Paul Turner’s Catholic Liturgy Blog

Holy Family or Mary, Mother of God

Q: Our parish celebrates a 5:30 pm Mass on Sundays. On 12/31, would this Mass be for Holy Family or vigil for Mary, Mother of God?

A: In the United States, January 1 is not a holy day of obligation when it falls on a Saturday or a Monday. Therefore, a mass on Sunday night, December 31, 2017, must be the liturgy of Holy Family. Sunday is the day of obligation, not Monday, and its liturgy therefore prevails.

Communal penance services

Q: Sometimes a Presider at a Reconciliation Service has given a general penance for the congregation. For example stay and pray for until the end of the service. I haven’t come across any thing that states this is licit or not licit. My understanding is that each priest give a penance. I find your blog a great help.

A: Thanks for your comments on my blog.

The Rite for Reconciliation of Several Penitents with individual Confession and Absolution says this at paragraph 55: “Then the penitents go to the priests designated for individual confession, and confess their sins. Each one receives and accepts a fitting act of satisfaction and is absolved.”

I too have been at penance services where the presider offers a common penance to all. But these should be administered individually, and the penitent should accept the penance. Such acceptance cannot be done in common.

Each priest should give each penitent a penance.

By the way, it’s unfortunate that staying for the end of the service is considered a penance. The committee that designed the communal service back in the 1960s would have been horrified to imagine this development. To me, it’s a sign that something is wrong in the design of communal penance services. But that’s a dialogue for another day.

Location of nativity scene

Q: I wonder if you could help me with a bit of a problem. Speaking to a guy locally, who is considered the authority on such matters, he suggested I contact you to see what you have to say.

My pastor, a lovely man whom I like and admire enormously, wants me to put the Christmas Nativity scene in front of the main altar, in the Sanctuary. I have, for the past two years, managed to dissuade him from this. My reasoning has been that a) it’s not for public worship, really intended as a private devotional aid – b) it’s something of a distraction during Mass which is, after all, a re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice for our salvation, and c) we have a large sanctuary but I still feel it detracts from the principle points, if I can put it that way, of the liturgical action, the ambo, the altar, the presidential chair. Am I right in saying all this?

Are there any documents I can quote? In the Book of Blessings for a Nativity Scene it specifically states that it should NOT be in the Sanctuary. I find it bewildering that I should be arguing with a priest over such things.

Can you help and advise in any way? I should be so grateful.

A: All of your arguments are spot on. For documentation, you have found the Book of Blessings. You should also consult Built of Living Stones, which was promulgated by the USCCB in 2000. The US bishops usually want you to buy such documents, rather than read them online for free, so they usually do not post them on their web site – just the link for buying the book. But the internet being what it is, someone else posts things from time to time, and here you go: http://www.sfdslg.org/Church/Documents/ChurchReno/Built%20of%20Living%20Stones.pdf

Do a search on the word “Christmas” and you’ll find what is supposed to be paragraph 124 but for some reason is unnumbered: “The altar should remain clear and free-standing, not walled in by massive floral displays or the Christmas crib, and pathways in the narthex, nave, and sanctuary should remain clear.”

Here you have a specific reference to the ALTAR, not just to the sanctuary.

Major and minor exorcisms

ORIGINAL POST:

In Paul Turner’s Blog on March 9, 2016

Q: Are the prayers of exorcism in the scrutinies the same as the minor exorcisms in the catechumenate stage?
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A: No, the ones during the scrutiny are the major exorcisms, and the others are minor. The major exorcisms take place during mass, normally on the Third, Fourth and Fifth Sundays of Lent. The minor exorcisms may take place outside of mass, though they may also be done during mass. They may be part of an anointing with the oil of catechumens, or the catechumens’ dismissal from the mass. The minor exorcisms are done during the period of the catechumenate; that is, from the rite of acceptance into the order of catechumens until the rite of election. A priest or a deacon is authorized to perform these exorcisms.

UPDATE:

Q: I have found a discrepancy that I hope you can clarify for me. On your March 9, 2016 blog post about major and minor exorcisms, you note that the difference is the Scrutinies from the three Sundays in Lent are the major exorcisms while those that may be celebrated in a catechetical session are the minor exorcisms. In your book Guide for Celebrating Christian Initiation of Adults, it is written in the Minor Exorcism section that a major exorcism is used in cases of demonic possession and the minor exorcism is strengthening of a catechumen in that Catechumenate phase. So, could you tell me whether the major exorcism is the rite used to remove a demon or the three Lenten Sunday Scrutinies, please?

Thank you very much!

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A: Thanks for catching this. My book is correct, not the blog post. Here is a good link from the USCCB:

http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/sacraments-and-sacramentals/sacramentals-blessings/exorcism.cfm

Saints and feast days

Q: My comment has to do with the choices offered for various saints for feast days in the Liturgy of the Hours. I have been using an app on my mobile phone. Some days have several sets of individual scriptures based upon the feast choices for a particular day. Since this set of prayers is one I do while at home, I look at the listing of saints and choose one set of readings to use for the balance of that day. If listed, I frequently choose martyred saints. An app is a blessing for those unable to afford the three book print version set.

A: What you are doing is perfectly fine. The calendar lists a number of optional memorials that may be observed at the parish mass or in private prayer. At mass, we often opt out and celebrate the ferial day. It lends more important to the saints with obligatory memorials.

“Sing to the Lord”

Q: Would you please help me with “Sing to the Lord”, chapter IV, section A, paragraph d: Hymns.

What are the “strophic hymns” from the Roman Missal? Where can I find them?
Does the USCCB have an approved list of “congregational hymns”?
Please define “vernacular hymns” as it is used here.

Thank you!

1. I can’t find them either. Unless you count the sequences, which are in the Lectionary for Mass, which is part of the Roman Missal in its broadest definition. There is a hymn for the Chrism Mass, but it is found in the Roman Pontifical. And there is a Hymn to Christ the King for Palm Sunday, but it is not strophic.

2. No, but implicitly they approve the list published in congregational aids.

3. The expression “vernacular hymns” probably refers to the great body of music that we typically sing at the entrance, offertory, communion and closing of the mass. Most of them were composed in vernacular languages.

Mass on Sunday, December 24

Q: I am being asked around the office if attending an afternoon Mass on Sunday December 24 satisfies the obligation for both Sunday and Christmas Day. I don’t think so but my questioners (regular Mass attendees) have requested an answer from a higher authority.

A: The USCCB’s Committee on Divine Worship answered this in its February 2017 Newsletter: “The prevailing view among many canon lawyers is that each obligation must be fulfilled with a separate Mass.” However, it notes this minority opinion: “Some canonists suggest that, in the absence of a definitive interpretation by the Holy See, attendance at the evening Mass shared by the two holy days is indeed sufficient to fulfill both obligations, based on the principle that in cases of doubt, laws are to be interpreted broadly.” As the Newsletter says, it would be hoped that Catholics foster a love for the Mass and desire to celebrate the holy days as fully as possible.

More on the Presider’s chair

Original Post:

Q: Our deacon is training a couple of guys to lead communion services. He has told them that they are not allowed to sit in the priest’s chair nor the deacon’s chair when they are “presiding”. Your thoughts?

Is there a new format for leading a communion service?

A: They may and they should use the presider’s chair.

The confusion exists because the ritual book for Sundays without a Priest asks the presider of the service not to use the presider’s chair because the community has no priest. The directive appears only in the United States, and in no other liturgical book.

When a communion service takes place in a parish where there is a priest, but he is away for some reason, the presider uses the presider’s chair. If there is no priest and the parish is being run by a deacon or layperson, that person is supposed to leave the presider’s chair empty on Sunday after Sunday, reminding the people that they are awaiting a priest some day.

Regarding the format, it’s found in the book Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharist Outside Mass.

New Post:

Q: It is always a pleasure to read your blogs when they arrive in my inbox.

I wanted to reply to the one about lay leaders not using the Presidential chair during Sunday Celebration of the Word / Hours ( in the absence of a priest) to let you know what should be the general practice in Australia.

Our National Liturgical Commission published national resources in 2004 for Sunday Celebration of the Word/Hours (3 books). In the volume SundayCelebration of the Word, Sunday Celebration of the Hours, the Directory for Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of A Priest reads as follows:

Art. 40: (The lay leader) does not use the presidential chair, but another chair prepared outside the sanctuary in art. (GILH#258; DOL 426, no. 3688) Although that instruction appears in the GI for the Liturgy of the hours, the Directory seems to imply that this is standard for all lay led liturgical worship.

The Directive for the Dioceses of Australia has the following instruction:

Art. 58 A lay leader of prayer leads the assembly “as one among equals” and is always a member of the assembly.

The leader of prayer models the action of the assembly. The leader should be clearly seen and heard at all times, whether addressing the assembly or inviting them to pray, when she or he is listening to the Word of God, singing, or praying in silence.

The lay leader of prayer does not use the presidential chair; this remains empty as a visible sing of the absence of the community’s ordained minister. Placing a second chair in the sanctuary is preferable to having the leader seated in the front seats or pews. It is inappropriate to lead the prayer from the altar.

The Sunday directive on not using the presider’s chair is extended to weekday celebrations of the Word with Communion. The lay leader sits in the front pew when the readings are proclaimed or other parts of the ritual are done by others.

Many of our churches where lay led liturgies are celebrated are typically country churches that are smaller and therefore the front pews are quite close to the sanctuary.

The second volume of the set of resources for Sunday celebrations that was published by the Australian Bishops was entitled Lay Leaders of Liturgy with Sample rites for Sundays, Weekdays and Funerals. The only sample Liturgy of the Word and Communion is set out as a Sunday liturgy while the only Weekday samples are Liturgy of the Hours (Morning or Evening Prayer). In the rubrics for weekday Lit Hours, it says “the presider’s chair remains empty as this is the place for the priest at the eucharist. The lay leader of liturgy may sit in the front row.”

Now we know that most places would celebrate a Liturgy of the Word with Communion rather than Liturgy of the Hours, but I would maintain that the directive just quoted would hold for those as well. In addition, if some parishes do celebrate a lay-led liturgy on certain Sundays, it makes sense to be consistent to leave the presider’s chair vacant during the weekday lay-led celebrations as well.

A: Thank you for all this research and for enriching the information on my blog. Our resources in the United States do not offer this detail. The General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours, which applies to the universal church, does indeed state that a lay person leading one of the offices does not use the presider’s chair (258).

Using patens

Q: Could you give me some information on the need for and use of patens. I am a Eucharistic minister. We have recently been informed that as of next Sunday patens will be used at all the masses. Would really appreciate your thoughts. God bless.

A: I treated this in my book Let Us Pray. GIRM 80 calls for a paten on the credence table, if needed. But Redemptionis Sacramentum (93) indicates that the paten (communion-plate) “should be used.”

Its purpose is to avoid the danger of the host or a fragment falling. However, this can be adequately addressed by having communion ministers use broad ciboria, rather than narrow ones. Also, those who receive communion in the hand generally lessen the danger of a host falling. But if your church is planning to use patens, they are in keeping with GIRM 80 and RS 93.

Celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe

Q: Our parish wants to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Saturday 4 pm mass on December 9 this year. May we use the readings of her feast? Or must we use the readings from the Second Sunday of Advent?

A: You must use the readings of the Second Sunday of Advent. But you may sing Marian songs, preach about Guadalupe, decorate the church with her image, and invite matachines – but the prayers from the missal and the readings from the lectionary come from the Second Sunday of Advent.