Q: Thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise with us, it is truly a blessing. We have a new pastor who instructed all 7 of the parishes under him to provide an ablution bowl next to the tabernacles. My understanding of the use of ablution bowls is everything that touches the Body of Christ must be purified afterwards and this includes the hands of the priest. If lay Extraordinary Eucharistic ministers assist with the distribution of the Body of Christ do they also purify their hands afterwards? == A: You’re welcome. All of us priests have certain preferences with …
Prayers after the Tantum Ergo
Q: Thank you for your continued wisdom and knowledge. I have a question regarding the prayers after the Tantum Ergo. We do a simple adoration in union with our Vespers on Sunday Night, as there is not always clergy present. We want to respect the fact that clergy is not present, but we would like to keep as much as we possibly can, is it permissible for a lay person to lead the people in the prayers “You have given them bread from heaven and the following prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, you gave the Eucharist as the memorial of your …
Children entering the Catholic Church
Q: In my parish I have two boys, ages 12 and 10. The 10 year old has never been baptized. The 12 year old has been baptized in a Baptist church. They have been learning the Catholic Faith very well. I have interviewed the 10 year old twice, and he is certainly ready on the knowledge base to enter the Church. I just interviewed the 12 year old and he is even more ready than the 10 year old to enter the Catholic Church. I do not see a need for these boys to go through any form of RCIA for …
Bishop’s permission
Q: A recent case brought to mind something I did in the past. I brought a lady into the Church, not at the Easter Vigil because COVID delayed everything for her RCIA classes. She entered the Church on a Sunday Mass. She was validly baptized in another Christian denomination, so she made a Profession of Faith with Renunciation of Sin, received Confirmation and First Holy Communion. It was done around last October. Did I need my bishop’s permission for that? I assumed I didn’t need any permission, but now I’m questioning if I needed it. If I did need the …
Blessing a Brown Scapular
Q: I was having lunch with a fellow deacon today and the discussion turned to doing blessings. He had been asked to bless a Brown Scapular. Before doing so, he looked in various sources to see if it was appropriate for a deacon to do that particular blessing. He looked in five sources and got two different answers: A deacon or priest are allowed, and the celebrant does it. Deacons tend to think of celebrants as being priests or bishops. So, can a deacon bless a Scapular? And for future reference, how should we interpret “celebrant” in this context? == …
Initiation of Adults in Exceptional Circumstances
Q: I’m about to have a lady enter the Church. She has been delayed due to COVID and waiting for her Pauline Privilege to be granted, roughly 2 plus years in the works. Now she is fully ready to enter the Church, Pauline Privilege granted and all. Looking at the RCIA book, I see two options for me to use to bring her into the Church. One is under Part I: Christian Initiation of Adults. The second is under Part II: Rites for Particular Circumstances – Christian Initiation of Adults in Exceptional Circumstances. This latter one says it requires the bishop’s permission. Also, the …
Communion in hospitals
Q: Have you been involved with any hospitals? The hospitals here are significantly strengthening their infection control procedures and we have been asked by the diocese to propose a protocol for the giving of Communion in hospitals during the time of a pandemic. (We are expecting that this is going to go on for at least another year, or more.) Because of exposure to the air in the hospital, multiple hands touching a pyx full of hosts (before making it to the patient), and multiple times of going back in the tabernacle after rounds… — in summary, multiple points of …
Initiation prior to Vatican II – Updated
Q: Regarding your post on the initiation of adults before Vatican, II (see post below), the previously baptized, after a period of private instruction with the priest would be conditionally rebaptized (most often) after a profession of faith — usually done in a private small ceremony. First Communion would be given the next time the person went to Mass. Confirmation was delayed until the Bishop would come ’round for the adolescent teen Confirmation experience.For those coming to the church unbaptized, ritually — similar. The person would be subjected to the entire ritual of infant baptism — which was simpler than …
Book of the Gospels
Q: Thank you for being a marvelous resource for all things liturgical! I have a question for you: Is there anything in the documents about the priest (or deacon) displaying the Book of the Gospels on the Ambo shelf after the homily (in front of Ambo) and does it specify if the book should be open or closed? Thanks & Blessings from California! == A: welcome. I’ve treated this in my book Let Us Pray in paragraph 353. The USCCB’s book on art and architecture, Built of Living Stones, says in footnote 84 that it has become customary to provide a place to …
Incensation
Q: A practical liturgical question: When incensing the altar/gifts during the Preparation of Gifts at Mass, is it permissible to make the sign of the cross over the gifts with thurible or to do the circular swings (clockwise twice, then counter-clockwise)? I’m guessing that was done in the old rite, but didn’t know if there was a clear instruction for the manner in which the gifts are incensed. I always figured three swings of two, center, left, right, but not the circles over the gifts or the cross. I’m asking because a couple presiders in our community have seemed to …