Worship Times

Laity too ministerial?

It seems lay folk have been getting a little too uppity lately. Some of us have been going around doing some of the things priests used to do (when we had priests to do them), and the folks at the Vatican don't like it.
"Lay ministries that obscure the differences between the ordained priesthood and the laity, even if motivated by a desire to serve priestless communities, are harmful to the church," Vatican officials said, according to a report by the Catholic News Service.
Things are getting so bad that last November the Vatican released an "Instruction on Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Nonordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of the Priest." In the document, the rules forbidding lay people from giving the homily at Mass are restated as are those that regulate the use of extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist. The document also reiterates the rules governing the delegation of lay people to assist at marriages and to lead funeral celebrations. There are no new regulations included in the instruction.
Even so, the Vatican wants to be sure we don't further contribute to the possibility that the whole church might "crumble" because "the difference between common priesthood of the faithful and the ordained ministry" is not clear, according to Archbishop Dario Castrillon Hoyos, pro-prefect of the Congregation for Clergy.
To help keep things clear, the instruction notes that lay people may not take on titles "such as 'pastor,' 'chaplain,' 'coordinator,' 'moderator' or other such similar titles which can confuse their role and that of the pastor, who is always a bishop or priest."
That being the case, ML is unsure how to report the fact that there are currently 26,000 paid lay "something-or- others" doing "whatever-it-is- they-do" in United States Catholic parishes. That is up by about 5,000 from what it was six years ago, according to Msgr. Philip J. Murnion of the National Pastoral Life Center in New York, in a report he made to the U.S. bishops at their meeting last November.
According to Murnion, the pay scale for lay ministers is also rising -- by about 20 percent when adjusted for inflation. However, that still doesn't represent big money. Liturgists make out best, averaging $28,000 for a full-time salary. Music ministers make about $25,000 and religious educators make about $23,000.

Sacramentario

At their November meeting, the U.S. bishops discussed and voted on adopting an official Spanish translation of the sacramentary for the United States. The vote was inconclusive, requiring a follow-up mail vote. However, all indications show that the final vote will grant approval of the text. If adopted, this will be the first single Spanish sacramentary for this country, including all the United States adaptations in the liturgy and the calendar of saints celebrated in the United States.
One point of discussion centered on the use of the familiar form of "you" -- "ustedes" -- instead of the formal form -- "vosotros" -- throughout the liturgical texts. "Vosotros" is used in the liturgy texts throughout Latin America.
If the "sacramentario" is approved by the bishops, it must still be submitted to Rome for approval.