c. 2005 Religion News Service
CHICAGO _ Ten of the best-known words in the Roman Catholic Mass _ “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again” _ may soon be banned from U.S. churches under a policy being considered by Catholic bishops.
The bishops’ liturgy committee said the phrase is bad theology because it does not speak of the people’s participation in the Mass and does not conform with new worship guidelines issued by the Vatican.
If approved on Friday (June 17), the removal of the refrain would be the one item on the bishops’ agenda with the most direct impact on the day-to-day worship life of the nation’s 67 million Catholics and 44,000 priests.
Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, Pa., who chairs the liturgy committee, said the “Christ has died” language is “well received and much beloved” by Catholic faithful, but theologically incorrect.
“Will the farmer in Dubuque understand that? No, but the theologians will,” Trautman said.
The refrain _ technically called a “memorial acclamation” _ comes near the climax of the Mass, after the priest has consecrated the bread and wine used in Communion.
It has been used in Catholic churches for at least 30 years, but elements of it can be traced throughout church history and worship. It is also common in Episcopal, Lutheran and Methodist Communion rites.
A better alternative, Trautman said, would be another familiar refrain: “Dying you destroyed our death, Rising you restored our life. Lord Jesus, come in glory.” Another would be: “When we eat this bread and drink this cup, We proclaim your death Lord Jesus, Until you come in glory.”
The difference is subtle, and even grammatical, but Trautman said the alternative versions’ use of words like “our” and “we” speaks more directly of the congregation, what the church calls “the People of God.”
“(Christ has died) is just a declarative statement,” he said in an interview. “There is action in the others. There’s no action in that one.”
The revisions are part of a larger package of language tweaks to the Mass that bishops will vote on Friday. Other provisions add language that can be used at the start of Mass to confess sins, to ask God’s mercy in the familiar “Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy” refrain, as well as a prelude to the Lord’s Prayer.
Trautman said the “Christ has died” language is not included in a recent document on the Mass produced by the Vatican, and U.S. bishops must now bring their own Mass texts in line with the Vatican’s.
Catholic parishes that continue to use the “Christ has died” language would not be penalized, Trautman said. But “only authorized texts can be used in celebrating the Eucharist,” or Communion.
Some bishops said they don’t think people in the pews would understand or accept the change, and they may try to reinsert it on Friday. Trautman said if the U.S. bishops reinsert it, the whole text would need to be negotiated with the Vatican, a process that can take years.
“It wouldn’t be the worst thing,” he said, “but it wouldn’t be the best either.”
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