Mass Revision - How the Liturgy Is Changing and What It Means for You

by Jimmy Akin

The Mass Is Changing--How? Why? And what does it mean for you? Catholics all across America will be asking these questions, seeking the answers from a trusted source. In this highly readable, information-packed volume, award-winning author Jimmy Akin describes the transformation and lays out the facts. Jimmy goes straight to the heart of the issue, quoting the Church's own documents so you can see for yourself what the Church has to say and not be deceived by falsehood and spin. Mass Revision shows you exactly which parts of the liturgy are changing, reviewing the rites and new wording, and provides very practical information on who can and cannot receive Communion, liturgical furnishings and vestments, postures and actions during Mass, as well as the hot-button issue of liturgical abuses. Concise, readable, and straightforward, Mass Revision is an indispensible resource you can't afford to miss.

Genres: Catholic, Religion

423 pages, Nook

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Jimmy Akin (b. 1965) was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant pastor or seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith. Eventually, he was compelled in conscience to enter the Catholic Church, which he did in 1992. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is a Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to This Rock magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

Reviews

[Edgar do Carmo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simple book that allows the laity and common person to delve deeply into the world of Liturgy, both from a divine/biblical point of view and an administrative/human POV - allows the laity to both know the how, why and when and also to know their rights to a decent, sober and reverent Mass.

Jimmy's writing style is simple, straight forward, the sources are always clear and the way he drives through the logical process is easily accessible by anyone.

These men and woman at Catholic Answers are doing a great work.

[David Gahris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great information

After reading many books on the Mass, this books answers many practical questions I had. I liked the way it was set up, in the same order as the Mass we hear every time we participate. This will go on my shelf as a reference book. I'm on a RCIA team and will take it with me to the meetings so I can answer the inquires questions on the spot, correctly.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lengthy explanation of the changes to the liturgy that took place about 10 years ago. They weren't really changes at all but were a more exact translation of the Latin Mass into English without using a dynamic equivalence translation. Book also goes on to explain the various parts of the Mass in some detail.

[Paul Parkinson]

Continuing to read along with the other two mass books.

[Julie Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any time one makes a big change, it can have unforeseen consequences, and not all of them good. That's why newly built boats have shakedown voyages, newly designed computer programs have bug releases, and so forth. It takes a while for a new or changed system to show how it works in practice, and often a little experience with it shows that some tweaking is necessary.

That is essentially what has happened with the liturgy. A big change was made in the 1970s, and from the decades of pastoral experience that followed, Pope John Paul II became convinced that the liturgy could be improved. ...

... The translation that had been prepared in the 1970s was put together somewhat hastily, and it used a trendy philosophy of translation known as "dynamic equivalence." In this method, a translator tries to take the thoughts expressed on one language (in this case Latin) and bring them into another language without carefully mirroring the vocabulary, word order, or style of the original. ...

Although dynamic translations have some advantages, they also have drawbacks. One potential one is the "dumbing down" or "flattening out" of language that is meant to be noble and elevating. That is one of the concerns of the Missal that was produced in the 1970s. ...

Jimmy Akin's blog is one that I have long counted on for straight answers about Church teachings when I couldn't easily find the answer elsewhere. Soon after I entered the Church, the U.S. bishops issued a General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), designed to set up norms of worship around the U.S. The actual result was hotly disputed issues about things like taking communion on the tongue or in the hand, taking communion kneeling or standing, and having to stand and sing after communion instead of being allowed to kneel and pray. I always appreciated Akin's straight forward answers, supported by canon law, Church teachings, and other documentation. I never read it, but I knew that Akin even wrote a book, Mass Confusion, to instruct laypeople about liturgical law so they could see for themselves what was allowed and what wasn't.

Over time those questions seem to have have settled down. However, with the upcoming changes to the liturgy there is great potential for people to resent the revised liturgy replacing the one they love. My interest was piqued when I saw that Akin has a new book covering the changes, Mass Revision: How the Liturgy is Changing and What It Means for You.

It turns out that Mass Revision is a hugely revised version of Akin's previous book, Mass Confusion, but now focused more on the liturgical revisions than on abuses. I worried that the tone of the book might be strident, considering the previous focus on abuses, but nothing could be further from the case.

Akin calmly and clearly takes readers through the Mass step by step, detailing on the way where changes are being made and the logic behind them. I was pleased to see that his commentary actually serves as a thread binding together excerpts from various Church documents which are the genesis for the liturgical instructions. It was fascinating to see how many documents supported each other each step of the way. Also, in reading the actual excerpts I was often touched by the care shown to the faithful, the reverence for the Eucharist, and the practicality of the result.

Akin's comments serve as a guide, clarify possibly contentious points, and also give us helpful reasons as to why something may be misunderstood.

The copious bonus materials comprise the final hundred pages of the book and cover everything from the Outline of the Mass to Low-Gluten Hosts and Mustum to Table of Postures During Mass. This is going to be my go-to resource when a specific question comes up for clarification.

The promotional materials and the back of the book seem to focus on liturgical abuse before pointing out that Mass Revisions above all describes and clarifies the liturgical revisions. I know this may be Akin's reputation but don't allow it to put you off as it almost did me. This book really does exactly what the subtitle says: how the liturgy is changing and what it means for you.

Get yourself a copy. You won't be sorry.

[Ethan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel a little misled by the subtitle. I bought this book because it was heavily promoted as the go-to resource to understand all the changes in the Mass and the explanations for those changes. But out of 400+ pages, only 11 directly dealt with the changes, plus maybe a dozen more scattered throughout the book showing the new responses. The reason for that is that this book is a revision of an earlier book (Mass Confusion) that focused on Liturgical abuses. All of that content is still here, plus a chapter on the new changes. All that said, however, I still found this book to be very useful. It was very informative, replete with many quotations from official Church documents. I guess one way to describe this book is that it provides the blueprints for the Mass. This is not an apologetics book, there are not scriptural defenses or explanations for the Mass. I think the author has left that topic up to others. The scope of this book is tightly defined to just explain what is supposed to happen at Mass and not so much why. It's focus too is on what is Not supposed to happen at Mass. So, I can't recommend this book to too many people, it's basically summa of the General Instruction on the Roman Missal (GIRM). I like all the terminology though (cope, stoup, pyx, stole, etc), and Jimmy provides a great glossary.

[Dave Brandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. Author Jimmy Akin is extremely thorough and always lays good ground work for his explanations. There were some questions I had coming into the book which I have had for a long time about the Mass that were addressed. Also, learning about abuses and what to do about them I found very helpful.
Thanks Jommy