Online Edition – Vol. IX, No. 1: March 2003
News
Doctrine Committee to review outdated "devotional materials" — Liturgical progressives for preserving the status quo? — The Wind Beneath…? — Adoremus on the ‘net — ICEL on eBay Redux Redux… — Cardinal Arinze keynotes Denver Liturgy Conference
Doctrine Committee to review outdated "devotional materials"
The US Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine plans to issue a document on Church teaching on popular devotions. The project, reported at the November 2002 bishops’ meeting, is in response to a varium (official query) from Milwaukee auxiliary Bishop Richard Sklba "concerning devotional materials that are not fully consistent with the theological and ecumenical developments of recent decades".
The Committee’s proposed document will be a supplement to the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy — Principles and Guidelines, issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship in December 2001.
Bishop Donald Trautman, of Erie, is chairman of the Committee on Doctrine; Monsignor John Strynkowski is director of the secretariat.
The Committee is also working on a "popular" version of The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist: Basic Questions and Answers, issued in June 2001. (This excellent catechetical resource is on the USCCB web site: http://www.usccb.org/dpp/realpresence.htm.)
The Committee also received a varium asking for "an exposition of the principles that would assist bishops in the implementation of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services". On this project they are working with the National Coalition on Catholic Health Care Ministry. The latter organization is revising its handbook which contains a section on principles of cooperation. "In light of the tradition of theological notes and the contemporary confusion regarding the authority to be accorded to the variety of documents from the Holy See, the Committee is investigating the possibility of engaging in a study of this topic and its doctrinal, theological, and canonical implications".
Liturgical progressives for preserving the status quo?
So opines John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter in a December column, "On Arinze’s first two months at the Congregation for Divine Worship". He writes:
Among liturgical progressives, the analysis seems to be that continuing to fight the battle at the level of structures is pointless. Instead, the goals in coming months will be to protect existing practice as best they can, so that individual dioceses or parishes can preserve models of a renewed liturgy, and to keep doing the scholarly reflection that will build the record for a time when the debate can be reopened.
(NCR, December 6, 2002)
Mr. Allen’s column currently appears on the web site of "WeBelieve!", a group of avowed liturgical "progressives" whose board members include Father Edward Foley, OFMCap of Chicago, and Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie.
In late October 2003, Archbishop Lawrence Burke, S.J., of Nassau, The Bahamas, represented all Jesuit foreign missionaries of New England in accepting the Province’s annual Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam Award for service to the Church. In the course of his acceptance speech, Burke provided live entertainment by singing two songs: "Yellow Bird" and "Wind Beneath My Wings".
Source: "New England Newsmakers" column, National Jesuit News, December 2002/January 2003, p. 15.
Readers who engage in net-surfing occasionally tell us about encountering Adoremus elsewhere on the Internet. One reader told us that the lead article from the February 2003 AB, "Lack of Reverence at Mass Tops Concerns", the report by Hilary Hitchcock on the Adoremus Survey, appeared on Beliefnet, a religious smorgasbord web site.
A few days later we received a request from CatholicExchange.com to reprint the same article.
Apparently this topic strikes a nerve with many.
Another reader discovered yet another set of the defunct ICEL Sacramentary books on an internet auction on the eBay web site.
The seller once again credited Adoremus with creating a tremendous demand for another set of these books. (This is the third eBay auction of rejected ICEL books, if we counted right.) Bidders were assured that this would be the very, very last set ever to be sold.
We checked the auction a couple of times. In the end, there were only fifteen bidders — all anonymous (so much for Adoremus creating a bidding stampede!) and the two-volume Sacramentary went for about $550.
Cardinal Arinze keynotes Denver Liturgy Conference
Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, was the keynote speaker at a conference on the Liturgy sponsored by the Archdiocese of Denver March 7-8. Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput was joined by auxiliary Bishop José Gomez, Bishop Michael Sheridan (Colorado Springs), and Bishop David Ricken (Cheyenne) in giving presentations at the sessions.
The conference, titled "We have seen the Lord! Sacraments as encounters with Christ", features Monsignor James Moroney, executive director of the USCCB Committee on the Liturgy secretariat, who will give a keynote address, Mr. Dennis McManus and Sister Doris Turek, associate directors of the BCL, J. Michael McMahon, president of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, and other workshop presenters. Both days begin with Mass. The Saturday session includes a Mystery Play performed by Saint Michael the Archangel Parish players.
***
*
