c is for...

In the beginning was the Word, and it was confusing

: Cacophony :: Catholicism :

At a retreat I attended a decade ago, a priest was delivering a talk on the liturgy. He was firing off an explanation and said, “The Lord be with you.” Almost immediately, in a nearly involuntary reflex that would make Pavlov proud, everybody interrupted and chimed in with the response, “And also with you.” He paused, and then quipped: “Wow. If I rang a bell, would you all start salivating?”

Two days ago, the bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship finally released the new translation of the Order of Mass (800kb PDF). It’s not for use in worship yet—Rocco Palmo says the earliest it’ll be rolled out is 2011—but it’s being provided for study and formation.

So, start unlearning 35 years of ingrained congregational responses like “And also with you,” and get used to “And with your spirit.” Other responses, as quoted from Whispers in the Loggia:

The more significant changes of the people’s parts are:

• et cum spiritu tuo is rendered as “And with your spirit”
• In the Confiteor, the text “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault” has been added
• The Gloria has been translated differently and the structure is different from the present text
• In the Preface dialogue the translation of “Dignum et justum est” is “It is right and just”
• The first line of the Sanctus now reads “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts”
• The response of the people at the Ecce Agnus Dei is “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”

A few years ago, John Wilkins wrote an excellent article for Commonweal chronicling the painstaking and painful history of ICEL’s translating process. It’s a fascinating and disturbing history of clashing interests and church politics, of literalist translation versus dynamic equivalence, and of authority over collegiality.

I’m not happy with the text, but that’s not for me to decide. I will finally be able to work on either creating or updating the Mass settings I’ve composed, and hopefully prepare them for publication.

Posted by c2 at 01:58 PM • Permalink • Print this entry • Comments (5) • Trackbacks (0)

Paper Anniversary

: Comics :

My first mixed media comic, presented to Joan almost a month ago as an anniversary present:

Click thumbnail for full size (996 x 800, 216kb JPG)

Ink, colored pencil, construction paper, tissue paper, and parchment on bristol board

Posted by c2 at 05:08 PM • Permalink • Print this entry • Comments (2) • Trackbacks (0)

FREAKING HARDCORE.

: Cacophony :: Cinema :

Jimi Hendrix, eat your heart out:

Posted by c2 at 09:13 AM • Permalink • Print this entry • Comments (3) • Trackbacks (0)

Obama: “A more perfect union”

: Cinema :: Criticism :

This should be required viewing/reading for every American of high school age or older. It will go down in history as one of the great American speeches about race, regardless of the November outcome. It gives a snapshot of America at the turn of the 21st century, in the same way Douglass and King and DuBois all spoke and wrote about. And yet, to reduce it to merely another black leader’s observation of race relations in America doesn’t do it, its speaker, or us any justice.

Caveat: It’s long—a 40-minute speech at 4,916 words. Resist the temptation to get somebody else’s opinion or summary of it, particularly if it’s a soundbyte off of Faux News.

Obama’s ties to Wright could be the beginning of his fall. But as someone who goes to church a lot more than most of the regular blog readers here combined, I have a lot of difficulty seeing how people are fusing Wright’s incendiary remarks with Obama’s own beliefs. I’ve heard some pretty abhorrent things spoken from the pulpit in over 30 years, from vituperative homophobia and sexism to stupidly embarrassed, half-assed apologies for the sex scandals. And yet, I understand that pastors and their homilies/sermons are only one part of the whole that makes the church. There is a diverse community there working to change not only the world around them, but also within themselves.

And for all the attention this is getting, Obama’s response isn’t merely a repudiation of Wright’s words. Read (or watch) the speech. It’s an acknowledgment of the black AND white anger, and a call to dialogue. It’s a repudiation of using soundbytes and identity politics to get in cheap shots for one side or another.

Full text of the speech, made yesterday, after the jump.

Posted by c2 at 10:25 AM • Permalink • Print this entry • Comments (6) • Trackbacks (0)

The secret genius of Jim Davis

Most (if not all) cartoonists—including yours truly—tend to hold Jim Davis’s Garfield comic strip in pretty low regard. Early in its run, Davis handed off all the writing and drawing to a studio, reaping the merchandising and licensing deals. (In the world of rock ‘n roll, and well, just about everything else, we call that “selling out”.) As a result, you’re left with 30 years worth of sterile, canned, and unfunny comic strips.

Garfield Minus Garfield fixes that with a secret formula: take out the titular character, and you’re left with an ironically bizarre view of Jon Arbuckle’s schizophrenic world. Observe:

Posted by c2 at 09:45 AM • Permalink • Print this entry • Comments (3) • Trackbacks (0)

London Honeymoon videos

: Cinema :

In case anybody missed them, I posted three videos on the joint blog over the past week and a half. Cross-posted here:

Posted by c2 at 10:37 AM • Permalink • Print this entry • Comments (0) • Trackbacks (0)

Do you?

From The West Wing Season 2, "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen" (Part I, originally aired October 4, 2000):

Happy Super Fat Tuesday. Don't forget to vote!

Posted by c2 at 06:00 AM • Permalink • Print this entry • Comments (3) • Trackbacks (0)

Free movie tickets

See Joan’s blog for details. Only one ticket left!

Posted by c2 at 09:42 AM • Permalink • Print this entry • Comments (0) • Trackbacks (0)