I heard that the Church recently released a new document dealing with liturgical abuses. What can you tell me about it?
The document is entitled Redemptionis Sacramentum (Latin, “The Sacrament of Redemption”). It was prepared by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments at the request of Pope John Paul II, and it offers practical rules (norms) concerning how Mass is to be celebrated and how the Eucharist is to be treated. It focuses on liturgical abuses that have been occurring in recent years
How seriously does the Church take the liturgical abuse problem?
It is not possible to be silent about the abuses, even quite grave ones, against the nature of the liturgy and the sacraments as well as the tradition and the authority of the Church, which in our day not infrequently plague liturgical celebrations in one ecclesial environment or another. In some places the perpetration of liturgical abuses has become almost habitual, a fact that obviously cannot be allowed and must cease (4).
What does the Church say to those who have committed or turned a blind eye to abuses?
Let bishops, priests, and deacons, in the exercise of the sacred ministry, examine their consciences as regards the authenticity and fidelity of the actions they have performed in the name of Christ and the Church in the celebration of the sacred liturgy. Let each one of the sacred ministers ask himself, even with severity, whether he has respected the rights of the lay members of Christ’s faithful, who confidently entrust themselves and their children to him, relying on him to fulfill for the faithful those sacred functions that the Church intends to carry out in celebrating the sacred liturgy at Christ’s command. For each one should always remember that he is a servant of the sacred liturgy (186).
II. Regulating the Liturgy
Who has the authority to regulate the liturgy?
The regulation of the sacred liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church, which rests specifically with the Apostolic See and, according to the norms of law, with the bishop (SC 22 §1).
Christ’s faithful have the right that ecclesiastical authority should fully and efficaciously regulate the sacred liturgy lest it should ever seem to be “anyone’s private property, whether of the celebrant or of the community in which the mysteries are celebrated” (14, 18, cf. EE 52).
May the bishop regulate the liturgy any way he wants? In particular, may he remove options that are in the Church’s liturgical books by forbidding priests or laypeople to exercise them?
It pertains to the diocesan bishop . . . “within the limits of his competence, to set forth liturgical norms in his diocese, by which all are bound.” Still, the bishop must take care not to allow the removal of that liberty foreseen by the norms of the liturgical books so that the celebration may be adapted in an intelligent manner to the Church building, or to the group of the faithful who are present, or to particular pastoral circumstances (21; cf. CIC 838 §4).
Does the bishop have an obligation to take action to prevent liturgical abuses?
It is the right of the Christian people themselves that their diocesan bishop should take care to prevent the occurrence of abuses in ecclesiastical discipline, especially as regards the ministry of the word, the celebration of the sacraments and sacramentals, the worship of God, and devotion to the saints (24).
Do bishops or bishops’ conferences have the authority to authorize experimentation with the liturgy within their own area?
As early as the year 1970, the Apostolic See announced the cessation of all experimentation as regards the celebration of Holy Mass and reiterated the same in 1988. Accordingly, individual bishops and their conferences do not have the faculty to permit experimentation with liturgical texts or the other matters that are prescribed in the liturgical books. In order to carry out experimentation of this kind in the future, the permission of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments is required. It must be in writing, and it is to be requested by the conference of bishops. In fact, it will not be granted without serious reason. As regards projects of inculturation in liturgical matters, the particular norms that have been established are strictly and comprehensively to be observed (27).
Someone has been showing me a document that was drafted by a committee of the conference of bishops, but as far as I can tell it was never voted on by the full body or approved by the Holy See. What authority does it have?
All liturgical norms that a conference of bishops will have established for its territory in accordance with the law are to be submitted to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments for the recognitio [approval], without which they lack any binding force (28).
III. The Laity’s Participation at Mass
My parish liturgy director makes a big deal over “the active and conscious participation” of the faithful in the liturgy, by which she seems to mean that we should be doing something more than paying attention, singing, and saying the responses as we worship at Mass. How does the Church understand the participation of the laity?
From the fact that the liturgical celebration obviously entails activity, it does not follow that everyone must necessarily have something concrete to do beyond the actions and gestures, as if a certain specific liturgical ministry must necessarily be given to the individuals to be carried out by them. Instead, catechetical instruction should strive diligently to correct those widespread superficial notions and practices often seen in recent years in this regard, and ever to instill anew in all of Christ’s faithful that sense of deep wonder before the greatness of the mystery of faith that is the Eucharist (40).
Can just any lay person serve a special role at Mass? Sometimes at my parish there have been people lectoring or serving in other roles who are in irregular marital situations or who openly advocate positions contrary to the Church’s moral doctrine.
The lay Christian faithful called to give assistance at liturgical celebrations should be well instructed and must be those whose Christian life, morals, and fidelity to the Church’s magisterium recommend them. It is fitting that such a one should have received a liturgical formation in accordance with his or her age, condition, state of life, and religious culture. No one should be selected whose designation could cause consternation for the faithful (46).
Since adult men can be instituted as acolytes, should the traditional custom of having altar boys be maintained?
It is altogether laudable to maintain the noble custom by which boys or youths, customarily termed servers, provide service of the altar after the manner of acolytes, and receive catechesis regarding their function in accordance with their power of comprehension. Nor should it be forgotten that a great number of sacred ministers over the course of the centuries have come from among boys such as these (47).
I know that under canon law only men can be instituted as acolytes (cf. CIC 230 §1), but can girls and women serve at the altar without being instituted as acolytes?
Girls or women may also be admitted to this service of the altar, at the discretion of the diocesan bishop and in observance of the established norms (47).
IV. The Proper Celebration of Mass
1. The Matter of the Most Holy Eucharist
My parish occasionally uses bread at Mass that seems to have an unusual texture. What kind of bread is allowed?
The bread used in the celebration of the most holy eucharistic sacrifice must be unleavened, purely of wheat, and recently made so that there is no danger of decomposition (48).
What if other ingredients are used? Or if only a small amount are included, so that the material would still be considered bread in the opinion of most people?
Bread made from another substance, even if it is grain, or if it is mixed with another substance different from wheat to such an extent that it would not commonly be considered wheat bread, does not constitute valid matter for confecting the sacrifice and the eucharistic sacrament (48).
What about seasonings in small quantities, like honey? I’ve seen newsletters thanking people for donating “honey for the hosts.” Also, can anybody make hosts for their parish?
It is a grave abuse to introduce other substances, such as fruit or sugar or honey, into the bread for confecting the Eucharist. Hosts should obviously be made by those who are not only distinguished by their integrity but also skilled in making them and furnished with suitable tools (48).
2. The Eucharistic Prayer
Sometimes a deacon or pastoral assistant or even the congregation itself is invited to say part of the Eucharistic Prayer. Is this permitted?
The proclamation of the Eucharistic Prayer, which by its very nature is the climax of the whole celebration, is proper to the priest by virtue of his ordination. It is therefore an abuse to proffer it in such a way that some parts of the Eucharistic Prayer are recited by a deacon, a lay minister, or by an individual member of the faithful, or by all members of the faithful together. The Eucharistic Prayer, then, is to be recited by the priest alone in full (52).
At my parish they occasionally play the organ or have the choir sing during part of the Eucharistic Prayer. Our parish liturgy director says this makes the people more involved so that they won’t be completely passive. Is she right?
While the priest proclaims the Eucharistic Prayer, “there should be no other prayers or singing, and the organ or other musical instruments should be silent,” except for the people’s acclamations that have been duly approved (53; cf. GIRM 32).
My priest breaks the host at the consecration when he says the words “On the night he was betrayed, Jesus took bread and broke it.” Is he allowed to do that?
In some places there has existed an abuse by which the priest breaks the host at the time of the consecration in the Holy Mass. This abuse is contrary to the tradition of the Church. It is reprobated and is to be corrected with haste (55).
3. The Other Parts of the Mass
I know that priests are permitted to adapt certain explanations that occur in the Mass (cf. GIRM 31), but my priest changes the wording of fixed texts in order to “keep the people paying attention,” he says. Is he allowed to do that?
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. For in doing thus, they render the celebration of the sacred liturgy unstable and not infrequently distort the authentic meaning of the liturgy (59).
At a local monastery they sometimes have one of the nuns read the Gospel. What is the status of this?
Within the celebration of the sacred liturgy, the reading of the Gospel . . . is reserved by the Church’s tradition to an ordained minister. Thus it is not permitted for a layperson, even a religious, to proclaim the Gospel reading in the celebration of Holy Mass, nor in other cases in which the norms do not explicitly permit it (63).
Who is allowed to preach the homily?
The homily, which is given in the course of the celebration of Holy Mass and is a part of the liturgy itself, “should ordinarily be given by the priest celebrant himself. He may entrust it to a concelebrating priest or occasionally, according to circumstances, to a deacon, but never to a layperson. In particular cases and for a just cause, the homily may even be given by a bishop or a priest who is present at the celebration but cannot concelebrate” (64; cf. GIRM 66).
At my parish they have a seminarian who is doing his “pastoral year,” and they sometimes have him preach the homily “to practice for what he will have to do later.” Surely that is allowed.
The prohibition of the admission of laypersons to preach within the Mass applies also to seminarians, students of theological disciplines, and those who have assumed the function of those known as “pastoral assistants”; nor is there to be any exception for any other kind of layperson, or group, or community, or association (66).
Sometimes our parish has a layperson give a “faith talk” after or in place of the priest’s homily. Is this allowed?
If the need arises for the gathered faithful to be given instruction or testimony by a layperson in a Church concerning the Christian life, it is altogether preferable that this be done outside Mass. Nevertheless, for serious [Latin, “grave”] reasons it is permissible that this type of instruction or testimony be given after the priest has proclaimed the prayer after Communion. This should not become a regular practice, however. Furthermore, these instructions and testimony should not be of such a nature that they could be confused with the homily, nor is it permissible to dispense with the homily on their account (74).
Can laypeople ever preach in church, even if it is not a homily?
The homily, on account of its importance and its nature, is reserved to the priest or deacon during Mass. As regards other forms of preaching, if necessity demands it in particular circumstances, or if usefulness suggests it in special cases, lay members of Christ’s faithful may be allowed to preach in a church or in an oratory outside Mass in accordance with the norm of law. This may be done only on account of a scarcity of sacred ministers in certain places, in order to meet the need, and it may not be transformed from an exceptional measure into an ordinary practice, nor may it be understood as an authentic form of the advancement of the laity. All must remember besides that the faculty for giving such permission belongs to the local ordinary, and this as regards individual instances; this permission is not the competence of anyone else, even if they are priests or deacons (161).
Just what does the Church want the homily to consist of? My priest drones on and on, but you can’t tell how what he says is connected to the readings. Often his point never seems to amount to more than a general exhortation to be nice to others, a pious platitude, or an endorsement for his political ideas.
Particular care is to be taken so that the homily is firmly based upon the mysteries of salvation, expounding the mysteries of the faith and the norms of Christian life from the biblical readings and liturgical texts throughout the course of the liturgical year and providing commentary on the texts of the Ordinary or the Proper of the Mass, or of some other rite of the Church. It is clear that all interpretations of Sacred Scripture are to be referred back to Christ himself as the one upon whom the entire economy of salvation hinges, though this should be done in light of the specific context of the liturgical celebration.
In the homily to be given, care is to be taken so that the light of Christ may shine upon life’s events. Even so, this is to be done so as not to obscure the true and unadulterated word of God: for instance, treating only of politics or profane subjects, or drawing upon notions derived from contemporary pseudo-religious currents as a source (67).
All of the priests in my diocese seem to be lousy preachers, presumably because of the education they received in seminary. What can be done about this besides waiting for a new generation of priests?
The diocesan bishop must diligently oversee the preaching of the homily, also publishing norms and distributing guidelines and auxiliary tools to the sacred ministers, and promoting meetings and other projects for this purpose so that they may have the opportunity to consider the nature of the homily more precisely and find help in its preparation (68).
After the offering is collected, they put it all in one basket and place it on the altar. They also sometimes take up a collection of things besides money (e.g., cans of food for the poor). Should they do that?
In order to preserve the dignity of the sacred liturgy, in any event, the external offerings should be brought forward in an appropriate manner. Money, therefore, just as other contributions for the poor, should be placed in an appropriate place that should be away from the eucharistic table. Except for money and occasionally a minimal symbolic portion of other gifts, it is preferable that such offerings be made outside the celebration of Mass (70).
People cross the aisles to exchange the sign of peace, ushers go up and down the aisles extending it to people in each pew, and the priest seems to go romping all over the Church. Should this happen?
It is appropriate “that each one give the sign of peace only to those who are nearest and in a sober manner.” “The priest may give the sign of peace to the ministers but always remains within the sanctuary, so as not to disturb the celebration. He does likewise if for a just reason he wishes to extend the sign of peace to some few of the faithful” (72; cf. GIRM 82; IGMR 154).
