The waiata workshop will include chanting, singing, group participation and questions.

On Sunday there will be an opportunity to put it all into action at Miha at Te Ngakau Tapu Parish with Richard and his support crew.

Richard is the composer of that world famous in Aotearoa waiata - Ka Waiata ki a Maria. Heard all throughout the motu, at many marae, ahakoa he aha te whakapono. He's the Principal of St Joseph's School in Wairoa. He's part of Tawhiti-a-Maru marae. He's a member of Te Runanga o te Hahi Katorika ki Aotearoa (The Maori Catholic Pastoral Council of NZ). He's Chairperson of the Maori Apostolate of the Palmerston North Diocese. He's many things. He tangata tino hatakehi ia. So those who attend can expect to have some fun.

The workshop results from the fact that the first version of music for the new Miha didn't really go down well with Maori and the Bishops asked the Runanga for help.

Source

• N Phillips - Turagna Maori Whanganui a Tara
• Image: Welcom

Because of our belief in one family in this big tent, we are loath to characterize disagreements as battles. Battles have winners and losers, and no one in the family should be known as a loser. (Historically, losers in church battles have been called schismatics and that is not a nice word to use among family.)

Yet the first Sunday in Advent, when we are gathered around the eucharistic table — what should be the greatest sign of our unity — many of us will feel depressed. We will feel like losers when we hear not the words that Jesus' blood "will be shed for you and for all" but that Jesus' blood "will be shed for you and for many."

This Sunday, Roman Catholics will use for the first time the third edition of the English-language version of the Roman Missal. The change from "for all" to "for many" is just one example of a multitude of changes we will hear and cringe at as we pray our way through this new liturgical year. The absence of even an attempt at inclusive language will hurt many in the congregation. Many of us will feel like a battle has been lost.

The scrimmages of this battle have been fought at many levels, from bishop conferences to parish halls. The official Vatican translators themselves have objected to heavy-handed edicts imposed from above. Resigning from the chairmanship of the music committee of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) in February, Benedictine Fr. Anthony Ruff wrote:

The forthcoming missal is but a part of a larger pattern of top-down impositions by a central authority that does not consider itself accountable to the larger church. When I think of how secretive the translation process was, how little consultation was done with priests or laity, how the Holy See allowed a small group to hijack the translation at the final stage, how unsatisfactory the final text is, how this text was imposed on national conferences of bishops in violation of their legitimate episcopal authority, how much deception and mischief have marked this process — and then when I think of Our Lord's teachings on service and love and unity ... I weep.

Continue reading Making do with a faulty translation

Image: Diocese of Saginaw