Liturgical book revisions discussed at the Nov 2023 meeting of the USSCB Committee on Divine Worship
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,059
    Six-month old "news" that was finally released to the public in the past week:

    https://www.usccb.org/resources/newsletter-2023-11.pdf
  • CantorCole
    Posts: 56
    I think the news regarding the revisions was already public, just released in articles and such. One just had to actively be looking for it.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,059
    The newsletters are released online for non-subscribers several months after publication to subscribers. The newsletters for October, November, and December 2023 were posted in the last week.
    Thanked by 1CantorCole
  • CantorCole
    Posts: 56
    I'd like to hear some detailed updates regarding the new NAB translation, but I haven't been able to find anything substantive.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,059
    from 18 months ago - and it's not something that's been on the public agenda of the USSB's CDW semiannual meetings in June and November recently, though the next shot would be when the agenda for this month's meeting is released...:

    https://archive.ccwatershed.org/media/pdfs/23/01/10/03-23-16_0.pdf

    i would venture that the Committee and bishops in general don't consider much in their deliberations the *desire* of independent composers to compose, and adapt existing compositions, of Sacred Scripture for liturgical use based on revised translations but are, if vaguely aware of anything, reliant on the principal publishers of liturgical worship publications to pivot and execute to carry out what they see as the primary implementation level of such things.
  • RMSawicki
    Posts: 127
    I am most interested in the forthcoming breviary. The inclusion of proper readings for Matins of U.S. civil observations, even if only optional, is gratifying. The incredible spiritual, theological, and liturgical richness of the writings of Sts. John of Avila, Gregory of Narek, and Hildegarde of Bingen represent an overwhelming treasure-trove from which to make selections for their proper feasts. I do hope that when it comes time for publishing, there will be more than one firm seeking Recognitio, allowing for competition to produce the most beautiful editions for usage, much like the way we ended up with eight or nine different Altar Missals to choose from after the re-translation.

    Gaudete in Domino Semper!
    Thanked by 1ServiamScores
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,209
    The problem with the additional readings is that the council never asked for the abolition of hagiographies, to be replaced by writings of the saints themselves… and the wholesale replacement of the patristic homilies (both in the second nocturn and in the third, commenting on the gospel) is not what is called for either, even with the wishy-washy call for these to be "better selected." But no. 89 through no. 93 are a great example of how you can make one firm decision (suppress Prime…) and then let everything else play into the hands of whomever is put in charge, regardless of the merits of the final content or even of the original claim ("Compline is to be drawn up so that it will be a suitable prayer for the end of the day" is a strange assertion).

    Also, the title of "Doctor" has been abused so as to become meaningless. Even as a card-carrying trad who has little practical interest in these things, keeping Rome, and therefore the bishops implementing a new translation, honest about what is actually in the Liturgia Horarum is important, especially as the more complicated the endeavor, the less likely it is to emerge in a timely manner.
    Thanked by 2tomjaw ServiamScores
  • Compline is to be drawn up so that it will be a suitable prayer for the end of the day

    What argument could anyone make to suggest that it was not already so?
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,209
    Not one in good faith…
    Thanked by 2tomjaw ServiamScores
  • igneusigneus
    Posts: 376
    The Divino Afflatu Compline psalmody is IMO not particularly suitable for a prayer at the end of the day - I mean the then new Monday-Saturday cycle. I always found several of those weekday psalm series (tediously long and) rather disturbing. Both the traditional (i.e. pre-Divino Afflatu) Roman Compline psalmody and the 1971 LOTH psalm selection are much more satisfying in this respect.

    In feeling this way I am not completely alone:

    The old system of selected psalms expired. The daytime Hours got different psalms for each day and these Hours became nearly as long as Vespers. The Little Hours lost their original character and meaning. Lauds was deprived of its stable psalmody based on good theological and historical grounds. Practically 35 psalms entered in a puzzling order to this Hour. Compline also lost its stability and the close contact between its psalms and the night time.
    ...
    Those generations that grew up on this Breviary have lost their sense of the life-inspired order of the Office. They forgot what a Little Hour was for, or what they should have thought about it was contradictory to what they actually prayed. The emotional relationship of the soul to individual psalms, which was the result of an association between the given text and the Hour in which it was prayed, was now all but gone with the displacement of the psalms.

    (Dobszay L., The Bugnini-Liturgy and the Reform of the Reform, Front Royal 2003, p. 57f)
    Thanked by 2a_f_hawkins tomjaw
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,059
    Though this digression is far afield of news on the status of revisions of translations.
    Thanked by 1mattebery
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,209
    Yes, but the claim doesn’t specify the psalmody, and the solution adopted (always permit Sunday Compline) doesn’t require moving and changing everything else.
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,448
    It's one thing to suggest that Bugnini & co were not drafting SC in good faith, quite different to imply that that Abp. Lefebvre and all but 4 of the other bishops were not endorsing it in good faith.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,209
    Well, we have little documentation of their motivations, so it's hard to say anything concrete, but as I said, possible solutions include something like the rubric in the Liturgia Horarum; it's more than possible that no one had a firm opinion on every single last article, and knowing both human tendencies in general and those of clerics, "they won't change it all, will they? Surely not." is a plausible attitude…
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,764
    Perhaps we can all agree the Papal tinkering with the Liturgy is a very bad idea...
    Thanked by 1a_f_hawkins
  • AnimaVocis
    Posts: 136
    Regarding compline, I (personally) have found the monastic approach of 4, 91, and 133 each night to be a welcome end to the day...

    Thanked by 3WGS CHGiffen tomjaw
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,059
    From last week's USCCB semiannual meeting:

    The bishops discussed and voted on three action items related to liturgical texts pertaining to the Liturgy of the Hours, presented by the USCCB’s Committee on Divine Worship:

    The bishops voted 177 votes in favor, 3 votes against, and 1 abstention to approve the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) Supplementary Texts to the Liturgy of the Hours. The approval of this requires a two-thirds vote of the Latin Church members, with subsequent confirmatio from the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

    The bishops voted 180 in favor, 2 votes against, and 0 abstentions to approve the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) Additional Texts for the Liturgy of the Hours. The approval of this requires a two-thirds vote of the Latin Church members, with subsequent confirmatio and recognitio by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

    The bishops voted 178 in favor, 4 votes against, and 0 abstentions to approve the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) Gray Book of the 2021 Roman Missal-Liturgy of the Hours Supplement. The approval of this requires a two-thirds vote of the Latin Church members, with subsequent confirmatio by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

    They also reviewed, discussed, and voted on two sets of guidelines to assist with specific ministries:

    “Listen, Teach, Send: A National Pastoral Framework for Ministries with Youth and Young Adults,” presented by the USCCB’s Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth is a guiding document for use by pastors, ministry leaders, and families in an effort to revitalize ministries with youth and young adults. While an overwhelming number of bishops voted in favor of approving the framework, it was two votes short of meeting the threshold of two-thirds of the Conference membership to pass. The bishops eligible to vote who were not present at the time the vote was taken will be contacted and given the opportunity to cast their vote next week.

    Keeping Christ’s Promise: A Pastoral Framework for Indigenous Ministry, a plan to assist dioceses and Catholic Native communities in their ministry. The bishops voted 181 in favor, 2 against, and 3 abstentions to approve the framework, which is intended to assist dioceses and local Catholic Native communities to develop their own pastoral plans that are sensitive to the vast cultural differences among the various communities.

    The Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis provided an update on the Task Force for a National Directory for Instituted Ministries. They put forth two votes before the body that required a simple majority vote of bishops present:

    A friendly amendment to allow the presentation of an interim document on the catechist: the bishops voted 136 in favor, 22 against, and 14 abstentions to pass.

    Writing of a National Directory on Instituted Ministry: the bishops voted 156 in favor, 8 against, and 11 abstentions to pass.
  • davido
    Posts: 921
    Nothing on the Lectionary!?
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,059
    It appears not. I copied and pasted that from last Friday's press release, with some reformatting to make it easier to digest.
    Thanked by 1mattebery
  • So does that mean the breviaries will come soon?
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,059
    Beats me.
  • fcbfcb
    Posts: 338
    My totally uneducated guess is that new breviaries won't be rolled out earlier than Advent 2026.