Aye, mateys! All thin’s be recon’d, ye’re ship-shape
Next time you hear someone complain about the sorry state of affairs in the world of Roman Catholic liturgical translation, have them take a look at this.
Silly Episcopalians. . . we’ll try anything once! (I’m not entirely sure whether this is a spoof — as it’s billed on the publisher’s website — or if it’s meant for actual liturgical use.)
This publisher, aside from their occasional forays into the humorous (see also their Weasel Cantata, based on the dietary codes in Leviticus), is really quite good.
Maybe these are former “spirit of Vatican II” Catholic lay and clergy trying to bring that “spirit” to the Episcopal Church? They’ve done a good job! All kidding aside, my former bishop, Bishop Raymond Lessard use to be on the International Catholic/Anglican Dialogue and in the 1970’s and early 80’s felt there would be a reunion between Rome and Canterbury. But somewhere along the line, the Anglicans moved a “tad bit” further away from Catholic orthodoxy which has led to the opening of a door to a different way of reunion which we are seeing now under Pope Benedict. Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi.
The “Liturgical Mysteries” series of books by Mark Schweizer (The Tenor Wore Tapshoes, The Organist Wore Pumps, etc.) always has at least one of these spoof moments in the life of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church – where the organist is also the town Sheriff. My favorite so far is probably the Maundy (Holy) Thursday where they replaced footwashing with a shoe-buffing machine rite, to make it more “relevant.” There was a pirate Sunday as well.
As a musician, I’d be worried that they’d want the choir to start the pirate language as well; there are enough problems with volunteer choir singers and the letter “R” already without this!!
Wow, I’ve been looking for a liturgy for the annual International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Because isn’t it about time that Christianity started borrowing holidays from post-Christian phenomena like the Flying Spaghetti Monster worshippers?
Of course, in a public school ‘International Talk Like a Pirate Day” must be celebrated as worldwide diverse speech patterns awareness time, so as not to offend anyone–pirate or non-pirate.
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