Online Edition:
September 2011
Vol. XVII, No. 6
News and Views
Conference on Missal for Parishioners | Cardinal Cañizares on Receiving Communion | New Missal Editions for Personal Use | LTP Publishes Order of Mass Worship Aids | How to Dispose of Liturgical Books | November Surprise? Who Knows? | English Missal Sites | Vox Clara – More Work | Chicago Church to Move — Brick by Brick
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Conference on Missal for Parishioners
Are you and your family ready for the upcoming changes to the texts of the Mass? To learn more about the new translation of the Mass you may want to attend “Mystical Body, Mystical Voice for Parishioners”, a special one-day conference on Saturday, October 8, at the Liturgical Institute at Chicago’s Mundelein Seminary.
Father Douglas Martis, who heads the Liturgical Institute, and Christopher Carstens, director of liturgy for the diocese of LaCrosse, will be the presenters. During the past year, the two have presented several highly successful conferences around the United States, primarily aimed at priests and those who are involved directly in liturgy planning in parishes and dioceses.
Mystical Body, Mystical Voice is “more than a fact-based workshop”, organizers say. “It is a spiritual retreat, classroom experience and liturgical primer all in one. Bring family and friends to energize your prayer life and be prepared to teach others in your parish. Answer the call of the Second Vatican Council to be renewed in grace through the riches of the Church’s sacred liturgy!”
The event will open with a session on laying the groundwork for the new translation of the Missal, including an introduction to liturgical and sacramental theology, and how Christ is present in the Liturgy. An exploration of the meaning and importance of words, and how the language of the liturgy expresses Christ’s mystical voice, prepares the way for the afternoon sessions on the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and the actual parts of the Mass, their origin and meaning, with biblical references.
The final session will present concrete ideas and practical suggestions for catechesis on the new texts, and how the implementation of the new translation of the Roman Missal allows each member of the Mystical Body to join their earthly voices with Christ’s own Mystical Voice.
For complete information about the Mystical Body, Mystical Voice event, including schedule and registration, visit the conference web site: usml.edu/liturgicalinstitute/conferences/MBMV for Parishioners 2011/MBMV Parishioners home. htm. Or contact Pauline Smith, The Liturgical Institute, 1000 E. Maple Ave., Mundelein, IL 60060. Ph 847 837-4540; e-mail: [email protected].
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Cardinal Cañizares on Receiving Communion
Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, recommended in a recent interview that Catholics receive Communion on the tongue, while kneeling. The cardinal was responding to a question posed by Catholic News Agency (CNA) during his July visit to Lima, Peru.
“It is to simply know that we are before God Himself and that He came to us and that we are undeserving”, the cardinal told CNA, and recommended that Catholics “receive Communion on the tongue and while kneeling”, noting that this “is the sign of adoration that needs to be recovered. I think the entire Church needs to receive Communion while kneeling”.
“In fact”, he added, “if one receives while standing, a genuflection or profound bow should be made, and this is not happening.
“If we trivialize Communion, we trivialize everything, and we cannot lose a moment as important as that of receiving Communion, of recognizing the real presence of Christ there, of the God who is the love above all loves”, Cardinal Cañizares said.
Source: CNA report July 28, 2011
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New Missal Editions for Personal Use
The Midwest Theological Forum (MTF) has published a new edition of a hand missal for personal use that will include the new Mass texts in both Latin and English, and all prayers and Scripture readings for Sunday and daily Mass. The new edition of the Daily Roman Missal is available in various bindings, and may be ordered now (release date September 1). MTF is also publishing altar editions.
For complete description and ordering information on the Daily Roman Missal, visit the MTF web site: theologicalforum. org/new_daily_roman_missal_pre-order. asp.
In addition to altar Missals, a smaller, “chapel-size” edition of the new Missal (approximately 6”x9”) will be available from at least five publishers: the USCCB (usccbpublishing.org); Catholic Book Publishing Corp (catholicbookpublishing. com); Liturgy Training Publications (www.ltp.org, or revisedromanmissal.org); Magnificat (magnificat.net/romanmissal/ index.asp); and Liturgical Press (theroman missal.org).
Most publishers expect to ship the books by October 1.
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LTP Publishes Order of Mass Worship Aids
To help prepare parishioners for the changes to the Mass texts, Liturgy Training Publications (LTP) of Chicago has produced two booklets, The Order of Mass Worship Aid and The Order of Mass Worship Aid with Chant, along with a Pew Card for Mass that can be placed in hymnals or in the pew racks.
The two versions of The Order of Mass Worship Aid include the full texts of the Order of Mass, including the penitential act, the eucharistic prayers and the dismissal. As the new Order of Mass includes more chant than the present version, The Order of Mass Worship Aid with Chant has the primary chants provided by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) that are included in the new edition of the Roman Missal — i.e., the greeting, the Gloria, the Creed, the Preface dialogue, the acclamations, and the Lord’s Prayer.
The booklets (priced at $3.25 and $4.00) are paperbound and printed in large, readable type. Ordering information: www.ltp.org; e-mail [email protected] or phone 800-933-1800.
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How to Dispose of Liturgical Books
In the March-April Newsletter of the US bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship, the Secretariat responded to questions about the disposition of copies of the current Sacramentary once the new Roman Missal has been implemented. Following are excerpts from the response:
“There is relatively little written about exactly what to do with liturgical books which have been replaced by updated or revised editions, but some related writings, as well as some common sense, can provide some context…
“Whether or not the Sacramentary has been blessed by an official rite, it is appropriate to treat it with care as it has been admitted into liturgical use. Its disposal should be handled with respect. The Secretariat recommends burying the Sacramentary in an appropriate location on church grounds, or perhaps in a parish cemetery if there is one.… In lieu of burying old liturgical books, they could be burned, and the ashes placed in the ground in an appropriate location on church grounds. It is advisable to retain a copy of the Sacramentary for parish archives or liturgical libraries”.
The Newsletter mentions the new Missals may be blessed before use, and that this “could take place during a Mass on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King, at the last weekday Mass prior to the First Sunday of Advent, or outside Mass at a separate gathering of liturgical ministers or other parish leaders”.
Regarding outdated hymnals and other participation aids (such as hand missals) some copies may be kept for archives or might be “offered to parishioners for their own private devotional use, or donated to other small communities that could effectively make use of them”, the Newsletter said. However, annual hymnals and periodical participation aids should be discarded after their prescribed period of use and cannot be retained for other uses.
Source: BCDW Newsletter, Vol. XLVII, March-April 2011
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It’s not exactly surprising to learn that most Catholics in America are likely to be surprised when they encounter new words at Mass on the first Sunday of Advent. The results of a survey by Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) revealed that about 77% of adult Catholics in the US — more than 44 million — are unaware of the new translation of the Roman Missal.
The study, released in August, showed, unsurprisingly, that frequency of Mass attendance makes a difference. About 57% of Catholics who attend Mass at least weekly were aware of the forthcoming changes, while only about one in ten (9%) of those who attend only on Christmas and Easter had heard of it. And 75% of those who described themselves as “very involved” with their parishes knew of the changes, while only 13% of those surveyed who said they have “no involvement” with their parishes were aware of it.
The CARA survey was reported in Our Sunday Visitor (osv.com), August 28, 2011 issue.
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In addition to the web sites of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/roman-missal/index.cfm), and the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (icelweb.org/news.htm), both of which provide many resources on the new translation of the Roman Missal, several other English-speaking countries are also providing internet resources on the new translation.
Web sites in other countries where the ICEL texts will be used:
• Canada – romanmissal.ca
• Australia –catholic.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1893&Itemid=436
• England &Wales – liturgyoffice.org.uk/Missal/index.shtml
• Ireland – catholicbishops.ie/category/features/missal/
• Scotland – romanmissalscotland.org.uk/
• India – ccbi.in/index.php/cms/pages/106
Quote from India site: “The new translation is not merely about changing words; it is a new phase of liturgical renewal. This is a moment for us to enter into a fresh appreciation of the riches of the Roman Rite. Hopefully, the implementation of these new texts will serve as an opportunity for a deeper catechesis on the liturgy and be an occasion for all of us to commit ourselves to a more prayerful, faithful and vibrant celebration of the sacred mysteries….”
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The Vox Clara Committee is already at work on additional texts. This international committee of bishops and experts, which advises the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Disciplines of the Sacraments on English translations, met in Rome July 24-26.
The committee’s report released July 27 said that at the request of the Congregation for Divine Worship, members spent most of their time on the prayers bishops use for the Blessing of Oils at the chrism Mass, the liturgy in which the oils used in the sacraments throughout the year are blessed.
The report said the committee also heard reports on the widespread distribution of the Study Text on the Roman Missal and approved plans for several future publications on behalf of the Congregation, most notably an interim edition of the Roman Pontifical, including new translations of several pontifical texts drawn from the Roman Missal. It is planned that the publication will also include the Rite for the Blessing of Oils and should be available in the first months of 2012.
Also authorized at the meeting was the publication of “Toward an Authentic and Clear Voice”, a collection of commemorative essays on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the instruction Liturgiam authenticam, in addition to several editions of the Missale Parvum.
Finally, the committee adopted plans for the revision of the Ratio Translationis for the English language, the document that details translation methods, and approved the scope of work in the continuing revision of the translations of the Latin liturgical books in accord with the principles of Liturgiam authenticam.
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Chicago Church to Move – Brick by Brick
In the case of the former Chicago parish church St. John of God, “brick by brick” is not a metaphor. The building is being completely disassembled, piece by piece, to be reconstructed as a different parish elsewhere.
Pieces of the carved limestone church with its two 135-foot bell towers are being numbered and shipped almost to the Wisconsin border, to Old Mill Creek. There, on 40 acres owned by the Chicago archdiocese, the renaissance revival church, originally built in 1920, will be reconstructed as a new church for St. Raphael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church, which is directing the estimated $10 million move.
Henry Schlacks, the architect of St. John of God church, had designed several other churches in the Chicago area, and started the architecture department at the University of Notre Dame.
The original church, a former Polish parish located near Sherman Park in Chicago, closed in 1992. The Chicago archdiocese could neither sell it nor find a new user.
St. Raphael parish will move from nearby Antioch, Illinois, where Mass has been held in a renovated barn since the parish opened in 2007. St. Raphael wanted to recycle as much material as possible for its new church building, and came up with the idea of moving St. John of God to a new location.
“The building was in such disrepair”, said Richard Gambla, St. Raphael’s business manager. “It was only a matter of a very short time that it would have collapsed”.
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