In the January 2005
BCL Newsletter...
During the past several years, the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) has devoted its entire resources to completing a translation of the Missale Romanum, editio typica tertia. Seven working committees have been preparing translations of the texts which are then revised by the Roman Missal Editorial Committee before submission to the Episcopal Board of the mixed commission.
In January, 2004, a first draft of the Order of Mass was distributed to ICEL’s member Conferences for comment. These comments were then redacted and discussed by the Roman Missal Editorial Committee in late Spring of 2004. The ICEL Episcopal Board further revised the draft of the Order of Mass in July, 2004 and will consider it once again along with other texts at a meeting in Melbourne, Australia from February 1-6, 2005.
The ICEL Episcopal Board is chaired by Most Rev. Arthur Roche, Bishop of Leeds. Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago, is the USCCB delegate to the board and is assisted by Most Rev. Alfred C. Hughes, Archbishop of New Orleans.
Most Rev. Mark Coleridge, Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne, chairs the Roman Missal Editorial Committee. Among its members are Most Rev. Alan Vigneron, Bishop of Oakland, and Most Rev. Leonard Blair, Bishop of Toledo. Bishops Vigneron and Blair were appointed by Bishop Arthur Roche, Chairman of ICEL, on the recommendation of Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., USCCB representative to ICEL and former chairman of the Committee on the Liturgy.
Ash Wednesday is celebrated on February 9th this year, the same day as the celebration of the Lunar New Year by the Vietnamese community. Because the assignment of the day for Ash Wednesday is entirely within the competence of the Holy See, inasmuch as it establishes the liturgical calendar of the universal church, pastoral questions in regard to fast and abstinence should be addressed by each diocesan Bishop. By way of example, some Bishops have transferred the obligation of fast and abstinence for the Vietnamese community to the Friday following Ash Wednesday in accord with the Code of Canon Law (CIC 84§1).
In recent years, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has approved vernacular editions of the Lectionary for Mass (New American Bible translation [NAB], 1997, 2000) and the Rites of Ordination of a Bishop, of Priests, and of Deacons, both of which were confirmed by the Holy See and are now in use throughout the United States of America.
In response to inquiries concerning the status of these books in other English-speaking Episcopal Conferences, the Secretariat for the Liturgy recently conducted an informal survey of the use of the second typical editions of the Ordo Lectionum Missae (1981) and the De Ordinatione Episcopi, Presbyterorum, et Diaconorum (1989) in other English-speaking countries. The following summary of that survey is provided for the information of our readers.
| COUNTRY |
Rites of Ordination |
Lectionary |
| Australia |
The first edition is still in use.
Plans for a second edition have
been deferred until after
completion of the
Roman Missal. |
The first edition (Jerusalem
Bible) is in use. |
| Canada |
The Conference of Bishops is
in the process of considering
the ICEL translation, having
sent amendments and
comments on a draft
translation of it to ICEL in
June, 2004. |
A revision of the second
edition (New Revised Standard
Version [NRSV]) has been
completed and the Sunday
volume will be submitted to
the Holy See in the near future
for the requisite recognitio. |
England
Wales
Scotland |
A translation of the second
edition has been approved and
has been submitted to the Holy
See for the requisite
recognitio. |
The first edition (Jerusalem
Bible) is in use, while a second
edition (NRSV) is under
consideration. |
| India |
The Conference of Bishops
will discuss the issue in 2005. |
The first edition (in both
Jerusalem Bible and RSV
versions) is in use. |
| Ireland |
The ICEL translation is
pending consideration by the
Conference of Bishops. |
The first edition (Jerusalem
Bible) is in use, while a second
edition (NRSV) is under
consideration. |
| New Zealand |
The first edition is still in use. |
The first edition (Jerusalem
Bible) is in use. |
| Pakistan |
The first edition is still in use. |
The first edition (Jerusalem
Bible) is in use. |
| Philippines |
The first edition is still in use. |
The U.S. second edition
(NAB) is presently in use. |
| South Africa |
The first edition is still in use. |
The first edition (Jerusalem
Bible) is in use. |
Cardinal James Francis Stafford, Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary, has issued a decree dated December 25, 2004 concerning the granting of two plenary indulgences during the Year of the Eucharist for the following occasions:
- when the faithful participate attentively and piously in a sacred function or a devotional exercise undertaken in honor of the Blessed Sacrament, solemnly exposed or conserved in the tabernacle;
- when clerics, religious or others pray Evening Prayer and Night Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours before the Blessed Sacrament, even when it is reserved in the tabernacle.
The decree states that the plenary indulgences are received by the faithful under the usual conditions (sacramental confession, freedom from all attachments to sin, reception of Holy Communion, prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father).
Recognizing that there are many who because of sickness or other just cause cannot make it to a church to venerate the Blessed Sacrament, these people can be granted a plenary indulgence if they “make this visit to the Blessed Sacrament spiritually and with the heart’s desire…and recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a pious invocation to Jesus in the Sacrament.”
Most Churches have already embarked on their plans for the Year of the Eucharist and this document provides another source of encouragement to a deepening of devotion to the Eucharist and making that devotion more vital in all communities.
In addition, the occasion of this decree gives pastors and liturgists the opportunity to emphasize the importance of the relationship of the
Liturgy of the Hours to the celebration of the Eucharist, as described in Laudis canticum, the praenotanta to the
Liturgy of the Hours:
12. The Liturgy of the Hours extends to the different hours of the day the praise and thanksgiving, the commemoration of the mysteries of salvation, the petitions and the foretaste of heavenly glory, that are present in the Eucharistic mystery, “the center and apex of the whole life of the Christian community.” The Liturgy of the Hours is an excellent preparation for the celebration of the Eucharist itself, for it inspires and deepens in a fitting way the dispositions necessary for the fruitful celebration of the Eucharist: faith, hope, love, devotion, and the spirit of self-denial.
A special website containing resources for the Year of the Eucharist has been developed as a part of the Committee on the Liturgy webpage of the USCCB (
http://www.usccb.org/liturgy). The Year of the Eucharist site includes a downloadable text of
Mane Nobiscum Domine and other documents on the Eucharist. Resources for implementing the new
Roman Missal, Prayers before the Blessed Sacrament, and resources for adoration of the Holy Eucharist are also included.
The liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council was influenced in a powerful way by a man who was one of the most widely read liturgical scholars of our times, Père Pierre-Marie Gy, OP. Born on October 19, 1922, he was influenced in his scholarly formation by Dom Bernard Botte, OSB, of Louvain and Père Yves Congar, OP. During the start of his career he also had contact with Dom Gregory Dix, OSB and Father Andreas Jungman, SJ.
In the great Dominican intellectual tradition, Père Gy began medieval studies at the famous School of Chartres in Paris. His doctoral dissertation was on the theology of the ritual of the Sacraments. In 1949, one year after his ordination, he began teaching sacramental theology and liturgy at the Dominican Faculty of Theology of Le Saulchoir. From 1949 until 2001, he was a member of the Center of Pastoral Liturgy, which in 1964 became the official liturgical center of the French Episcopal Conference.
In 1956, under Dom Bernard Botte, Père Gy was named assistant of the new Institut Supériur de Liturgie founded at the L’Institut Catholique in Paris. He succeeded Botte as director until 1987, when he became director of doctoral studies of the entire faculty of theology. In 1990, he celebrated his retirement.
Over the years, he edited, first, the Dominican
Revue des Sciences Philosophique et Théologique and then the extremely important liturgical journal,
La Maison Dieu. As a writer of numerous articles, bulletins and book reviews, he was the third president of the Societas Liturgica, an ecumenical and international association of liturgical scholars.
He led us all to a greater appreciation of the unity between sacramental theology and the Church’s liturgy, both as historically understood and as celebrated. On December 20, 2004, Père Gy was called by the Lord to Himself.
All powerful God,
we pray for our brother Pierre-Marie,
who responded to the call of Christ
and pursued wholeheartedly the ways of perfect love.
Grant that he may rejoice
on that day when your glory may be revealed
and in company with all his brothers and sisters
share forever the happiness of your kingdom.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The BCL Newsletter is published by the Committee on the Liturgy of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). It is copyrighted by the USCCB, 2005. All rights reserved. Subscriptions to the BCL Newsletter may be obtained in printed or electronic form for $15 per year by writing to: BCL Newsletter, USCCB Secretariat for the Liturgy, 3211 Fourth Street, NE, Washington D.C. 20017. Bulk rates are available.