Missa en.......

In today's New York Times Pope Blog, Amy touches on some of Pope Benedict's so-called traditionalism that has been at times portrayed in the media as a turning back of Vatican II, the council convened to modernize the church. Of course, this is patently wrong, and as Amy puts it

If you read the documents, and most especially, read John XXIII’s motivations for calling a council, you see that the great hope was not that the Church would “adapt” to the times, but more that the Church would try to understand the times and interact more boldly with the world in order to bring the ancient faith in Christ more powerfully to it.

But anyway, one thing I've noticed living in Asia is a huge misinterpretation of one of the fruits of the Second Vatican Council, the ability to have Mass said in local vernacular. While for many people this is a wonderful thing, so often Catholics I've met confuse the right to a vernacular Mass in their home-country with the right to attend only a Mass in their home-language, or at least in a language they can speak and read. I encounter so many people who would rather miss Sunday or Holy Day Mass than attend a mass in a totally foreign language to them (Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, you name it). So frequently I hear from people, "but their Mass isn't in English," as a reason to miss Mass.

While many would say Latin is the obvious solution to this, I am not sure if that makes as much sense in places like Asia. Certainly, in countries where the language mix represents a lot of languages that originate from Europe, Latin is not that radical a jump. A high degree of literacy is not necessary to understand "Gloria in excelsis Deo." However, in places like Asia, where the native languages developed without the Latin or Greek roots, "Gloria in excelsis" takes a lot more explaining and transcribing into a different phonics system to be understood. In places like China, Mass in the vernacular is actually a Godsend, and at one time, a radical step of opposition to the Chinese government. At that time, in 1989, the Chinese government favored Catholic worship to be in the ancient, foreign tongue. Keeping it undecipherable was a way to keep the Catholics under control. For Mainland Chinese Catholics, we are truly talking about a real fight for the right to celebrate Mass in the vernacular (well, really in Putonghua, but you get my point).

However, it seems that so many Catholics just take it for granted that their only obligation is to worship in a preferred language. I think this misses one of the great beauties of the allowance of vernacular per the Second Vatican Council. There are times when I have been in a Roman Rite Mass in a language not my own, and I am mystified at hearing these words and songs, thousands of years old, in languages so far removed from the languages of their origins and yet, the same words. How can you not marvel at the paths of the saints and martyrs and missionaries that brought Jesus to these far reaches of the Earth? With Pentecost approaching, too, it is hard not for me to think about the Apostles, suddenly speaking in tongues, and how our Church also speaks in tongues to this day. The Bible, our prayers, the Mass are available to people everywhere in their own language.

Regrettable, then, that people sometimes choose to miss out on this. I think they would be shocked at how much the same things are.