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Fraggedy Ann / Changes in MassSatuday, Jun. 17, 2006 1:45 AMNot one to be deterred by criticism � and certainly not from liberals, conservative harpy Ann Coulter opined that men like Rep. John Murtha (a former Marine and previously a staunch ally of the military) are the reason soldiers invented fragging. A fate often predicated for officers who were unpopular, perceived as overly harsh, or just plain inept, fragging involved leaving a fragmentation grenade in the victim's tent. The conservative site on which Coulter's comments first appeared is busy spinning, pointing out that Coulter did not say she wanted to kill the congressman, did not say she thought he should be killed, nor that he should have been fragged. In fact, the implication is that poor, beleaguered Ann was being misquoted, and that we should just take such comments in keeping with Coulter's acerbic wit. I think her meaning is clear, and I believe Ms. Coulter is intelligent and media-savvy enough to have said precisely what she means. Any time Ann wants to admit she fucked up, or shot her mouth off, she's free to do so. Roman Catholic bishops in the United States have agreed to change the wording of the Catholic liturgy (what gets said during mass), bringing the English translation closer to the original Latin. This is, perhaps, the culmination of nearly a decade of hemming and hawing over the issue, though the Vatican has yet to voice its approval � a process that could take up to two years. One of the changes is to the pre-Communion prayer, "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you." The revised version states, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof." (I guess the courtyard or the front porch is okay, then?) On the other hand, fearful that a theological term like consubstantial would confuse the poor parishoners, the Nicene Creed will retain the line, "... one in being with the Father." Not everyone is happy with the changes, though Cardinal Francis Arinze warned American bishops, "It is not acceptable to maintain that people have become accustomed to a certain translation for the past 30 or 40 years, and therefore that it is pastorally advisable to make no changes." It reminds me of the days when the 'Folk Mass' � a liturgy where catchy folk tunes stood in for the more traditional hymns � was viewed as a means of appealing to a broader (and younger) audience. Does anyone else remember Sister Janet Mead's 1974 chart-topping single, "The Lord's Prayer"? The 1973 musical, "Godspell"? How about Andrew Lloyd Weber's rocking, "Jesus Christ Superstar"? Some folks didn't like that, either. To borrow a line from a completely unrelated work, "Slavish adherence to formal ritual is a sign that one has nothing better to think about."
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