A problem prayer

by Editor · July 25, 2007

An unfortunate off-shoot of Pope Benedict’s apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum on the Tridentine rite has been the negative reaction by Jewish commentators, who expressed concern that a prayer in the 1962 missal they regard as offensive might damage relations between Judaism and the Catholic Church.

The history of the treatment of Jews by officials of the Catholic Church over almost two millennia is littered with gross injustices, as Pope John Paul II acknowledged when he apologised on behalf of the Church to Jews for these iniquities. It is therefore quite understandable when Jewish leaders are worried about any action by the Church that seems to repudiate the Vatican II 1965 document Nostra Aetate, which healed many old wounds.

The passage in the 1962 missal which caused Jewish unease concerns the Good Friday liturgy, at which the following prayer was said:

Let us pray also for the Jews, that the Lord our God may take the veil from their hearts and that they also may acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, you do not refuse your mercy, even to the Jews; hear the prayers which we offer for the blindness of that people so that they may acknowledge the light of your truth, which is Christ, and be delivered from their darkness.

This prayer, with its reference to God extending his mercy even to the Jews (depending on your translation), is seen by some as being in disaccord with the spirit of Nostra Aetate, which acknowledged God’s perpetual covenant of the Jewish people.

Nostra aetate Vatican II’s Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions says that the Church believes that by his cross Christ reconciled Jews and Gentiles, making both one in himself.

Likewise, prayers for infidels could be seen clashing with the spirit of the Church’s teaching on relations with Islam in Nostra aetate, one that has found recurring expression in declarations by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict.

Summorum Pontificum declares that the 1962 missal may not be used in Masses without people (that is, a priest’s private Mass) during the Easter Triduum. This means that the passage that has caused apprehension among Jews will not be used in private Masses at any time.

The document is unclear whether the same exclusion applies to Masses with people. In other words, if the Tridentine liturgy may be celebrated publicly during the Easter Triduum, it could involve a passage that can be seen as being at odds if not in theology, then in spirit with conciliar Church teaching.

This must be avoided, not only to pacify Jewish sensibilities, but also to avoid confusion over the teachings of Vatican II.

Ideally, this might require a revision of the 1962 missal, updating prayers to reflect with greater precision what the Church teaches now. In absence of that, however, the Church authorities may well choose to either explicitly bar the celebration of the Tridentine liturgy during Holy Week (especially on Good Friday) altogether, or instruct celebrants of the rite to omit prayers that may cause confusion or offence.

In the past four decades the Church has made huge strides in its relations with other religions, repairing much of the harm created by centuries of confrontation. It would be a source of genuine sadness should some of this progress be undone by, of all things, prayer.