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Vatican says Mass norms must be followed exactly to ensure reverence
Catholic News Service ^ | April 23, 2004 | Cindy Wooden

Posted on 04/23/2004 6:04:36 AM PDT by Desdemona

Vatican says Mass norms must be followed exactly to ensure reverence

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The norms for celebrating Mass must be followed exactly to ensure reverence for the Eucharist and to preserve the unity of the Catholic Church, said a new Vatican document.

"In some places the perpetration of liturgical abuses has become almost habitual, a fact which obviously cannot be allowed and must cease," said the document, "Redemptoris Sacramentum" ("The Sacrament of Redemption"), written by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.

The instruction, approved by Pope John Paul II and released at an April 23 Vatican press conference, particularly cited as abuses the use of eucharistic prayers not approved by the church, changing approved prayer texts, and allowing lay people to carry out functions reserved to a priest or deacon.

The document said that while it was "laudable" to encourage boys and young men to be altar servers, girls and women can be altar servers if the local bishop permitted the practice.

Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the congregation, told reporters, "No one should be surprised that over the course of time the holy church, our mother, has developed words, actions and, therefore, directives regarding this supreme act of worship.

"The eucharistic norms were elaborated to express and safeguard the eucharistic mystery and, even more, to demonstrate that it is the church which celebrates this august sacrifice and sacrament," he said.

Because the Mass and Eucharist are so important to the church, he said, practices that violate the church's norms cannot be taken lightly.

The norms reaffirm church teaching that a Catholic, in a situation of serious sin, must go to confession before approaching the Eucharist.

Cardinal Arinze refused to answer a direct question about whether Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, the probable Democratic nominee for U.S. president and a supporter of legalized abortion, should be denied Communion unless he goes to confession and repents for his position.

"The norm of the church is clear," he said. "The church exists in the United States. There are bishops there, let them interpret it."

However, when asked more generally if a priest should refuse Communion to a politician who supports abortion, Cardinal Arinze said, "Yes."

"If the person should not receive Communion, then he should not be given it," the cardinal said.

Introducing the document, Archbishop Angelo Amato, secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which collaborated in writing the instruction, said that celebrating the Mass in an "arbitrary" manner not only "deforms the celebration, but provokes doctrinal insecurity, perplexity and scandal among the people of God."

The document highlighted violations of existing church norms, but did not set new rules.

It recognized as legitimate the various practices that local bishops have been authorized to permit, including Communion in the hand and the distribution of Communion under the species of bread and wine.

At the same time, it insisted that lay people delegated to assist with the distribution of Communion be referred to as "extraordinary ministers of holy Communion," rather than as eucharistic ministers to emphasize the fact that in the Catholic liturgy the priest is the minister of the Eucharist.

Extraordinary ministers are to assist only when the number of communicants would make it difficult for the priests present to distribute Communion to everyone.

If other priests are present at the Mass and able to help distribute Communion they must do so before extraordinary ministers are employed, it said.

The instruction explicitly bans the practice where priests, "although present at the celebration, abstain from distributing Communion and hand this function over to laypersons."

Any member of the church, it said, "has the right to lodge a complaint regarding a liturgical abuse to the diocesan bishop ... or to the Apostolic See."

The document said, however, that a complaint should be submitted first to the local bishop and that it should be done "in truth and charity."

Unlike an early draft of the document, which was leaked to the press last summer, the instruction did not ban liturgical dance; it did not mention dance at all.

The document said the Second Vatican Council fostered the participation of lay people in the Mass through "responses, psalmody, antiphons and canticles, as well as actions or movements and gestures, and called for sacred silence to be maintained at the proper times."

Following the council's direction, it said, in the choice of music, optional prayers, church decoration and the homily, "there is ample possibility for introducing into each celebration a certain variety."

But only approved Scripture readings are allowed, only a priest or deacon may give the homily and only approved eucharistic prayers can be recited -- and those only by priests.

Anyone at Mass who gives "free reign to his own inclinations, even if he is a priest, injures the substantial unity of the Roman rite, which ought to be vigorously preserved," said the instruction.

"The reprobated practice by which priests, deacons or the faithful here and there alter or vary at will the texts of the sacred liturgy that they are charged to pronounce must cease," it said.

The instruction emphasized that the Eucharist is the memorial of Christ's sacrifice and is not simply a "fraternal meal."

Standing, sitting and kneeling, singing, reciting prayers and praying in silence are all part of an active participation in the Mass, it said.

Reaffirming previous Vatican directives, the instruction said wheat is the only grain acceptable for making hosts and that honey or sugar are not to be added.

While priests who have been laicized may administer the sacrament of confession to someone in danger of death, they are not to celebrate Mass under any circumstances, nor should they serve publicly as lectors or altar servers "lest confusion arise among Christ's faithful."

According to the instruction, some very serious abuses arise from a misplaced desire to promote ecumenism; the document said Mass is not to be concelebrated with a non-Catholic minister.

"The Eucharist is the apex of a Catholic celebration," Cardinal Arinze said. Shared Communion is the goal of Christian unity, not a means to foster full unity in faith and doctrine.

"The Eucharist is not our possession to be given to our friends," he said, but rather it belongs to the church and is a sign of faith held in common.

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1 posted on 04/23/2004 6:04:37 AM PDT by Desdemona
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To: NYer
please ping, thanks
2 posted on 04/23/2004 6:05:06 AM PDT by Desdemona
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To: el_chupacabra; Pyro7480; netmilsmom; ninenot; All
ping

I don't recall who all wanted to be pinged.

3 posted on 04/23/2004 6:07:16 AM PDT by Desdemona
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To: sandyeggo; Siobhan; Polycarp IV
ping
4 posted on 04/23/2004 6:09:07 AM PDT by Desdemona
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To: Desdemona
"The norm of the church is clear," he said. "The church exists in the United States. There are bishops there, let them interpret it."

But don't hold your breath waiting for them to do it....

5 posted on 04/23/2004 6:09:35 AM PDT by Gerish
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To: Desdemona
Already posted twice!
6 posted on 04/23/2004 6:09:52 AM PDT by NYer (O Promise of God from age to age. O Flower of the Gospel!)
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To: NYer
I couldn't find that story. That was the one I was after.
7 posted on 04/23/2004 6:11:00 AM PDT by Desdemona
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To: Desdemona
Our parish priest went through a long dissertation on reverence and when we should bow and who is allowed on the alter when. After hearing him I thought to my self that they should put back up the communion rails and turn the alter to face the cross like it was pre-Vatican II. For me it just does not cut it this emphasis on the priest as the intercessor to God.

Two weeks later the parish priest was arrested for trolling homosexuals (undercover cop) in a park in another city.
8 posted on 04/23/2004 6:15:49 AM PDT by Investment Biker
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To: Desdemona
Hi I found it!
9 posted on 04/23/2004 6:19:52 AM PDT by StAthanasiustheGreat (Vocatus Atque Non Vocatus Deus Aderit)
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To: NYer; Salvation; Canticle_of_Deborah; sandyeggo; american colleen; Polycarp IV; Desdemona; ...
Defenders of the Faith Ping!!!

I noticed one or two things I gotta get on my place about now!
10 posted on 04/23/2004 6:20:17 AM PDT by StAthanasiustheGreat (Vocatus Atque Non Vocatus Deus Aderit)
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To: Investment Biker
put back up the communion rails and turn the alter to face the cross like it was pre-Vatican II.

You would LOVE this place.

11 posted on 04/23/2004 6:26:09 AM PDT by bankwalker (Washington needs an enema.)
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To: Investment Biker
Some of the churches here still have communion rails. Truly, if we kneel do we really need the rail? You can do it without the rail. I guess it just makes things more formal.

And I wish we would use chant more often.
12 posted on 04/23/2004 6:29:30 AM PDT by Desdemona
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To: Desdemona
I wish we could forever be rid of "Glory & Praise", St. Louis Jesuits, and OCP.
13 posted on 04/23/2004 6:59:31 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: ArrogantBustard
You're describing my childhood.

I didn't get all the way through the document before my magnificent pooch started dancing to go out. I'll have to look and see what it said about music.
14 posted on 04/23/2004 7:06:17 AM PDT by Desdemona
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To: Desdemona
Thanks D.

Is it me or does this actually say nothing changes? We will still have Altar girls, 15 lay people handing out communion and raising our hands at the Our Father, type stuff.
15 posted on 04/23/2004 7:07:51 AM PDT by netmilsmom (Laz, where are you? Are you ok?)
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To: Desdemona
You're describing my childhood.

And??? I'm also describing part of my adolescence and young adulthood ... as well as the current situation in many places. IMO, most of that music stinks.

16 posted on 04/23/2004 7:14:50 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: netmilsmom
Is it me or does this actually say nothing changes? We will still have Altar girls, 15 lay people handing out communion and raising our hands at the Our Father, type stuff.

The way I read it is, and I got this from the full document, not the news stories, - the bishops have discretion and this is what they are supposed to do. When the dog falls asleep, I'll finish reading it. She's been a pest this morning. I didn't get much past the priests.
17 posted on 04/23/2004 7:14:59 AM PDT by Desdemona
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To: ArrogantBustard
Most of the music is pretty bad, but I think a good chunck of that can be chalked up to ignorance. Before I trained in voice and really learned classical, I used to like it. Really, the bad music is a byproduct of poor or lack of musical education. The kids in my family were at least exposed to classical when we were young. Some people I know can't name Beethoven's Fifth when they hear it.
18 posted on 04/23/2004 7:18:29 AM PDT by Desdemona
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To: Desdemona
I spent over a decade studying classical piano, as a child ...

Most of the music is pretty bad, but I think a good chunck of that can be chalked up to ignorance.

Are you saying that the composers or the congregations are musically ignorant. Or both?

19 posted on 04/23/2004 7:22:09 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: ArrogantBustard
I spent over a decade studying classical piano, as a child ...

My hands are so small, I can only reach a seventh. Even flute - I couldn't move on to openhole because my hands are too small. Oboe was easier.

Are you saying that the composers or the congregations are musically ignorant. Or both?

Congregations, yes. A good number of music directors and "liturgists". Several of the "composers" don't demonstrate in their writing much of a knowledge of good writing. Some do, but right now they are few and far between and their material usually gets taken out of the annual music issues.
20 posted on 04/23/2004 7:30:30 AM PDT by Desdemona
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