During the holy seasons of Lent and Advent, no flowers, plants or decorations should be used in the church. The church should be unadorned, silver candlesticks should be used and no altar frontals.
The only two Sundays when flowers can be used are Gaudete and Laetare Sundays.
I see flowers galore at all the churches that I visit during these seasons. What’s up with that!
And what about the color of the altar cloth? Can colored clothes, according to the season, be placed on top of the altar? No, the top altar cloth must be white. Are parishes still breaking this liturgical directive? I have seen it quite recently!
Is it permissible to have the church completely decorated for Christmas for the 4th Sunday of Advent, which this year also happens to be Christmas Eve! No! No! No! But I will bet you a million dollars that almost every church will be completely decorated for Christmas on the 4th Sunday of Advent this year!
Are weddings allowed during Advent and Lent? Unfortunately, liturgical directives allow for it, although local parishes or dioceses could ban these which I have done since I became a pastor in 1991. But, the codicil is that the celebration should be sober and limited decorations. Ha! When I was at the cathedral in the late 80’s and early 90’s, I was not the rector, btw, weddings were allowed during Lent and Advent and wedding rehearsals on Fridays of lent were extravagant affairs with prime rib, roast beef and all the meat products one cared to eat. And there were no limitations on flowers which are extravagant for weddings. Oh, the humanity of it all.
It is recommended to add more candles to the sanctuary for higher solemnities; does anyone actually do that anymore?
And bleached candles should be used for Requiems! Tell me if your parish does that!
The final liturgical principle I will highlight, grievously ignored and laughed at, is that the laity should receive Hosts consecrated at the Mass they attend and only from the tabernacle’s cache if by mistake not enough Hosts are consecrated, only then, when the Hosts consecrated at the Mass run out, only then, btw, one goes to the tabernacle to give the last few people Holy Communion. Do any parishes actually do that????
After Vatican II, we were all reminded, ad nauseam, that we are Easter People! But are we Easter People during the Season of Lent? During the Season of Advent? During the two periods of Ordinary Time? Just what does it mean to be Easter People during Lent? During a funeral? It’s like saying we are Springtime People in the dead of Winter. Who are they trying to kid!
8 comments:
In my experience, even at "reverent Novus Ordo" parishes, there is often a mindset that "local customs" prevail where people are sufficiently attached to them, regardless of the rubrics.
Nick
Keep in mind, there are rubrics, and then there are pastor's preferences that might be masquerading as rubrics.
Regarding cloths on the altar: "When, in the Dioceses of the United States of America, other cloths are used in addition to the altar cloth, then those cloths may be of other colors possessing Christian honorific or festive significance according to longstanding local usage, provided that the uppermost cloth covering the mensa (i.e., the altar cloth itself) is always white in color."
There is a rubric - "always white in color"
Regarding flowers in church in Advent, there is a pastor's preference: "During the holy seasons of Lent and Advent, no flowers, plants or decorations should be used in the church."
However, the rubric does not agree: "During Advent the floral decoration of the altar should be marked by a moderation suited to the character of this time of year, without expressing in anticipation the full joy of the Nativity of the Lord."
Regarding Christmas decorations during Advent, we will have all but the image of the Christ Child in place on the 4th Sunday of Advent. I suspect many churches, because of the way the calendar falls, will do the same. In other years, we do not use the Christmas decor until after the 4th Sunday of Advent.
Blessed Advent to all! Maranatha!
Perhaps the reason so few Catholics actually observe Advent is because their local parish does not either. When "leaders" selectively follow rules, so do the people.
Regarding the claim in the original post, concerning hosts consecrated *at Mass*...
I would dispute that this is a "rubric" or a requirement. As I recall, the verbiage in the conciliar or post-conciliar documents speaks of this as "desirable" or something like that.
For several years as a priest, I made valiant efforts to implement this "desire." As a practical matter, in most settings, it is very difficult and results in outcomes whose undesirability far outweighs the hoped-for benefit. Four outcomes in particular:
First, running out of Sacred Hosts, which arises when one both keeps a small number in the tabernacle, *and* attempts to consecrate a number very close to those actually present. That leaves very little margin of error.
Second, the spectacle of a priest attempting to consume 40-60 hosts, rather than placing them in the tabernacle. Such was reported to me upon returning from a trip, regarding a substitute celebrant. Now, it is true nothing actually forbade the priest from placing the Sacred Hosts in the tabernacle. However, if one is not going to draw from the tabernacle for distribution at *Mass,* then one needs only a small quanity in the tabernacle. Not to be irreverent, but big deposits plus small withdrawals leads to an inevitable problem here. Hence the priest arriving, sooner or later, at the need to consume Hosts.
Three, the ill-advised (as I see it) practice of having people be trained to place altar bread into a bowl for themselves or their family, before Mass.
Why do I think this ill-advised? Because, for one, I think you will need to spend some time and effort to train people to do this, and that seems to be a poor use of time and energy, when there are so many other messages we need to communicate to the faithful. Or we'll have to have ushers manage it, which is fine, except again, there might be other useful things for them to focus on. It strikes me as a overly fussy, low-value bit of busy-work for all concerned at Mass. And, I might add, I think it's very likely some errant hands get into the bowls of altar bread; everyone isn't going to use the tongs, and kids are going to reach.
Fourth and last bad outcome is that there will have to be a greater fussiness about distributing the Sacred Hosts at Mass, if you have more than two people distributing the Body.
This is because if you can't have a nice "reserve" amount of Hosts in your bowl or ciborium -- because *no one* gets such a reserve (because you attempted to consecrate only a few extra) -- then someone has to shuttle about from station to station, rebalancing the number of Sacred Hosts; or else, there's breaking of Hosts, or there's changing of lines. All this takes time, but it's not reflective or calm, it's just fussy and annoying.
All this for something that isn't required at all, but deemed desirable. I agree it IS desirable, but it's a bad idea to turn it into an IRON LAW as some priests did.
Also, regarding the complaint that priests don't follow the rules...
The faithful may not realize just how many rules priests -- and particularly pastors -- have to follow. Let me give you a taste. We must deal with rules regarding:
Celebration of Mass and the sacraments in usual circumstances.
... when Mass is combined with other sacraments.
... about which Mass; this gets complicated when you have a solemnity on a Saturdy -- e.g., the Birth of John the Baptist. That evening, should the Mass be for John the Baptist, or for the following Sunday, as would happen most Saturdays. Doing the former complicates things for lots of people, but seems to be required at various points.
How and when to exercise various options, all of which aren't created equal.
Rules arising from canon law, which is different from liturgical law.
...when rules can be dispensed or altered, how, and by whom.
Child-protection policies of the diocese.
- *Laws* regarding the same, which are from civil government.
... pay, benefits and work conditions of employees.
Rules regarding the priests' own compensation, a substantial amount of which is non-cash, and what counts as such has grey areas.
... accounting procedures.
... bids and contracts.
... required consultation and/or approval involving finance commissions and pastoral advisory councils.
... proper handling of money.
... proper handling of non-cash parish assets.
... human resources, evaluations, and related documents.
... record keeping of all sorts.
... accepting donations (and when not to), as regards honoring the intention of donors.
There are more; but those are all real things the pastor needs to know *something* about, or else how can he evaluate whether others responsible for these things are taking care of them? In many, many parish situations, there just aren't enough resources to hire enough people to do all these things, so the pastor must be the expert in most of them.
Lots of us priests may seem "selective," but in fact, we're juggling as many of them as we can. It's perhaps unfair that some rules seem more important than they ought to be; however, some, if broken, get you in far more trouble than others. Few of these rules were *created* by the priests.
Also, regarding the complaint that priests don't follow the rules...
The faithful may not realize just how many rules priests -- and particularly pastors -- have to follow. Let me give you a taste. We must deal with rules regarding:
Celebration of Mass and the sacraments in usual circumstances.
... when Mass is combined with other sacraments.
... about which Mass; this gets complicated when you have a solemnity on a Saturdy -- e.g., the Birth of John the Baptist. That evening, should the Mass be for John the Baptist, or for the following Sunday, as would happen most Saturdays. Doing the former complicates things for lots of people, but seems to be required at various points.
How and when to exercise various options, all of which aren't created equal.
Rules arising from canon law, which is different from liturgical law.
...when rules can be dispensed or altered, how, and by whom.
Child-protection policies of the diocese.
- *Laws* regarding the same, which are from civil government.
... pay, benefits and work conditions of employees.
Rules regarding the priests' own compensation, a substantial amount of which is non-cash, and what counts as such has grey areas.
... accounting procedures.
... bids and contracts.
... required consultation and/or approval involving finance commissions and pastoral advisory councils.
... proper handling of money.
... proper handling of non-cash parish assets.
... human resources, evaluations, and related documents.
... record keeping of all sorts.
... accepting donations (and when not to), as regards honoring the intention of donors.
There are more; but those are all real things the pastor needs to know *something* about, or else how can he evaluate whether others responsible for these things are taking care of them? In many, many parish situations, there just aren't enough resources to hire enough people to do all these things, so the pastor must be the expert in most of them.
Lots of us priests may seem "selective," but in fact, we're juggling as many of them as we can. It's perhaps unfair that some rules seem more important than they ought to be; however, some, if broken, get you in far more trouble than others. Few of these rules were *created* by the priests.
Fr. MARTIN Fox - Many years ago Fr. Phil Murnion (RIP) put together the National Pastoral Life Center with the desire to help parish priests with useful, practical advice on everything a priest had to do - From Soup To Nuts. The Center published a great magazine - CHURCH - that was helpful in many ways.
In one of his regular speeches, he would say, "There are 5 "L's" that will drive most pastors crazy: Lights, Locks, Leaks, Lawns, and Ledgers."
I don't know any priests who have not found this to be true!
I have always admired priests for their hard work. This discussion helps us see how much they have to do.
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