Sunday, March 23, 2008

heaven and earth are full of your glory

When Pope Benedict XVI visits Washington DC, security will be tight. One of my relatives who lives up that way told me today about some of the rules for the Papal Mass. It will be practically impossible to drive to the ceremony. Charter buses and handicapped drivers will have to park at RFK Stadium and catch a shuttle to Nationals Park. Everyone else is supposed to take the Metro. The WMATA needs to make another Peeps video for those going to the Mass.

Tickets are also in high demand to the April 20th Mass in New York. The Archdiocese of Louisville, headed by Knoxville's former bishop, gets a larger ticket allotment than others around the country because of its bicentennial. Archbishop Kurtz will be at the altar with the Pope in Yankee Stadium.

Tickets to both Masses are non-transferable. Everyone attending needs to bring a photo I.D. It sounds like there will be some sort of computer checkpoints to make sure the name on the I.D. matches the name of the registered ticket holder.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is using a blog format to post updates about the visit. The Washington Post has also started a Pope Watch blog which is where I read about some complaints over the liturgical music the Holy Father might hear in D.C.

The music in question is the "Mass of Creation" by Marty Haugen. It's used, some say overused, at parishes all over the country. The critics would prefer that liturgy organizers plan a Mass full of Gregorian chants and the same music used in Rome. What would be the point of that? Haugen's composition is not bad. I think the Pope should get to hear what Mass actually sounds like in America. If he doesn't like it, he can always make them change it in the future. However I wouldn't be surprised he turns out to be like Mikey in the Life cereal commercial. "He likes it! Hey Benedict!"

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1 Comments:

Blogger Jeffrey Tucker said...

You are right that the Mass music now schedule is highly characteristic of American parishes, but the point of these Masses is not to show what is conventional but rather to aspire to ideal as a model to the nation and the world. A liturgy dominated by pop music and low-brow Broadway settings will only further entrench the lower standards that the Pope himself has long opposed.

3/24/2008  

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