Infant baptisms in Lent

Q:  Can you comment on infant baptisms during a Lenten Sunday liturgy?

A:  Baptisms may take place on any day except the end of Holy Week, so there’s no rule against a baptism on a Sunday in Lent.  Other days make more sense theologically and liturgically, but sometimes a Lent Sunday works best for the family, and a child should be baptized sooner rather than later.

Chrism and allergies

Q:  Someone to be confirmed asked about the Chrism.  I replied saying it is Olive Oil and perfume (balsam) that has been blessed (consecrated) by the Bishop.  Do you know what kind of Olive Oil and/or perfume? (I did inquire to our diocese – and I thought you might know if the “ingredients” are pretty universal or not) Seems the one asking the question/s has some allergies, etc.
A:  The traditional formula is olive oil and chrism, but today it can be made of any oil and any perfume. You’ll have to check with the diocesan liturgy office to find out what oil and what perfume is used.  Then you might have to contact the manufacturers to figure out what’s in it.    Allergies are not fun.

Good Friday and Tenebrae

Q:  The parish where I am now pastor has for the last few years celebrated a hybrid Tenebrae/Office of Readings with street procession on Good Friday in the evening. The Passion Liturgy is celebrated at 3pm. This Tenebrae is organized by the Filipino community which gathers monthly for mass at our church. It’s certainly popular among people in our urban parish. My liturgical sensitivity would be not to add things to the Triduum. Pastorally it might be a good addition to welcome people who can’t participate in the Passion.  Any thoughts?

A:  Here’s a paragraph from my book Glory in the Cross: “The Circular Letter recommends the common celebration of the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer on this day and on Holy Saturday. It says that this office was formerly called Tenebrae, but the former practices of methodically extinguishing candles and beating hymnals on pews in the dark are no longer part of the Liturgy of the Hours. These liturgical offices incorporate the singing of hymns and psalms.”

In a way, what you’re doing carries the same devotional weight as Stations of the Cross. Many people prefer to go to Stations on Good Friday than to the Passion. There’s nothing wrong with offering more than one service at church – or in the streets. But anything you can do to stress the centrality of the 3 pm Passion service would be great.

 

Adoration for catechumens

Q:  We are planning a Diocesan retreat that we will be offering to catechumens, candidates and members of the various RCIA teams during Lent.   We had originally planned to have a time during our retreat for Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction. But after reflection I thought possibly it was a bit premature to have this service at this point in the formation of the elect because they will  have not participated at this point in the Eucharistic prayer. In researching this I found this point also made by Thomas Morris in his book “The RCIA – Transforming the Church”. On page 190 he says when speaking about Holy Thursday – the question is posed – “Do we invite them to participate in the prayer before the reserved sacrament of the Eucharist?” He goes on to say – “introducing the elect to adoration of the eucharist before their participation in the Eucharistic prayer can lead to great distortions and misunderstandings about the eucharist. There will be ample opportunities in their life to participate in such gatherings in the future”.  What is your understanding of this question?

A:  I think the answer is a tossup. I see Thom Morris’s point. At the same time, I don’t think a single experience of adoration before communion stands a danger of distortion.

The RCIA certainly never envisions eucharistic adoration for catechumens or the elect. It is focused much more on liturgies of the word to nurture their formation. Blessings, exorcisms, anointings – that’s the meat of the period of purification and enlightenment.
For baptized candidates, depending on who they are and what they are experiencing in their faith right now, eucharistic adoration might enhance their anticipation of communion.
In short, eucharistic adoration probably would not hurt. It might help. You could do it. But it’s not the main way that the RCIA envisions the period of purification and enlightenment.

 

Baptismal Promises

Q:  Are you able to clarify for me the variation in the Renewal of Baptismal Promises as to be used for the new rite for the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation in Australia and as to be used in the Renewal of Baptismal Promises in the Easter Vigil/Octave of Easter?

A:  In the Confirmation ceremony the first question reads: Do you renounce Satan, and all his works and empty promises?Whereas in the new Roman Missal the question at the Easter Vigil/Octave of Easter reads:

  • Priest:  Do you renounce Satan?
  • All:  I do.
  • Priest:  And all his works?
  • All:  I do.
  • Priest:  And all his empty show?
  • All:  I do.

The question is the variation in “promises” and “show”. Which one is the correct translation?

Here’s an excerpt from my book In These or Similar Words.

Empty show. The faithful are invited to renew their baptismal promises at the Easter Vigil through a set of renunciations and beliefs. An alternative formula for the renunciations was added after Vatican II.

The revised translation has changed one of the questions in the first formula. After asking the faithful if they renounce Satan and all his works, the priests asks, “And all his empty show?” He used to ask, “And all his empty promises?” The Latin word is pompis, and the very existence of an alternate formula that avoids the word shows how the post-Vatican II missal thought it would be difficult to render in vernacular languages.

A pomp is an ostentatious display. It refers to the extravagant temptations to which humans may succumb. The word is used of court ceremonies. As an adjective, pompous, it refers to a person who demands ceremonious deference. The alternate formula speaks instead of “the lure of evil.”

The Rite of Confirmation as revised after Vatican II shared the same hesitancy. It replaced the Latin word pompis with seductionibus.

The revised translation for the Easter Vigil obviously thinks “empty show” better explains the glossy temptations of this world. For sure, pompis does not mean “promises”.

And here’s a sneak peek at my forthcoming book from Liturgy Training Publications, a guide for parish celebrations of Confirmation.

When the rites of baptism and confirmation were being revised during the Second Vatican Council, the reformers made an effort to replace the Latin word pompis with seductionibus, a word taken from 2 Thessalonians 2:10. Both in the Rite of Baptism for Children and in the Roman Missal’s Easter Vigil, these two words remain in the alternative forms of the questions of renunciation. In the confirmation ceremony, the word seductionibus was chosen as the only option. Therefore, you would expect the bishop to ask the confirmation candidates to renounce “the lure of evil.” However, the revised English translation has kept the words used in the first English translation at this point. It was thought by translators that children know all too well the meaning of “empty promises,” which they may perhaps renounce even more readily than the lure of evil.

Conditional baptism

Q:  I have a question regarding Conditional Baptism.  With the terms “immersion” and “pouring” how might one justify “sprinkling” that is apparently typically done in the Methodist Church.   I assumed a new position a year ago and my current pastor believes conditional baptisms are necessary in these cases.

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A:  I think we can presume the validity of all Methodist baptisms. “Sprinkling” may mean a minimum use of water, but the form, intention and purpose of the ceremony is what the Catholic Church expects. I’m unaware of any formal challenge to the validity of Methodist baptisms by sprinkling.

If your pastor has a doubt, I would encourage him to resolve the doubt. The best source is the diocesan marriage tribunal, which has to make the same determination for declarations of nullity. In my view, your pastor should give careful consideration, resolve the doubt, and declare the results: Either the baptism is valid or not.

Presence of the body for two masses

 

Q:  I went to a visitation this afternoon for the father of a friend.  The plan was to have a rosary followed by a memorial mass.  The body would then be transported back to Florida where he had been a deacon for 20 years.  In Florida would be the funeral mass.  The body was in the narthex and I was told that the body could not be present in the church for two masses.  So the mass this evening was without the body in the church.  It is the first time I had encountered this and was wondering what is the actual requirement for this type of situation?

A:  I’m unaware of any law forbidding the presence of the body for two masses, but the Order of Christian Funerals only envisions one mass.  Even so, it’d seem inappropriate to have a mass with the body in the narthex.