A New Altar

In Liturgy, Paul Turner's Blog by Paul TurnerLeave a Comment

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 …

New RCIA position

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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.

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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 …