Online Edition: June – July 2009
Vol. XV, No. 4
News and Views
Emended Missale Romanum Issued | Year for Priests Begins June 19, Anniversary of the “Curé of Ars” | Pope Visits Holy Land | USCCB June Meeting
Emended Missale Romanum Issued
From the BCDW Newsletter, April 2009:
Since the year 2000, when Pope John Paul II issued the third typical edition of the Missale Romanum, nations throughout the world have been translating the text into the various vernacular languages. As the Holy See and various translators worked on vernacular editions of the Roman Missal, a variety of minor errors were found in the Latin text, which necessitated issuing a reprint.
Therefore, on October 6, 2008, an emended edition of the Missale Romanum, editio typica tertia was published. The slight changes that have been made will be reflected in the final English translation of the Roman Missal.
This reprint corrects spelling, grammatical, and typographical errors, and other inaccuracies (such as the insertion at the beginning of the Apostles’ Creed of “unum”, as in the Nicene Creed). In some saints’ listings, the saint’s particular designation — such as martyr, religious, or virgin — was missing in the 2000 text.
The emended Missale Romanum also includes the three new dismissal formulas: “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord”, “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life”, and “Go in peace”.
These formulas were incorporated into the approved Order of Mass English translation, and will take effect when the new Roman Missal is published.
By separate decree of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (Prot. N. 652/08/L, published in Notitiæ vol. 45 [2008], pp. 239-240), the Eucharistic Prayers for Masses with Children were removed from the Missale Romanum, and will appear in the future as a separate ritual text. In its space now appears a supplement, containing Collects for the memorials of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (Sept. 21), Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (Dec. 9), and Our Lady of Guadalupe (Dec. 12). Those three memorials were inserted into the General Roman Calendar after the initial 2000 publication.
The supplement also provides the rubrics and prayers for celebrating an extended Vigil of Pentecost, similar to the way the readings are proclaimed at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night.
Two final emendations are of note. At the Chrism Mass, the rubric mandating the General Intercessions after the Renewal of Commitment to Priestly Service has been removed, returning the practice to what it was before the editio typica tertia was issued.
Finally, a rubric in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) affecting bishops celebrating Mass outside their own dioceses has been altered. In an unofficial translation, the relevant part of number 149 now reads: “If, however, the bishop is celebrating outside his own diocese, after the words N., our pope, he adds: ‘and my brother N., the bishop of this church, and me, your unworthy servant’” (emphasis added).
This change to the GIRM took effect last November, and should be incorporated by bishops as soon as possible if they celebrate Mass outside their diocese. The complete list of emendations to the Missale Romanum, editio typica tertia is published in Notitiæ, vol. 45 [2008], pp. 367-387.
Reprinted from the BCDW Newsletter, April 2009 (p. 13, 14), with permission.
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Year for Priests Begins June 19, Anniversary of the “Curé of Ars”
At a March 16 meeting with the Congregation for the Clergy, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he has “decided to call a special ‘Year for Priests’ which will run from June 19, 2009 to June 19, 2010”.
He noted that June 19 this year marks the “150th anniversary of the death of the saintly ‘Curé of Ars’, Jean Marie Vianney, a true example of a pastor at the service of Christ’s flock”.
The pope will inaugurate the Year on June 19 by presiding at Vespers in St. Peter’s Basilica, where the relics of the “Curé of Ars” (1786-1859) will be brought for the occasion by Bishop Guy Bagnard of Belley-Ars, France.
During this Year for Priests, Pope Benedict will proclaim Saint Jean Marie Vianney as the patron saint of all the priests of the world. A “Directory for Confessors and Spiritual Directors” will also be published, as will a collection of texts by the Holy Father on essential aspects of the life and mission of priests in our time.
A plenary indulgence may be granted to priests and faithful during the Year for Priests, beginning on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, “a day of priestly sanctification”, according to the decree released May 12, signed by Cardinal James Stafford, who heads the Apostolic Penitentiary, and its regent, Bishop Gianfranco Girotti.
The usual conditions apply to obtain the plenary indulgence, details of which will be accessible on the Vatican web site (www.vatican.va/roman_curia/tribunals/apost_penit/index.htm). A partial indulgence is offered to all the faithful each time they pray five Our Fathers, Ave Marias and Gloria Patris, or any duly approved prayer “in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to ask that priests maintain purity and sanctity of life”, the decree says.
The Year for Priests will close June 19, 2010, with Pope Benedict presiding at a “World Meeting of Priests” in St. Peter’s Square.
Visit the special Prayers for Priests page on the Adoremus web site: www.adoremus.org/Prayers-for-priests. html.
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Just before Pope Benedict XVI’s historic apostolic visit to the Holy Land May 8-15, he delivered a special English-language message to the people of Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories at the Wednesday audience on May 6. His message, reported by the Vatican Information Service, stressed that his visit is “as a pilgrim of peace”:
I will be coming among you as a pilgrim of peace. My primary intention is to visit the places made holy by the life of Jesus, and, to pray at them for the gift of peace and unity for your families, and all those for whom the Holy Land and the Middle East is home. Among the many religious and civic gatherings which will take place over the course of the week, will be meetings with representatives from the Muslim and Jewish communities with whom great strides have been made in dialogue and cultural exchange. In a special way I warmly greet the Catholics of the region and ask you to join me in praying that the visit will bear much fruit for the spiritual and civic life of all who dwell in the Holy Land. May we all praise God for His goodness. May we all be people of hope. May we all be steadfast in our desire and efforts for peace.
Pope Benedict’s itinerary for his first visit to the Holy Land began with a sojourn in Jordan, where he visited Mount Nebo, where Moses viewed the Promised Land, the Jordan River, churches (where he administered First Holy Communion) and a mosque, where he gave a talk on the need for peace and respect among religions.
His visit to Israel followed the trip to Jordan (and was in progress at the time of this writing).
“Faith is always lived within a culture”, Pope Benedict said, addressing a meeting with organizations for interreligious dialogue at Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem May 11. He commented on the “virtual culture” of the internet that has increased global communication, but warned that such “undifferentiated sources of information” can also become an “instrument of increasing fragmentation”. The question of what contribution religion makes to culture thus becomes critical, he said:
While the differences we explore in inter-religious dialogue may at times appear as barriers, they need not overshadow the common sense of awe and respect for the universal, for the absolute and for truth, which impel religious peoples to converse with one another in the first place. Indeed it is the shared conviction that these transcendent realities have their source in — and bear traces of — the Almighty that believers uphold before each other, our organizations, our society, our world. In this way not only do we enrich culture but we shape it: lives of religious fidelity echo God’s irruptive presence and so form a culture not defined by boundaries of time or place but fundamentally shaped by the principles and actions that stem from belief.
Religious belief presupposes truth. The one who believes is the one who seeks truth and lives by it. Although the medium by which we understand the discovery and communication of truth differs in part from religion to religion, we should not be deterred in our efforts to bear witness to truth’s power.
Pope Benedict also visited the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem and sacred Christian sites in Bethlehem and Nazareth. His speeches during the entire visit are accessible on the Vatican web site: www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/travels/2009/index_holy-land_en.htm.
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The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will meet June 17-20 in San Antonio. Items on the agenda include a progress report on the pastoral plan for marriage, approval of the Mass of Thanksgiving for the Gift of Human Life, and discussion and votes on the proposed English translation of the Roman Missal. The US bishops’ action on the Missal has been accelerated, in accordance with the message last December 15 to Cardinal George, president of the USCCB, from Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
The process of approval by the English-speaking bishops’ conferences is to be completed in November 2009. A report on the Missal translation progress appeared in AB April 2009, along with a chart giving the USCCB’s revised timetable. Periodic updates will be available on the Committee for Divine Worship’s Secretariat’s “Roman Missal formation” web section at www.usccb.org/liturgy/missalformation.
Adoremus will attend the June USCCB meeting.
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