Q: Is it permitted to celebrate the Anointing of the Sick during a Sunday Mass in Lent, if the readings and prayers for the Lent Sunday are used? A: Yes, it is permitted on any Sunday of Lent. You are even allowed to switch one reading to one that is more fitting to the anointing. See the Rite of Pastoral Care of the Sick #134.
Signing the Book of the Elect
Q: Is it required that Catechumens – Adult or child – sign the Book of the Elect within a Liturgical Rite (i.e. of Welcoming)? Are there exceptions that are made when a Rite of Welcoming is not the practice at a parish? My thanks and congratulations on your new assignment at the Diocese! A: The RCIA does not envision the possibility of signing the Book of the Elect apart from a liturgical rite. It permits it either at the Rite of Sending (not Welcoming) or the Rite of Election. If a parish is not offering a rite of sending, …
Communion: hand or tongue
Q: I recently had a conversation with someone about communion in the hand versus communion on the tongue. The person suggested that communion in the hand is an indult in the United States. I understand that in the USA the norm is receiving communion in the hand but the communicant has the option of receiving in the hand or on the tongue. Can you please address if communion in the hand is an indult or the norm in our country and also comment on the narrative that communion on the tongue is more reverent. A: I’m not sure how best …
Funeral mass
Q: Can we celebrate a funeral on a Sunday in Lent? A: Yes, but not a funeral mass. A funeral without mass is permitted. The idea is that everyone goes to the parish Sunday mass to celebrate the Lent Sunday in its integrity. Then the mourners regather for a liturgy of the word with the funeral rites. At that celebration, you are free to choose the scripture readings from the lectionary’s section on funerals, and the presider offers the appropriate prayers. When a funeral is celebrated without mass, a mass for the repose of the soul of the deceased should …
Bishops and the Book of the Elect
Q: Our diocese just celebrated the right of election and many people complained that the bishop did not sign the book of elect. Can you explain to me why it is not proper for the bishop to sign the book of elect? A: The signatures that belong in the book are those of the catechumens being numbered among the elect. The bishop’s signature has never been a part of this ceremony, not even in early church history. However, after the implementation of the post-Vatican II RCIA, some publishers began printing Books of the Elect with a place for the bishop …
Altar server and incense
A: May an altar server incense the priest and the people when a deacon is assisting at mass? Or is the incensation proper to the role of a deacon? (See GIRM 178). Q: The vocabulary around acolytes is particularly difficult to follow in the GIRM. At times it is definitely referring to an instituted acolyte, but other times it seems to refer to an altar server. In fact, the word “servers” appears only once in the GIRM, both in the US and in Canada, and that is in 339, where it speaks about the local custom of vesture. The word …
Confirmation during lent
Q: If we have confirmation during Lent, do we omit the Gloria? A: It depends on what day it is. If the confirmation takes place on a Sunday in Lent, then there is no Gloria. You do the complete Lent liturgy and shove in the parts that pertain to confirmation. The presidential prayers and readings all stay the same for the Lenten Sunday. The same applies to Ash Wednesday and to weekdays of Holy Week. But I hope you’re not having confirmation on one of those days. if it’s St. Joseph Day or the Annunciation, then you celebrate that solemnity with the …
Rite of Baptism for Children
Q: My Rites class has enjoyed your Let Us Pray immensely. Thank you. A question came up about infant baptism today. Are one of the two formulas before the pre-baptismal anointing to be said in addition to the short formula or does the short formula+anointing substitute for them? I was sure you’d know the answer. A: Thanks for your comments about my book Let Us Pray. I’m very grateful to you for sharing it with your class. The Rite of Baptism for Children offers two possible prayers of exorcism at #49. One of those is to be prayed. Then in #50 there is …
Veneration in a funeral mass
Q: At the end of the funeral Mass, does the presider (bishop or priest) return to the altar to venerate it (as at any Mass) or does he, because he is already down by the casket, simply start the procession? Neither the Order of Christian Funerals nor the Ceremonial of Bishops mention him going back to the altar. A: I’m going to say no, he does not return to the altar to kiss it. But I admit it’s hard to argue from silence. I think you could argue that he should bow to the altar from where he is because …
Non-Catholic confirmation
Q: We have a situation here in which we were told about a person who is of another Christian tradition and has been baptized and confirmed in their faith tradition. Would that person need to be re-confirmed upon entering into the Catholic faith? Is there a book or article that we could also refer to for information of this type? Thank you for whatever help you can give us. A: The only non-Catholic confirmations we recognize are those from Orthodox Churches. Other Christian churches who practice confirmation do not regard it as a sacrament, and we do not recognize …