THE
P RTAL
December 2011
Page 16
F a t h e r P e t e r ’s P a ge
“You do more good
than you know, Sir”
These words – from the early part of the famous play/film by Robert Bolt “The Man for All Seasons”
– are quoted by a poor woman who is hopeful that Sir Thomas More will be sympathetic to her case; but they
could easily apply to anyone who comes in to Full Communion with the Catholic Church, not least via The
Ordinariate.
Every person who
joins the Catholic
Church enriches her.
Each Christian has
distinctive gifts which
– when added to the
total – increase her
life and improve the
Community for the
benefit for all.
is being gifted with
a new translation of
the Missal. Everyone
will have their own
particular
likes/
dislikes; but I beg
you to view it as a
whole. Quite literally,
handle it as well as
read it. Remember
those beautiful bound
‘foreign’
copies of The English
When I was a young
Missal that we would
boy, I was imbued
produce for you to
by my teachers with
order at Faith House
the concept that the Roman Catholic Church was when I worked there? It will come as no surprise to
somehow ‘foreign’, as if it was something for those who know that those who were knowledgeable about these
had come from another country or a different culture; things were consulted about the production of the new
not really for English men & women. How they would Roman Missal. The quality, the text settings, even the
be surprised if I was to take them to any ordinary ridges on the spine (so that the book stays open flat on
Catholic Church in the UK today! Instead of finding the altar) all have a familiar ring to them!
only Irish or Polish blood – as they claimed; you will
find thousands of ordinary English men and women
Particularly is this so in the more felicitous and
of whom a surprisingly large number were formally memorable phrases that are found in the translation.
Anglican! And they have brought their gifts with For this, we must be grateful for the work of one
them.
major contributor, Msgr Bruce Harbert, the former
Executive Director of the International Committee on
This is particularly noticeable in the gradual English in the Liturgy (ICEL). Whilst ‘down-under’,
transformation of worship and liturgy. It had Bishop Peter Elliott has done more than many by his
always been one of the characteristics of the Oxford writings and manuals to raise the quality of liturgical
Movement that it worked hard to ensure the Mass celebration: And both of them are ex-Anglicans
was well celebrated and that the musical and liturgical whose gifts have enriched the entire Catholic world.
traditions it possessed should be enshrined in good
liturgy: Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi – the word prayed,
You, the reader, have great God-given gifts. You will
is the word believed. It is a fact noticed by (the then) enrich the Church by your joining.
Cardinal Ratzinger when he wrote the preface to
Turning towards the Lord by Uwe Lang.
In the words of Robert Bolt: “You do more good
than you know, Sir”!
new translation of the Missal
Even as I write, the whole English speaking word
Father Peter