Father John Trigilio Update: On the Mend

From Father John Trigilio:

I want to thank Father Zuhlsdorf, Matt Abbott and everyone on the internet who was kind enough to keep me in their prayers. On Friday, March 16th, I was in an automobile accident. After spending three days in ICU at Clearfield Hospital (Pennsylvania), I was discharged and my Deacon Jim Rush drove me back to my parish. Although there were no broken bones (Deo gratias), I did incur injuries to my leg, arm, chest and lower torso (severe bruising and contusions).  My Guardian Angel deserves a raise and promotion as I am most grateful for no breaks or fractures and am VERY grateful to be alive.  I was driving back to my parish after visiting my mother in Erie. She had major surgery on her spine last month in Pittsburgh. The operation was successful but she encountered several complications which placed her in ICU for a few days. She was then discharged and taken to skilled nursing facility in her home town of Erie.  I was driving (300+ miles one way) every week to be with her.  The Blessed Mother has been watching over her (and me).

I turned 50 on March 31st and sat with the elderly and handicapped priests at the Chrism Mass last Monday at the Harrisburg Cathedral. I was the youngest one in that pew but felt like the rest of my infirm brethren.  We had to watch that our canes did not fall on the floor during the Bishop's homily.  Father Ken Brighenti (Vice Rector of Mount St. Mary Seminary, Emmitsburg, MD) has been very good in helping me recuperate and my doctor is pleased with my slow but steady recovery. I have been overwhelmed by the many cards and emails from friends at EWTN, Catholic Answers Radio, readers of our Dummies' series and those of you who read this humble blog.  Your prayers and support for both me and my mother are an invaluable treasure.  It will take some weeks for my wounds to fully heal but I am most fortunate the Good Lord and His Blessed Mother have never left my side.  Please continue to pray for mom as she, too, slowly recovers.

Please pray for my schoolmate Bishop William Skurla as he prepares to be installed as Archeparch of Pittsburgh for the Ruthenians on April 18.

GOD GRANT HIM MANY YEARS

Please pray for the soul of my late cousin, Father Stefan Katarzynski, a priest of the Diocese of Erie, who died today (April 5) in 1978. He was found murdered in his rectory. His parish had been beset with robberies and there was an active Satanic cult in the area at the time. Father Steve (as we called him) was very influential in me entering High School Seminary. He and my late pastor, Msgr. Ennis Connelly, were true role models, along with my mentor and dear friend, Father Bob Levis (who lives down the hall from my mother at the same nursing home).  REQUIESCAT IN PACE

BUONA PASQUA

Posted by Padre Giovanni Trigilio

Link:

• On the Mend

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Bishop Trautman: Average Catholics Too Dumb to Understand New Prayers

Father Z. wrote:

Bp. Trautman doesn’t think you are smart enough to understand the proposed new translation of Mass

"I was alerted to this by one of the veteran WDTPRSers who added: "Does anyone care about this stuff anymore?"

Here is the headine:

Bishop Trautman objects to some proposed language changes

So, bishop near the end of his long career, firmly mired in the stale old ideas of yesteryear, bravely soldiering on under the baggage of the 1960’s, is still objecting to the Holy See’s norms set for liturgical translation.

His Excellency Donald W. Trautman of Erie is nothing if not consistent. He reminds me of a guy who might go to the same old restaurant every day for lunch, sit at the same place every day, and order exactly the same sandwitch… but to do so in Rome.

Here is the story with my emphases and comments:

BY DANA MASSING
dana.massing@timesnews.com [more details]

"Ineffable."

The word worries Erie Catholic Bishop Donald W. Trautman.

He doubts that "John and Mary Catholic," sitting in their church pew, would understand it. [Two things here. Again and again His Excellency has demonstrated in his comments about liturgical translation and the new norms that he doesn’t not believe that you are very smart. He thinks you are too dumb to understand the prayer. He thinks you are too thick or detached to wonder what it means if you don’t immediately understand and then think about it or look it up. Also, he thinks that every prayer must be immediately able to be clearly understood. This leaves no room for the effect of mystery.]

That’s why Trautman will try to tell other U.S. bishops that such words shouldn’t be in a new English translation of the Roman Missal.

U.S. Catholic bishops are holding their June general meeting today through Saturday in Orlando, Fla. They are expected to vote on an English version of the portion of the Roman Missal involving prayers for seasons like Advent and Lent, unless Trautman can convince them to delay a decision on the translation. [He wants to delay … the … translation. Get that? Because surely we haven’t waited long enough.]

"I am at this point reserved about endorsing it," Trautman said two days before the start of the meeting. "I will try to speak on the conference floor to point out what I consider some major deficiencies in the translation." [Please, O God Almighty and Omnipotent Father, in your ineffable way inspire the bishops of the conference to keep this fellow in check.]

A presentation on it is likely today, with voting probably on Friday, he said.

The portion of the Missal being discussed is the Proper of Seasons.

"These would be the prayers at Mass for the opening prayer, the prayer over the gifts, the prayer after Communion," Trautman said. "These would be the prayers for all of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and then the Sundays of the year." [I have a copy of the draft of these prayers. I think you would like them.]

The Vatican wants a translation more faithful to the original Latin text. [Not … just … the VATICAN!]

Trautman said the draft includes words such as "ineffable" that would not be in the ordinary vocabulary of people.

"This should be the prayer of the people," Trautman said. "I’m not for having street language. ... We should certainly have elevated tone, but words like that are just beyond the common comprehension." [Okay… figure that out. Elevated language but not comprehensible.]

Catholics coming out of a lunchtime Mass at Erie’s St. Peter Cathedral weren’t familiar with "ineffable." [WDTPRS asks … SO WHAT? The problem here is that if you make everything immediately comprehensible to the lowest common denominator it will wind up being pretty much like what we have now in the old lame-duck ICEL prayers:

God,
you are big.
Help us be big like you.

If people hear and interesting word, they might… oh my gosh… wonder what it all means and slowly but surely get the idea that monosyllables and grunting might not actually convey what the Latin prayers convery.]

According to Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, the word means "too overwhelming to be expressed or described in words; inexpressible; too awesome or sacred to be spoken."

It’s "not in my daily language," said Shirley Skiba, a member of St. Luke Catholic Church in Erie. [Maybe Shirely shouldn’t be the measuring stick for the language of liturgical prayer.]

Skiba said words used in the Mass should be "something we feel comfortable with." That’s the case with the current translation, for the most part, she said. [Enough said.]

"I think it should be language the everyday person can understand," she said.

Trautman called parts of the proposed translation "archaic" and "just clumsy language." [Then His Excellency should take the time to explain it to Shirley.]

One proposed change, for the first week in Advent, would replace "old way of life" with "ancient bondage," the Erie bishop said.

"Ancient bondage is very ambiguous and not clear enough to the people," he said. [Yes. But there is a problem. I ask you, dear reader, does "old way of life" mean the same thing, even on the surface, as "ancient bondage"?]

Regarding another change, he said, "They speak of ‘into the joy of true peace.’ Well, we would say ‘rejoice in true peace.’ That’s much more understandable." [However, entering into a state of joy means something different than simply being joyful.]

In another vote related to language, the bishops will decide whether to replace "vosotros" with the more familiar "ustedes" in Spanish-language Masses in the United States. Trautman compared using "vosotros" in Spanish to using "thou" in English. [Aaaaaaaaand…. that would be… bad?]

...

Listen as Erie Catholic Bishop Donald W. Trautman talks about what the U.S. Catholic bishops will be discussing during their June general meeting Thursday through Saturday in Orlando.

Some English words might be hard, but they are the perfect word to do the job. To replace that word, you need a circumlocution or paraphrase. That makes translations overly wordy. But it is part of the very nature of Roman prayer to be concise. Even the concision is meaningful.

Enough said. "

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