Please pray that I may be humble in all things!
Does anybody else think that changing the words of the Mass is arrogant? I think we could even level a charge of clericalism at the priests that change the Mass, because we in the congregation generally expect the Mass to be a certain way, yet priests have the ability to change the words on a whim. Evangelical types use personal charisma to justify changes, while the more liberal types use academic learning as an excuse, but the result is the same: the final arbiter of change is the priest, who has the power, at the moment, to place himself above the Church.
Why do I bring this up? We had a guest priest at Mass this past weekend, who was seeking money for a good cause, a charitable organization I respect. However, he played fast and loose with the Mass. He changed every “Father” to “Creator,” and he added the definite article to every reference to “Christ,” so every prayer ended “through Jesus the Christ…” And, to make things even more awkward, he was apparently uncomfortable even using a masculine pronoun for Jesus, so he changed “through him, with him, and in him…” to “through the Christ, with the Christ, and in the Christ.” He changed other parts as well, and I can’t recall every change. He did say the Words of Institution correctly. One positive result from this is that I followed along with the words of the Mass in the missal for the first time in years. It was pretty cool to read the words on the page, and contemplate them. Oh, and I should note that I didn’t stick around for the closing hymn either. I don’t believe we can “sing a new church into being,” and placing those words on my lips makes me feel like I am reading bad poetry.
Maybe I am assuming arrogance when it is not there, but such changes strike me as this priest saying he was better educated and more enlightened than the rest of us, including the Church that produced the Mass. He was telling me that he knew God was not male, and using masculine metaphors was outdated. He told me that the word Christ came from the Greek word meaning “anointed one,” and was a title, not a name. Having experienced them in grad school, I certainly know the background to these “battles.”
Even though I could make the case, I don’t have time in this post to explain why I think using “father” in a Mass is justified, even though we know God is not biologically male. I also understand his use of “the Christ” is based on the original Greek and Hebrew, but like it or not, in modern English, we use “Christ” as a proper noun. But, as I said, I don’t really want to argue these points, because I don’t have time, and it was not the main reason these changes upset me.
My main problem is the actual changing of the liturgy, whether to promote the priest’s pet issues, or, in some cases, to stroke his ego. The liturgy is not an exercise in personal charisma, Academics, or biblical and historical criticism (although these have certainly shaped our understanding of the liturgy). It is not a lecture hall, theater, or a “meeting of the minds.” I would have been more than happy to have discussed God’s nature and the Messianic claims of Jesus after Mass, but changing words haphazardly during Mass was not the way to encourage open discussion; in fact when priests change the words on their own, discussion on the matter is avoided entirely. The Mass is not a show, and not a chance for anybody to “show off,” whether it is the priest, the cantors, or even me in the congregation. Improv, charisma, and academic learning are great things, but I would ask our priests to stick to the script, written and shaped by the Church, spanning time and space.
Posted by David Bennett 
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