For the Forgiveness of Sin: The Revised Order of Penance News & Views

Traditionis Custodes: Cardinal Says Only Vatican Can Dispense from Certain Obligations

By Hannah Brockhaus

CNA—The head of the Vatican’s liturgy office said on February 21 that dispensations from two of the rules in Traditionis custodes can only be granted by the Vatican, not by the diocesan bishop.

The February 21 rescript (a form of official clarification in response to a question or request) from Cardinal Arthur Roche said Pope Francis had confirmed that a dispensation to use or erect a parish church for the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass in a diocese is “reserved in a special way to the Apostolic See.”

Permission for a priest ordained after July 2021 to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass can also only be granted by the Vatican, the document states.

The rescript says that Cardinal Roche’s office, the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, exercises the authority of the Holy See to uphold or dispense from these two obligations.

“Should a diocesan bishop have granted dispensations in the two cases mentioned above he is obliged to inform the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which will evaluate the individual cases,” Cardinal Roche said.

Rumors of new restrictions against the Traditional Latin Mass

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By Michael Brummond

Times of change or transition are commonplace in our human experience. Such moments, both large and small, can be opportunities for renewal and refocus. The purchase of a new car or wallet offers us the prospect and resolution of keeping the new one cleaner than the one replaced. For Catholics the movement from Ordinary Time to the season of Lent is a transition often associated with spiritual and liturgical renewal. Each celebration of the sacrament of Penance is also a moment of transition, allowing us an opportunity for conversion from sin to new life.

Over the last several years, the English-speaking Church has been receiving revised translations of her liturgical books, and each of these is also a moment of change and thus an opportunity for renewal and revitalization. Some of these transitions were of seemingly larger import, such as the 2011 reception of the newly translated third edition of the Roman Missal Others are more modest in their changes and impact. This is perhaps the case with the most recently revised liturgical book, The Order of Penance (OP). Nevertheless, this moment still has the potential for a renewed focus on this sacrament and its liturgical celebration.

Fruit of Vatican II

Before considering the recent changes in translation, it may be helpful to revisit the genesis and contents of the Order of Penance itself.1 Vatican II’s Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC), was rather sparse in its directives regarding this sacrament: “The rite and formulas for the sacrament of penance are to be revised so that they more clearly express both the nature and effect of the sacrament” (SC, 72). In 1966, the commission tasked with implementing Sacrosanctum Concilium, known as the Consilium, undertook the study and revision of the rite. The members of the Consilium considered the existing Tridentine rite, older Western forms of penance, as well as practices of the Eastern Churches. There was a widespread desire that individual confession would be supplemented by a form of communal celebration.

“ The post-conciliar rite was published in 1973 with not one, but three forms: the Order for Reconciling Individual Penitents, the Order for Reconciling Several Penitents with Individual Confession and Absolution, and the Order for Reconciling Several Penitents with General Confession and Absolution.”

Some members also hoped for multiple formulas of absolution from which to choose. The work was not without difficulty and the new rite was promulgated only after many modifications and after the work of two different committees. One of the main reasons for the prolonged preparation was the question of general absolution, the practice of which some Consilium members were hoping to expand. In response, in 1972 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued

Think You’ve Heard It All?

Priests say that all the time when it comes to confession. However, as Michael Brummond explains, in the revised Order of Penance, priests and penitents alike will be hearing something new 1

Play (and Say) the Rite Music

Father Dylan Schrader puts succinct words to music, explaining why knowing—and using— the proper terms for what we sing at Mass are crucial to understanding the power of the Mass 5

Eastward and Onward!

In this reprint from Pope Benedict XVI’s book The Spirit of the Liturgy, the late pontiff explains

Pastoral Norms on the Administration of General Absolution. A new study group was formed to rework the draft in keeping with these new norms. As a result, the post-conciliar rite was published in 1973 with not one, but three forms: the Order for Reconciling Individual Penitents, the Order for Reconciling Several Penitents with Individual Confession and Absolution, and the Order for Reconciling Several Penitents with General Confession and Absolution.

The praenotanda, or Introduction, to the Order of Penance serves as a kind of theological and pastoral overview of the sacrament. The pre-conciliar rite contained its own introduction, but this newly composed and theologically rich text “intended to synthesize the traditional doctrine, theology, and practice as set out by the Council of Trent and nuanced by Vatican II.”2 It begins with richly biblical language, placing reconciliation within the larger context of salvation history, highlighting its trinitarian,

Please see PENANCE on page 4 why praying ad orientem is the way to go for a wholly liturgical encounter with Jesus 7

To Eden…and Back Again

The second of Matthew Tsakanikas’s two-part essay returns us to the old Eden to find our way to the new Eden and further liturgical insights into how Exodus informs Genesis 9

An Orthodox Paradox

According to Peter Martin’s review of Mary Stanford’s new book, The Obedience Paradox obedience is key to understanding how married life blossoms only when one dies to self 12

Continued Adoremus Bulletin, March 2023 circulated for weeks. Pope Francis published the motu proprio Traditionis custodes, which restricted the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, in July 2021. In December 2021, the Vatican issued an explanatory note and “responsa ad dubia” (“answers to doubts”), responding to questions about some of the legal provisions of Traditionis custodes and further restricting its celebration.

Ukrainian Catholics To Celebrate Christmas on December 25, in Shift toward West

By Peter Pinedo

CNA—The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) announced on February 6 that it is switching its fixed-date religious celebrations to match the Gregorian calendar used by the Church in the West.

Ukrainian Catholics have been among the few remaining sects under the papacy to celebrate holidays according to the Julian calendar, which celebrates Christmas on January 7 and Epiphany on January 19. The Russian Orthodox Church and other Eastern Churches under the Patriarchate of Moscow follow the Julian calendar.

Now, Catholics in Ukraine will celebrate feasts on the same dates as Catholics in the U.S. and other Western nations, meaning Christmas will be observed on December 25 and Epiphany on January 6.

The change will take place at the beginning of the Ukrainian Catholic Church’s liturgical year, September 1, 2023.

The head of the UGCC, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Galicia, said that the decision was made “taking into account the numerous requests of the faithful and having conducted prior consultations with the clergy and monastics of our Church about the urgent need to reform the liturgical calendar of the UGCC in Ukraine.”

Major Archbishop Shevchuk clarified that only holidays that occur on a fixed date every year, such as Christmas, will now be celebrated on the same days as in the West.

Holidays that move from year to year, such as Easter, will continue for the time being to be celebrated in the old style.

According to the release, there is an ongoing dialogue between the Roman and Greek Catholic Churches to settle on a new arrangement for the two to celebrate Easter on the same day. The two Churches hope to be in agreement in time for the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 2025.

“In preparation for this anniversary, collaborative work is underway in a dialogue between Rome and Constantinople on a renewed Paschalia, according to which all Christians will celebrate Easter on the same day,” the statement said.

Vatican News reported that Major Archbishop Shevchuk said that until the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian Greek Catholics were divided on whether to make the change, but now more than 90% of Ukrainian Greek Catholics support moving from the Julian calendar and its associations with Russia.

“The desire and need for the calendar reform were much more potent than we could have hoped, and this is good news,” Major Archbishop Shevchuk said.

Even though the switch received broad support, the Ukrainian Church will allow individual parishes to continue celebrating feasts according to the Julian calendar if they “feel they are not yet ready for such a step” and obtain special permission from their bishop. This exception will remain possible until 2025, by which point the UGCC wants all parishes to follow the Gregorian calendar.

Pope Francis Urges Conference Participants to Live Liturgy Fully

By Joseph O’Brien

Pope Francis enjoined the faithful to continue to embrace their role in and love for the liturgy in an address he delivered to participants in a liturgy conference in Rome this past January.

The conference, which drew diocesan heads of liturgical celebrations from around the world, was a formation course in the liturgy, and took place January 16-20 at the Pontifical St. Anslem Institute in Rome. The conference’s theme, “Living liturgical action fully,” was taken up by Pope Francis in his address, given on last day of the event. Citing his most recent document on the liturgy, the Apostolic Letter Desiderio Desideravi, Pope Francis commended the participants for attending an event which “is in keeping with the indications of the Apostolic Letter…on

liturgical formation. Indeed, the conduct of celebrations demands preparation and commitment.”

Pope Francis stressed the importance of preparation, both academic and spiritual, for the proper celebration of the liturgy.

“This service of yours to the liturgy requires, besides in-depth knowledge, a profound pastoral awareness,” he said. “I rejoice to see that once again you are renewing your commitment to the study of the liturgy. As Saint Paul VI said, it is the ‘primary source of that divine exchange in which the life of God is communicated to us; it is the first school of our soul’ (Allocution for the closing of the Second Session of Vatican Council II, 4 December 1963). Therefore, the liturgy cannot be fully possessed, it is not learned like notions, crafts, human skills. It is the primary art of the Church, that which constitutes and characterizes her.”

In carrying on their work, Pope Francis called on the participants at the conference to keep in mind the vision for the liturgy set out by the Second Vatican Council.

“One of the cardinal principles of Vatican II returns here: we must always keep the good of the communities, the pastoral care of the faithful (cf. ibid., 34) before our eyes, to lead the people to Christ and Christ to the people. It is the primary objective, which must be in first place also when you prepare and guide the celebrations. If we neglect this, we will have beautiful rites, but without strength, without flavor, without meaning, because they do not touch the heart and the existence of the people of God.”

Pope Francis defined the theme of the conference, “to live liturgical action fully” not as an “aesthetic joy…but rather wonder.”

“Wonder is different to aesthetic pleasure: it is the encounter with God,” the pope said. “Only the encounter with the Lord gives you wonder. How can this objective be achieved? The answer is already found in Sacrosanctum Concilium. In paragraph 14, it recommends the formation of the faithful, but—the Constitution says—‘it would be futile to entertain any hopes of realizing thus unless the pastors themselves, in the first place, become thoroughly imbued with the spirit and power of the liturgy, and undertake to give instruction about it. A prime need, therefore, is that attention be directed, first of all, to the liturgical instruction of the clergy.’”

In his address, Pope Francis also emphasized the importance of ars celebrandi, the proper art of celebrating the liturgy.

“I encourage you to help seminary superiors to preside in the best way possible,” the pope said, “to take care of proclamation, gestures, signs, so that future priests, along with the study of liturgical theology, learn how to celebrate well: and this is the style of presiding. One learns by watching daily a priest who knows how to preside, how to celebrate, because he lives the liturgy and, when he celebrates, he prays.”

Liturgy directors can also play a role in improving the liturgy throughout their dioceses, Pope Francis said in his address.

“Your task is not to arrange the rite for one day,” he said, “but to propose a liturgy that is imitable, with those adaptations that the community can embrace in order to grow in the liturgical life. In this way, gradually, the celebratory style of the diocese grows. Indeed, going to the parishes and saying nothing in the face of liturgies that are a little slapdash, neglected, badly prepared, means not helping the communities, not accompanying them. Instead, delicately, with a fraternal spirit, it is good to help pastors reflect on the liturgy, to prepare them with the faithful.”

Pope Francis closed his remarks by noting the importance of cultivating silence in the liturgy.

“In this age, we talk, we talk…. Silence. Especially before the celebrations—a moment that is at times taken for a social gathering,” he said.

“Silence helps the assembly and concelebrants to concentrate on what is to be done,” Pope Francis continued. “Often sacristies are noisy before and after celebrations,

Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy

PHONE: 608.521.0385 WEBSITE: www.adoremus.org but silence opens and prepares for the mystery: it is silence that enables you to prepare for the mystery, it permits its assimilation, and lets the echo of the Word that is listened to resound.”

Society for Catholic Liturgy Call for Papers

The 2023 Conference for the Society for Catholic Liturgy (SCL) has announced its theme: “Remain in me”: Liturgical Formation and the Eucharistic Revival. The annual conference will be held this year in St. Paul, MN, on September 21-22 and is accepting papers for the event.

The theme this year takes its inspiration from Pope Francis’s recent motu proprio on the liturgy, Desiderio Desideravi: “We see that the liturgical year is for us the possibility of growing in our knowledge of the mystery of Christ, immersing our life in the mystery of His Death and Resurrection, awaiting his return in glory. This is a true ongoing formation. Our life is not a random chaotic series of events, one following the other. It is rather a precise itinerary which, from one annual celebration of His Death and Resurrection to the next, conforms us to Him, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ” (64).

In his Apostolic Letter Desiderio Desideravi, Pope Francis calls for a “serious and vital liturgical formation” of the people of God through a “rediscovery of a theological understanding of the liturgy.” At the same time, the Catholic bishops of the United States have called for a three-year Eucharistic Revival (2022-2024), culminating in a Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, IN, in 2024.

According to the official announcement of this year’s theme, the SCL believes it has “a specific scholarly contribution to make in responding to both calls to action. We would like to pose a question: Is it possible that the recommitment to liturgical formation and the Eucharistic Revival can be integrated? How can a plan for the liturgical formation of the faithful contribute to the Eucharistic Revival in the United States?”

Referring to the Eucharistic congresses of the past century, the announcement noted, “the Eucharistic rites of the Church were presented as ways in which the whole Church might develop a new spiritual fervor that would serve as a medicine against individualism, secularization, violence, and injustice. At the heart of these efforts was the desire for a deeper participation in the mystery of Jesus Christ, the ‘true vine’ in which the life of the world remains, continuously sanctified by the prayer of the Church.”

“A re-engagement of the faithful in this deeper understanding of the liturgy,” the statement continued, “in the mode of a scholarly conference, can facilitate an authentic liturgical formation of the people of God, and enable a richer Eucharistic Revival for the 21st century. For this reason, we welcome the submission of abstracts for this theme.

See https://liturgysociety.org for specific topic suggestions.

Presentations are expected to be in the form of a scholarly paper, 30 minutes in length for full panels, 20 minutes in length for student panels. Please submit proposals by March 24, 2023 to Sister Esther Mary Nickel, RSM at nickel.esthermary@aod.org. Papers can be submitted for publication in the Society for Catholic Liturgy’s journal Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal

CORRECTION

On page 8 of the article “Let Your Saturday Be Saturday and Your Sunday Be Sunday: How Pastoral Concerns and Canonical Reforms Inflated the Sabbath and Deflated Its Importance” by John Grondelski, which appeared in the January 2023 issue (Vol. XXVIII, no. 4) of Adoremus Bulletin, the Swiss cities of Bern and Fribourg were incorrectly identified as cities in Germany. The editors regret this error, which was theirs and not the author’s.

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