Catholics and Jews: Notes on the 1962 Missal
Questions from a a new Catholic
I taken to reading the 1962 Missal (pre-Vatican II) along side the 2011 American edition. I have no idea really how all this works, and my comments may be totally awry. I would welcome any suggestion about how to proceed. However, I have immediately noticed a couple of things.
Psalm numbering:
I knew that the Psalm numbers differ between most Catholic and Protestant Bibles. However, I have noticed that the numbers in the 1962 Missal don’t match the recent Catholic Edition of the NSRV that I have. Something to be aware of as I go through - because I generally look up the Psalm and read the whole thing. Anyway, minor - but confusing.
Catholics and Jews:
This is more significant. Generally, like a lot of converts, I’m traditionalist in outlook. A refugee from the empty materialism of modern society, and having grown up Quaker with a dearth of ritual, I guess I want all the candles, mystery, rituals, procession, incense, bells and whistles I can get. There are a few things that were best left behind. I was vaguely aware of the long history of implicit and sometimes explicit anti-semitism below the surface in Catholic liturgy and interpretation. For instance, I know that the word "perfidious" (Latin: perfidis) was removed from the Good Friday prayer for the Jews as late as 1960, as part of suite of reforms by Pope John XXIII designed to improve relations with Jewish people.
Clearly the forms hadn’t been completed by 1962. For Saturday in the 2nd week of Lent, the Epistle is from Genesis 27:6-40 — the story of Jacob, with the help of his mother Rebecca, tricking Esau out of his birthright blessing. The story is recounted in full — which is good. But how about this? The 1962 Missal (p353) says:
The elder Esau represents the people of God who sell their birthright to gratify their carnal appetite. Jacob represents the Gentiles who check their passions are are blessed by God.
The Gospel (from Luke 15: 11-32) is the parable of the prodigal son — also recounted in full. Again the interpretive introduction says:
The elder son is the Jewish element of the primitive Church, which is scandalized at the vocation of the Gentiles; the prodigal son is the pagan element.
The 2011 Missal doesn’t use the Jacob/Esau story for this day. But the introduction to the parable of the prodigal son is very different. It is, we are told, ‘the ideal story of contrition’
He resents the boredom of family life and discipline and so asserts his rights, but he soon finds out that his total freedom is bringing him nothing but misery. The father receives his son back and forgives him.
Clearly I’m not comfortable with the absolute contrast that the historic Church makes between Jews and Christendom, nor the idea that the Christianized gentiles ‘replaced’ the Jews as a chosen people. I think it is because the Jews are no more fallen and probably less so than Christians who fail to live up to the covenant we have made with God — which is pretty much all of us; and no more than the millions of people who identify as secular ‘Nones’ in the Pew surveys of religious affiliation.
The Second Vatican Council saw wholesale shifts in Catholic doctrine that included:
A repudiation in the idea of collective guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus – the charge of Deicide. If there is any collective guilt it applies to all of humanity, qua original sin.
The Magisterium now recognizes the irrevocable nature if the covenant God made with Abraham and the Jewish people.
There is a more positive recognition of the legitimacy of Zionism – at least in some degree.
This aspect of the Vatican II seems wholly positive.
An effort to ensure that Hebrew Catholics can retain Jewish identity in religious life, with a more positive embrace of continuing validity of Jewish ritual.
More emphasis on Jews and Judaism as spiritual partners in the unfolding of God’s covenant.
Vatican recognition of the State of Israel since 1993
Most of the time I’m probably more on the sceptical side with regard to Vatican II. I’d like to see an end to tambourines and guitars and a return of altar rails. However, these changes in policy and doctrine towards Jews and Israel were long overdue. We need to build on them and not go backward.
The idea isn’t that the “the Christianized gentiles ‘replaced’ the Jews as a chosen people,” but rather that the Catholic (universal) Church has replaced Israel by way of the New Covenant written in our Savior’s Blood. And of course the New Covenant expanded God’s “chosen people” to peoples of any race or tribe that enter into baptism.
The 1962 edition of the missal wasn’t published until 1963, and was then superseded by a new edition in 1965, so it was only in use for two years. It’s effectively a transitional form, which makes no sense except as a prelude to further changes.
You don’t need to use any Roman missal except the current edition. The candles, incense etc can still be used, in fact ought to be used as described in the rubrics. The standard of music at Mass has been poor for centuries. In the late nineteenth century the future St Pius X intervened personally to stop a town band playing during Mass in his diocese. That would not have been unusual.
If you would like to see the standard of liturgy improved read Sacrosanctum Concilium and the general instruction on the missal so that you are properly informed, and get involved in a local parish.