Something New at Mass is it OK?

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Our pastor has added something new to Mass both Sunday and daily. The alter has no linens on until the Offertory, then they are put on and after Mass is over before the final blessing they are removed. We are told this is said in the new regulations. No other parish in the area or any other part of the country that I have been to does this. Can anybody shed some light on this for me. Thanks
 
No.

It is not “said in the new regulations.” There is no such thing.

In fact, this practice is specifically not-permitted.

The same question was submitted to the Holy See (back in 1999)

Whether at the offertory, the altar linens with candles can be brought to the altar in the procession with the gifts?

℟ In the negative.

With regard to the preparation for the celebration, according to the Instiutio generalis Missalis romani, n. 79: « The altar should be covered with at least one cloth. And upon it or near it at least two, or even four or six, or, if the Bishop of the diocese celebrates, seven candle stands with lit candles should be placed ». From this it can be deduced that these preparations should not be defered [sic] to the offertory.

At the offertory (cf. n. 49 of the same Institutio): « Firstly, the altar, the table of the Lord, which is the center of the whole eucharistic liturgy, is prepared: a corporal, purificator, Missal, and, unless it is prepared at the credence table, the chalice are placed upon it. Then the offerings are brought forward. It is praiseworthy for the bread and wine to be presented by the faithful and received by the priest or by the deacon in an opportune place and placed upon the altar with the accompanying formulas ». It should be noted that nothing is said here about placing the cloth.

We should also pay attention to the fact that in the celebration of Good Friday alone would this be necessary, by way of exception, since the altar would be without decorations from the beginning of the celebration; cf. Missale Romanum, Feria VI in Passione Domini, n. 2: « The altar should be altogether bare: without cross, without candles, without cloths ». After the adoration of the cross, « the cloth is spread upon the altar, and the corporal and book are placed upon it » (ibidem, n. 21).
(bolding added by me)
The response was published in the official “Acts” and it is binding.

Here is a PDF of the official publication notitiae.ipsissima-verba.org/pdf/notitiae-1999-456-456.pdf (page 456)

And here is a (unofficial) translation into English
notitiae.ipsissima-verba.org/show/219
 
Thank you for the reply, I will forward this info and see what kind of response I get
 
Memaw said:
Let us know!! I’ve never heard of this before!!! God Bless, Memaw
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Oh, I have. I’ve even prepared the altar like that once, ONCE. Then I found out that it was wrong. But when you’ve had a priest promote it you think it’s OK, until you find out the truth.
 
I don’t know whether this practice is approved or not, but it is just silly.

It’s just a product of imagination to give people something to do, to feel a part of the ceremony of the Mass.

You see the same nonsense on EWTN at their daily and sunday Masses. The chalice could already be set out on the altar and the bookstand and prayer book, too.
One of the servers will put everything in place “just so” and then the priest will go and rearrange everything – yes, that makes me feel so holy.

You see this too at the National Shrine in Wash DC. One piece of silliness is have hundreds of deacons and priests and bishops process in, instead of being prearranged in their places. Seriously, it takes up 20 to 25 minutes of broadcast time to watch them all march in by 2’s and kiss the altar. I’m sure glad so many people put EWTN between their gas and electric and cable bill, to pay for this pomp and circumstance. If you turned the sound off on your TV, you could use the time to say your rosary.

This “table covering” ceremony started a long time ago in our diocese, when one of our bishops considered himself an expert on the liturgy (and he was in control of it anyway) and either mandated it or at least approved it. His point was, the people had such a small part of the Mass, probably 4 minutes out of 60 minutes, and he wanted to come up with ways to get them “involved” even if it was silly and meaningless.

One of the novelties in my parish, is that the priest has everybody stand up before Mass and they’re supposed to say hello to each other and introduce themselves – well, nobody has ever introduced themself to me. then, there’s the “sign of peace” where the same people shake hands with each other. and, then, if you weren’t already exposed to every germ in the place, the ushers try to shake your hand when you exit your pew to receive Communion – so, if you’re halfway down the church and shake hands, you’ve got the germs of everybody in front of you in that handshake ( I refuse to shake hands )

I went to Midnight Mass one Christmas Eve, and I sat next to a younger woman. She grabbed my hand three times to shake it – I mean, this is the theater of the absurd.
 
its like the Good Friday liturgy. it is right that the alter should have a alter cloth on for mass to be celebrated on by I don’t get why it has to be put on and taken off. To me its stupid taking it on and off as it just doing something what isn’t really necessary.
 
Aran_Houlihan said:
its like the Good Friday liturgy. it is right that the alter should have a alter cloth on for mass to be celebrated on by I don’t get why it has to be put on and taken off. To me its stupid taking it on and off as it just doing something what isn’t really necessary.
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Good Friday is altogether different. The rubrics call for the altar to be stripped on Holy Thursday and a cloth to be put on for Communion on Good Friday and then taken off again. The altar is supposed to be bare until you prepare it for the Vigil.
 
bjcsfo said:
Our pastor has added something new to Mass both Sunday and daily. The alter has no linens on until the Offertory, then they are put on and after Mass is over before the final blessing they are removed. We are told this is said in the new regulations. No other parish in the area or any other part of the country that I have been to does this. Can anybody shed some light on this for me. Thanks
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Pff spare me. I’m tired of pastors trying to change the mass or the liturgy and claim that it’s “regulations”. They only do it because THEY want to.
 
There are always people who try to innovate for no reason. It happens all the time at the Easter Vigil.

How many of you hear the Exsultet! in the dark, and listen to the readings in the dark? We did that for several years with the lights only being lit at the Gloria. Apparently it’s more dramatic that way. :rolleyes:

I had always thought it odd to proclaim Light in the dark and last year I finally read the rubrics in the Roman Missal. Lights are to come on after the last “Light of Christ. Thanks be to God” so that’s what we did. People didn’t like it.

Not sure what they did this year as I was too sick to attend anything but the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.
 
Interesting to learn that the lights are to be turned on before the Exsultet. My first experience of that was this year with a new pastor and I hated it. In past years the lights weren’t turned on until the Gloria. At least now I know which pastor was the innovative one.
 
Phemie said:
There are always people who try to innovate for no reason. It happens all the time at the Easter Vigil.

How many of you hear the Exsultet! in the dark, and listen to the readings in the dark? We did that for several years with the lights only being lit at the Gloria. Apparently it’s more dramatic that way. :rolleyes:

I had always thought it odd to proclaim Light in the dark and last year I finally read the rubrics in the Roman Missal. Lights are to come on after the last “Light of Christ. Thanks be to God” so that’s what we did. People didn’t like it.

Not sure what they did this year as I was too sick to attend anything but the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.
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Phemie-

I know this is the case with the 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal (about when the lights come on); was that always the case, though? The USCCB website makes it sound as though the entrance/introductory rites to the Easter Vigil underwent substantial changes in rubrics.
 
Cor_ad_Cor said:
Phemie-

I know this is the case with the 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal (about when the lights come on); was that always the case, though? The USCCB website makes it sound as though the entrance/introductory rites to the Easter Vigil underwent substantial changes in rubrics.
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I’ve got a copy of both the Canadian and the American 1974 “Sacramentary”. There is no change in when the lights are to come on during the Vigil from that to the 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal.

I really don’t see many changes as far as rubrics are concerned. The wording has changed of course but not the way it’s done.
 
Well, obviously nobody had the lights on before electric light was invented… but yup, we are supposed to have the normal church lighting restored after all the “Christ our Light” stuff is done. (Or at least normally-dim church lighting - you don’t have to jack up the lights to halogen headlight brightness. It’s kinda weird how much brighter Masses are lit, even in daytime, these days; when I was a kid, we mostly were okay were a bit of dimness or natural lighting from sunlight.)

The service where you are supposed to be sitting in the dark is Tenebrae (Darkness). It’s a special Liturgy of the Hours thing, which is either a very early morning or late evening service that involves a lot of extinguishing of candles. People used to love it.

But since most parishes don’t do Tenebrae anymore, a lot of Tenebrae got shoveled into the Easter Vigil.

The sad thing is that some abuses or innovations aren’t necessarily bad in themselves; they just are devotional practices that shouldn’t be shoveled into Mass, or which work better at home than at church.
 
I went to our Easter Vigil mass this year and the lights came back on (at least partially) prior to the Exsultet and then back to full brightness sometime shortly after the Exsultet. I thought it was a very beautiful and symbolic moment.

As for dressing and stripping the altar as part of the regular progression of mass seems like a waste of time and thankfully I’ve never seen anything like that. Frankly, I probably wouldn’t know what to do if I saw anything like that.

As for the kiss of peace, I don’t mind it but then again I must go to some extraordinary parishes because I’ve never seen any of the types of nonsense I see described here time and time again. Of the parishes I’ve ever gone to on a regular basis or just as a one off visit the passing of the peace has been quick and dignified: normally my wife and the people in the pew in front of me and behind – a quick nod and handshake or acknowledgment and nothing else. I’ve never seen people pour out of the pews to shake everybody else’s hands nor have I sat near people that attempted to to shake or hold hands throughout the mass. I’m not sure what I would do in that situation.

ChadS
 
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