0 Comments The Xaverian Brothers are at a small orphanage in Hinche, Haiti, undamaged but overwhelmed with an influx of children from Port au Prince. You can give on-line at xaverianbrothers.org, and read more at maisonfortune.org The bank has reopened there and the money will go right to work – the children in our parish have adopted this project, and many parishioners have made matching gifts.
My parish, St. Vincent de Paul, is truly blessed when it comes to youth ministry. Having had one pastor for the past 17 years, we have had a steady hand to guide us from one youth leader to the next. I began the program back in 1997 and served for several years until moving on to high school education.
Fortunately, our next youth minister was skilled in some areas where I wasn’t and took the program to even greater heights. He served for nearly nine years before passing the baton to a college-aged participant. He then served for two years and left behind a solid core of leaders.
As we recently hired the fourth youth minister, it was good for all four of us to reflect on the blessing of parish ministry. When Tyler, our new hire, reported for duty and was introduced at a recent Mass, it was significant that the previous three youth ministers were all present. With a firm pat on the back, I told him “You are the fourth in a long line of good youth leaders—don’t mess it up.”
How seriously does your parish take succession planning?
Techies know about the value of being “in sync”. From one’s desktop to the internet- this is an essential component of keeping your data backed up and available from multiple computers. I’ve been thinking quite a bit of this lately in regards to RCIA. We typically think of initiation as a process of membership and well we should.
But I’m wondering if another metaphor might also be helpful- that of RCIA being a process of synchronization. When a person becomes a member of the Church, God’s family is welcoming them into the Body of Christ. The Church essentially helps the new member be in sync with God’s People and with a new way of living.
Which metaphors do your parishes use for describing RCIA to the wider community?
This weekend, here in Boston we are expected to institute significant changes in the liturgy due to “hygiene concerns.” These include a withdrawal of the Precious Blood from the communion of the faithful, and a “no touch” rule at greetings and the Sign of Peace. An article in the Boston Globe quotes various pubic health officials as supportive of the ban, including one who calls the cup the “most dangerous” practice of the liturgy. So now the cup of salvation has become the cup of germs. No one in the mix seems to know that research has shown that there has never been a case of outbreak of disease traceable to the common cup. Nor does anyone comment that the precautions are anti-bacterial, not anti-viral. I cannot with a straight face order people “not to touch” when they are married to each other. I think the rules come from an excess of caution, but also from an inadequate theology of the cup. In a day of liturgical reversals, this is a major loss Never in my priesthood have I celebrated a Mass when the cup was not offered to all. We need to mourn its passing and work for a hasty return. I was in Montreal a few weeks ago, and there the rules go even further, to emptying of the holy water fonts, and a ban on communion on the tongue. If any practice at Mass is unhygienic it is precisely that. Most ministers of communion have had their fingers nibbled at one point. and I would have welcomed a caution other than the ridiculous note here that ministers of communion need to take care that they do not touch the mouth or hand of a communicant. Ah well. I would have preferred that everyone be treated like adults and left to make their own judgments about whether or not to shake hands or receive. Alas, I’m not in charge. My great fear is that now that a shadow has been cast over the cup, it simply will not come back in many parishes when the ban is lifted, reversing years of good catechesis and ritual development, and denying the faithful a basic right (rite) restored to them some years ago. What do you think?
Now here’s an interesting question, although I think just about all missteps in Sunday liturgy are rooted in a single mistake: namely, the selective reading of the Revised General Instruction on the Roman Missal. Those who prepare the parish liturgy may show exuberance for certain features of the RGIRM, for example keeping the Communion Ministers away from the altar, or teaching the people to bow. At the same time, other features, such as assuring the communion is received from the same sacrifice the people celebrate and not the tabernacle, are widely ignored. That being said, I can give you the top three on my list.
FIRST, the absence of silence. We are asked to call to mind our sins and are given a five second window of opportunity to bring them to mind. The readings move along quickly, with no silence to frame then. The impression is given that we are sharing pious selections from the Bible, rather than being in the presence of Christ and weighing his words, receiving them as a lens to look at our own life’s progress as individuals and community. The General Intercessions are fired off, with no silence to allow the need to sink in and quicken the imagination. After Holy Communion, we rush to completion rather than being given some time of quiet prayer to savor the experience of Eucharist and the call of the Lord to engagement with our world.
SECOND: Communion from the tabernacle. So many parishes treat the tabernacle as a source for communion, ignoring a call that can be traced back more than six hundred years to assure the right of the faithful to receive from the Lord’s table. It takes careful counting, but it is an attainable goal. At the very least, no one should go to the tabernacle until the supply of hosts consecrated at the Mass has been entirely consumed.
THIRD: Inattention to the proper posture for the assembly during the entire time of Communion, until the last person has received. This is a sign of the solidarity of the assembly in Christ, and a reminder that in being received into his Body by eating and drinking, we are receiving one another, our joys and sorrows The indults from the RGIRM already have US Catholics kneeling more than anyone else, but Holy Communion is not one of the dispensations. We stand from the priest’s communion until the last has received. This posture works best when people are zealous for providing silence for “private prayer” and meditation after Holy Communion is complete.
I suspect these are fairly widespread failures, yet I have plenty of concerns that may not be widespread, including the mistake of leaving before we are sent. Here and there, lots of people bail out of the assembly even while communion is still unfolding. Thus, communion is sundered at its highpoint. Worse, the whole purpose of the Mass is short-circuited, the charge to go out into the world as the presence of Christ. For the moment, I am content to throw down the three flags noted above!
As the father of three young children, I accept the fact that I spend at least a portion of Mass refereeing their behavior and making sure that they get through liturgy in one piece. Try as we may to get them to the bathroom before Mass, there is of course the occasional walk to the restroom.
As the homily-moment in liturgy does not require absolute quiet, we do get to focus in on the weekly message. Typically, we have found that a great homily involves three things:
How about in your parish? What have you found to be helpful for dynamic preaching to take place?
I am increasingly concerned about the ongoing investigation of institutes of religious women in the USA. Sisters are concerned that the outcome has already been determined, and the secrecy of the process seems in tension not only with the Gospel, but with core American values. More than any other nation, the church in the US was built through the sacrifice and creative leadership of amazing women, whose legacy is lived out today in hundreds of dynamic communities. Now, that contribution is shadowed by confusion as to what judgments may be coming. Sisters have dealt with opposition before. Mother Theodore Guerin, canonized last year, was once excommunicated by the local bishop in Indiana. Saint Frances Cabrini was met at the dock by the bishop of New York who told her she was not welcome: she said she was there at the behest of the pope and she wasn’t going anywhere. Almost all American communities have similar stories. Yet, sisters wonder why men’s communities, often with quite similar history of foundation, renewal, and ministry, are not being scrutinized. They wonder too what support they have, both prayer and practical support, from the Catholic faithful. There may well come a day when, in conscience, priests and faithful will have to come to the defense of the sisters in support of their heritage, their selfless contribution, and their ongoing ministry and witness at the heart of the church. In the meantime, why not tell a sister you know how much she is loved and her ministry valued?
Staypressed theme by Themocracy
