THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA A Model for Integrating Rubrical Gestures While Praying the Eucharistic Prayer in Sign Language A TREATISE Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Ministry © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Thomas S. Margevičius Washington, D.C. 2015 A Model for Integrating Rubrical Gestures While Praying the Eucharistic Prayer in Sign Language Thomas S. Margevičius, D.Min. Director: Margaret Mary Schreiber, OP, D.Min, STD In 1966 Pope Paul VI gave formal approval for priests to use sign language while celebrating Mass with Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Catholics. Since then, countless priests have been signing the Mass in numerous sign languages around the world. Many prayers in the Roman Missal also contain rubrics that require the priest to perform manual gestures while pronouncing words (e.g., extending hands over the paten and chalice during the epiclesis). Whichever version of sign language he uses, the priest will encounter a difficulty: no Church document has instructed how he should simultaneously both perform the gestures, and sign the words. This project proposes a model for integrating rubrical gestures while praying the Eucharistic Prayer in sign language. Eucharistic Prayer II is chosen as the base text, focusing especially on its rubrics. American Sign Language (ASL) is the language used. Deciding what a signing priest should do requires familiarity with both the meaning of the Prayer’s gestures, and with Deaf culture, especially the importance of ASL for Deaf Catholics. A signing priest has several options: he could perform the gesture and relegate signing to another (e.g., an interpreter); he could sign the words and relegate the gesture to another (e.g., a deacon); he could sign the words and omit the gesture; he could sign some of the words, stop to insert the gesture, then continue signing the words; he could sign all the words of a particular section, then perform the gesture; and he could modify both the gesture and the signing, doing each one-handed. Each of these options is considered every time a gesture-vs.-sign conflict is encountered in Eucharistic Prayer II. Based upon the relative importance of the gesture and knowledge of ASL grammar, recommendations are made for solving each conflict. These solutions are presented to both Deaf and hearing persons involved in Deaf Catholic ministry around the country and a survey collects their impressions. Their responses are studied and used to evaluate this project’s success. The project finally identifies additional issues meriting further study regarding liturgical inculturation and pastoral care with Deaf Catholics so they can participate in liturgy more fully, consciously, and actively. This treatise by Thomas S. Margevičius fulfills the treatise requirement for the doctoral degree in Ministry approved by Margaret Mary Schreiber, OP, D.Min, STD, as Director, and by Raymond Studzinski, O.S.B., Ph.D. as Reader. ___________________________________________ Margaret Mary Schreiber, OP, D.Min, STD, Director ___________________________________________ Raymond Studzinski, O.S.B., Ph.D., Reader ii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ i Signature Page ................................................................................................................................ ii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ vi Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Why This Topic ........................................................................................................................... 1 The Author’s Background ........................................................................................................... 8 The Liturgical Background ........................................................................................................... 12 Liturgical Participation: Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi ................................................. 12 Liturgical Change and Vatican II .............................................................................................. 14 Sign Language as a Liturgical Adaptation ................................................................................ 21 Gestures as Well as Language Reflect Cultural Change ........................................................... 25 Liturgical Inculturation ............................................................................................................. 26 Liturgical Prayer is Embodied................................................................................................... 30 Gestures in the Eucharist after Vatican II ................................................................................. 33 Constitutive Parts of a Eucharistic Prayer ................................................................................. 35 Standing, the Original Posture of the Eucharistic Prayer .......................................................... 37 Origins of Eucharistic Prayer II ................................................................................................ 39 Gestures of Eucharistic Prayer II .............................................................................................. 41 A Note on Typeface Usage for ASL ..................................................................................... 45 1. Extending his hands when saying “The Lord be with you.” ............................................. 45 2. Raising his hands when saying, “Lift up your hearts”...................................................... 47 3. Assuming the orans posture ............................................................................................... 48 4. Joining the hands ............................................................................................................... 50 5. Extending hands in an epiclesis ......................................................................................... 51 6. Tracing the Sign of the Cross over the gifts ...................................................................... 53 7. Picking up the bread (and later, chalice) and holding it slightly above the altar ............. 55 8. Showing the consecrated bread (and chalice) to the assembly ......................................... 57 9. Placing the bread (and chalice) back on the corporal ...................................................... 61 10. Lifting the paten (and chalice) high during the doxology ............................................... 61 iii Chapter Summary ...................................................................................................................... 64 The Deaf Background ................................................................................................................... 66 Culture, Sign Language, and Gesture in Signed Communication ............................................ 66 What it Means to Be Deaf ......................................................................................................... 67 Characteristics of Deaf Culture ................................................................................................. 70 1. Shared history. ................................................................................................................... 71 2. Deaf clubs. ......................................................................................................................... 72 3. Political organizations. ..................................................................................................... 72 4. Religious affiliations. ......................................................................................................... 73 American Sign Language .......................................................................................................... 74 The Use of Non-Lexical Gestures in Deaf Communication ..................................................... 78 Proposed Solutions........................................................................................................................ 83 Others’ Attempts at a Solution .................................................................................................. 83 The Eucharistic Prayer for the Deaf in England and Wales ................................................. 83 The German Gottesdienst mit Gehörlosen ............................................................................ 86 An (unapproved) American Sacramentary of the Deaf ......................................................... 87 Multiple Ways to Solve the Conflict ......................................................................................... 91 Proposed Solutions for Each Gesture ........................................................................................ 92 1. The Orans. ......................................................................................................................... 92 2. Joining the