WYD mass crosses cultures
Carmel Pilcher; 18/2/08; Josephite Sister Carmel Pilcher is Director of Liturgy in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. She coordinated liturgies for the previous papal visit, for the Beatification of Mary MacKillop in 1995.
I recently heard a playwright comment that a stage play with a strong, clear structure gives the actors a greater scope for creativity and spontaneity. As a long time student of the Eucharist I made an immediate connection. The structure of the Catholic Mass is well established and easily identifiable. The ritual structure requires creativity to invite the worshipping community to encounter the holy and live the truth of the gospel. We thought long and hard about this when we prepared the papal Mass for the beatification of Mary MacKillop in January 1995. We hoped the ritual would call people to live the way of Mary, but first we had to name the values that Mary embodied. We were careful to ensure that the liturgy reflected inclusivity and favoured the poor and oppressed. The first and last words of the mass were spoken by Aboriginal Australians. Those who received communion from the Pope were the little ones of our society, rather than corporate sponsors. Ministers of the word reflected the multicultural richness of our nation with a diversity of language, gesture and costume. ut I am left with two major concerns. For the first I will repeat a question posed to us by the then papal master of ceremonies, Archbishop Piero Marini: ‘How does this liturgy reflect your Australian culture?’ He went on to add: ‘If we wanted a Roman Mass we would have held it in Rome.’ The organisers did not attempt to integrate Australian elements into the mass, but rather made these extraneous to the ritual structure. Secondly more attention needed to be given to the key principle of the liturgical reform — the full participation of all at worship: clergy and also the lay faithful.
See: http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=8152
Tags: Australia, Christianity, WYD