No More Yahweh

[Cam42]

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In the not-too-distant future, songs such as "You Are Near," "I Will Bless Yahweh" and "Rise, O Yahweh" will no longer be part of the Catholic worship experience in the United States.

At the very least, the songs will be edited to remove the word "Yahweh" -- a name of God that the Vatican has ruled must not "be used or pronounced" in songs and prayers during Catholic Masses.

Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Divine Worship, announced the new Vatican "directives on the use of 'the name of God' in the sacred liturgy" in an Aug. 8 letter to his fellow bishops.

He said the directives would not "force any changes to official liturgical texts" or to the bishops' current missal translation project but would likely have "some impact on the use of particular pieces of liturgical music in our country as well as in the composition of variable texts such as the general intercessions for the celebration of the Mass and the other sacraments."

John Limb, publisher of OCP in Portland, Ore., said the most popular hymn in the OCP repertoire that would be affected was Dan Schutte's "You Are Near," which begins, "Yahweh, I know you are near."

He estimated that only "a handful" of other OCP hymns use the word "Yahweh," although a search of the OCP Web site turned up about a dozen examples of songs that included the word.

OCP is a nonprofit publisher of liturgical music and worship resources.



Well????? What do you think? I happen to agree with the idea....

[MissScripture]

At the risk of showing my ignorance, why are we omitting Yahweh?

[Cam42]

It has to do with the idea that it is the Name of God the Father.

[Archaeology cat]

It's been discussed a bit in [url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index.php?showtopic=83632"]this thread[/url].

I personally agree with this decision, though.

[KnightofChrist]

Where is the support for this in tradition of the Church under the chair of Peter?

[TeresaBenedicta]

[quote name='KnightofChrist' post='1629984' date='Aug 17 2008, 07:09 PM']Where is the support for this in tradition of the Church under the chair of Peter?[/quote]

My understanding is that there is no tradition of using 'Yahweh' and that it sprung up around the '60s, without any good basis. Thus the removal of its use now.

[mortify]

Another step in the right direction.

[FiliaMariae]

I'm actually excited about this decision...geee I love this Pope!

[Madame Vengier]

This has been gone over.

The decision is a good one. I love it a: B/c it will tick off the liberals who think they are above tradition, and b: It reminds us of our original Judaic roots. Yeah, that's the JUDEO part in Judeo-Christian.

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='Archaeology cat' post='1629814' date='Aug 17 2008, 01:52 PM']It's been discussed a bit in [url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index.php?showtopic=83632"]this thread[/url].

I personally agree with this decision, though.[/quote]
Yes, but this new thread gives me the opportunity to say agaiin: PRAISE THE LORD!

[jeffpugh]

Verbum, Apo.

Anywho, I gotta say Alleluia, cause this is pretty good, and Like what was mentioned, it's continuing the Judeo tradition of the sacredness of God's name, which was spoken once a year in the tabernacle. It's quite special, so it should still be given that respect.

Btw, good to see you back there, camster.

Edited August 18, 2008 by Sacred Music Man

[Socrates]

THE LORD be praised for this wise decision!

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='Cam42' post='1629806' date='Aug 17 2008, 01:37 PM']It has to do with the idea that it is the Name of God the Father.[/quote]

The Tetragrammaton is the Name of all three Persons, not just the Name of God the Father.

After all, Christ did say "Before Abraham was, I AM."

[qfnol31]

Or I AM on the water earlier in that same Gospel.

"Adonai I know You are near."

Adonai has a much better ring to it.

[iggyjoan]

I like that "You Are Near" song.

[Cam42]

[quote name='Sacred Music Man' post='1630128' date='Aug 17 2008, 07:44 PM']Verbum, Apo.

Anywho, I gotta say Alleluia, cause this is pretty good, and Like what was mentioned, it's continuing the Judeo tradition of the sacredness of God's name, which was spoken once a year in the tabernacle. It's quite special, so it should still be given that respect.

Btw, good to see you back there, camster.[/quote]

It is good to be back!!!! And I agree, this is a great move by the Holy Father.

And I am still getting caught up, sorry, I didn't realize this had been gone over.

[Winchester]

Dude...where's my Yahweh?

[StColette]

Yahweh is a horrible translation from the Hebrew and so is Jehovah! I'm very pleased to see this! When I was studying Biblical Hebrew we were never allowed to say Yahweh. It was completely forbidden in the class.

[geetarplayer]

It is definitely a move towards greater unity with our Judaic roots. I remember speaking with a rabbi about worship, and he said something to the effect of, "We never say the name of the Almighty, but it seems you Catholics just don't have a problem with singing it."

[Archaeology cat]

[quote name='StColette' post='1630563' date='Aug 18 2008, 06:31 PM']Yahweh is a horrible translation from the Hebrew and so is Jehovah! I'm very pleased to see this! When I was studying Biblical Hebrew we were never allowed to say Yahweh. It was completely forbidden in the class.[/quote]
Same here. There were a couple of Jews in the class who would have been greatly offended had anyone pronounced YHVH as anything other than 'Adonai. Actually, that happened, when another person did say Yahweh - didn't go over well.