Daily links, Mon., Nov. 28, New missal edition: Say what?

Lots of reaction here to the new translations: Peter Steinfels says people don’t pay that much attention to the priest’s prayers anyway; Peter Nixon had trouble with the prayer after communion; and PrayTell collects the media reports. Having a well-published opinion on the matter, I don’t have anything else to add, but if you want to register an opinion with the bishops, MisguidedMissal.com has some sample letters, along with an opportunity to download the poor, forgotten 1998 translation of the Mass. If you need examples of good, pray-able English texts, go read those. On another liturgical front, the Vatican is reportedly creating a commission covering church architecture (along with church music). Let the debate about what a church “looks like” begin! (My answer: A church looks like a whole bunch of different kinds of people gathered together at one table in the name of Jesus. The building is irrelevant, if at times pleasant to look at and, one hopes, functional for the church’s gathering.)

Now that that’s over with, on to more drama! Dems and the White House are at odds over a possible expansion of the religious exemption to the “contraceptive mandate” in the regulations governing the new health care law. The U.S. bishops want any Catholic organization, hospital, university, and social service agency to be exempt from offering contraceptive coverage; House Democrats think that defeats one of the purposes of the health care law. Do I smell an election year issue? And the pope is against climate change–probably not an election-year issue. B16 is also being charged by a German citizen, in court no less, for not wearing a seat belt during his trip to Germany. And I thought the U.S. was sue-happy! As we sometimes say here in the office: That’s dumb.

And RIP Rita Corbin, who created compelling art for The Catholic Worker, including the image (via NCR):