Q: I have not been to LA Congress in a decade, but I have attended many of your workshops there. In one of your workshops, you mentioned the Ceremonial of Bishops, which, in Article 72, on page 37, states:
A deep bow ismade to the altar by all who enter the sanctuary (chancel), leave it, or pass before the altar.
Is this article to be enforced during regular Sunday masses, or just masses with a Bishop or some other criteria?
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A: I take CB 72 to give guidance to all Masses. That particular instruction is missing from the GIRM, so it looks as though the CB added it to clarify what was missing.
It perfectly coheres with other posture and gesture requirements in the GIRM, which forbids genuflections to the tabernacle during Mass. Here’s a previous post on that: https://paulturner.org/genuflection/.
Q: Paragraph 61 of the GIRM–are we not allowed to do slight paraphrased metrical settings of the lectionary psalms for the responsorial? How about the Gospel Acclamations? Can we use paraphrases? I interpreted the bishop, as the bishop of Portland for OCP, for example, but am told it has to be our local bishop??
If the psalm setting comes from a published collection approved for use in the Catholic liturgy in the US, you’re fine, or if your local bishop has approved a specific setting from elsewhere.
I don’t know of legislation pertaining to paraphrasing the gospel acclamation. It’s probably not a big deal, but, my goodness, if you don’t like one, there are plenty of others from which to choose.
Q: Recently, in response to a class discussion about the nature of private revelation, a parishioner asked why it is that there are feast days on the liturgical calendar for Marian apparitions like Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima, and our Lady of Guadalupe if we are not required to believe in these apparitions. He included Medjugorje in that list, but my understanding is that the Church does not include that on the liturgical calendar even if some people consider June 25th to be the Feast of Our Lady of Medjugorje.
What is the significance of the addition of these days to the liturgical calendar?
Thank you!
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A: There’s a middle category between private and public revelation, and that’s private revelation approved by the Church as worthy of belief. The apparitions on the liturgical calendar have all been approved.
Q: If incense is to be used for the gospel, when does the alleluia begin? Before the incense is prepared or after?
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A: GIRM 43 says the people stand “for the Alleluia chant before the Gospel.” And GIRM 131 says that after the silence following the second reading, “all rise, and the Alleluia or other chant is sung.”
The Order of Mass 13 says after the second reading, “There follows the Alleluia or another chant,” and OM 14 says, “Meanwhile, if incense is used, the Priest puts some in the thurible.” And the deacon asks the priest for the blessing.
So I conclude that the gospel acclamation breaks the silence after the second reading. All stand with the music or even ahead of it, but the music will more likely cue the change in posture. Then, while the chant is being sung, if incense is used, it is brought to the priest during the singing, and a deacon asks for the blessing before processing the book to the ambo.
Q: I received the new ritual for the Anointing of the Sick yesterday, so I thought I’d run a couple questions by you:
1) I see with dismay that my favorite Prayer after Anointing in the old rite, (“…When he is afraid, give him courage, when afflicted, give him patience, when dejected, afford him hope…”) has been removed from the new ritual. Would, in your opinion, the provision in no. 41 of the praenotanda (“Accordingly in the celebration the Priest should preserve the structure of the rite, adapted, nevertheless, to the circumstances of place and persons.”) allow for the old prayer’s continued use, if the priest deems it advantageous to the circumstance, or are we out of luck? If the latter, I presume that it could be used apart from the official rite, perhaps as a part of a more “spontaneous” blessing of a sick person?
2) I see in a couple of places this rubric: “If necessary, the Priest should hear the sacramental confession of the sick person, which, in case of necessity, may even be generic, if it cannot be done in another way.” What, practically speaking, is a “generic” confession? I don’t see the term used in the Order of Penance or in any of my other research sources. Could it be, for example, the recitation of the Confiteor, or something like, “Have you not shown love to God or your neighbor? Yes.” And that would suffice?
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1) That prayer appears to be one that ICEL composed. It has no number in the margin correlating it to one from the original Latin, and I don’t see a parallel in the typical edition or the revised translation. So, no, it’s not part of anointing any more. You could use it for other prayers for a sick person.
2) I comment on this in my forthcoming book, To Free, Save and Raise Up. I make this remark: “The Roman Ritual called this a ‘general confession’ (Title V, Chapter IV, 17), which probably referred to the Confiteor, recited either by the sick person or by someone on their behalf. If the dying person expresses contrition in any way, the priest offers absolution.”
Q: I visited my former parish where I was pastor, and I was surprised that the big cross at the back of the altar was removed, and replaced by a huge painting of the patron saint of the parish. It is so imposing and occupies the full back of the altar that nothing else can be focused on, if not this painting. I was told that it was done that way to raise the awareness of the parishioners about their patron saint. Is not this a distraction to concentrate on the altar?
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A: It could be a distraction, but more likely this is going to end up being a matter of taste.
GIRM 299 says, “the altar should occupy a place where it is truly the center toward which the attention of the whole congregation of the faithful naturally turns.”
GIRM 318 says that images of the saints “should be displayed for veneration by the faithful and should be so arranged so as to lead the faithful toward the mysteries of faith celebrated there. Care should, therefore, be taken that their number not be increased indiscriminately, and moreover that they be arranged in proper order so as not to draw the attention of the faithful to themselves and away from the celebration itself.”
But you could use these citations to argue against putting the Chair of Peter against the apse wall of the Vatican basilica, or the Last Judgment behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel.
Q: My main question is whether baptisms are permitted/encouraged outdoors in nature?
I’m exploring outdoor creation centred liturgies and Eucharist in particular.
Pope Saint John Paul II writes beautifully about his various experiences of celebrating Eucharist in multiple outdoor locations, including nature settings.
Any guidance and resources you can point to in regard to these matters is much appreciated.
I read your blog daily and thank God for you and your ministry.
May 2026 be graced in unexpected ways for you.
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A: The Order of Baptism of Children says, “In order that Baptism may be seen more clearly as the Sacrament of the Church’s faith and of incorporation into the People of God, it should normally be celebrated in the parish church, which ought to have a baptismal font” (10).
I suggest you ask a canon lawyer in Australia to see if accommodations for outdoor baptisms have been made as they have for outdoor weddings.
Thanks for following my blog and for your ministry. A blessed 2026 to you.
Q: Hi Paul from Down-under – and Christmas Time (Tide?) and Epiphany Time blessings (I’ve not heard of Epiphany Time but the Abbey I visit is celebrating this. Does such a season exist.?
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A: I guess you could call the days between Epiphany and Baptism of the Lord Epiphany Time. The Liturgy of the Hours, for example, has special hymns, antiphons and readings for that week.
