Q:  I have a question about the altar cloth. Our parish’s practice has been to have the wooden altar bare at the start of Mass (other than the seasonally appropriate color strip of cloth that overhangs the altar) then to place the white altar cloth over that as the altar is prepared for the liturgy of the Eucharist. Then a corporal is placed over the altar cloth. After communion the corporal and altar cloth are removed. Is this within the realm of the rubrics or does the altar cloth need to be in place before the beginning of Mass?

A:  The GIRM requires a cloth on the altar for mass (117, 304). It never describes a time for the placing of the altar cloth, so it implies that the cloth is on the altar from beginning to end.

Having the altar adorned with a cloth from the beginning helps draw attention to the altar throughout the entire celebration of the mass. However, to place a cloth on the altar for the liturgy of the Eucharist is not inconsistent with its function. The rubrics do not explicitly condone or forbid the practice.

Q. In the marriage rite, the revised translation still has the couple say “I take you” but the word in the giving of rings is “accept this ring.” What are the words in Latin? Wouldn’t “I receive you” be better for the consent?

Q:  I have a question: the new psalm translations.  I take it they will be coming out soon.  I hope there will be some time for implementation.

A:  The psalms are available on the GIA web site:

http://www.giamusic.com/sacred_music/RGP/psalmDisplay.cfm.

Some musical settings in subscription participation aids are already using them, but we won’t see them in a new lectionary anytime soon.

Q:  At the Easter Vigil, since now all the lights in the church are turned on at the close of the procession, before the Exultet, is it acceptable for there to be no candles used by the faithful in the pews lighted from the Paschal candle? According to the Roman Missal, the candles are lighted after the second  “The Light of Christ” and supposedly are extinguished as soon as the church lights are turned on — which happens even before all the assembly have their candles lighted. Is it permissible to not have the assembly lighting their candles — that just the Paschal Candle is lighted in the church?

A:  No, the assembly should all hold lighted candles. Paragraph 22 of the Easter Vigil says that the people set aside their candles after the exsultet. The missal never explicitly says when the candles are extinguished, but logically it is after the exsultet. As I’ve explained in Glory in the Cross, turning on the lights of the church before singing the exsultet is not a new rubric. It’s been there ever since the Council, but it has been broadly ignored. The paschal candle brightens the entire church, even the electrical lights

Q:  For readers approaching the sanctuary in order to go to the ambo:  They have already given either a profound bow or a genuflection when in the Entrance procession they approach the sanctuary before going to their pew.  (They “mirror” what the presider does.)  After the Collect, when the reader leaves his/her pew to approach the sanctuary in order to go to the ambo,  do they again give a profound bow to the altar or a simple bow, or to the tabernacle if it is in the sanctuary?

When completing the reading, do they bow to the ambo, or the altar  — profound bow or simple bow?

Some of our international presiders, even the Mexican and Filpino, are teaching the readers to make a profound bow to the altar, the presider and the tabernacle when approaching or leaving the ambo.

A:  See my response here: https://paulturner.org/reverence-for-the-altar/

I understand this  to mean that a reader leaving the pew and returning to the pew after the reading makes a profound bow to the altar and only to the altar each time. No reverences are made to the tabernacle during mass, and no reverences are ever made to the ambo.

The altar is the center of focus for the celebration of the mass.  And by the way, the reader or deacon who holds the book of the gospels makes no reverence upon entering the sanctuary. He or she goes immediately to the altar and places the book there.

Q:  Recently we hosted a funeral celebrated by a priest from another diocese.  Our music director volunteered to provide the music.  I was not present at the funeral and didn’t have any role in planning.  When our music director presented the four hymns to the priest, (we use an OCP missalette for all our music) he replied that the hymns were not “Catholic”; he then chose four others.  Unfortunately, the music director can’t remember the hymns involved.

What constitutes a “Catholic hymn”? I’ve never heard “Catholic hymn” being used positively and politely.

A:  In the United States we do not have an approved restricted list of hymns for Catholic worship. OCP’s publications are approved by the USCCB. You can rest assured that anything in there is Catholic music.

Q:  What do you recommend re: concelebrants at weddings?

I would say that the presider does all… but, analogous to the deacon situation, may a concelebrant (assuming he has the faculties) witness and  receive the consent?

A: The Ceremonial of Bishops presumes a situation where a concelebrating priest assists a presiding bishop (602). Before the post-Vatican II marriage rite came out, Inter œcumenici envisioned an assisting priest in alb and stole, perhaps a cope (72). The presider was to give the blessing of the bride (now called the nuptial blessing). These distinctions have fallen away. In theory, a concelebrant could preside for the wedding and not the mass, but I think it makes more theological sense for the presider to preside for the wedding, and it makes more liturgical sense for the presider to give the nuptial blessing. But we have no rules on this.

Q:  At a recent meeting of people involved in the music ministry in our parish, the issue of singing the Psalm at Sunday Mass was talked about. Generally in this parish, the Psalm of the day is always sung however with people moving out of the ministry, this goal is proving harder to achieve 100% of the time. The thought of the meeting was that if a psalm could be sung for a season eg Lent, the demand on the musicians could be lessened. Are seasonal psalms included in the new translation and how could they be used given our situation? Thanks.

A:  Yes indeed, you may use common psalms. The revised translation of the Roman Missal did not affect them because those psalms are found in the lectionary, and there has not yet been a change to that book. Look for #173. You’ll find a set of people’s responses that can remain the same for an entire season, and then in #174 a set of complete responsorial psalms that can be used on any Sunday of the relevant season. They were created exactly for a situation such as yours, where the musical leadership may not be able to learn a new setting each and every week.

Comment: Another possibility for the Psalm is for the cantor to chant the response (and the assembly to respond in chant) and then to read the strophe or to chant it, as well. This allows the assembly to hear the Psalm of the day , which is an important response to the first reading (which is the reason it is called a “responsorial Psalm”). This doesn’t put quite as much burden on the choir.

We used a seasonal Psalm at our parish for many years, but have begun this chant procedure in recent months. I, for one, appreciate hearing the Psalm of the day.

A:  Good idea.

Comment: I would argue that “responsorial” refers to the people’s response to the Cantor, not a response to the first reading.

A:  You are correct. However, the psalm usually does share a theme with the first reading and in some way comments on it. There are exceptions, but normally it has been chosen to develop a particular theme.

Q:  A few weeks ago our teachers asked me to review the various liturgical roles the students have during the school Mass. While I was prepared to do that, just as everyone entered the church for rehearsal, one of the teachers asked me to explain what to do before entering a pew. I explained that a profound bow to the altar (because the tabernacle is not in the sanctuary) would be appropriate. Since then the children have done quite well with not only remembering to bow but also bowing well.

However at least one parent was quite upset with me for not teaching the children to genuflect. According to your post, either is appropriate. According to an article on the USCCB website, genuflecting is traditional but there is nothing mandating it or preferring it to bowing. I know that #49 of the GIRM addresses the opening procession to bow before the altar (with no tabernacle in the sanctuary).  Is there anything specific to gesture before entering/exiting a pew?

Any insights you can share would be most helpful – thank you so much!

A:  Liturgical rubrics contain great detail about the ministers and surprisingly few details about the faithful. Whereas the rubrics are clear about the reverences that ministers make upon arriving in the church, they are not so specific for the faithful. GIRM 274 says, “If, however, the tabernacle with the Most Blessed Sacrament is situated in the sanctuary, the Priest, the Deacon, and the other ministers genuflect when they approach the altar and when they depart from it, but not during the celebration of Mass itself. Otherwise, all who pass before the Most Blessed Sacrament genuflect, unless they are moving in procession.” If the tabernacle is not in the sanctuary, then the ministers omit the genuflection and perform the profound bow toward the altar as found in GIRM 49.

The Ceremonial of Bishops, however, adds this: “No one who enters a church should fail to adore the blessed sacrament, either by visiting the blessed sacrament chapel or at least by genuflecting” (CB 71). Therefore, it is appropriate for everyone entering a church to locate the tabernacle and at least genuflect in its direction. Depending on the church, that could be done at the blessed sacrament chapel, on the way to one’s pew, or before taking one’s pew. But the genuflection should be made in the direction of the tabernacle – not toward the altar.

The Ceremonial of Bishops also says, “a bow of the body, or deep bow, is made: to the altar if there is no tabernacle with the blessed sacrament on the altar…” (68b). It does not specify who does this, so the inference is that it applies to all.

In your situation, then, if possible, students should genuflect to the tabernacle upon entering the church and bow to the altar before taking their pew.

There are no similar rubrics for leaving the building. It’s just an oversight. Logic would lead one to conclude that the same reverences performed on the way in are also performed on the way out. Otherwise, you are left to conclude that the GIRM and the CB never allow the people to exit the church. Even though the deacon commands them to go in peace, no rubric tells them to obey him.