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Issues at a glance
By ARTHUR JONES
On July 28, the Vatican released a General Instruction for the
revised third edition of the Roman Missal, which contains directives for
celebrating Mass. They released it before the Roman Missal itself is ready.
Simultaneously, the U.S. bishops Secretariat for the Liturgy released an
in-house study translation (NCR, Aug. 25).
As the media picked up the study translation, a furor developed
over several of its points, among them an item recommending that only ordained
ministers wash the eucharistic vessels.
According to some attending the Oct. 3-7 Federation of the
Diocesan Liturgical meeting in Costa Mesa, Calif., liturgical reactionaries,
people who would turn back post-Vatican II (1962-65) liturgical reform, used
the study translation -- which has no binding force -- to make
their cases, in some instances forcefully, with their pastors or, if they are
priests, with their congregations.
At an Oct. 3-7 meeting of the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical
Commissions, Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb, chair of the Bishops Committee on
the Liturgy, tried to calm anxieties while promising that federation members
would have opportunities for input as bishops continue to discuss the new
directives and their application in the United States.
National Catholic Reporter, October 20,
2000
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