One step forward, two steps back

[Phemie]

Just got a call from the chair of the Liturgy Committee:

“When do we remove the Holy Water from the stoups during Lent?”
“Holy Thursday, after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.”
“That’s what I thought. Fr. just emptied them tonight.”

Here we go again. Why can’t we just get a Pastor who says the black and does the red??

We were thrilled when he came because he genuflects at the appropriate time, he receives Communion before distributing it to the EMHCs and altar servers and he reinstated regular confession – all things his predecessors didn’t do.

But two weeks ago he informed me that there will be no baptisms during Lent and now, obviously, there will be no Holy Water available for anyone either. Tonight at Mass he also invited men, women and children to sign up to have their feet washed on Holy Thursday, although he had been informed that in our parish only men had their feet washed. He doesn’t agree with that.

 

[YoungTradCath]

Why do there need to be liturgy committees? Why not just draft a manual for the parish for each important day of the year and do the same thing every year, with the only sources being primary liturgical document sources? That would avoid silly situations.

 

[Phemie]

Why do there need to be liturgy committees? Why not just draft a manual for the parish for each important day of the year and do the same thing every year, with the only sources being primary liturgical document sources? That would avoid silly situations.

Liturgy committees get things organized and done. Generally ours wants to follow the documents but the last 3 pastors have had a problem with that. When you’ve had 6 pastors in 12 years the only constant is the Liturgy Committee – unfortunately, its attempts to follow the liturgical documents have been thwarted at ever turn.

 

[SMHW]

Why do there need to be liturgy committees? Why not just draft a manual for the parish for each important day of the year and do the same thing every year, with the only sources being primary liturgical document sources? That would avoid silly situations.

But that kind of begs the question as to who will put such a manual together in the first place.

For Holy Water soups you’d want information such as what person is supposed to do the actual emptying, where the old water should go, how they should be cleaned, and where the stoups will get stored until they are to be refilled for the Easter Vigil. (You know, all the stuff that seems simple enough but turns out not to be so obvious to anyone who hasn’t done it before.)

You’d need someone to put such a manual together. Committee time!!!

 

[Phemie]

But that kind of begs the question as to who will put such a manual together in the first place.

For Holy Water soups you’d want information such as what person is supposed to do the actual emptying, where the old water should go, how they should be cleaned, and where the stoups will get stored until they are to be refilled for the Easter Vigil. (You know, all the stuff that seems simple enough but turns out not to be so obvious to anyone who hasn’t done it before.)

You’d need someone to put such a manual together. Committee time!!!

It would be so much easier to just read all the documents I downloaded from the Vatican website, printed and placed in a big binder labelled “Liturgical Documents”.

 

[malphono]

It would be so much easier to just read all the documents I downloaded from the Vatican website, printed and placed in a big binder labelled “Liturgical Documents”.

Why in heaven’s name would they do that?

 

[MrTheosis]

Just got a call from the chair of the Liturgy Committee:

“When do we remove the Holy Water from the stoups during Lent?”
“Holy Thursday, after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.”
“That’s what I thought. Fr. just emptied them tonight.”

Here we go again. Why can’t we just get a Pastor who says the black and does the red??

We were thrilled when he came because he genuflects at the appropriate time, he receives Communion before distributing it to the EMHCs and altar servers and he reinstated regular confession – all things his predecessors didn’t do.

But two weeks ago he informed me that there will be no baptisms during Lent and now, obviously, there will be no Holy Water available for anyone either. Tonight at Mass he also invited men, women and children to sign up to have their feet washed on Holy Thursday, although he had been informed that in our parish only men had their feet washed. He doesn’t agree with that.

It’s almost time for the annual slew of threads about Paschales Solemnitatis, isn’t it?

I used to be very serious about the drained fonts you describe. Someone wrote a piece about absurdity of depriving Catholics of an important sacramental like holy water during a season like Lent and it really resonated with me.

Successive pastors didn’t care (whatever made life easiest for them) but members of the liturgical committee drained them each year throughout Lent. Finally one year I had a priest from outside the parish bless 10 gallons of holy water for me. (I had saved and very thoroughly washed 10 one gallon milk jugs.) Every Sunday morning I would fill the fonts (it took two gallons per week). All heck would break loose during the week between the pastor and the liturgy committee. Each knew I was doing it and both knew I was simply following the Church’s directions. Finally the pastor had reached his limit. He said we were going to follow the Church’s instruction on the matter and that was that. It has not been an issue since but there are people still very bitter about the matter.

Today I would simply provide the information to the pastor and pray. I still want the wrongs righted, but I also don’t want to let the process consume me as it does so many others. It would be fair to say that the liturgy committee at my parish today spends more than 50% of its time fighting about such things. I find that to be terribly sad.

I also have to roll my eyes when people read a document and then get upset when their interpretation of it is not followed. I get a chuckle when someone claims their interpretation of a Church document is THE correct one.

Make the pastor fully aware and then pray. Unless it’s a grave matter, getting all bent out of shape is sure to do even greater harm.

 

[SMHW]

It would be so much easier to just read all the documents I downloaded from the Vatican website, printed and placed in a big binder labelled “Liturgical Documents”.

True enough.

But what YoungTradCath seemed to be describing seemed more like a day to day task planning document rather than requirements documents.

 

[jmcrae]

It would be so much easier to just read all the documents I downloaded from the Vatican website, printed and placed in a big binder labelled “Liturgical Documents”.

I second the motion. All in favour?

 

[mburn16]

E for Effort…now, fill the water back up.

For years they used to empty the font at our Church sometime between the burning the palms on fat tuesday and the morning distributions of ashes the next day.It was replaces by something like a sheave of wheat bound in purple that was set in the middle of where the water would be until they filled it again during the vigil service.

Then a couple years ago we suddenly had water for lent. Not sure if the Bishop said something or someone else did or what.

 

[jmcrae]

E for Effort…now, fill the water back up.

For years they used to empty the font at our Church sometime between the burning the palms on fat tuesday and the morning distributions of ashes the next day.It was replaces by something like a sheave of wheat bound in purple that was set in the middle of where the water would be until they filled it again during the vigil service.

Then a couple years ago we suddenly had water for lent. Not sure if the Bishop said something or someone else did or what.

Change of priest? A better-educated priest will make a huge difference.