New rules focus on role of priests
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
NCR Staff Rome
New Vatican restrictions on the role
of laity in distributing Communion signal a resurgence of a priest-centered
vision of the Mass, in the view of some liturgical experts -- a step back from
the emphasis on lay participation that followed the Second Vatican Council
(1962-65).
Especially galling to some American liturgists is the fact that
the rules will apparently override a 1984 U.S. bishops document, approved
by the Vatican, that allowed laity to perform many of the acts that Rome now
says must be the exclusive province of priests.
Others, though, say the measures are a balanced response to 30
years of post-Vatican II liturgical experience.
The rules, issued by the Vatican on July 28, say that lay
people:
- may not approach the altar before the priest has received
Communion;
- may not place consecrated hosts into containers, known as
sacred vessels;
- must receive the sacred vessels from the priest, rather than
removing them from the tabernacle or picking them up from the altar
themselves;
- may not assist in the cleansing of the sacred vessels after
Mass;
- may not consume leftover consecrated wine after Communion
unless the priest administers it to them.
The document also prohibits priests from leaving the sanctuary to
greet people during the sign of peace and offers the option of placing the
tabernacle either in the sanctuary or a side chapel. It says only the Book of
Gospels, never the lectionary, may be carried in procession. The Book of
Gospels is a collection of the gospel passages assigned to be read at Mass.
Recent comments by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger notwithstanding, the
new instruction endorses the post-Vatican II practice of priests facing their
congregations while celebrating Mass. Many voices in the church, including that
of Ratzinger, powerful prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, are pressing for a return to the pre-Vatican II custom of priests and
people both facing east, which entails the priest standing with his back to the
people.
The restrictions on lay people are disturbing,
according to Fr. John Gurrieri, former chief of staff for the U.S.
bishops committee on liturgy. It almost reads as if lay people have
a ministerial role in the Eucharist only by sufferance, as if the Eucharist is
the priests exclusive reserve, he said. It seems to me that
lay people are undervalued.
This does not seem to be what those who crafted the
councils liturgical reforms had in mind, he said.
That analysis was rejected by Fr. James Moroney, who holds the
post once occupied by Gurrieri. While Moroney said there is a re-emphasis
on the role of the priest in the instruction, he finds it heartening.
In recent years the joy we have experienced in the
restoration of lay ministries has been used by some as a way of denigrating or
ignoring the indispensable role of the priest, Moroney said. As
often happens in the American context, one is played off against the other.
Catholic ecclesiology speaks of the indispensable role of
the priest, and in the same breath refers to the unquestioned priority of full,
conscious and active participation of all the baptized, Moroney said.
You need both.
The new rules came in a document called the General
Instruction on the Roman Missal, traditionally viewed as the rulebook for
celebrating the Catholic Mass. It forms the introduction to the collection of
prayers for Mass called the Roman Missal, a new version of which is
to be issued in the fall. The new stipulations will not take effect until then,
though observers believe some bishops and pastors will begin to implement them
immediately. This is the first revision of the general instruction since
1975.
In its language on lay ministers, the instruction contradicts
previsions of a 1984 document of the U.S. bishops on Communion under both
kinds, This Holy and Living Sacrifice, later approved by Rome. It
authorizes lay people to help with the breaking of hosts before the priest
receives Communion, the pouring of the consecrated wine and the cleansing of
the sacred vessels.
The August issue of a newsletter put out by Moroneys office
states that the new Vatican instruction in effect repeals the American
document.
The provisions for distribution of Holy Communion under both
species found in the [general instruction] should be followed, the
newsletter says. In the near future, the Bishops Committee on the
Liturgy plans to revisit This Holy and Living Sacrifice in the
light of the revised [general instruction].
It makes you wonder what the point is of getting these
documents approved, one former bishops conference official told
NCR. What changed between 1984 and 2000 to suggest this is no
longer good pastoral practice?
Gurrieri, who led the U.S. liturgy office from 1980 to 1988, said
he believes some aspects of the new restrictions are impractical.
Im a pastor with three Masses on Sunday, he said. I
dont purify the vessels; the lay ministers do. Meanwhile Im out
front greeting people in the 10 or 15 minutes I have before the next Mass.
A third of the parishes in my diocese have only one priest,
and youre talking about four chalices, minimum, at every Mass, plus the
plates for the hosts. This just isnt realistic.
Gurrieri said he hopes the U.S. bishops will update their appendix
to the general instruction, adopted after the 1975 edition, which contains
adaptations for American practice. The bishops committee on liturgy will
consider revisions to the appendix at its November meeting.
In response to a specific request from the United States, the
Vatican agreed July 25 to permit lay ministers of Communion in this country to
pour consecrated wine into individual containers in parishes where large
numbers of Mass-goers receive Communion under both kinds. The clarification
came in a letter from Archbishop Francesco Pio Tamburrino, the No. 2 official
in the worship office in Rome.
Exactly what impact the new restrictions will have is not yet
clear, particularly in parishes where they run counter to common practice.
Priests walking into the body of the church during the sign of peace continues
to be common practice in many U.S. parishes. The Vatican has attempted to curb
the practice in response to several dubia, questions, put to it by
bishops since the 1975 instruction.
The instruction offers the general law of the church,
said one Vatican official. Of course youll find differences in
practice. Much depends, according to the official, on how aggressive the
U.S. bishops conference and individual bishops in their dioceses, choose
to be about enforcement.
In its treatment of where consecrated hosts are stored and the
position of the priest during Mass, the new instruction also wades into two
other simmering liturgical controversies.
The 1975 instruction expressed a strong preference for placing the
tabernacle in a separate chapel for private adoration and prayer. Some
conservatives, however, objecting to what they see as a decline in eucharistic
devotion in American Catholicism, have argued that the tabernacle should be
prominently placed in the sanctuary (the area around the main altar).
The new instruction offers two options. The first is placement in
the sanctuary, while the second is a side chapel. While both are approved,
canon law generally treats the first of multiple options as preferred.
On the priests stance, the 1975 instruction said that altars
should be free-standing to allow the ministers to walk around it easily
and Mass to be celebrated facing the people. The new document maintains
that language, and adds, which is desirable whenever possible.
Moroney called this a very helpful clarification from the
Holy See.
In an unusual wrinkle, Moroneys office produced an immediate
English study translation of the instruction, a move that has drawn criticism
from some liturgists who see it as a way of bypassing the International
Commission on English in the Liturgy, an agency sponsored by 11
English-speaking bishops conferences. It is generally the
commissions role to translate liturgical documents, but in recent months
the commission has come under severe Vatican criticism (NCR, May
12).
Moroney rejected the suggestion.
It was clear to the committee on liturgy as much as six
months ago that when the new instruction came out there would be an effort by
special interest groups to read it through the filter of their own point of
view, he said. If there hadnt been a study translation, this
weeks news would have been debating the meaning of Latin words rather
than attempting to appreciate the instructions substance.
The Australian bishops conference, like the U.S.
bishops conference, a sponsoring member of the international commission,
issued a news release Aug. 8 stating that the translation produced by
Moroneys staff is in no way definitive.
Sources in Rome said that while the Vatican does not release the
names of those who contribute to its documents, key Americans probably included
Cardinals Bernard Law of Boston and Francis George of Chicago, along with
Archbishop Justin Rigali of St. Louis, all members of the congregation for
worship. Moroney is the lone American consultor to the congregation.
Sources sympathetic to the Vatican said, however, it would be a
mistake to look for a smoke-filled room where the new instruction
was crafted. Rather, they say, it reflects 30 years of experience of
post-Vatican II liturgical reform, drawing on input from all over the
world.
National Catholic Reporter, August 25,
2000
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