that I  had been at English masses with Latin in several dioceses. The problem here seems to be one of education- essentially Catholics who, even in this modern age of motor cars and interwebnet thingies , hardly venture to mass outside their own parish or attempt to inform themselves about what is going on in the wider Church.

One really good thing, however! The priest concerned did not add "Good Morning, everybody," to the opening dialogue.

2 comments:

  1. To me, her exaggerated emotions suggest something deeper troubling her, from the past perhaps.

    To say that Latin was 'stopped' also suggests this, almost as if something had been banned, rather than fallen into disuse .

    Say a prayer for her, and smile next tome she shouts at you, it's maybe God letting you see her wounded spirit?

    Happy St Monica's Day!!!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Shadowlands

      I bear this lady no ill-will at all, Quite the reverse... and appreciate her as a very good person who has certainly not been without her burden of suffering. I suspect that either she has been misinformed or that someone with an axe to grind has "primed" her. Certainly, however, there is a great deal of ignorance about and it is difficult to know how to help dispel it.
      Happy St Augustine's day (for tomorrow)!

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