By Noreen Madden McInnes, D.Min.
SAN DIEGO — Nov. 29, 1964, was a pivotal moment in our Church. It was the first Sunday the English liturgy was approved for use throughout the United States and the first of many milestones to implement the “Aggiornamento,” the “bringing up to date” of the Roman Catholic Church.
The movement officially began Oct. 11, 1962, when Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council and concluded under Pope Paul VI on Dec. 8, 1965. But the movement continued. Changes large and small stirred up great excitement as they worked their way into the liturgy and peaked with the “Novus Ordo Missae” (New Order of the Mass) coming into effect on Nov. 30, 1969.
Charles and Ede Radloff, parishioners of San Rafael Catholic Church in San Diego, describe the order of the Mass as monumental.
“Having had the privilege of being worshipping members of the Church, pre- and post-Vatican II, we feel an obligation to share with Catholics born after Vatican II the wonderful, spiritual experience and great joy of those times,” Charles said.
The couple, survivors of the Great Depression and two World Wars, testify, “The New Mass is the cornerstone of our spiritual life and a lifeline to our Lord.”
Msgr. Mark Campbell, priest in residence at Mary, Star of the Sea Parish, La Jolla, recalls that active participation of the laity was a major objective of Vatican II as cited in “Sacrosanctum Concilium” (SC), the foundational council document: “… The faithful should be led to that fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations …” (SC, 14).
For, in those days, the priest “said” Mass and the assembly merely “heard” it. As priests whispered in Latin, with their back to the people, the faithful, unable to hear or understand, resigned themselves to private prayer, kneeling with bowed heads over clutched rosary beads and novenas.
Msgr. Steven Callahan, pastor of St. Brigid Parish, Pacific Beach, explained that the ringing of the bells signaled the assembly to look up from their prayers to adore the elevated host. Since many Catholics felt unworthy to receive the Eucharist, ocular communion, adoring with the eyes, became a substitute for receiving Holy Communion.
The Eucharistic fast made receiving Holy Communion challenging. The Council of Hippo (393 AD) prohibited consuming food and drink, including water, after midnight before receiving the Eucharist. In 1964, Pope Paul VI reduced the fast to only one hour.
Charles Radloff exclaimed, “I clearly remember the jubilation after being informed of the shortened Eucharistic fast. Things were getting exciting; people were happy and overjoyed by the declarations by the pope; it was a lively, happy Church.”
Noting further changes, he recounts his unforgettable first “Novus Ordo” communion, “Kneeling at the communion rail, the priest held up the Sacred Host so I could see it and declared, ‘The Body of Christ.’ I responded ‘Amen,’ and the priest placed ‘the Body of Christ’ in the palms of my hand. At that moment, wonderment set in; I was holding Christ in the palms of my hand! Next, I was offered the chalice, I placed it to my lips and for the first time, I received the Sacred Blood of our Lord. This was a forever moment, an unforgettable spiritual event in my life. A few weeks later, the communion rail was removed and, with it, the physical separation between priest and people.”
Remarkably, shocking as it was to receive the Eucharist in the hand, the practice was customary for the first 800 years of Christianity. In 348 AD, Cyril of Jerusalem instructed, “make your left hand a throne for the right (for it is about to receive a King)” (“Mystagogical Catecheses,” 5, 21).
Msgr. Donal Sheahan, retired priest of the Diocese of San Diego, noted that a profound outcome of Vatican II was access to more Scriptures in Mass. He quoted, “The treasures of the Bible are to be opened up more lavishly, so that richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God’s word” (SC, 51).
The one-year cycle of readings was increased to a three-year cycle that only now regularly includes the Old Testament. It is difficult to imagine not hearing about Abraham, Isaac, Moses, King David and so many of our treasured Old Testament Scriptures.
But, more importantly, Scriptures are now proclaimed in the common language of the people. Charles describes the welcome change, “The Scriptural passages were read in English and people could understand, join in, and be part of the celebration of the Mass. They were jubilant!”
Yet, translating Scriptures into the vernacular is not unprecedented. In 250 BC, the Jewish Bible was translated into Greek. In 382 AD, Pope Damasus commissioned St. Jerome to translate Greek and Hebrew Scriptures into Vulgate Latin, a form of Latin that was the language of the people.
Many of the Second Vatican Council mandates have come to fruition. The laity enjoy full, conscious and active participation at Mass through singing hymns, hearing Scriptures in the vernacular, participating in responses, and serving as liturgical ministers. Yet, there is more.
Father Ron Cochran, retired priest of the Diocese of San Diego, in his book, “The Catholic Mass: an Opportunity for Encounter,” explains an important aspect of participation that may not be understood or exercised.
“We are invited to place our lives on the altar with our Lord and offer them to the Father as one sacrifice, our lives joined with each other and with His.”
The Council hoped, “(The Church) should learn also to offer themselves; through Christ the Mediator, they should be drawn day by day into ever more perfect union with God and with each other” (SC, 48).
“Knowledge of the mystery of Christ is not a mental assimilation but a real existential engagement,” Msgr. Callahan says.
He quotes Pope Francis: “Every one of the baptized (is) called to become always more and more that which was received as a gift in baptism; namely, being a member of the Body of Christ. Leo the Great writes, ‘Our participation in the Body and Blood of Christ has no other end than to make us become that which we eat’” (“Desiderio Desideravi,” 41).
As Nov. 29 marked the 60th anniversary of the First Mass in English, Charles and Ede Radloff pray that the fruits of remembering these cornerstone moments in our Church will bring us together and make the Church one.
Let us pray the words of Eucharistic Prayer III with full, conscious and active participation: “Grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of Your Son and filled with His Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ” (“Roman Missal,” 113).
Noreen Madden McInnes, D.Min., is director of the San Diego Diocese’s Office for Liturgy and Spirituality.
