Mary
Part 1 Introduction

Chapter 12 Introduction: Course Method

I would suggest that you first read the pertinent parts of my website at Chapter 11 General Introduction to All of the Courses I Teach and Chapter 12 General Introduction to All of the Online and Hybrid Courses I Teach

Rational for this Course
"Mary in the Liturgy"

There are several reason why I am eager accompany you as together we explore Mary in the Liturgy:

1)  Mary and the Liturgical year  Each time that I teach the "Liturgical Year Course" there is not enough time to adequately treat the Marian feasts in the new Roman Calendar.  This course gives us an opportunity to focus on this aspect of the Liturgical Year. (For those who have not taken 12:615 Liturgical Year we will be

2)  What happened to devotions?  Frequently these days I read and hear that "the Second Vatican Council discouraged devotion to the Blessed Mother."  This is far from the truth.  I studied the Liturgical Year and the Roman Calendar and Lectionary under Msgr. Pierre Jounel at the Institut Catholique in Paris.  Jounel served the Church in the re-invigoration of liturgical prayer from the time of Pius XII (e.g. the reform of Holy Week in 1950-1955) until his death in 2004.  Jounel was one of the principal authors of the Calendar and the Lectionary.  His love for Mary and devotion to Mary is a matter of record.  To imply that Jounel (and his colleagues) set out to deliberately discourage devotion to the Blessed Mother in the current Calendar, Missal,  Lectionary, and Liturgy of the Hours  is simply not substantiated by the facts -- and it is these facts that we will explore in this seminar.  We will study carefully the way in which the official prayer of the Church honors the Mother of Jesus.

3)  Authentic devotion   Unless you have been living in a cave or under a rock, you are aware that there is a wide range of practices honoring Mary.   Is Mary Theotokos or Christotokos?  Is Mary a member of the Church or the mother of the Church?  Is Mary Christ's mother or Christ's disciple.  [In my experience the emphasis has always been placed on the role of Mary as Christ's mother, the mother of Jesus, the mother of God -- Saint Augustine, on the other hand (see Johnson, p 119) argues that it is "an altogether greater blessing to have been Christ's disciple than to have been Christ's mother."]  What criteria can we use for judging the value, usefulness, and authenticity of these practices?  In this seminar we will explore these criteria both by way of the liturgy itself (Lex orandi) and by way of magisterial statements. 

4)  The Iceberg Metaphor   Many former students have found the iceberg metaphor helpful in understanding the "feelings" that sometimes arise during the study of theology.  Applying the iceberg metaphor to this course, the top of the iceberg refers to those things we know about Mary -- Mary in the Christian Scriptures, the historical facts of her life, magisterial teachings regarding Mary, etc.  The bottom of the iceberg embraces our devotion, feelings, attitudes, experience, and a multitude of other "unconscious" and "un-examined" data.  Under the iceberg are our attitudes toward women in general, our understanding of sexuality and gender, our attitudes toward gender specific roles in society, our feelings toward marriage, sex, virginity, celibacy, etc.    Close your eyes and "picture" Mary.  What does she look like?  Describe this picture.  [Repeat this exercise at the conclusion of the course.]   --  One thing that I have discovered is that about 80% of what I thought I "knew" (facts / top of the iceberg) about Mary is based on devotional piety (under the iceberg) rather than historical fact.   Try this experiment:  if your only source of information was the Bible, what would you know of Mary's life? 

3)  Cultural context   Does a fish know that it's wet?  We often are not aware that we live in a cultural context which influences and shapes our faith and devotional practices.  As this context changes, so do our devotional practices.  This seminar will attempt to see how this context has changed and why our devotional practices might be different from those of our grandparents.   In the background lurks the differences between the generations in general and the generational attitudes toward religion in general and organized religion ("Church" and "going to church").   It is important for the" I-Gen" generation that our religious explanations match their actual experience. 

4)  Parable of the Jacob the Tailor   (Note:  I have heard this parable in many different versions and contexts; the following is adapted from the telling by Dr. Scott Alexander, summer CTU 2006.) 

Once upon a time there was a tailor in Kraków, named Jacob.  Jacob was a poor man; his wife was ill; and he had three daughters.  He worked his fingers to the bone, sewing, making dresses and suits for the rich people in Kraków.  Each night however, he had a haunting re-occurring dream.  In the dream he saw a castle in Prague that contained a wonderful treasure. 

After he had the dream for 30 nights Jacob went to his wife and told her about the dream.  His wife said that indeed it must be a sign from God and that he should go to Prague.  So, Jacob packed up a few things for the journey and went to Prague.  There he found the castle that he had seen in the dream -- but, alas, it was in the Christian quarter and he was but a filthy Jew.  How could he dare go into the Christian quarter!  But knew he must enter this castle he had seen in his dream in order to find the treasure.  And so, in the dead of night, he entered into the Christian quarter, found the castle, ... but, alas, he was intercepted and arrested by the guards who drug him off to jail. 

When Jacob was brought before the head jailer, he knelt down before the him and begged for mercy. Jacob explained that for 30 nights he had been having this dream ...  and he described the dream to the Christian jailer.  In amazement the jailer replied:  "I too have had a dream."  The jailer explained that he too had a dream for the past 30 nights.  In the dream he was told to go to Kraków and find the house of a tailor named Jacob.  There he was to go into the kitchen, move the stove and under the stove he would find an immense treasure.  But the jailor said, “How could I do this?  How is it possible?  There must be five dozen tailors in Kraków named Jacob.  How would I find the right house?  It is a silly dream.”  And then he said to Jacob:  “Go on your way and forget these silly dreams.  Go back home; kiss your wife; greet your daughters.” 

So Jacob returned to  Kraków and went back to his house.  He kissed his wife and his daughters and then he ran into the kitchen.  With the help of his daughters he picked up the stove and moved it aside.  And there under the stove was a flat stone, and under the stone, he found an immense treasure ... and Jacob and his family lived happily ever after. 

What is the meaning of this story?  The rabbis explain the story in this way: the treasure was in Kraków, but the knowledge of it was in Prague.  You have to go outside of yourself to understand who you are. 

For example:  This course is about the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Yet, each time I teach the course I find that I am learning new things about the role of Christ as mediator; the feminine face of God; the role of gender differentiation; patriarchy, etc.   The iceberg metaphor can be helpful here.  While our study of "Mary" takes place "above the waterline" we might find things shifting in that mass of experiences, presuppositions, fears and desires that lies hidden below the surface.  (This "shifting" can make great material for your concluding essay!)   

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Notes on the Reading Assignments

One:  In order to understand "Mary in the Liturgy" we will begin this course with a quick, "condensed version" of 12:615 The Liturgical Year  The two basic documents for this course are the Calendar and the Lectionary.

Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy.  Norms Governing Liturgical Calendars.  The Liturgy Documentary Series, Number 6.  Washington DC: Office of Publishing and Promotion Services, USCCB, 1984. Publication number 928-9.  $6.95 paper.  The first half of the text is available online at www.catholicliturgy.com   For the corrigenda to the calendarium romanum, see Notitiae 47 (1969) p. 303.

This document contains the current legislation and rational for the arrangement of the liturgical year.  Anyone planning or preparing liturgical celebrations should be familiar with this document.

Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy.  The Lectionary for Mass, Second Typical Edition. Introduction. The Liturgy Documentary Series Number 1.  Washington DC: Office of Publishing and Promotion Services, USCCB.  Publication number 5-245. ISBN 1-57455-245-7.  $6.95 paper.  The entire text is available online at www.catholicliturgy.com

This document contains the current legislation and rational for the arrangement of the lectionary.  Anyone planning or preparing liturgical celebrations should be familiar with this document.

Two:  In order to understand "Mary in the Liturgy" we will need to know something about Mary herself.  To this end we will read together

Elizabeth A. Johnson.  Truly Our Sister:  A Theology of Mary in the Communion of Saints.  The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. 2003.  ISBN 0-8264-1473-7

"Karl Rahner noted that the image of Mary in the church has always been closely tied to the image of women at any given time.  ...  'Mariology today and in the future still has a great deal to do if it wants to have an image of Mary that will really be true for the religious existence of woman as such.  It is an image that can perhaps be produced authentically today only by women, by women theologians."  (Quoted in Johnson, p. 17)  This is why I have selected a text by a respected Catholic woman theologian.  I know that most all of your text books here at Saint Meinrad are written by men.  If this is the first text you have used authored by a woman, it may seem different or strange.  If this is the case, carefully examine the source of these feelings.

Three:  Johnson distinguishes between 1) popular devotion, 2) reflective theology, and 3) official doctrine.  (Johnson, p 114).   To examine critically devotion to Mary in the USA we will read together the first two chapters of

James O'Toole (editor).  Habits of Devotion: Catholic Religious Practice in Twentieth-Century America (Cushwa Center) ISBN 0801442567.  Chapter 1 Joseph P. Chinnici, O.F.M. "The Catholic Community at Prayer, 1926-1976", pp 1-88; and Chapter 2, Paula M. Kane, "Marian Devotion Since 1940:  Continuity or Casualty?" pp 89-130.

Four:  And in order to review the "official doctrine" we will study the texts of the Second Vatican Council concerning Mary and we will study

Pope Paul VI,  Marialis Cultus, Apostolic Exhortation for the Right Ordering and Development of Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. (February 2, 1974)  Text available in English on the Vatican web site.

I would also recommend:

Foley, Leonard O.F.M. (Editor) Saint of the Day:  Lives and Lesson for Saints and Feasts of the New Missal.  Saint Anthony Messenger Press, Cincinnati OH.  ISBN 0-86716-134-5

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary:  Sacramentary.  The Liturgical Press.  Collegeville, Minnesota.  ISBN 0-8146-2051-5

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary:  Lectionary.  The Liturgical Press.  Collegeville, Minnesota.  ISBN 0-8146-2052-3

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline for the Sacraments. The Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy: Principles and Guidelines, December, 2001.  Text available in English on the Vatican web site.   Available in book form from Pauline Books & Media (2003).  Paperback.   ISBN   0-8198-1881-X   $9.95

Peter Phan (editor).  Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy:  Principles and Guidelines,  A Commentary.  Collegeville:  Liturgical Press, 2005.  ISBN  0-8146-2893-1

Adrian Nocent.  The Liturgical Year. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1977. ISBN:  0-8146-0963-5. 4 volumes. Paper. $35.00. [Saint Meinrad Library: BV 30 N6213 1977 — two copies in library.] [Before the Johnson anthology was published, I used this series as a text.  I believe that it still remains an excellent reference book which would be useful in anyone's liturgical library.  Again, it is especially important because it is written by one of the principle author's of the reformed liturgy.]

Catechism of the Catholic Church, Catechism, "Born of the Virgin Mary" numbers 487-507

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Posting on ANGEL

1.  Ordinarily all assignments are to be posted on ANGEL.  If for some reason ANGEL is not available to you, print out the assignment and bring a hard copy to class and post it on ANGEL later when you are able to do so.  On those cases where a hard copy of the assignment is to be submitted, the assignment is to be typed on 8 ½" x 11" white paper.  When assignments are more than one page long, the pages are to be numbered. Please turn in a copy that is dark enough to be read easily. All papers should be in 12 point font.

2.  I suggest that you compose your comment on your computer using your word processing program.  Spell check, grammar check, word count, etc.  Save the essay on your computer.  Then put a copy of the essay in your buffer [Ctrl + A (select all) Ctrl +C (copies selection to the buffer)].  Go to ANGEL at http://mysma.saintmeinrad.edu/mySMA/home.asp  Enter your password and select the Mary course.  Click on LESSONS.  Click on the class number for which the assignment is due.  Click on "Post a Message" and a box will open.  Put your curser in the box and drop your essay from your buffer into the box (Ctrl +V).  Then click "Save" at the bottom of the page.

3.  You can read the responses of the other participants in the class and respond to them by clicking "Post a Reply."  On some days, responding to the posting of another student will be the writing assignment for that day.   Extra credit will be given to those students who make significant contributions to the discussion on ANGEL.   When responding to another posting make it worth our while to open it.   Don't just post "That's nice"  or "I never though of that" or such comments that do not really move the discussion forward.

4.  While the postings of reflections, experiences, etc. may be "personal" they should not be so "personal" that you would not want them shared with the class.  All postings on ANGEL for this course are open to being read by the class and discussed during the class periods.  The same respect and  "confidentiality" is to be used regarding the postings on ANGEL as would be expected of experiences discussed in class. 

5.  The ANGEL system allows the professor to see when and how long each student logged onto the course.  When you log in directly to my website without going through ANGEL the information is not recorded in ANGEL.

Notes on the Writing Assignments in General

1.  The grade for written assignments is based on both content and style. Typing, grammar, spelling, sentence structure, readability, etc. are a part of the grade. A standard, accepted typing style [e.g. The Holt Guide to Documentation and Writing in the Disciplines by Kirszner and Mandell] is expected.

2.  When quoting someone give the source of the quote and indicate by quotation marks where the quotation begins and ends. The "Statement on Plagiarism" in the Student Handbook is to be followed.

3.  The "Statement on Non-discriminatory Language" in the Student Handbook is to be followed.

4.  With regard to style, the language used is to be that which could be used in a homily: see, Buttrick, Homiletic, pp 196-198, where he draws attention to racist prejudice [e.g. white / black], anti-Semitic language, sexist language, language referring to God.

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© Copyright: Tom Richstatter, Franciscan Province of St. John the Baptist, Cincinnati Ohio, Order of Friars Minor. All Rights Reserved.  This page was created by Fr. Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M.  Every effort has been, and is being made, to acknowledge sources when the ideas are not my own.  Any failure to comply with the United States Copyright Act (Title 17, United States Code) will be corrected immediately should I become aware of it.  This site was updated on 06/05/07 .  Your comments on this site are welcome at webmaster2@tomrichstatter.org.