Worship Times

The biggest liturgical story of the year is the update to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal released in July by the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments. Known by its Latin title, the Institutio is a source of confusion and controversy. When it takes effect, the way Mass is celebrated will change in some small ways.

Duties of lay communion ministers would change. American bishops have a clarification from the Vatican permitting the continuation of the widespread practice of lay ministers assisting the presider in pouring consecrated wine into chalices. The bishops also plan to request an indult for the new practice of only allowing the ordained to cleanse communion vessels.

Otherwise, confusion reigns over the Institutio. Without a definitive translation, does it yet have force of law? Normally, a document is translated, the translation is approved by Rome, and then a period of time is set up to prepare for changes.

Consultation groups are reviewing the Institutio. It seems likely that areas left to the discretion of the local bishop or conferences of bishops will be discussed and planned.

The new document affirms that people at Mass should not receive communion from the tabernacle. Many other aspects of post-conciliar liturgy are affirmed, even strengthened. The importance of music at Mass on Sundays and holy days, for example, is even stronger in the new document.

At the U.S. bishops’ fall meeting, Archbishop Oscar H. Lipscomb, who chairs the Committee on the Liturgy, urged his colleagues “not to precipitously implement any provisions … which might be changed by particular law” — that is, by special U.S. rules for which the bishops could apply.

It seems that calm and pastoral heads are needed to ensure that fine-tuning the Mass remains a positive experience.

U.S. bishops’ fall meeting

Hispanic Catholics in the United States have approval for a new Spanish Scripture translation for liturgical use. More than two-thirds of clergy and laity surveyed preferred the Mexican lectionary to other Spanish-language options. The Bishops’ Committee on Liturgy recommended its use for liturgical books in the dioceses of the United States. The BCL also approved work on a revision of the Lectionary for Masses with Children. 

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