Diocese Policy on the use of the Cup will not change...

I was looking through the 10/31 issue of the Catholic Virginian and saw the letter to the editor by Deacon Chris Moriah clarifying the diocesan policy of receiving Communion under both kinds. I was very happy to see this clarification after learning about Phoenix Bishop Olmsted's decision to limit the use of the Precious Blood.

Apparently the Bishop took another look and so the other day, I read that he had issued a new set of norms for his diocese which expanded what he had previously written. Some of this info can be found here.

What do you think?

Korean Catholic Rite?

Anonymous asks this question:

This more recent Virginian-Pilot article mentions a Korean Catholic Rite...is this a universal rite or just another example of Richmond Diocesan liturgical permissiveness?

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/01/korean-catholics-celebrate-lunar-new-year-hampton

New Diocesan Liturgist

Anonymous wrote in the comment box:

"We have a new diocesan liturgist. Does anybody know if he is on board with Benedict's reform of the reform? Or are we just going to get more of the same old folksy liturgical minimalism while our brethren in the diocese north of us get to enjoy the treasures of the Church....as we still get mostly pianos, amateur guitarists, flutists, drummers and ABSOLUTELY NO GREGORIAN CHANT! "

Current Liturgical Art and Illustrations

Katie Beaumont left this comment on a previous blog message. I thought it deserved its own article.

"A little off the topic but....I noticed that current liturgical illustrations tend to look like a bunch of distorted caricatures with oversized heads and huge hands. Does anyone know from where this hand fetish comes? Why the obsession with hands regarding current liturgical illustrations. What is the reason proponents of this caricature-like art form seem to dogmatically connect it to liturgy. It seems to be a complete rupture from traditional Catholic art pertaining to liturgy. Has traditional expressions of art been banned from current liturgical publications? It just seems a little wierd."

First Sunday of Advent 2011 - The New Roman Missal

Well, the word has come down that the use of the New Roman Missal translation will begin on that date. Whether you like it or not, we will soon have to begin to catechize our people. At least by the first of the year, 2011...

New Sacramentaries, new music, new prayerbooks, etc., etc.... A huge undertaking... And added expense for our smaller parishes...

Here's the link to the longer version of the story. Check the USCCB website.

Any comments?

The EF at the National Shrine in DC

You surely will not want to miss NCR's take on the Liturgy at the National Shrine! Along with loads of comments that will raise the hackles of both traditionalists and progressives! Here it is:

DC liturgy: cappa magna, glorious music, Latin glitches

The analysis is by Jerry Filteau.

The Reform of the Reform - OR...

Katie Beaumont suggested discussion of this article from Catholic News Service, Papal liturgist endorses 'reform of the reform' of the liturgy (CNS, Jan. 7, 2010).


Please go to the link and read the CNS article taken from an interview with Msgr. Guido Marini, billed as "the pope's chief liturgist." I am not allowed to copy the article to this blog; though I would have liked to place the entire article here for you to read.

What say you? I expect to see many nods of approval. I can also hear sighs and groans from many of us who feel that Pope Benedict's "reform of the reform" is not necessarily heading in the right direction.


As always, I ask that you keep your comments civil. Did I really need to say that? Probably not!

Two Petitions about the New Translation of the Roman Missal

Here is something for you... Are you for or against the new English translation of the Roman Missal?

Two petitions are online to give you an opportunity to express your opinion.

There is a website petition that seeks a review of the new translation. It is called:

"What If We Just Said Wait"

In response to this petition, a new website was set up this morning for those who believe the translation should be enacted as soon as possible.

"We've Waited Long Enough"


You can't say I am not giving equal time to both sides of this question!

Questions for Dialogue

Bumping these questions back to the top again!

Tabernacle Questions


1. What is the proper role and placement of the Tabernacle in the Sanctuary?

2. How do you address the perception that one of the reasons for the removal of the Tabernacle from the Sanctuary is to stop private devotions? Or to rephrase the question, could communal prayers supplant private prayers?

3. A perception exists that the physical layout of the sanctuary space is sometimes manipulated, to make the placement of the Tabernacle difficult, and also to discourage private prayers and kneeling. How would you address this concern?

4. Will the diocese of Richmond ever promote tabernacle tolerance throughout the diocese to change the present situation of tabernacle intolerance?

5. Do diocesan officials realize some of the faithful feel as if they are being segregated if they wish to pray in the presence of the Real Presence in the Tabernacle before Sunday Mass?



Questions About Christian Education


1. Catechises in our Diocese, for the most part, uses products of two publishing corporations: RCL Benziger and William H. Sadlier, Inc. In the past, the Baltimore Catechism was used throughout the U.S. to teach the Faith to the Catholic youth.

However, even a cursory review of the currently used catechetical products shows that they differ markedly in emphasis, style, and even in content, from the Baltimore Catechism.

Why was the use of the Baltimore Catechism discontinued in our Diocese, and replaced by a relationship with these two companies?

2. In addition to attending Pathways, what other means does the diocese use to confirm that the volunteer-catechists are well-informed Catholics?

3. Is there any kind of assessment they take to make sure they have a solid foundation of knowledge on the teachings of the Church?

4. How does the diocese decide on which items of Church Teachings to place emphasis? For example, how are the Teachings on Purgatory, Indulgences, Morality (i.e. artificial contraception) and other problematic Teachings addressed?

5. Are the Church's Teachings addressed consistently across the diocese from parish to parish? Or does the culture of the parish dictate which Teachings will be emphasized or taught?



Questions About the Liturgy


1. What is the Church teaching on the proper attitude (how to conduct oneself) while in the sanctuary before Mass?

2. What is the status of the motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum" in our Diocese?

3. How would you like to see the Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest (SCAP) implemented in our Diocese?

4. Why does our Office of Worship not follow the universal GIRM and its US adaptation which specify that the deacon should kneel for the consecration of the Host and Chalice whenever deacons assist at Mass?

5. Why does the Office of Worship discourage the option (given by the US Bishops to pastors) of using a crucifix during the Good Friday adoration of the cross ?

6. Is Communion in the hand the universal norm or are first communicants instructed that they are still allowed to receive on the tongue?

7. There were numerous and complicated questions about kneeling and genuflections and the absence of kneelers in the church; and whether students can be forbidden to genuflect. Please check the comments here.



General Questions about the Diocese


1. What do you think are the main strengths and challenges of this Diocese?

2. What do you think are possible solutions to the worsening priest shortage in our Diocese?



~ I don't think it wise to add any more questions for the time being; but you can continue to post them as comments in the previous article and I will save them. I hope I was able to cover most of the questions you wanted to ask. s.m. ~

Cross or Crucifix on Good Friday? ~ by Catherine Combier-Donovan

Catherine Combier-Donovan, Director
Office of Worship, Catholic Diocese of Richmond


Cross or Crucifix on Good Friday?


Built of Living Stones[1] states that on Good Friday the assembly may venerate the cross or crucifix. The GIRM[2] and the Roman Missal, however, consistently refer to the “cross” and not “crucifix” as the object of veneration. The GIRM, as we know, does not mince words when it means to be specific. The Book of Blessings specifies a corpus when erecting a cross in a church. Here too, the new GIRM is specific about there being a cross with a corpus in a church. This is different from the ritual of the Veneration of the Cross on Good Friday.

Perhaps the best way to understand why the cross is preferable to the crucifix on Good Friday is to understand the history of this devotion.

On Good Friday, it has always been the wood of the cross that we venerate. “Behold the wood of the cross, on which hung our salvation.” This has been a tradition in the church since at least the end of the 4th century, when the Spanish pilgrim Egeria wrote about celebrating Good Friday at Golgotha. She spent Holy Week in Jerusalem not too long after St. Helena's discoveries of the true cross. The cult of the cross flourished and relics of the true cross were being disseminated and venerated. Pilgrimages to sacred sites multiplied and Egeria recorded in her journals detailed descriptions of the celebration of the Adoration of the True Cross at Golgotha. Good Friday celebrations included the Adoration of the Cross in those places where fragments of the True Cross were kept, in Antioch for example, and soon spread beyond the holy places.


“Then a chair is placed for the bishop in Golgotha behind the Cross, which is now standing; the bishop duly takes his seat in the chair, and a table covered with a linen cloth is placed before him; the deacons stand round the table, and a silver-gilt casket is brought in which is the holy wood of the Cross. The casket is opened and (the wood) is taken out, and both the wood of the Cross and the title are placed upon the table.

Now, when it has been put upon the table, the bishop, as he sits, holds the extremities of the sacred wood firmly in his hands, while the deacons who stand around guard it. It is guarded thus because the custom is that the people, both faithful and catechumens, come one by one and, bowing down at the table, kiss the sacred wood and pass through. And because, I know not when, some one is said to have bitten off and stolen a portion of the sacred wood, it is thus guarded by the deacons who stand around, lest any one approaching should venture to do so again.

And as all the people pass by one by one, all bowing themselves, they touch the Cross and the title, first with their foreheads and then with their eyes; then they kiss the Cross and pass through.” [3]


Note that in the descriptions of the Veneration of the Cross, it is the relic of the True Cross that is the object of veneration, not a crucifix. Listen closely to the language of the prayer texts used on Good Friday.

At a USCCB national meeting a few years ago, a bishop attempted to bring a vote to the floor specifying that it should be a crucifix that is venerated on Good Friday. It was promptly voted down after several of his colleagues reminded him of the venerable history and meaning of this tradition. Nevertheless, the option to use a crucifix remains. The devotion to Christ crucified appears in art in the post-medieval period. Literary evidence of the crucifix replacing the cross as object of adoration appears only in 1364.[4]

We celebrate the Lord’s Passion with the Resurrection in mind. Veneration of the bare cross takes us from the tree to the instrument of the death of Jesus to the bare cross from which Christ is free – a powerful multivalent symbol.


[1] USCCB. Built of Living Stones: Art, Architecture and Worship. 2000, 83
[2] USCCB. General Instruction of the Roman Missal. 2002
[3] English translation of Louis Duchesne's Christian Worship (London, 1923)
[4] Patrick Regan, “Veneration of the Cross,” Worship 52 (January 1978), 8.

A response to a question is on its way!

I am sure you will be pleased to hear that I received an article today from Ms Catherine Combier-Donovan, Director of the Office of Worship of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. Ms Combier-Donovan wrote in part:

"...I ask patience of your readers for I take time to carefully craft each one since it seems that what I write is often scrutinized to the nth degree. I also want to be sure that my responses are both orthodox and pastoral. Because I’m a liturgical historian as well as a pastoral liturgist, you’ll find that I will reflect on the past to help us understand the present. All of this to say you will not receive too many brief answers, unless it is to direct people to answers already on the Worship website or elsewhere."

The article is titled: Cross or Crucifix on Good Friday? I will place it on the blog as soon as I can.

Feel free to comment; but obviously, in a respectful manner. A question and answer format on a blog may be something unique. If it is, it is in our best interest to make certain that it can work. Thanks to you all for your questions.

Ms Catherine Combier-Donovan: Holding Hands at the Lord's Prayer

I received the following email from Catherine Combier-Donovan, Director of the Office of Worship of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond in response to the question about hand holding during the Our Father at Youth Masses, etc.

The information was too long to go into the comment box so I am giving the email its own article.

I want to thank Ms Combier-Donovan for responding to the question so completely and thoroughly.

s.m.

*****************

Dear Blogmaster,

Thank you for sending me the question about holding hands during the Lord’s Prayer at youth Masses. Here is as official and complete an answer as I can give you.

It is often a practice in many American Catholic churches for everyone to hold hands during the Lord’s Prayer, sometimes snaking around the room to sure that no one is left out. The origins of it are not clear, though some have suggested that it may come from AA meetings or the home Masses of the late 60’s and early 70’s. It is a lovely sign of solidarity, especially meaningful for a group praying outside of Mass, but it is not a liturgical gesture envisioned in any rubrics.

Hand-holding becomes the only gesture demanded of everyone, one to which it is difficult to say, “No, thank you” without being considered unfriendly. Many people are not comfortable or do not wish to hold hands for personal or health reasons, yet they are forced to do so as their hands are grabbed without asking. Often when I speak of this gesture to church groups around the Diocese, the strong response is that this is their real sign of unity! But do we need that as a sign of unity? After holding hands we must break apart and turn to one another at the Sign of Peace, our sign of the community’s unity in Christ, which prepares us for the most unifying moment of all – namely the sharing in the Eucharist.

No particular gesture is mandated by the General Instruction of the Roman Missal for the assembly. While holding hands is not prohibited by either the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, nor the USCCB Secretariat for Divine Worship, it is described nowhere. A few years ago, the US Bishops considered ruling against it, but decided not to do so since the custom was so ingrained in many parishes. The presider, however, is directed by the rubrics to pray the Lord’s Prayer with his hands extended.

The orans, the standing posture of praying with hands open and arms raised, is the oldest prayer posture of praise in the presence of God, described both in Hebrew Scripture, in the New Testament, and by the Early Fathers of the Church (see Gen 18:22 and Mk 11:25). For centuries the Virgin Mary has been portrayed in iconography with hands extended in prayer this way (see the Virgin Orans). It was the common posture until around the 9th century, when it became perceived as the posture of the ordained. Vatican II restored it as the posture for the whole Body of Christ. It connotes vulnerability, surrender, praise and supplication, and is the universal posture seen in churches around the world.

There is a very rich tradition, both scriptural and patristic, that supports the orans, while nothing other than localized American custom supports holding hands during the Lord's Prayer. There are other ways to pray this. Therefore, while some people, families in particular, may certainly hold hands, others should be free to pray in the orans, to simply pray with their own hands clasped together, or to do nothing at all other than utter the words in fervent prayer. However you pray the Lord’s Prayer at Mass, just remember to allow each person to pray it as he or she wishes, and to impose it on no one. This goes for presiders as well…

So the final answer to “is there an official Diocesan policy about holding hands at youth liturgies?” is multifaceted. Is it an official posture? No. Is it prohibited? No. May it be done? Yes. Is it obligatory? No. And this applies to all liturgies.

A word about singing the Our Father: The Sacramentary/Roman Missal provides a chanted setting (which very few people know) for this prayer and it may certainly be sung to other settings. My preference for not singing it, as noted by John Southworth, applies only to weddings, funerals, and other liturgies where there may be non-Catholic Christians. We have this prayer in our common memory. Recite it and you welcome them. Sing it and you exclude them.


Catherine Combier-Donovan
Office of Worship
Catholic Diocese of Richmond
7800 Carousel Lane
Richmond VA 23294
804.622.5235
www.RichmondDiocese.org/Worship



From: standing maryanna [mailto:standing.maryanna@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, August 02, 2009 7:06 PM
To: Worship Office
Subject: Blog question for the Office of Worship

Hello,

I am the blogmaster of the blog titled, Richmond Voices that can be found at http://richmondvoices.blogspot.com/ One of our readers has posed a question concerning the holding of hands during the Our Father at youth Masses.

Please take time to respond to this question since it concerns the official position of the diocese.

Here is the blog article: Official Posture for the Our Father at youth liturgies

Thanks for your time...

standing maryanna

Official posture for the Our Father at youth liturgies?

Anonymous brought up a Liturgy question about the official posture for the Our Father at youth liturgies...

I am assuming that since the question has been asked, that I have permission to make a separate blog article of this question. Here is the question posed by Anonymous. I have taken the liberty to divide the one into several paragraphs for easier reading.


"...Will the Diocesan Liturgy office please give us some guidlines regarding when we are to hold hands during the liturgy and when not to hold hands. It's fine that families adopt a costum of holding hands if that's what they wish but why extend to other members of the congregation during a prayer of petition like the "Our Father"?

Having gone to many youth liturgies across the diocese, it seems that holding hands is the official posture for the Our Father at youth liturgies. If this is the case, where is this written? If this is not the case, then why is this either being encouraged, promoted or not being addressed. It seems to me that the posture should reflect the prayer and handholding is not really a posture of petition, it shows unity which to me further confuses since we should be united through the entire liturgy, not just the Our Father.

The adults need to start catechizing the youth about this when teaching them liturgy; otherwise, we just get one more manufactured practice that our diocese is so noted for doing. What is the official posture for the Our Father at youth liturgies?"


Do we have a reader from the Diocesan Office of Worship here? Actually, I will email the Office of Worship and see if someone can respond to this question. Others, of course, may wish to have some input also...

Praise and Worship Music

There is an interesting article on the New Liturgical Movement about Praise and Worship Music and its place in our Mass settings. Since this website is a proponent of traditional sacred music, the slant is for the removal of praise and worship music (a.k.a. music by Marty Haugan, etc.) from our liturgies.

However, the article and the resulting comments are interesting and so I present the article here:

http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2008/12/praise-and-worship-music-in-church.html

Moving the Sign of Peace

The Associated Press reported yesterday (November 21, 2008) that the Pope Benedict XVI is considering making a change in the Liturgy by moving the Sign of Peace from its present location just before the reception of Holy Communion to the Offertory of the Mass .

Cardinal Francis Arinze, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, interviewed by the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, announced that the Pope has asked the bishops for their opinion of this change and then will make a decision. Cardinal Arinze said the change could create a more solemn atmosphere for those preparing to receive communion.

I would certainly welcome this change in the Liturgy. I find that the Sign of Peace interrupts the prayerful moments before we receive Communion. By moving the gesture of peace to the Offertory, it could also emphasizes the need for reconciliation with each other before coming to offer our gifts.