Posted on 11/29/2002 5:00:21 PM PST by Loyalist
An Open Letter to the Church Renouncing my Service on I.C.E.L.
Father Stephen Somerville, STL.
Dear Fellow Catholics in the Roman Rite,
1 – I am a priest who for over ten years collaborated in a work that became a notable harm to the Catholic Faith. I wish now to apologize before God and the Church and to renounce decisively my personal sharing in that damaging project. I am speaking of the official work of translating the new post-Vatican II Latin liturgy into the English language, when I was a member of the Advisory Board of the International Commission on English Liturgy (I.C.E.L.).
2 – I am a priest of the Archdiocese of Toronto, Canada, ordained in 1956. Fascinated by the Liturgy from early youth, I was singled out in 1964 to represent Canada on the newly constituted I.C.E.L. as a member of the Advisory Board. At 33 its youngest member, and awkwardly aware of my shortcomings in liturgiology and related disciplines, I soon felt perplexity before the bold mistranslations confidently proposed and pressed by the everstrengthening radical/progressive element in our group. I felt but could not articulate the wrongness of so many of our committee’s renderings.
3 – Let me illustrate briefly with a few examples. To the frequent greeting by the priest, The Lord be with you, the people traditionally answered, and with your (Thy) spirit: in Latin, Et cum spiritu tuo. But I.C.E.L. rewrote the answer: And also with you. This, besides having an overall trite sound, has added a redundant word, also. Worse, it has suppressed the word spirit which reminds us that we human beings have a spiritual soul. Furthermore, it has stopped the echo of four (inspired) uses of with your spirit in St. Paul’s letters.
4 – In the I confess of the penitential rite, I.C.E.L. eliminated the threefold through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault, and substituted one feeble through my own fault. This is another nail in the coffin of the sense of sin.
5 – Before Communion, we pray Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst (you should) enter under my roof. I.C.E.L. changed this to ... not worthy to receive you. We loose the roof metaphor, clear echo of the Gospel (Matth. 8:8), and a vivid, concrete image for a child.
6 – I.C.E.L.’s changes amounted to true devastation especially in the oration prayers of the Mass. The Collect or Opening Prayer for Ordinary Sunday 21 will exemplify the damage. The Latin prayer, strictly translated, runs thus: O God, who make the minds of the faithful to be of one will, grant to your peoples (grace) to love that which you command and to desire that which you promise, so that, amidst worldly variety, our hearts may there be fixed where true joys are found.
7 – Here is the I.C.E.L. version, in use since 1973: Father, help us to seek the values that will bring us lasting joy in this changing world. In our desire for what you promise, make us one in mind and heart.
8 – Now a few comments: To call God Father is not customary in the Liturgy, except Our Father in the Lord’s prayer. Help us to seek implies that we could do this alone (Pelagian heresy) but would like some aid from God. Jesus teaches, without Me you can do nothing. The Latin prays grant (to us), not just help us. I.C.E.L.’s values suggests that secular buzzword, “values” that are currently popular, or politically correct, or changing from person to person, place to place. Lasting joy in this changing world, is impossible. In our desire presumes we already have the desire, but the Latin humbly prays for this. What you promise omits “what you (God) command”, thus weakening our sense of duty. Make us one in mind (and heart) is a new sentence, and appears as the main petition, yet not in coherence with what went before. The Latin rather teaches that uniting our minds is a constant work of God, to be achieved by our pondering his commandments and promises. Clearly, I.C.E.L. has written a new prayer. Does all this criticism matter? Profoundly! The Liturgy is our law of praying (lex orandi), and it forms our law of believing (lex credendi). If I.C.E.L. has changed our liturgy, it will change our faith. We see signs of this change and loss of faith all around us.
9 – The foregoing instances of weakening the Latin Catholic Liturgy prayers must suffice. There are certainly THOUSANDS OF MISTRANSLATIONS in the accumulated work of I.C.E.L. As the work progressed I became a more and more articulate critic. My term of office on the Advisory Board ended voluntarily about 1973, and I was named Member Emeritus and Consultant. As of this writing I renounce any lingering reality of this status.
10 – The I.C.E.L. labours were far from being all negative. I remember with appreciation the rich brotherly sharing, the growing fund of church knowledge, the Catholic presence in Rome and London and elswhere, the assisting at a day-session of Vatican II Council, the encounters with distinguished Christian personalities, and more besides. I gratefully acknowledge two fellow members of I.C.E.L. who saw then, so much more clearly than I, the right translating way to follow: the late Professor Herbert Finberg, and Fr. James Quinn S.J. of Edinburgh. Not for these positive features and persons do I renounce my I.C.E.L. past, but for the corrosion of Catholic Faith and of reverence to which I.C.E.L.’s work has contributed. And for this corrosion, however slight my personal part in it, I humbly and sincerely apologize to God and to Holy Church.
11 – Having just mentioned in passing the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), I now come to identify my other reason for renouncing my translating work on I.C.E.L. It is an even more serious and delicate matter. In the past year (from mid 2001), I have come to know with respect and admiration many traditional Catholics. These, being persons who have decided to return to pre-Vatican II Catholic Mass and Liturgy, and being distinct from “conservative” Catholics (those trying to retouch and improve the Novus Ordo Mass and Sacraments of post-Vatican II), these Traditionals, I say, have taught me a grave lesson. They brought to me a large number of published books and essays. These demonstrated cumulatively, in both scholarly and popular fashion, that the Second Vatican Council was early commandeered and manipulated and infected by modernist, liberalist, and protestantizing persons and ideas. These writings show further that the new liturgy produced by the Vatican “Concilium” group, under the late Archbishop A. Bugnini, was similarly infected. Especially the New Mass is problematic. It waters down the doctrine that the Eucharist is a true Sacrifice, not just a memorial. It weakens the truth of the Real Presence of Christ’s victim Body and Blood by demoting the Tabernacle to a corner, by reduced signs of reverence around the Consecration, by giving Communion in the hand, often of women, by cheapering the sacred vessels, by having used six Protestant experts (who disbelieve the Real Presence) in the preparation of the new rite, by encouraging the use of sacro-pop music with guitars, instead of Gregorian chant, and by still further novelties.
12 – Such a litany of defects suggests that many modern Masses are sacrilegious, and some could well be invalid. They certainly are less Catholic, and less apt to sustain Catholic Faith.
13 – Who are the authors of these published critiques of the Conciliar Church? Of the many names, let a few be noted as articulate, sober evaluators of the Council: Atila Sinka Guimaeres (In the Murky Waters of Vatican II), Romano Amerio (Iota Unum: A Study of the Changes in the Catholic Church in the 20th Century), Michael Davies (various books and booklets, TAN Books), and Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, one the Council Fathers, who worked on the preparatory schemas for discussions, and has written many readable essays on Council and Mass (cf Angelus Press).
14 – Among traditional Catholics, the late Archbishop Lefebvre stands out because he founded the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), a strong society of priests (including six seminaries to date) for the celebration of the traditional Catholic liturgy. Many Catholics who are aware of this may share the opinion that he was excommunicated and that his followers are in schism. There are however solid authorities (including Cardinal Ratzinger, the top theologian in the Vatican) who hold that this is not so. SSPX declares itself fully Roman Catholic, recognizing Pope John Paul II while respectfully maintaining certain serious reservations.
15 – I thank the kindly reader for persevering with me thus far. Let it be clear that it is FOR THE FAITH that I am renouncing my association with I.C.E.L. and the changes in the Liturgy. It is FOR THE FAITH that one must recover Catholic liturgical tradition. It is not a matter of mere nostalgia or recoiling before bad taste.
16 – Dear non-traditional Catholic Reader, do not lightly put aside this letter. It is addressed to you, who must know that only the true Faith can save you, that eternal salvation depends on holy and grace-filled sacraments as preserved under Christ by His faithful Church. Pursue these grave questions with prayer and by serious reading, especially in the publications of the Society of St Pius X.
17 – Peace be with you. May Jesus and Mary grant to us all a Blessed Return and a Faithful Perseverance in our true Catholic home.
Rev Father Stephen F. Somerville, STL.
I am not amused...Please do not ping me again. I have never found your posts amusing. I have found them annoying.<>
Thanks for your defense, Snuffington, but if I gave the mistaken impression that I was absolving myself of responsibility for the religious education of my children, then CatholicGuy was right to take exception to it.
Let me say, that the opposite is true. I accept full culpability for the fact that my 2 oldest children graduated from 12 years of Catholic school suffering from confusion about the faith and living lives that are objectively not in a state of grace.
It was clear that Plan A (Novus Ordo Mass, parochial school) had failed. I had to confront the fact that my efforts had not succeeded. And if I were simply to blame others and try to evade my own responsibility, then I would only compound my guilt. Just like in confession (and in fact specically in confession), I had to admit my guilt, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, and then make a firm purpose of amendment.
Here is the firm purpose of amendment that I undertook. Let me say that after 2 years of trying it, the results are dramatic. Our family life has undergone a radical transformation. The reality of grace is now present in our lives. My younger children now seem like different persons. They are truly committed to the Catholic faith with their whole hearts and souls.
1. Attend ONLY the Latin Mass. This is the foundation stone. You MUST receive the grace of the unbloody re-presentation of the sacrifice on Calvary in order to succeed in the rest of your spiritual life.
2. Traditional Catholic devotions. We started wearing Miraculous Medals and scapulars. We pray the family rosary every night. We thought about doing so during the time that we attended the Novus Ordo Mass, but it just seemed incongruous, like we were performing a show, rather than doing something normal and natural. That's because traditional devotions correspond with traditional liturgy.
3. Traditional Catholic literature. I ordered about $200 worth of books from TAN publishers, both children's books and adult books. Every night we read aloud before saying the rosary. For the children we've been reading the collection of lives of the saints by Mary Fabian Windeyatt, the Hilda Van Stockum books, and "Outlaws of Ravenhurst." But the same children also listen to theological works by the great saints including material from St. Margaret Mary ("Devotion to the Sacred Heart") and St. Alphonsus Ligouri ("Preparation for Death").
4. Homeschooling. We took the children out of parochial schools. For most of my adult life I had spent nearly all of my time and money paying for Catholic school tuition and driving my children to parochial schools. Now I see that I was insane. Parochial schools did have the advantage of allowing me to enjoy the virtue of poverty. But in terms of giving my children the Catholic faith, they were worse than useless.
5. Making salvation our #1 priority. Logically, this might seem like it ought to come first. But practically speaking, it has been a result of the other actions. I thought that God was my priority before, but I was fooling myself. Secular pursuits like school and extracurricular sports occupied all of our time. Now we put our family activities and prayer life first. Our focus in on eternity, not ambitions for this world.
Since we began our new lives as traditional Catholics, I have become a different person, and so have my wife and the children. The difference is night and day. First is the reality of grace, which is not present when sin is present. I have seen that this is not some abstract theory of the Church, but a simple description of reality, like the fact that gravity makes things fall down, not up.
I am still working to rectify my errors with my older children. We are making some progress, but I guess I can't expect to remedy the mistakes of a lifetime in a few short years. But now at least I have hope. Deo gratias.
I didn't ping you, I posted to you, I'll post to whoever I want. As far as being annoying, you are the KING.
BigMack
It depends on whether they have the power to do so. You must be a priest to say Mass, but there are non Catholic groups with valid priests, such as the Orthodox, etc. Baptism is even broader, anyone can do that, even a heretic. From the Council of Trent:Messrs. Fellay and Williamson are validly-consecrated bishops, but not of the Catholic Church.So a non-Catholic can validly confer the Sacraments of the Catholic Church?
CANON IV.-If any one saith, that the baptism which is even given by heretics in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, with the intention of doing what the Church doth, is not true baptism; let him be anathema.Moreover, there is no need to repeat valid Sacraments. On Baptism
CANON XI.-If any one saith, that baptism, which was true and rightly conferred, is to be repeated, for him who has denied the faith of Christ amongst Infidels, when he is converted unto penitence; let him be anathema.
patent +AMDG
<>I have already accepted your description of me as intellectually challenged, so, that remark is neither news nor unsettling<>
--which are, for the most part, silly
<> Thanks, I'm blushing<>
when they are not being gratuitously vicious.
<> I blame that on the Pope
BTW, don't forget we are reserving post #666 for Zvdiast. Don't get too greedy. Although you deserve that post as well, his name does begin with "Z"
Sorry<>
<> Can so<>
He will whine at the slightest barb
<> Not if the Barb is Barbara Eden. Then, I swoon<>
, but thinks nothing of saying that others have "Satan for their father."
<> No fair. That was well thought out<>
He is, as you say, KING of annoyers--and whiners
<> I prefer to think of myself as the apotheosis of annoyers
We are almost there. Can you refrain from taking post #666? I'll alert "Z." Thanks<>
1. Attend ONLY the Latin Mass. This is the foundation stone. You MUST receive the grace of the unbloody re-presentation of the sacrifice on Calvary in order to succeed in the rest of your spiritual life.Funny thing. You changed a lot of things, but the way you post seems to indicate that without the Latin Mass, none of the others are possible. Nothing could be further from the truth.2. Traditional Catholic devotions. We started wearing Miraculous Medals and scapulars. We pray the family rosary every night. We thought about doing so during the time that we attended the Novus Ordo Mass, but it just seemed incongruous, like we were performing a show, rather than doing something normal and natural. That's because traditional devotions correspond with traditional liturgy.
3. Traditional Catholic literature. I ordered about $200 worth of books from TAN publishers, both children's books and adult books. Every night we read aloud before saying the rosary. For the children we've been reading the collection of lives of the saints by Mary Fabian Windeyatt, the Hilda Van Stockum books, and "Outlaws of Ravenhurst." But the same children also listen to theological works by the great saints including material from St. Margaret Mary ("Devotion to the Sacred Heart") and St. Alphonsus Ligouri ("Preparation for Death").
4. Homeschooling. We took the children out of parochial schools. For most of my adult life I had spent nearly all of my time and money paying for Catholic school tuition and driving my children to parochial schools. Now I see that I was insane. Parochial schools did have the advantage of allowing me to enjoy the virtue of poverty. But in terms of giving my children the Catholic faith, they were worse than useless.
5. Making salvation our #1 priority. Logically, this might seem like it ought to come first. But practically speaking, it has been a result of the other actions. I thought that God was my priority before, but I was fooling myself. Secular pursuits like school and extracurricular sports occupied all of our time. Now we put our family activities and prayer life first. Our focus in on eternity, not ambitions for this world.
We do all of these things, except the first –attend ONLY the Latin Mass. We mainly attend the Novus Ordo. Yet, you say this doesn’t fit with these other things, all of which we do. You said:
We started wearing Miraculous Medals and scapulars. We pray the family rosary every night. We thought about doing so during the time that we attended the Novus Ordo Mass, but it just seemed incongruous, like we were performing a show, rather than doing something normal and natural. That's because traditional devotions correspond with traditional liturgy.This seems just foolishness to me. I wear the scapular, my wife wears both the scapular and the miraculous medal. We pray the family rosary each night, at times embarrassing our guests, but hey, its our house. We attend the Novus Ordo, yet none of this seems in the least bit incongruous to us.
I don’t mean this as a criticism, because I’ve been in the same place, but I think you had greater problems than were you attended Mass. Traditional devotions correspond with Catholicism, not with some Rite of the Mass.
As to the other things, you got off way to cheaply with a mere $200 in books. I’ll have to talk to my wife. ;-)
We home school, though we are just beginning as our oldest just turned five. Salvation is the #1 priority. I don’t see a difference based on which Rite we attend, I see a difference based on where we place our priorities, on God or on the world. I see plenty of people attending the Tridentine who have the same problems you had while you were attending the Novus Ordo.
A couple SSPX adherent friends of my wife’s had the exact same issue you had, except they were straight Society types. Society church, society school for the kids, etc.. Their two oldest boys rejected it all. The family has since changed its priorities, and the difference in the younger kids is remarkable.
Your exclusive focus on the Rite misses the forest for a particularly large and beautiful tree. Delight in the tree, but don’t miss the larger forest, its glorious as well.
Dominus Vobiscum
patent +AMDG
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