Paul Turner’s Catholic Liturgy Blog

A New Altar

Q:  Suppose you have a church that is pretty seriously renovated and gets a new altar. But the parish starts celebrating Mass on the new altar prior to the dedication. Now the bishop is coming. What rite should they use? my understanding is that you cannot dedicate an altar once mass is being said on it (like there is no need to bless a chalice once you have used it for Mass).    The rite is a bit confusing – “What Would Paul Turner Do?“

A:  I’d go ahead and have the bishop do the full dedication as if nothing had happened. We celebrate mass on tables and benches in homes and prisons, and we never dedicate those objects for temporary use. I’d let the parish experience the whole blessing. It should change their appreciation of what that altar is for.

New RCIA position

Q: I have begun a new position in a parish where RCIA needs to be rethought. What materials have you written or do you recommend?
A: Here are links to my books on RCIA:

The HallelujahHighway: a History of the Catechumenate

When Other Christians Become Catholic

Celebrating Initiation

Catechumenate Answer Book

And here’s the talk I gave this fall at the FDLC meeting:

The Meaning of Adult  Initiation in Post-Vatican II America

RCIA and the Collect.

Q.   When the Rite of Acceptance is celebrated at Mass, what happens to the collect? 

A.    I think it’s just something that the framers of the RCIA didn’t think through. The Rite of Acceptance was surely designed to be celebrated apart from the mass. For example, the priest or deacon may wear a cope (48), but not a chasuble or dalmatic. However, at the end of the rite, the option for continuing with the liturgy of the eucharist is plainly appended (68).

In the Roman Missal, the various masses for Christian initiation begin with the Rite of Election, not with a Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens. Again, just an indication that the missal never envisioned a collect would be needed because it thinks the Rite of Acceptance is a word service, not part of a eucharist.

Pastorally, I think there are many good reasons for celebrating the Rite of Acceptance at Sunday Mass with a congregation. In that event, either the concluding prayer (57) replaces the collect for the mass of the day, or the collect replaces the concluding prayer.