Q: I’m not sure if this has been asked but I was wondering for the Passion Gospels on Palm Sunday and Good Friday, the Narrator part at my parish has always been proclaimed by a Deacon. Now that one of our deacon’s has retired, we only have one Deacon who only speak Spanish so our English masses never see a deacon. For the Passion Gospels coming up, can the narrator part of the gospel be proclaimed by a lector or lay minister if there is no Deacon present? There’s also the beginning part that says, “The Passion of our Lord according …

Q:  A couple getting married in another State are hoping to have a “renewal of their promises” in here later this summer, for those family and friends who couldn’t join them for their actual wedding.  They were specific that this renewal would happen in a “non-church” location. Someone suggested looking at the outline of the blessing we do for married couples, in The Order for Celebrating Matrimony, to see if this would suit their needs.  (I’m leery of simulating a sacrament if this is what they’ve envisioned)  However, now that I look at it, the text only provides a blessing …

Q:  I have a woman who just moved here with her son from Mexico. As you know, in Mexico they make their confirmation before the first communion. She has presented a letter to me from their pastor that the child is prepared to receive both sacraments. What should be done? Do I ask to confirm him with the to be baptized at the Easter Vigil? Thank you for your thoughts. A:  Probably so. You need the permission of your bishop to do this because the child was baptized Catholic as an infant. I think if you explain the case to …

Q:  On the evening of Good Friday, my parish performs a “Live Stations of the Cross.” However, instead of ending with the traditional 14th Station (Jesus lying in the tomb), we end with the Resurrection. Is this liturgically-correct, and should it be done? A:  There is no one official version of the Stations of the Cross. The fourteen stations are traditional, but even Pope John Paul II changed a few of them to make a more biblically-based series of stations. I think there’s no harm in ending with the resurrection. I understand your concern that this is Good Fridaynight, and …

Q:  Have a very quick and presumably easy question, if the Presentation of the Lord’s Prayer is outside of Mass, can a deacon lead the ritual?  As far as I can tell, there is not a provision for a deacon to preside for this celebration, but given our priest shortage etc. is it possible?  I feel like I should know the answer to this, but I am not thinking of the right document (besides the Rite itself) that leads me to the conclusion that a deacon could preside for this ritual.  Perhaps it is somewhere in the Rite and I’m …

Q:  The Vatican’s Circular Letter on Holy Week states that the monstrance cannot be used for reposition after the mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. What is the “why” it cannot be used. I’m having trouble with some colleagues saying that it’s adoration, and therefore we should use the monstrance. That’s what students are used to, and we should meet them where they are at, blah, blah, blah. Thanks! A:  The liturgical documents do not explain why, but I think the simplest answer is that the symbols pertain to mass, not to eucharistic worship outside of mass. The …

Q:  Why does the lectionary offer shorter and longer versions of the Sunday readings? This question especially has come up given the Cycle A gospels for the Third, Fourth and Fifth Sundays of Lent, which as you know, are such powerful and rich stories. By practice, we always use the longer version of a reading whenever the option is given. But I’m curious, how it came to be this way versus no option, just read what is provided.   A:  Here’s paragraph 80 from the introduction to the Lectionary for Mass. As you’ll see, at the time of the lectionary …

Q:  Is the time given in the diocesan bulletin for the beginning of the Easter Vigil correct:  8pm?  Sunset is 7:51pm.  It will still be light.  Does the church offer a definition of the time of “dark”? A:  Here’s what the Roman Missal says at #3 of its pages pertaining to the Vigil: The entire celebration of the Easter Vigil must take place during the night, so that it begins after nightfall and ends before daybreak on the Sunday. I think it’s deliberately vague to allow some flexibility. Some people prefer to interpret it as beginning when it is truly dark …

Q:  I was thinking about the sprinkling and how our sacristans have helped with the sprinkling. I know you said that the symbol of the sprinkling is the water and not the minister and that you didn’t think that there would be any damage for the sacristan to assist. I have additional considerations that I am wondering if they would continue to support your thoughts on this: At the Vigil we have the assembly process to the baptismal waters and bless themselves with the water after the renewal of the baptismal promises—the missal directs this action as a sprinkling by …

Q:  A couple questions regarding weddings… Creed or no Creed? Rubrics are confusing. Lazo… goes after the Lord’s prayer and before the Nuptial blessing?  When does it come off? Thanks a bunch! A:  Regarding the creed at weddings, it depends on which mass the priest is saying. If it is the one from the ritual masses of the missal, then no, no creed. However, if he has a wedding at a parish Sunday mass, as I did this past weekend, then the presidential prayers come from the Sunday mass, and all recite the creed because it is part of that …