I am the Liturgical Commissioner for Pangborn Hall. (I basically set up and clean up for Mass in the dorm). Our priest, Fr. Gary, and I read through the Basilica-issued petitions before mass and groan at the terrible way in which they are written. We cut most of the incomprehensible ones. This past week I realized that this is exactly the type of language that Orwell is talking about in his article “Politics and the English Language.” Obviously, the petitions are not political, but they suffer from the degradation of language that Orwell talks about. (I would just like to say that I mean no disrespect towards Catholics or the Basilica.)
Dying metaphors:
“For the Church, who gathers the families of the world to a plentiful table. May she continue to provide a feast of Word and Sacrament to all who come to her holy mountain”
It’s difficult to analyze metaphors used by the Church, especially when they are from the Bible, considering the text has been around for nearly 2000 years. I wouldn’t say they are dead metaphors. However, the person who writes the petitions does not need to draw from all the Biblical metaphors he/she can get her hands on. It makes the petition confusing and long winded. Here are the metaphors I picked out in this petition alone. It’s difficult to find out if we are praying for something real or metaphorical because of the great amount of metaphors.
“Gathers the families” – shepherd metaphor
“Plentiful table” – do they mean the Eucharist or a “table” of physical sustenance?
“She” – metaphor for the Church
“a feast” – similar metaphor to table metaphor – here it seems to be used as a term for the Mass
“holy mountain” – this can be a metaphor for sacred ground, possibly referring to Mount Sinai. Honestly, I have no idea what idea the writer is trying to get across.
The entire petition is metaphorical. This language makes it difficult to pick out what exactly we are supposed to praying for.
Operations or verbal false limbs:
“For all who work the fields. May those who till and plant be blessed in their labors.”
The second part says exactly the same thing as the first short part of the prayer. This sentence is made more than twice the length it needs to be just for the sake of symmetry. All petitions are padded in similar ways. The first few words tell the listeners who the petition is for. The second elaborate sentence repeats exactly what the first part said but in flowery, long-winded language.
Pretentious Diction –
“Let us pray for the Church. May she, through the example of her leaders, protect and nurture all the gifts brought forth from the Lord’s vineyard.”
“Protect and nurture,” “brought forth” and “Lord’s vineyard” are rather pretentious ways to say “ Let us pray that member of the Church use their gifts wisely.” This example is also very metaphorical.
Meaningless words:
“For Civil Leaders – for those who stand guard over the fortunes of the world, may they govern with the hands of justice.”
This entire petition is full of meaningless words. What does it exactly mean by “stand guard?” This could be anyone from the military, to presidents, to police officers, to bureaucrats, to high school hall monitors. It is extremely vague.
“Fortunes of the World” is again vague. Do they mean monetary fortune? Education? Peace? Crops? Oil? Natural resources? Children?
“Justice” is another meaningless word. Justice can take on an individual meaning for each person who hears the petitions.
These meaningless words make the petition completely unintelligible. Who exactly are we praying for? No one seems to know. The Basilica should write petitions that people can actually understand. I, personally, would like to know what I am praying for. I think most people just mumble “Lord, hear our prayer” without really knowing what they are praying for.
I would like to contrast the Basilica’s petitions with the prayers from the Sacrament of Annointing of the Sick that my parish did while I was home over fall break. Although these were not the petitions said at mass, the prayers printed in the program were in the form of petitions:
1. “Free them [those receiving the sacrament] from sin and do not let them give way to temptation”
2. “Assist all who are dedicated to the care of the sick”
3. “Give life and health to our brothers and sisters whom we lay hands on in Your Name”
These petitions are all extremely clear cut, especially in comparison to the Basilica’s petitions.
Excuses, excuses: why I dread writing
17 years ago
1 comment:
I agree with what you say about stilted language in the petitions, but I think that it is a stretch to impose Orwell's criteria for political speech on them. For one thing, the main flaws are redundancy and metaphors. They don't use much euphemism or obscure the meaning, which I think would be more dire/more likely to occur in political language.
If we think of the petitions as verbal art (it's based in ritual, it is driven by community, plays on feeling, etc), then the redundancy and metaphors seem more acceptable.
I don't know. I'm not Catholic, and I don't particularly like some of the language used at Mass. I'm more used to Protestant services, which often use more casual language. In prayer, however, the language becomes just as you describe-- metaphorical, vague, redundant, etc.
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