New Roman Catholic Church Missal

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ. Based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the apostle Paul said, but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry.

The New Roman Catholic Mass Translation and Why Tradition Changes

My name is Mike Abendroth. I think it's probably been 10 days since I have been here in the studio. Looking outside, blue skies in Worcester, Massachusetts, and we have a hot show. It's probably cold outside.

There was freezing, there was frozen ice on the pond in the back as I looked outside. But here in the studio, it's hot. Well, right around November 27th of this year, 2011, in the year of our Lord, 2011, we had some hot news from the New York Times, and pretty much, I guess it could be from the Vatican, and that is a new mass, new translation of the Catholic mass makes its debut, New York Times, Sharon Otterman, 2011, November 27th.

And so it was just a few weeks ago, probably by the time this show was being aired on our flagship station, WVNE, that people who were Roman Catholic went in and got a different translation of the mass.

And so today we're going to talk about that a little bit on No Compromise Radio. I find it fascinating that there's a controversy about it, and we'll talk about some of the changes that they have made, but in bigger picture, thinking through the issues as Bereans, as we should, remember Acts 17, the Bereans were more noble.

Thessalonians, they were a wonderful bunch. You can read 1 and 2 Thessalonians and find that out. They were excelling in the Christian faith. But the Bereans, they got their Bibles out and studied. And so that is what I want my Roman Catholic friends to do.

And my Protestant friends, my pagan friends, is to get the Bible out and study. Now, some of you who know me probably say, no, he doesn't have any Roman Catholic friends. Of course I do. I'm friendly to Roman Catholics, and I love them enough to tell them the truth.

What I find quite fascinating, quite odd, quite jarring, is that more Catholics don't try to evangelize me. I don't really understand that. There can only be one truth, no matter what ECT says, Evangelicals and Catholics together in the early nineties, no matter what any group says with the Lutherans and Catholics, whatever they were called, some prognosticating deal, no matter what they say, there can only be one truth.

As Francis Schaeffer used to say, true truth. And so either the Evangelical Protestants are correct, or the Roman Catholics are correct, or neither are correct, but both can't be correct. You have two different systems.

You have a grace system and a grace alone system. You have a faith system and a faith alone system. You have a Bible plus system and a Bible alone system. And you have a Christ system and a Christ alone system.

Now, if I told you, I believe in Christ and faith and grace and the Bible, you would think that'd be pretty good. But a Roman Catholic certainly can affirm that. Catholics aren't dumb people. They're very smart people.

Matter of fact, probably on the average, their IQs and their education might exceed that of modern day Protestants. But that's not the point, is it? It's not who's smarter. It's what does the Bible teach?

And the Bible clearly teaches that it is Christ alone, Christ plus no one else, Christ plus nothing else. It is finished, Jesus said on the cross. Redemption, as John Murray said in his wonderful book that you should read, accomplished and applied.

It is Christ alone. And it is grace alone. It's not sacraments. It's not supererogation. It is not treasury of merit. It is grace alone. We deserve nothing except justice and God's holy law being applied, but we get grace instead because God's gracious.

God's merciful. That's just who he is by nature. God, our savior. And these benefits are appropriated through the non-meritorious instrument called faith. Faith at its root is saying, God, I take you at your word.

What you say, I believe. And as one old pastor used to say, Abraham said amen to God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. And so for us, we believe faith alone. It's not faith plus anything else.

Faith looks away from self and then looks to God. It looks to God bringing nothing and even faith we know from Ephesians chapter two and Philippians chapter 129 is a gift. So this leads us to not the solo deo gloria sola, but the formal cause or the formal instrument in the Reformation's five solas.

And that is sola scriptura. And if you believe in the sufficiency of scripture, if you believe in its non-deficiency, that's what I like to think about it. The scriptures aren't deficient. We need nothing else.

And so we don't need the magisterium. We don't need the Catholic traditions. We just need the Bible. And if you have just the Bible while the format of your worship service on Sundays or whatever other day you get together, the liturgy of a church, it might change a little bit with culture.

If I'm in South Africa or if I'm in India or if I'm in the Czech Republic, I've been to those places and the worship services on Sundays are very, very similar in this aspect. There's praying, there's preaching, there's giving, there's baptism, there's the Lord's supper, there's singing, those kinds of things.

But the way it goes about, the way they go about it in terms of length of service, kind of music, dress, those things all change. But at the root, you have what the Bible says about the worship service and that is what they attempt to do.

But if you don't believe in Sola Scriptura, Bible alone, and you put on par with the Bible or closely to it, I think it's on par with or probably over, but that's another discussion, then you have new things.

I can't imagine if I was a pastor and I said, well, now the leader, now John MacArthur has said, the evangelical Protestant Pope has said we've got a new liturgy and we've got a new worship service set up and now we've got to change these words.

That would strike me fascinatingly. Yes, adverb. So with the Roman Catholic Church, it should not surprise its adherents. It should not surprise its members. It should not surprise Roman Catholics that regularly, whether that's every year or every 30 years or every 60 years or every 100 years in the scope of time, that's still regularly, that new things come up, the new mass.

See, for the Protestant, there's nothing new about it. For the evangelical, there's nothing new about it. There's preaching and there's giving and there's exposition and there's prayer and there's singing, et cetera.

There's nothing new. We don't have a formula back and forth. Now, if you want a high church and high liturgy and your church happens to do that and you're a Reformed Episcopalian church that loves J .C. Ryle or something, I'm not discussing today high liturgy and low liturgy.

Everyone's got a liturgy. That's a new song. I think I need some Pete's Coffee for that. Here, hold on. Here's Pete's Coffee, Major Dickinson's bled. That is nice on a New England day. But when you have an ongoing system of revelation, essentially, with tradition magisterium, then things change.

The New Translation Tracks the Latin More Closely

So, Mike Abendroth here, No Compromise Radio Ministry, New York Times, new translation of the Catholic Mass makes its debut. And I'm not gonna read the whole article, but I'm just gonna read a few things from the New York Times, quite the theological press.

Roman Catholics throughout the English-speaking world on Sunday left behind words they have prayed for nearly four decades, flipping through unfamiliar pew cards and pronouncing new phrases as the church urged tens of millions of worshipers to embrace a new translation of the Mass that more faithfully tracks the original Latin.

Now, isn't that fascinating on a number of counts? First account is the original New Testament, or New Testament was originally written in what? Greek. And so it wasn't too long before Jerome had the Latin Vulgate.

And I'm not against Latin. I wish I actually knew Latin. But we need to go back to the sources. And as the Enlightenment would say, and sometimes it carried over into the Reformation, ad fontes, back to the sources, to the originals, to the sources.

And so they're not going back far enough, but I do find it fascinating with the new Pope. And I find everything fascinating today. I find it insightful that the new Pope is more conservative. And so this is going to be a more conservative Mass.

Actually, it's going to be more biblical than the old one. Now, I did not say it's going to be biblical, but it's going to be more biblical than the other. And maybe some of the liberal Catholics aren't liking that.

I'm sure they're not. New words, Vatican-led church hierarchy has promoted the new translation as more reverential and accurate, and critics among them, hundreds of priests, who feared as a retreat from the commitment of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s to allow people to pray in a simple, clear vernacular as they participate in the church's sacred rites.

Did you know that Vatican, Second Vatican Council, it was a more dynamic equivalent approach. It would be more like the NIV, not the NAS. It was more phrase for phrase and the thought of the original Latin than very particular word for word.

And so you even have this idea of how do we translate in the Roman Catholic Church? I think that is quite, I was going to say fascinating again, but then that would be redundant. St. Patrick's Cathedral, 5th Avenue, Manhattan, is a new translation.

Today is a new translation of the start of the mass, said Monsignor Robert T. Ritchie. And so you got laminated pew cards so you can follow along. If this was an evangelical megachurch, you would have some big screen and be promoting it through the big screen.

Big screens aren't always bad, I guess. And though he had carefully studied the new service, even Monsignor Ritchie lost his place at one point, raising his eyebrows as he flipped through the missile.

That's always my favorite word, by the way, M-I-S-S-A-L. The missile, meow, looking for the right words before the start of communion. So on Roman Catholic, let's see, St. Patrick's Cathedral. Oh, I have to tell you a story about St. Patrick's Cathedral.

If you're in New York City, you've got to go. It's a fascinating place. St. Patrick was a Protestant, but that's another story, isn't it now? I think he's been stolen. The stolen saint. St. Christopher isn't even really a saint anymore.

Technically he's a saint, but he doesn't have a feast day, so practically he's not. They researched the legends of St. Christopher and found out, oops, I don't think he should do that. So I don't know what you do if you have a St. Christopher medallion or medal or statue in your car, because he's not going to help you anymore.

He doesn't even have a feast day anymore dedicated to his name. But if you go there, you'll find a really neat building, an old building, a building that certainly makes you want to look up. And so you should be able to consider the transcendence of God.

I think that was the point there, but fascinating architecture and everything else in the middle of Manhattan. Well, they have these little cubicles around at the church and you can go to St. Joseph. He gets a little tiny one.

There's St. Thomas. Maybe they used to have St. Christopher, but they don't have a rule. They have an enclave. I think that's the name, enclave. The enclave. So you don't really have that there. He doesn't have a big one, just St. Joseph.

And Jesus is to the side. And then who do you think's in the very back, front, primary position? You've got it right. The mother Mary. So anyway, new Catholic translation and everybody's talking about it.

I even heard it on secular radio. People were talking about English speaking world, UK, India, Rebecca Brown, a parishioner at St. James Catholic Cathedral in Seattle, said she felt well-prepared for the new translation.

I'm not fond of linguistic choices, how it rolls off the tongue. But on the other hand, the Catholic church is always about renewal and reforming itself. This is just one of those changes. Well, renewal and reformation.

Does she know what she just said? George Lynn, 73 of New York, he had a visceral reaction according to the New York Times. I'm so tired of being told exactly what I have to say, exactly what I have to pray.

I believe in God and to me, that's the most important thing. This is some attempt on the part of church hierarchy to look important. Would you ever consider a Protestant church, Mr. Lynde? Mr. Lunt. Reverend Anthony Ruff, a scholar of Latin and Gregorian chant, said the syntax is too Latinate.

It is not good English. Ain't no good English that will help the people pray, he said in an interview. So philosophical shift said the New York Times from the more flexible principle of dynamic equivalence that had guided the earlier translations.

So there you have it, the new mass going to a more strict, formal interpretation of the Latinate. I didn't know that was a word, Latinate. Now I did turn to America, the Latin Catholic Weekly, as we're discussing the new mass.

What if we said, wait, the case for a grassroots renewal, a review, excuse me, of the new Roman Missal by Michael G. Ryan, December 14th, 2009. So even back then when this was all getting written, that is the new mass, these guys were saying, hey, the Second Vatican Council's Sacrosanctum Concilium service, that wasn't bad.

Why do we have to jump to this new one? One person ventured the opinion that with all that the church has on its plate today. Now, okay, if you were a church, what would you have on your plate? So Bethlehem Bible Church, what do we have on our plate?

Maybe proclamation, Bible teaching, evangelism, service, ministry to one another. Prayer. What does the church have on their plate? Global challenges with regard to justice, peace and environment, nagging, scandals, a severe priest shortage.

The first one, by the way, is a liberal issue. That is to say it holds true for Protestants as well. The nagging scandals and the severe priest shortage, that's directly related to if God has given the majority of men hormones to desire to be with a wife one day, and then you tell them you can't be, there are going to be scandals and priest shortages.

The growing disenchantment of many women. Seriously lagging church attendance. It seems almost ludicrous to push ahead with the agenda that will seem at best trivial and at worst hopefully out of touch.

Sola Scriptura and the Regulative Principle of Worship

Now, here you have it. You want to slow down a little bit here? I'm going to say something nice about the Roman Catholic Church. So to all those people out there who think I'm a Catholic basher, hey haters, I'm going to say something nice.

I do like the fact that the Roman Catholic Church's leadership, including the new Pope, will do what they think is right no matter what the masses say. Not know what the mass says, but what the masses say.

Sound like I have a smoker's cough today. I don't know what it is, but it is cold outside. I wish I was on my bike. I went to a major restaurant last night. I took my daughter out for a date. And so my daughter's 12 years old and I thought she needs to know what it's like to have a man open the door and talk.

And this is just how a man should treat a young lady, should treat a lady. And so we went out to one of the major chains last night. Someone gave me a gift certificate, which I was very happy for. I guess that's not a good date though, is if you have used a gift certificate, but she's only my daughter.

And so I took her out and I ate some of the food and man, I just can't take this greasy food anymore. And I didn't even think I got fish and some of the vegetables. And even that somehow must have been ladled in chain food.

I mean, you sat down and it was not some greasy spoon, but the food was greasy spoon. Maybe it's affected my vocal cords. I do respect the Catholic church that they will do what they think is right, no matter what the masses are.

They don't do a whole lot of, well, what do you think we should do? Bottom, you know, up management. It is, this is what we think the magisterium, the tradition and scripture says. And so we're going to do it no matter what.

It says here in this, what if we said, wait, that the diocese of South Africa have already been given this new translation, catechesis in the parishes, new translations. They were met with almost uniform opposition bordering on outrage.

So they say we should just wait. They say here, what if we said, wait, these people who are against it, what if we did some market testing instead? What if we just said, wait, seems preferable. Dialogue is better than diatribe.

And the second Vatican council has amply demonstrated that. Reverend Michael Ryan, pastor of St. James Cathedral in Seattle. So today in No Compromise Radio Ministry, if you have your Bible, shouldn't you say to yourself, this is what the Bible says for worship and we'll just do that.

And so the Presbyterians, the reformers had something called the regulative principle and that scripture would regulate worship service. And so it's not the bishop, it's not the pastor, it's not the priest, it's not your friend, it's not the masses, it's not the dialogue, but the scriptures dictate how we worship, what we do, how we do it.

Some of the things are left for the particular cultures, but that is why we don't have the controversy. We have our own controversy, but we don't have this controversy. Now, here is the new Roman Missal.

I have in front of me the 1973 ICEL, and then I have the new translation side by side. So the old Missal said on the first Sunday of Advent, collect all powerful God, increase our strength of will for doing good that Christ may find an eager welcome at his coming and call us to his side in the kingdom of heaven.

All right, now listen to the new one. Grant your faithful, we pray Almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming so that gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly kingdom.

My only worth, by the way, is found in Christ Jesus. I have nothing to offer but sin and my best deeds are like filthy rags, according to Isaiah. How about December 20th? The old one, God of love and mercy, help us to follow the example of Mary.

I'll fall over when I read these things. Always ready to do your will. Why don't we do Mary's will then? And the message of an angel, at the message of the angel, she welcomed your eternal son and filled with the light of your spirit, she became the temple of your word.

She did. She did. All right, here's the new one. Here's the new missile. Here's the, that was the scud, this is the patriot. Oh God, eternal majesty, whose ineffable word, I love ineffable, by the way, the immaculate virgin, received through the message of an angel and so became the dwelling place of divinity, filled with the light of the Holy Spirit.

Grant, we pray, that by her example, we may in humility hold fast to your will. Okay. Ash Wednesday, Lord, protect us in your struggle against evil as we begin the discipline of Lent. Make this day holy by our self-denial.

Is that how that works? Let's see if the new one's better. Grant, oh Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting, this campaign of Christian service, so that as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.

All right, well, today on No Compromise Radio, I thought that we would be talking about these were more interesting than they really are. Oh man. I'm just trying to read some of these things here. All right, let's just pick another one.

11th Sunday in ordinary time, prayer over the gifts. Old, Lord, in this bread and wine, you give us food for body and spirit. May the Eucharist renew our strength and bring us health of mind and body.

Okay, this is the new one, the new missile. Oh God, who in the offerings presented here provide for twofold needs of the human nature, nourishing us with the food and renewing us with your sacrament. I didn't know there was so much nutrition in one of those things.

Grant, we pray, that the sustenance they provide may not fail us in body or spirit. All right, well, we've got here the new Nicene Creed that's changed instead of only son of God, the only begotten. We have the new Confiteor, doesn't look like it's pronounced there, which is a liturgy on behalf of sinfulness, which sinfulness is intercession, acknowledged for mercy.

That is there. All right, well, we're just pretty much dive bombing right here. How about this new one? Take this, all of you, and drink from it for this is the chalice of my blood. That's interesting.

This one, people didn't like. Lord, I'm not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed. That's the old one. The new one, Lord, I'm not worthy that you should come under my roof.

Why the Bible Is Sufficient and Why Christians Should Read It

So today on No Compromise Radio, I say we go back to the Bible. What do you say? If we go back to the Bible, then we're never gonna have these issues of something new when it comes to, you have to say these words instead.

And didn't Jesus say something in Matthew 6 about vain, repetitious words anyway? So No Compromise Radio, Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Hindu, why don't you take your Bibles and read the Bibles, your Bibles, because the Bible is sufficient.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE its staff or management.