QUAERITUR: Should I write to the bishop about urging priests to hear confessions?

Posted on 27 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

Would it be appropriate to write a bishop asking if diocesan priests
under his leadership be encouraged to hear confessions more regularly? Most parishes seem to only have confessions on Saturday afternoons. I know our priests are busy, but I read your entries asking priests to beef up their confession schedule, and I know I’m not the only one who would appreciate more opportunities. How does one go about making this a reality? Should we go straight to the top, as it were?

Sure, you can always write to the local bishop to express your concerns or aspirations.  I encourage you to take a look at my tips for writing to ecclesiastical authorities.

However, don’t forget to ask the parish priest, the pastor of your parish, to hear confessions more often.  Keep in mind that he might be up to his eyeballs already in administrative tasks and other busy work which relentlessly drain his energy and time.

And if you are really interested in helping to promote more opportunities for confession, then you have to get involved all the way.  In for a penny, in for a pound.

You also have to help promote vocations to the priesthood.

Get involved with the local Serra Club or other organization which supports seminarians and promotes vocations to the priesthood.  I don’t mean promotion of some vague program for “vocations”, whereby every possible Christian walk of life is being praised.  Work to promote vocations to the priesthood.

Priests hear confessions, not deacons, not women religious, not married people. Priests.

If we want more priests to hear more confessions, we need more priests.

That is the concern of every Catholic.

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27 Dec: Today we bless WINE! HUZZAH!

Posted on 27 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The liturgical year guided and nourish and shaped Catholics for centuries.  It does so far less now.  But once, people not only followed the turning of the earth and the wheeling of the stars and the rising and setting of the sun and moon with serious attention for the sake of planting and harvesting – a life and death matter – but they also marked the passage of time with sacramentals and blessings and other customs.

Today is the Feast of St. John the Evangelist and Apostle.  In the older, traditional Rituale Romanum, which priests of the Latin Church may use, there is a blessing today for wine.

Let’s have a look at the texts, which I found in a handy form on the site of the Canons of St. John Cantius in Chicago.

There is a story that an attempt was made to poison St. John.  He was protected, however, and his enemies thwarted when the poison extracted itself from the wine and crawled out of the chalice in the form of a snake.

I have had some wine I would like to be able to do that to, just to get the attention of a careless waiter or wine steward.  But I digress.

BLESSING OF WINE

on the Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

At the end of the principal Mass on the feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, after the last Gospel, the priest, retaining all vestments except the maniple, blesses wine brought by the people. This is done in memory and in honor of St. John, who drank without any ill effects the poisoned wine offered to him by his enemies.

P: Our help is in the name of the Lord.

All: Who made heaven and earth.

P: The Lord be with you.

All: May He also be with you.

If it please you, Lord God, bless  + and consecrate +  this vessel of wine (or any other beverage) by the power of your right hand; and grant that, through the merits of St. John, apostle and evangelist, all your faithful who drink of it may find it a help and a protection. As the blessed John drank the poisoned potion without any ill effects, so may all who today drink the blessed wine in his honor be delivered from poisoning and similar harmful things. And as they offer themselves body and soul to you, may they obtain pardon of all their sins; through Christ our Lord.

Lord, bless + this creature drink, so that it may be a health- giving medicine to all who use it; and grant by your grace that all who taste of it may enjoy bodily and spiritual health in calling on your holy name; through Christ our Lord.

May the blessing of almighty God, Father, Son, + and Holy Spirit, come on this wine (or any other beverage) and remain always.

It is sprinkled with holy water. If the blessing is given privately outside of Mass, the priest is vested in surplice and stole and performs the ceremony as given above.

4. ANOTHER FORM FOR BLESSING WINE

on the Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

At the end of Mass, after the last Gospel, the following is said:

(for this psalm see Rite for Baptism of Children)

After the psalm: Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Our Father (the rest inaudibly until:)

P: And lead us not into temptation.

All: But deliver us from evil.

P: Save your servants.

All: Who trust in you, my God.

P: Lord, send them aid from your holy place.

All: And watch over them from Sion.

P: Let the enemy have no power over them.

All: And the son of iniquity be powerless to harm them.

P: Then if they drink anything deadly.

All: It will not harm them.

P: Lord, heed my prayer.

All: And let my cry be heard by you.

P: The Lord be with you.

All: May He also be with you.

Holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, who willed that your Son, co-eternal and consubstantial [apparently “consubstantial” wasn’t tooo haaard back then!] with you, come down from heaven and in the fulness of time be made flesh for a time of the blessed Virgin Mary, in order to seek the lost and wayward sheep and carry it on His shoulders to the sheepfold, and to heal the man fallen among robbers of his wounds by pouring in oil and wine; may you bless + and sanctify + this wine which you have vintaged for man’s drink. Let all who taste or drink of it on this holy feastday have health of body and soul; by your grace let it be a solace to the man who is on a journey and bring him safely to his destination; through Christ our Lord.

Lord Jesus Christ, who spoke of yourself as the true vine and the apostles as the branches, and who willed to plant a chosen vineyard of all who love you, bless + this wine and empower it with your blessing; so that all who taste or drink of it may, through the intercession of your beloved disciple John, apostle and evangelist, be spared every deadly and poisonous affliction and enjoy bodily and spiritual well-being. We ask this of you who live and reign forever and ever.

God, who in creating the world brought forth for mankind bread as food and wine as drink, bread to nourish the body and wine to cheer the heart; who conferred on blessed John, your beloved disciple, such great favor that not only did he himself escape the poisoned potion, but could restore life by your power to others who were dead from poison; grant to all who drink this wine spiritual gladness and everlasting life; through Christ our Lord.

It is sprinkled with holy water.

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St. Jerome on St. John the Evangelist

Posted on 27 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From Matins for today’s feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, from the Breviarium Romanum:

V. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. May the Spirit’s fire Divine in our hearts enkindled shine. Amen.

Reading 6
From the Commentary upon the Epistle to the Galatians, by the same author [St. Jerome]
iii. 6.

The Blessed Evangelist John lived at Ephesus down to an extreme old age, and, at length, when he was with difficulty carried to the Church, and was not able to exhort the congregation at length, he was used simply to say at each meeting, My little children, love one another. At last the disciples and brethren were weary with hearing these words continually, and asked him, Master, wherefore ever sayest thou this only? Whereto he replied to them, worthy of John, It is the commandment of the Lord, and if this only be done, it is enough.
V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to God.

R. In the midst of the congregation did the Lord open his mouth.
* And filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding.
V. He made him rich with joy and gladness.
R. And filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding.
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.
R. And filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding.

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QUAERITUR: Blessings at Communion… again.

Posted on 27 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

In the OF some Priest’s will bless those who present themselves in the
Communion line with their arms crossed. (Although I am doubtful to the legality of this) So can a Priest who is celebrating the EF bless those who present themselves with their arms crossed?

If it shouldn’t be done in the Ordinary Form, because it is out of place at Communion time to give blessings, why would it be okay to do it during the Extraordinary Form?

No, this should not be done in the Extraordinary Form either.  But keep reading.

I encourage you to use the links I post in answers to the same questions about blessings at Communion time.  Here is a handy link to an article about blessings at Communion time.  That article directly addresses the issue of EMHCs and blessings, but it also covers the issue of whether or not blessings should be given at all.  It provides an answer from the Congregation for Divine Worship in Rome that, no, blessings should not be given at all at that point during Mass.  Communion time is for communion.  There is a blessing at the end of Mass.

This is not one of those hills I think priests should get ready to die on.  There are a lot of things we have to clean up in our liturgical worship that are more pressing.  However, just because there are other and more serious abuses that trouble our worship (e.g., the improper employment of EMHCs), that doesn’t mean that we can just let this slide.  We should start working against this practice slowly but surely.





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More points about the new, corrected translation and update on matters like the Liturgy of the Hours

Posted on 27 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Some useful items from the newletter f the USCCB’s Committee on Divine Worship.   They deal with some points about the use of the new corrected translation. Sorry about the format.

In response to many questions from the body of Bishops both during and after the November 2011 USCCB plenary meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond, Committee Chairman, wrote to the Bishops on November 30, 2011 to provide some information and clarification on the use of the Roman Missal, Third Edition and its impact on the celebration of other liturgical rites.
While a more formal communication is expected in the near future from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDWDS), the Committee on Divine Worship offers these observations to guide Bishops, pastors, and priest celebrants in the integration of the Roman Missal.

Adaptations to be Made

In conversation with the CDWDS, the Committee understands that the following adaptations are to be made to other liturgical rites in light of the Roman Missal:

? Every occurrence of “And with your spirit,” including, for example, the dialogue between the confirmand and the bishop in the Rite of Confirmation
? The Confiteor
? The prayer of the priest and the assembly at the invitation to Holy Communion (“Behold the Lamb of God” and “Lord, I am not worthy”)
? The dismissal at other rites
? The prayers of the deacon/priest in preparation to proclaim the Gospel

Suggested Adaptations

The Committee suggests that the following adaptations can be made to other liturgical rites in light of the Roman Missal, though these do not constitute obligations:

? The Blessing of Water and the renewal of Baptismal Promises at the celebration of Baptism can be taken from the Roman Missal.
? The Nuptial Blessing at the celebration of Marriage outside Mass can be taken from the Roman Missal. (Note that the Latin texts of the Nuptial Blessings have been modified, so the texts of the Nuptial Blessings in the Roman Missal are not merely re–translations.)
? In the Funeral Liturgy outside Mass, one can make use of the various collects found in the collection of Masses of the Dead
? In the Liturgy of the Hours (individually or communally), one can make use of the proper collects from the Roman Missal

Other Developments in Liturgical Rituals

Permission has been granted to republish Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest, substituting texts from the Missal where needed; no new recognitio is required. Until this text is available, the above–mentioned texts should be modified in light of the Missal. Note that the dialogue “The Lord be with you / And with your spirit” is only used by a priest or deacon, but not when a lay minister leads such a celebration.

A supplement containing the Eucharistic Prayers for Masses with Children, modified to maintain consistency with the Roman Missal, is now available for purchase through USCCB Communications. There is no official word on the status of the revised Lectionary for Masses with Children, which was approved by the body of Bishops in 2006.

The Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary will soon be republished, substituting Missal texts where appropriate and adapting others (though there is no new translation of texts not in the Missal).

Resources for the blind or sight–impaired regarding the Roman Missal are available through the National Catholic Partnership on Disability (NCPD); their website is www.NCPD.org/romanmissal. Large–print (up to 44–point type) Missals for priests are available through the NCPD, and the Xavier Society for the Blind provides large print and Braille participation aids as well as a Braille Missal (for priests).

The Committee on Divine Worship is currently exploring options for some form of updated publication of the Liturgy of the Hours.
The Spanish translation of the Mass for Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life (to be used on the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children on January 22) has received the recognitio and is printed on page 45 of this issue of the Newsletter. It will also be distributed soon to diocesan worship offices and other parties.

An interim Roman Pontifical is currently in the final stages of preparation for publication. This ritual book will include the Rite of Confirmation, the Rites of Ordination (including the Admission to Candidacy and the Institution of Readers and Acolytes), the Rites for Blessing an Abbot or Abbess, the Consecration of Virgins, and the Rite for the Blessing of the Oils and Consecrating the Chrism. All of these will be the currently-approved editions, while incorporating updated orations and prefaces from the Roman Missal. The Rite for the Blessing of the Oils and Consecrating the Chrism will be the existing translation that was included in the old Sacramentary. The Pontifical will be available in time for use in Holy Week 2012.
USCCB Approves Proper Calendar Additions of Bl. Marianne Cope and Bl. John Paul II

Two liturgy action items were approved by the body of Bishops during the USCCB plenary meeting in Baltimore, Maryland on November 14-16, 2011. The Bishops approved the inscription of Blessed Marianne Cope and Blessed John Paul II into the Proper Calendar for the Dioceses of the United States of America.
The inscription of Bl. Marianne Cope was approved by a vote of 216-2 with two abstentions. Although she died on August 9, 1918, her liturgical memorial is currently celebrated on January 23, the date of her birth in 1838. This discrepancy will be addressed by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments if and when her Optional Memorial is confirmed for the United States. In addition, while Latin and English editions of her liturgical texts were previously confirmed by the Holy See following her beatification in 2005, a Spanish translation had to be prepared for use in the United States. Those texts were approved, 215-1 with three abstentions. Bl. John Paul II’s inscription on the U.S. calendar for October 22 was approved by a vote of 216-3 with one abstention; his liturgical texts in a variety of languages were provided by the Holy See shortly before his beatification on May 1, 2011. These action items will be sent to the Congregation for the recognitio.

A third action item, the Rite for Blessing the Oil of Catechumens and the Oil of the Sick, and for Consecrating the Chrism, was withdrawn from the plenary meeting agenda; more information is provided in the meeting report of the Committee on Divine Worship on the next page of this issue.

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QUAERITUR: “openly gay EMHC, an ex-priest”

Posted on 26 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

I come from a mid-sized parish with at least 10 EMHCs every Sunday, which just seems like way too much. I’ve also noticed that they give blessings, with the laying on of hands and everything, to catechumens, non-Catholics, etc. I’m a catechumen myself and obviously not an expert, but this seems wrong – maybe even invalidating the blessing?

We also have at least one openly gay EMHC, an ex-priest at that.
Should he be serving the Eucharist at all? Who should I contact about these issues?

Wow.

Three issues here.

First, are that many EMHC’s really necessary?

On this point, though I don’t know the situation on the ground there in the parish (e.g. numbers of communicants, the age and physical condition of the priest, the availability of deacons, etc.) I can’t say too much. However, even if there really isn’t a need for lay distributors, the concept of active participation and the distinction of roles of clerics and lay people is now so screwed up in some places that you might as well shout your concerns into the knothole of a tree for all the good it will do. Raise the issue and you will be told that this is the “right” of the “baptized”, blah blah blah. So, you’ll have to shrug that off for now.

Second, can EMHCs give blessings?

NO. I direct your attention to this entry HERE. That should answer your questions. As a catechumen this will be great catechesis for you.

If EMHCs are doing this at that parish, you could address your question to the parish priest or to the local bishop.  However, again, people are so muddle-headed about blessings and the difference of clerical and lay roles, you might receive silence and the 1000 yard stare.

Third, “openly gay EMHC, an ex-priest”!

Grrr. No. This isn’t to be happening.

This is a more serious problem.  It is also something you have to be sure about before doing anything.

Perhaps a direct question to the parish priest could serve you well in this situation.  “Is Sempronius, the EMHC, a priest who left active ministry?”  If yes, “How does that square with Redemptionis Sacramentum 168?”

In the document from the Congregation for Divine Worship called Redemptionis Sacramentum we read:

4. Those Who Have Left the Clerical State

[168.] “A cleric who loses the clerical state in accordance with the law . . . is prohibited from exercising the power of order”. It is therefore not licit for him to celebrate the sacraments under any pretext whatsoever save in the exceptional case set forth by law, nor is it licit for Christ’s faithful to have recourse to him for the celebration, since there is no reason which would permit this according to canon 1335. Moreover, these men should neither give the homily nor ever undertake any office or duty in the celebration of the sacred Liturgy, lest confusion arise among Christ’s faithful and the truth be obscured.

If it is true that an ex-priest is acting as a EMHC, you could bring the matter to the attention of the local bishop with a copy of the letter to the Congregation for Divine Worship, which issued the document Redemptionis Sacramentum.

However, you would need, first, to be RIGHT, namely, know correctly that he is an ex-priest (a priest not in active ministry for one reason or another).  Then you would have to demonstrated that he actually does what you say he does, namely, that he serves as an EMHC.  Perhaps a parish bulletin would have a list of EMHCs for a Sunday.  Perhaps there would be a photo.  Perhaps there would be some other people who would affirm that this is going on.  Perhaps the pastor of the parish would defend the activity of the man in question in writing.

In any event, it could be useful to make sure you have FACTS and not just be guessing.

Reason #60382 for Summorum Pontificum.

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The Feeder Feed: Met “Hoopoe” Edition

Posted on 26 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In the new Near East section at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you are able to view “The Concourse of the Birds”, which is on a folio of the Mantiq al-Tair (Language of the Birds) of ‘Attar, painted in about 1600 in Iran.

Hoopoe

The glorious Hoopoe has a gathering of birds to whom he is telling stories.

They are about to go on a long and dangerous journey.

Hoopoe

I should very much like to see a Hoopoe someday.

Come to think of it, I believe I have encountered a Hoopoe or two.  They are sometimes encountered in large cities in the form of officious prating coxcombs in clerical garb.

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WDTPRS POLL: Genuflecting during the Creed on Christmas.

Posted on 26 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, when the Creed is said or sung, all present bend the knee or kneel at the words “et incarnatus est“.  In the Ordinary Form this practice was reduced only to two days of the year, Christmas and Annunciation.

In my opinion, the practice of genuflecting or kneeling at this point in the Creed should be resumed for every Mass in the Ordinary Form.  Let the “gravitational pull” exert its force!  Let the mutual enrichment begin!

For Christmas, what happened where you went to Mass?

Chose your best answer and leave a comment.

For Christmas Mass, did the priest, servers, congregation knee/genuflect during the Creed at the words "and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate"?

View Results

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WDTPRS POLL: How did you fulfill your Christmas/Sunday Mass obligation? (With a short rant about Hell.)

Posted on 26 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Catholics are obliged to attend Holy Mass on Sundays and also certain other “days of precept”, also called Holy Days of Obligation. We fulfill our obligation by attending Mass (or Divine Liturgy of course) on the day itself or on the evening before.

Make no mistake about this: The obligation is real.

If you don’t go to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, you commit a mortal sin. Mortal sins separate us from God. If we die in this state of separation, upon our judgement we remain separated from God forever. That’s called Hell.

Blowing off your obligation to go to Mass will land you in hell. Even if you know you can’t go to Communion for some reason, you still have to fulfill your obligation to attend Mass. Are you in the state of mortal sin? You still have to go to Mass, even if you can’t receive Communion. If you think it doesn’t matter if you commit more mortal sins when you have already destroyed the state of grace in your soul, you are very much mistaken. Sin compounding sin hardens the heart and blinds us to the admission of our true state, thus placing ourselves in grave danger of lasting impenitence.

Think about that, while enjoying a nice hot cup of Mystic Monk Coffee or Tea.  And remember that no matter how hot the beverage is, it is hotter in hell and the Wyoming Carmelites don’t ship there.

This year Christmas coincided with a Sunday, so there was no great extra effort required to fulfill the Christmas precept. But I am curious as to how people chose to go to Mass. Did people “get it out of the way” on Saturday so as to leave Sunday/Christmas “free”? Did you go to Midnight Mass? Did anyone go to Midnight and then another Mass during the day?

No combox on this entry.

But let me add that if you didn’t fulfill your obligation – and should could have – go to confession and confess it along with all other mortal sins in both kind and number.

Which Mass did you, a Catholic, attend to fulfill your obligation?

View Results

UPDATE:

From a reader, comes this:

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QUAERITUR: Priest returns to his ad libs during Mass.

Posted on 26 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

After almost four weeks of doing his best to “say the black and do the
red,” our pastor has started to revert to ad libbing at Mass.

At our Christmas Masses, he began by welcoming the congregation before
the Penitential Rite. When using the Roman Canon, he went “off script”
at the parts that commemorate the living and the dead. He also
continues to ad lib the final blessing and dismissal, to say nothing
of the endless and inane General Intercessions he composes impromptu,
which becomes an endless rambling.

Because of my position, leaving the parish is not an option;
respectfully bringing this to the priest would only make matters worse
and result in total war. Writing the bishop would be futile, as our
bishop doesn’t even say “The Lord be with you” correctly. Is there
anything I can do?

You knew it would happen. The priests who ad libbed before the new translation was implemented, would ad lib again after they got comfortable again. That sort of priest needs some correction.

I think there isn’t much you can do about “inane intercessions”. There is a lot flexibility to those intercessions, alas. There is also no law against being scatter-brained or dopey.

However, if the priest is ad libbing parts of the Mass which require specific texts, and you do not think you can obtain any reasonable satisfaction from the priest or the local bishop, you have the right to express your concerns directly to the Congregation for Divine Worship in Rome.

In case you do this, you will need to document precisely what he does. They cannot act on a mere general and hazy complaint. Also, a one time liturgical aberration isn’t going to get much attention, unless it affects validity of the sacraments (which gets the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith involved).

You might review my tips for writing about these matters.

Keep this in mind, however. If you are going to do something about this, put your name to what you write. Don’t do this anonymously. Sign what you send. If you are not willing to sign what you send, then you should just bear it in silence.

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