Q: The deacon will bless the palms and have them outside at the doors where they can be picked up by the faithful.
We would like to live-stream the blessing, proclamation of the Gospel, and the Liturgy of the Word with homily; all with the deacon as the minister.
Is this allowed? Is there a better way?
“Thank you” is truly not enough for the love of the liturgy that you share.
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A: What you plan is probably fine under the circumstances of the pandemic, but I suggest you check with your bishop’s office to make sure that he has no objection.
There is no provision for a deacon blessing palms in a liturgy of the word, but something could surely be done in these days when we cannot celebrate the mass in public.
I’ve been seeing lots of chatter from other people in the field who are discouraging the open distribution of blessed palms. They cannot control how many palms an individual coming to the church would touch. They don’t want to invite people out onto the streets when they should stay at home under civic orders. And they aren’t giving out communion – why would they pass out palm branches?
Another solution is to keep the blessed branches on hand at the church until – God willing – a better day soon arrives for distributing them to the faithful.