Three years after being approved by the U.S. Catholic bishops, updates to the ritual texts for distribution of holy Communion outside of Mass and for Eucharistic adoration will take effect.

The revised version of “Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery outside Mass” will be implemented on the First Sunday of Advent, Dec. 1, 2024. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had signed off on the fresh texts at their November 2021 General Assembly in Baltimore. The revisions were then reviewed by the USCCB’s Secretariat for Divine Worship, with the Vatican confirming their liturgical use in the U.S. on March 7, 2023.

USCCB president Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services issued a Jan. 25 decree of promulgation for the timeline of the text.

The ritual editions — published by Catholic Book Publishing Co., Liturgical Press, Liturgy Training Publications, Magnificat and Midwest Theological Forum — went on sale Aug. 1, with optional use of the new version permitted as of Sept. 14, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

Father David R. Price, associate director of the USCCB’s Secretariat of Divine Worship, told OSV News that “the main thing to keep in mind” regarding the revisions is that “this is a new translation of the ritual book that was given in Latin in the 1970s — so it’s a new translation, it’s not a new ritual book per se.”

The original text’s previous translation…

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Image Source: AB/Matt Riedl