Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Western Rite

Nice to see. Someday maybe in the real Church...


That they did Lauds beforehand is a nice touch. Nevertheless, there are still a few things I'd be inclined to modify. Besides the fact that I'd like a Solemn Mass of course (maybe they just didn't have the ministers), I still generally have this aversion to "singing over" things in liturgy (especially with non-liturgical hymns or instrumental motets), and would rather have things like the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, the Offertory, and the Last Gospel read aloud (even if they did start as "private devotional" prayers of the priest). I've said before that I'd be inclined to have actual Entrance, Gospel, and Offertory processions with the appropriate antiphons instead.

And it is odd to me that they'd sing the Kyrie in Greek and the Ite Missa Est in Latin, but then keep the Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, (and, I assume, though the video skips from the elevation of the host to the people's communion, the Agnus Dei) in English. I'd think these Ordinary chants (along with the Pater Noster, the Ordinary dialogue parts, and certainly the silent Canon itself) could be kept in Latin as a nod to tradition, even if I think we should put the Propers and those "priest's devotional" parts in the vernacular. I think that would be the best balance.

2 comments:

Michael said...

The Orthodox hate Western art, especially statues and paintings (like the stations of the Cross). This is somewhat contradictory.

Brian Delaney said...

I would say some Orthodox writers and bloggers may "hate" Western art. They don't include most of the Orthodox I know