Adoremus Bulletin - October 2018

Adoremus Bulletin

OCTOBER 2018

Algerian martyrs to be beatified in December

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RAN, Algeria (CNA)— The Algerian bishops’ conference has announced that the beatification of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in the country between 1994 and 1996, will be held December 8. The beatification will take place at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Holy Cross in Oran.

The new blesseds “have been given to us as intercessors and models of the Christian life, of friendship and fraternity, of encounter and dialogue.

May their example aid us in our life today,” the Algerian bishops wrote.

“From Algeria, their beatification will be for the Church and for the world, an impetus and a call to build together a world of peace and fraternity.”

In January Pope Francis had authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to recognize the martyrdoms. Claverie was a French Algerian, and the Bishop of Oran from 1981 until his August 1, 1996 martyrdom. He and his companions were killed during the Algerian Civil War by Islamists.

In addition to Claverie, those being beatified are: Brother Henri Vergès, Sister Paul-Hélène SaintRaymond, Sister Esther Paniagua Alonso, Sister Caridad Álvarez Martín, Fr. Jean Chevillard, Fr. Alain Dieulangard, Fr. Charles Deckers, Fr. Christian Chessel, Sister AngèleMarie Littlejohn, Sister Bibiane Leclercq, Sister Odette Prévost, Brother Luc Dochier, Brother Christian de Chergé, Brother Please see ALGERIA on next page

Vol. XXIV, No. 3

Some Good and Weighty Truths About Beauty: The Seriousness of the Liturgy:

A Centenary of Romano Guardini’s Spirit of the Liturgy, Part VI Bishop James D. Conley “The liturgy is art,” wrote Romano Guardini 100 years ago, “translated into life.”1 In the sacred liturgy, he said, “the Creator-Artist, the Holy Ghost, has garnered and expressed the whole fullness of reality and of creative art.”2 Understanding that liturgy expresses the fullness of reality, of truth itself, is critical to understanding the liturgy, to praying and offering it, and to being transformed by it.

The Church offers the liturgy, Guardini wrote, for the worship of God, and because of our “desperate spiritual need. It is to give expression to the events of the Christian’s inner life: the assimilation, through the Holy Ghost, of the life of the creature to the life of God in Christ; the actual and genuine rebirth of the creature into a new existence; the development and nourishment of this life, its stretching forth from God in the Blessed Sacrament and the means of grace, towards God in prayer and sacrifice; and all this in the continual mystic renewal of Christ’s life in the course of the ecclesiastical year.”3 The sixth chapter of Guardini’s masterwork, The Spirit of the Liturgy, argues that liturgy serves to “mold and adapt human entities for the Kingdom of God,” so that “our real souls should approach a little nearer to the real God, for the sake of all our most personal, profoundly serious affairs.”4 Get Serious Now Guardini’s vision of liturgy is serious.

Liturgy is a serious work—a work of the Lord and a work of the Church, and to serve its sacred and noble purpose, it must be beautiful. Beauty, Guardini writes, “is the full, clear, and inevitable expression of the inner truth in the external manifestation…, the splendid perfection which dwells in the revelation of essential truth and goodness.”5 Beauty in the liturgy reveals what is true and good, makes it manifest, expressed, and perceived, not as “mere

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Adoremus Bulletin OCTOBER 2018

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News & Views

For the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy

A serious beauty: St. Teresa began each day with Mass and Eucharistic adoration. The liturgy, especially when radiantly beautiful, transforms those who participate in it to radiate the beauty of Jesus.

“ Liturgy is a serious work—a work of the Lord and a work of the Church, and to serve its sacred and noble purpose, it must be beautiful.” lifeless accuracy of comprehension,” but as “the right and appropriate regulation of life, a vital spiritual essence…, the intrinsic value of existence in all its force and fullness.”6

Through beautiful liturgy, Guardini says, we encounter “the triumphant splendor which breaks forth when the hidden truth is revealed, when the external phenomenon is at all points the perfect expression of the inner essence.”7 Through beautiful liturgy, we encounter the Lord, expressed and revealed in his glory, and we are transformed by him. In the liturgy, he writes, the Church herself is “in the process of transformation.”8 Beauty stands in close relation to truth and goodness, while remaining an independent value, Guardini writes.

Please see GUARDINI on page 4

Why So Serious?

Bishop Takes King…

Bishop James D. Conley isn’t playing around: Chapter Six of Romano Guardini’s The Spirit of the Liturgy presents the good, the true, and the beautiful as liturgy’s sober core............... 1

It Was 40 Years Ago Today…

Romano Guardini taught the world to pray—and to keep it from going out of style, Cardinal Robert Sarah celebrates Ignatius Press’s 40th anniversary by introducing a new edition of The Spirit of the Liturgy......... 3

Virgins of Virgins

Elizabeth Black presents a portrait of pure love and spotless devotion to Christ in her whole-cloth examination of the Rite of Consecration of Virgins.................................... 6

The bishop must enthrone the liturgy in his heart, protect it like a crown, and nurture it like a kingdom, says Monsignor Robert J. Dempsey in his essay on the bishop’s role in the liturgy......................................................... 8

Be Not Afraid!

Halloween’s not what it used to be—but with the right costume and disposition of heart, Marcel Brown insists, paganism won’t be able to hold a jack-o-lantern to this Christian feast.................................................. 9

News & Views....................................................2 The Rite Questions..........................................10 Donors & Memorials......................................11

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Adoremus Bulletin, October 2018

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NEWS & VIEWS

The tombstone of Prior Christian de Chergé, one of the seven martyrs of the Tibhirine Abbey.

Continued from ALGERIA, page 1 Christian de Chergé, Brother Christophe Lebreton, Brother Michel Fleury, Brother Bruno Lemarchand, Brother Célestin Ringeard, and Brother Paul FavreMiville.

The best known of Claverie’s companions are the seven monks of Tibhirine, who were kidnapped from their Trappist priory in March 1996. They were kept as a bartering chip to procure the release of several imprisoned members of the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria, and were killed in May of 1996. Their story was dramatized in the 2010 French film Of Gods and Men, which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.

The prior, Christian de Chergé, sought peaceful dialogue with the Muslim population of the area and provided employment, medical attention, and education to the locals. Dom Christian accepted that the current political tensions and violent militias were a threat to his life. According to the Trappist order, he wrote a letter to his community and family, citing the peace felt giving his life to God. “If it should happen one day—and it could be today—that I become a victim of the terrorism which now seems ready to engulf all the foreigners living in Algeria, I would like my community, my Church and my family to remember that my life was given to God and to this country,” he said.

After the death of the monks of Tibhirine, Bishop Claverie knew his life was in serious danger. A bomb exploded at the entrance of his chancery August 1, 1996, killing him and an aide, Mohamed Bouchikhi.

Sister Esther Paniagua Alonso and Sister Caridad Álvarez Martín were Augustinian missionaries from Spain who were killed October 23, 1994 in Algiers.

Outdoor Catholic Weddings Now Allowed in Baltimore Archdiocese

By Carl Bunderson

BALTIMORE, MD (CNA/EWTN News)—The Archdiocese of Baltimore has announced a policy to allow weddings to be held outside of parish churches, including at outdoor venues.

“The archbishop has been emphatic about reaching out to young people,” Diane Barr, chancellor of the Baltimore archdiocese, told the Catholic Review in an article published June 6. “There is more openness to considering other options.”

The revised policy was promulgated February 14, and is the fruit of conversations with people who want to be married in the Church, but also want to have the wedding at a location special to them.

Since the policy was promulgated, more than 20 requests have been made under its provisions; all have been approved.

The policy states that weddings “ordinarily shall take place in a parish church…. While always encouraging the faithful to celebrate their wedding in a place of worship, another venue may be deemed a suitable place by the Archbishop or his delegate.”

The preference is that weddings occur in the parish church of the bride or groom, though they may take place in another parish or a school, university, hospital, or other Catholic chapel.

In addition, the new policy allows for wedding to take place at indoor or outdoor wedding venues which are not Catholic chapels.

School chapels are among the most common requests, the Catholic Review reported.

The request for a wedding outside a parish church is to be made by the preparing cleric to the chancellor’s office at least six months in advance of the wedding date.

Non-Catholic wedding venues “should be reasonable and in keeping with a religious celebration. The

place of the ceremony should establish a prayerful, sacred feeling for the couple and their guests,” the norms state.

A list giving examples of places unsuitable for weddings mentions boats, and places where alcohol is served as a matter of course, including casinos, bars, and nightclubs.

To be permitted, outdoor venues must also have an indoor venue available in case of inclement weather.

The application requires that canonical reasons be given for requesting the permission, which might include the spiritual good of the couple; the probability of conversion of a non-Catholic; the validation of a previously invalid marriage, among others. It also asks the cleric to describe the reasons the couple is seeking the permission.

The chancellor will review the petition and reply within 30 days. If the request is declined, the reasons for refusal will be included in the letter, and the decision of the archbishop is final.

The norms note that “In a ceremony outside the parish or approved Catholic chapel location, a Liturgy of the Word ceremony with Exchange of Consent and blessings is permitted,” and that “all liturgical norms for weddings continue to apply.”

This norm also permits a priest to celebrate a wedding Mass at a location outside a parish or Catholic chapel; but “given the varied venues the policy did not want to oblige that a Mass be celebrated,” Sean Caine, vice-chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, told CNA. The Baltimore archdiocese noted that requests for venues outside the archdiocese would require the permission of the local bishop and cannot be guaranteed, though the chancery “will work with other dioceses to try to secure the requisite permissions.”

The permission to use other locations is a one-year experiment. It will be reviewed after a year, and the archdiocese is “keeping detailed records to be able to determine the efficacy of the process as well as its impact on our community,” Caine indicated.

While their processes are distinct, the Diocese of Helena and the Diocese of Harrisburg both have similar policies for permitting weddings outside of parishes.

EWTN to Air Weekly Holy Hours for Healing and Justice IRONDALE, AL—The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery and the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word will be praying a series of Holy Hours for Healing and Justice to be broadcast live on Eternal World Television Network (EWTN). The sisters and friars will be praying every Sunday through December 23 at 6 p.m. (ET).

The Holy Hours will take place at Our Lady of the Angles Chapel in Irondale, AL, every other week beginning September 23, and at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, AL, the alternate weeks beginning September 30.

Local viewers are encouraged to participate in these televised Holy Hours.

“The current crisis is deeply painful for all of us who love the Church,” said EWTN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael P. Warsaw. “It is important to remember, as Mother Angelica reminded us so often through the years, that we need to place our faith in the Lord and not men. We encourage our family to pray for healing and justice for victims, for repentance and accountability by perpetrators, and for peace and perseverance in the Faith among our brothers and sisters in Christ.”

In addition to exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, viewers will learn about that week’s theme

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and purpose, join in praying a rosary with pertinent meditations, listen to a relevant Scripture passage, pray (a penitential psalm, the Divine Mercy Chaplet or Litany, a Chaplet of Adoration and Reparation or other prayers), and be treated to the nuns’ singing or an organ solo.

Eucharistic Procession in Liverpool Draws 10,000

LIVERPOOL, England (CNA/EWTN News)—An estimated 10,000 Catholics processed through the streets of Liverpool in a Eucharistic Procession on Sunday, September 9, in a spirit of prayer and penance for the clerical abuse scandals.

The procession was held at the conclusion of the country’s September 7-9 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage and Congress. It was the largest Catholic procession to have occurred in the United Kingdom since Pope John Paul II’s pastoral visit in 1982, according to the BBC. The theme for the national pilgrimage and congress was “I am the Bread of Life.” Organized by the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, it was held at the Liverpool Echo Arena and included adoration, worship music, and drama performances. Two Masses were also held at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, drawing hundreds.

International Eucharistic Congresses are held in different countries every three to four years. One was last held in England in 1908. The events aim to inspire a greater understanding and love of the Eucharist. Participants at the Liverpool event were also encouraged to promote Eucharistic Adoration in schools and parishes.

While the gathering had been planned for months, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, said that in light of recent events, the Eucharistic procession purposely took on a spirit of “prayer and penance.”

“In many ways, ours is a penitential procession for we are focused on Jesus Christ, who we have crucified,” he said, according to the BBC. “Today I come as a beggar seeking forgiveness laying the load, hurt, damage and mistrust we have caused at the foot of the cross.”

The procession took place amid a wave of highprofile sex abuse revelations, in countries including the U.S., Ireland, Australia, and Chile.

Over the summer, retired Washington Archbishop Theodore McCarrick resigned from the college of cardinals following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse of diocesan seminarians.

Weeks later, a grand jury report in Pennsylvania found more than 1,000 accusations of abuse against some 300 clergy members in six dioceses in the state, as well as a pattern of cover-up by senior Church officials.

Last month, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse released a report detailing evidence of sexual and physical abuse at two Benedictine abbey schools in England.

Correction In the News & Views article “Two West Coast Bishops Work to Increase Eucharistic Reverence” appearing in the September 2018 issue of Adoremus Bulletin, Bishop Robert F. Vasa was incorrectly identified as the bishop of the Diocese of Santa Clara, CA. Bishop Robert F. Vasa is the bishop of the Diocese of Santa Rosa, CA. EDITOR - PUBLISHER: Christopher Carstens MANAGING EDITOR: Joseph O’Brien GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Danelle Bjornson OFFICE MANAGER: Elizabeth Gallagher PHONE: 608.521.0385 WEBSITE: www.adoremus.org MEMBERSHIP REQUESTS & CHANGE OF ADDRESS: info@adoremus.org LETTERS TO THE EDITOR EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE P.O. Box 385 The Rev. Jerry Pokorsky ✝ La Crosse, WI 54602-0385 Helen Hull Hitchcock The Rev. Joseph Fessio, SJ editor@adoremus.org Contents copyright © 2018 by ADOREMUS. All rights reserved.

Adoremus Bulletin, October 2018

By Christopher Carstens, Editor

R

omano Guardini died 50 years ago this month, on October 1, 1968. Upon hearing of his death, Pope Paul VI recalled Guardini’s “praiseworthy work and successful efforts as a scholar and writer for a greater understanding of theological truths and for the formation of a true, liturgical devotion” (see on page 5 the obituary from the October 10, 1968 L’Osservatore Romano). While his most popular work may be The Lord (1937), his short liturgical books—Sacred Signs (1917), The Spirit of the Liturgy (1918), and Liturgical Formation (1923)—have had the most powerful influence upon the Church’s life. A key figure of the 20th century liturgical movement, the crowning achievement of which is the Second Vatican Council’s Sacrosanctum Concilium, Guardini exerted through his work a great personal influence on Pope Benedict XVI and his own thought. To read today’s post-conciliar liturgical texts rightly is to read them through the “hermeneutic” (as Pope Benedict might say) of Romano Guardini.

But here we encounter a bit of a conundrum. In 1964—on the heels of Sacrosanctum Concilium, and while the Council was still in session—Guardini writes a letter to a German liturgical conference. In many ways this letter is his last word on liturgy and the work of liturgical renewal to which Guardini devoted his life. In this letter, Guardini anticipates—and hopes for—a “liturgical crisis.” He writes: “The question will arise whether our present liturgy contains parts which cannot mean much to modern man.

I remember a conversation with the late Abbot Ildefons Herwegen of Maria Laach, the great champion of liturgical renewal. We had been considering

various aspects and I said a sign that the work for liturgy was really coming to life would be a liturgical crisis, and Abbot Herwegen thoughtfully agreed” (emphasis added).

How is one to understand correctly Guardini’s assertion that “a sign that the work for liturgy is really coming to life is a liturgical crisis”?

Guardini’s “liturgical crisis” comes to mind today as the Church undergoes a self-inflicted moral crisis. The two crises are related. An authentic liturgical celebration expresses and fosters our right relationship with God. Only when this most fundamental relationship is on the mend can fallen man relate rightly to his neighbor, his children, and himself.

Then again, Gallup polls, Pew surveys, and the anecdotal smell-test reveal a liturgical crisis of low attendance numbers. Whether from apathy, busyness, scandal, or fear of being bored to death, more and more Catholics choose other options besides the Sunday liturgy of the Mass.

Maybe this particular liturgical crisis is the result of poor celebrations, anemic symbolism, or the introduction of elements not in keeping with the liturgy’s essence. Or maybe the books themselves are to blame: they have either been reformed too much—or not enough!

Indeed, there appear no limits to what can be labeled a “liturgical crisis.”

But are these above-named causes of catastrophe what Guardini and his thoughtful Benedictine friend had in mind? Hardly.

The crises Guardini and Herwegen had in mind are a form of heart trouble: the heart of the liturgy, and the heart of man.

Guardini explains: “As long as liturgical actions are merely ‘celebrated’

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Romano Guardini Was Careful What He Asked For: A Liturgical Crisis

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Romano Guardini walks at Burg Rothenfels, where he led young people to encounter the Lord in the liturgy. “A sign that the work for liturgy was really coming to life,” he said in 1964, “would be a liturgical crisis.”

objectively and texts are merely ‘got through,’ everything will go smoothly because there is no question of an integrated religious act. But once serious prayer is joined to the action, the parts that have no living appeal become apparent.” In short, once the substance of the liturgy becomes clear, and once the essence of liturgical participation and life awaken man at his core—that is, his heart—then all that is out of place in the liturgical act will become obvious.

In fact, these blemishes will become occasions for stumbling and bumbling through an otherwise life-giving liturgical encounter with God—but they will be welcomed as symptoms are welcomed to diagnose a disease.

Fifty years after Guardini’s death, we do indeed have a liturgical crisis. And what is that crisis? That we haven’t yet

reached Guardini’s liturgical crisis!

The life-giving crisis that Guardini envisioned should have resulted from hearts aflame and minds enlightened, engaging Jesus’s saving work manifest in a ritual celebration. But the patient is comatose and any imperfections are stifled by a lack of passion for the liturgy. Our death-spiraling crisis of apathy spins from sluggish hearts and poorly-formed minds slumbering through opaque rites.

As we remember Romano Guardini and his work to foster “true, liturgical devotion” (in the words of Pope Paul VI), let’s cause a “liturgical crisis” by celebrating well, revealing the true God and his saving work, with hearts and minds intent on sanctity. Such is the heart of the liturgical matter. Such is the core of the liturgy.

The Spirit of The Spirit of the Liturgy Commemorative edition of The Spirit of the Liturgy,

by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, including The Spirit of the Liturgy, by Romano Guardini, with a foreword by Cardinal Robert Sarah. Sewn Hardcover, 375 pages, $24.95. Contact Ignatius Press at 1-800-651-1531, or visit www.ignatius.com.

Editor’s note: Ignatius Press marks its 40th Anniversary with a commemorative edition of Joseph Ratzinger’s The Spirit of the Liturgy, a volume that includes Romano Guardini’s own text of his 1918 The Spirit of the Liturgy. Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, pens the foreword to Ignatius Press’s new volume, excerpts of which are printed here with Ignatius Press’s permission. May the Lord bless Ignatius Press for its work, particularly in fostering the liturgical apostolate, and grant it continued success in the years to come. For any readers who have followed Adoremus’s own treatment of the centenary of Guardini’s The Spirit of the Liturgy, consider further reading and reflection from these two sources, now together in a single volume, from Ignatius Press.

By Cardinal Robert Sarah, from the Foreword

I

n selecting The Spirit of the Liturgy, written by his former teacher Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now our beloved Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI), as the title with which to mark the fortieth anniversary of Ignatius Press, Father Fessio himself does not fail to teach us.

For of all the excellent theological, philosophical, spiritual, catechetical, historical, literary, and other works he has published, this title makes manifest the heart and soul of all his endeavors. While Ignatius Press is an exemplary and utterly professional publisher, it is the sacred liturgy that is the veritable “source and summit” of its life and mission.1 How many publishing houses

have at the center of their premises a chapel in which their staff daily participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or pray the Divine Office together? The “spirit and power” of the sacred liturgy2 permeates all of their professional work in a truly exemplary and edifying manner.

This, surely, must bring great joy and consolation to the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whose preface to his own The Spirit of the Liturgy expresses the hope that: “If this book were to encourage, in a new way, something like a ‘liturgical movement’, a movement toward the liturgy and toward the right way of celebrating the liturgy, inwardly and outwardly, then the intention that inspired its writing would be richly fulfilled.”3 How much we owe Cardinal Ratzinger for what has come to be known as “the new Liturgical Movement.”

How much the English-speaking world, and beyond, owes Ignatius Press for making Cardinal Ratzinger’s writings on the sacred liturgy available, writings that have truly become beacons lighting the path for that “movement toward the liturgy and toward the right way of celebrating the liturgy, inwardly and outwardly,” which I believe is growing and steadily advancing even today.

It is opportune to underline briefly this twofold dimension of the sacred liturgy—its internal and external realities—for it is always necessary to guard against the two temptations about which Pope Saint John Paul II warned us, namely, that “sacramental life is impoverished and very soon turns into hollow ritualism if it is not based on serious knowledge of the meaning of the sacraments, and catechesis becomes intellectualized if it fails to come alive in the sacramental practice.”4 Let us develop this teaching, substituting the word “liturgy” for “sacramental”; after all, we in fact celebrate all the sacraments liturgically. We can say, then, Please see SPIRIT on page 5

In honor of its fortieth anniversary (1978–2018), Ignatius Press presents a special Commemorative Edition of one of the most important works written by Joseph Ratzinger. This edition includes the earlier classic work with the same title

by Servant of God Romano Guardini, a book that helped Ratzinger to “rediscover the liturgy in all its beauty, hidden wealth and time-transcending grandeur, to see it as the animating center of the Church, the very center of Christian life.”

Adoremus Bulletin, October 2018

AB/CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOSEPH IN WHEELING, WV; PHOTO BY DENIS MCNAMARA

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Continued from GUARDINI on page 1 But there must be something behind beauty in order for it to reveal itself externally. One could say that beauty is truth and goodness made visible.

But in the end, it is truth that wins out.

Guardini writes that “pride of place, therefore, though not of rank or worth, belongs, not to beauty, but to truth.”9 He points out that the philosophers have always taught that beauty is the splendor of truth. In Guardini’s words, “beauty is the triumphant splendor which breaks forth when the hidden truth is revealed, when the external phenomenon is at all points the perfect expression of the inner essence.”10 For Guardini, the liturgy is to be beautiful in order to manifest its essential truth, and for the good of the salvation of souls, especially our own. The beauty of the liturgy offers us a palpable, sensible, real experience of the reality of the Incarnation, the Resurrection, and our own redemption.

Beauty in the liturgy matters. It is essential to our sacred worship. But there is a danger, Guardini says, “of beauty being placed before truth, or treated as entirely separate from the latter.”11 Because the beauty of the liturgy is important, there is a danger that it might be considered apart from truth, Guardini warned, fostering an attitude “which ultimately degenerates into nerveless aestheticism.”12 Such aestheticism has no place in the “Opus Dei” of Christian worship.

Indeed, Guardini says, those who approach liturgy to worship, to seek strength and consolation, who experience transformation in Christ through sacred worship, “penetrate far more deeply into the essence of the liturgy than does the connoisseur who is busy savoring the contrast between the austere beauty of a Preface and the melodiousness of a Gradual.”13 Always Is Now One hundred years after the publication of The Spirit of the Liturgy, the idea of many people savoring, or even recognizing, a preface or a gradual seems unlikely. Indeed, the ordinary experience of sacred worship for most Catholics has changed so dramatically

since the time of Guardini’s work that it seems to many that his reflections are irrelevant to the current state of sacred liturgy in the life of the Church.

But Guardini’s work was prescient, and is relevant to our circumstances, because his reflections on beauty, truth, and sacred worship are perennial. And indeed, his thoughts, and his warnings, have a particular importance as we reflect on the development of sacred liturgy since the time of the reforms called for by Sacrosanctum Concilium.

The Second Vatican Council’s efforts for a reform of sacred liturgy were needed in large part in order to foster the kind of transformative experience in sacred worship which Guardini, and his collaborators in the liturgical movement, called for. The “fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations” desired by Sacrosanctum Concilium (14) was a call for all Catholics to understand the work of sacred liturgy, its meaning, and to offer their sacrifices in union with the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary, and at the altar.

But the implementation of Sacrosanctum Concilium and the celebration of the Mass of Paul VI have often left much to be desired. And in many cases, this is because of the kind of aestheticism which Guardini warned about.

The aesthetic preferences, of course, of many misguided efforts to implement the liturgical developments of the Second Vatican Council have not been those anticipated by Guardini. But the underlying concerns are the same.

He was concerned with the effects of Protestant individualism, with emotivism, and, at the same time, with a certain kind of formalism which had diminished the capacity of the faithful to engage, consciously and actively, in the liturgical act of worship. The liturgical movement sought to rediscover the Church’s sacred liturgical traditions, precisely in order to imbue in the Church a sense of what it meant to worship, in spirit and in truth, and to be transformed by the sacred liturgy.

Theater of the Absurd Sacrosanctum Concilium has often been misunderstood by those who have

AB/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO

Beauty in the liturgy reveals what is true and good, makes it manifest, expressed, and perceived, not as “mere lifeless accuracy of comprehension,” but as “the right and appropriate regulation of life, a vital spiritual essence…, the intrinsic value of existence in all its force and fullness.”

of aesthetics, to be sure, but aesthetics nonetheless. Consider the music, or art and architecture, or modus celebrandi, which have been paeans of liturgical theater, expressions of the aesthetic preferences of the celebrant, or the “worship director,” or the liturgist, but not expressions of the ineffable truth of the sacred liturgy.

Guardini’s work was prescient because it understood that the fleeting dictates of aestheticism are a temptation for anyone who strives to make a beautiful thing, and forgets that it is the Lord who is the source of all that is true, who has given us the form of real beauty, and who wishes to inspire and transform us in and through true beauty.

The greatest victims of postconciliar aestheticism have been the ordinary Catholics, those about whom the liturgical movement was most concerned, who, as a consequence of shallow aestheticism, have often missed out on the meaning of the sacred mystery of the Mass, celebrated directly in front of them. From a desire to make the Mass more “accessible,” it has often become more hidden, its mysteries shrouded in banality, rather than proclaimed and revealed in staggering and timeless beauty.

The Second Vatican Council’s efforts for a reform of sacred liturgy were needed in large part in order to foster the kind of transformative experience in sacred worship which Guardini, and his collaborators in the liturgical movement, called for. Catholics must understand the work of sacred liturgy, its meaning, and to offer their sacrifices in union with the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary, and at the altar.

“ The greatest victims of post-conciliar shallow aestheticism have been the ordinary Catholics.” separated truth from aesthetics, who have responded to individualism with a kind of foppish pseudo-communalism, bereft of communion with the sacred Trinity, or who have confused the accidental changes to the liturgy with the essential purposes of the Council, and thereby misunderstood the relationship between essential beauty in the liturgy and transformation in Christian holiness.

Guardini made mention of aesthetes savoring the differences between graduals and prefaces. The aesthetes of the post-conciliar era have been of a different sort. But nevertheless, their confusion has led to the kind of “spiritual theater”14 about which Guardini warned.

Consider the kinds of aberrations and innovations that have sometimes plagued the sacred liturgy since the post-conciliar period. Consider the ways they embody a preference for aesthetics over sacred worship—a limited kind

Mass Celebration The Mass is the Mass, whether it is celebrated with great beauty or reverence, or whether it is celebrated according to the whims of aestheticism and the tempting siren song of “liturgical theater.” But absent the dazzling clarity of beauty, the meaning of the Mass, and its potential to transform us, is lost on those who are called to celebrate it, or to assist in its celebration.

This is the reason why Liturgiam Authenticam sought to preserve a certain kind of sacral beauty in the language of the liturgy—to point, for the good of the salvation of souls, to the extraordinary sacral nature of the mystery of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Liturgy is “primarily concerned with reality, with the approach of a real creature to a real God, and with the profoundly real and serious matter of redemption,” writes Guardini. “There is here no question of creating beauty, but of finding salvation for sin-stricken humanity. Here truth is at stake, and the fate of the soul, and real—yes, ultimately the only real—life. All this is what must be revealed, expressed, sought after, found, and imparted by every Please see GUARDINI on page 5

Adoremus Bulletin, October 2018 Continued from GUARDINI, page 4 possible means and method; and when this is accomplished, lo! it is turned into beauty.”15 In All Seriousness Why, then, does Guardini title the sixth chapter of his work “The Seriousness of Liturgy”? Worship is serious because sin is serious, and redemption is serious business. Liturgy must, by every means and method, draw up the faithful into the drama of the reality of our redemption, transforming each one of us in wonder for holy living in union with Almighty God. Liturgy must be beautiful, in every possible way, because every glimmer of beauty might point some soul to the glimmering truth, goodness, and beauty of the Lord. In short, the liturgy is serious because these elements of the liturgy are as serious as sin.

Guardini understood this, and so did the fathers of the Second Vatican Council. So did the great admirer of Guardini, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. His great work, The Spirit of the Liturgy, named as an homage to Guardini, intended to translate the ideas

of Guardini to his own time. We must continue to translate those ideas—that sacred worship matters—because it is the sanctifying summit of the Christian life in our own time. And those who continue the reform and renewal of sacred liturgy in the life of the Church do just that.

To make beautiful liturgy, of course, depends on knowing intimately the serious truths which beauty reveals.

Beautiful liturgy does not begin with the aesthetic preferences of the celebrant. It does not even begin with the treasures of the Church’s liturgical tradition.

Beautiful liturgy begins with real and intimate union with the Lord. To undertake the work of beautiful liturgy, which is really a work of the Holy Spirit, we must know and understand the promptings and movements of the Spirit, and we must know and understand the person of the Incarnate Word of God. Beautiful liturgy—serious liturgy, to be sure, depends entirely on intimate and authentic unity with the one whom we worship. Absent that, regardless of the accidents of music, word, and movement, we cannot worship the Lord beautifully, or draw

Continued from SPIRIT on page 3 that our liturgical life is impoverished and very soon turns into hollow ritualism if it is not based on serious knowledge of the meaning of the liturgy and that catechesis becomes intellectualized if it fails to come alive in liturgical practice.

That is to say, we must penetrate the inner meaning of the sacred liturgy and not simply perform its external rituals without what is essential: the engagement of our hearts, minds, and souls. Certainly, this presupposes an understanding of the meaning of the rites and prayers appropriate to our age, ability, and state in life—that is why thorough liturgical catechesis and formation at every level is a crucial need of the Church in our times. As our Holy Father Pope Francis has reminded

us, “it is necessary to unite a renewed willingness to go forward along the path indicated by the Council Fathers, as there remains much to be done for a correct and complete assimilation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy on the part of the baptized and ecclesial communities. I refer, in particular, to the commitment to a solid and organic liturgical initiation and formation, both of lay faithful as well as of clergy and consecrated persons.”5 Here, The Spirit of the Liturgy is a singularly rich resource and guide in our day, as are the other personal liturgical writings of the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI6 and, indeed, his liturgical magisterium as Supreme Pontiff, which retains its validity.7 So too are the classical writings of the twentieth century liturgical movement

Requiescat in Pace: Death of Romano Guardini

Church and to the Apostolic See. Praying the Lord to grant to his faithful servant a share in the heavenly glory, We cordially impart Our Apostolic Blessing to Your Eminence and to all who were near to him during his life as friends and relations. PAULUS PP. VI Professor Guardini was born in Verona in 1885 and as a child he went with his family to Mainz, Germany, where his father was the Italian consul.

After completing his ecclesiastical studies in the Universities of Freiburg and Tubingen and in the Seminary of Mainz, he was ordained priest in 1910. For some years he dedicated himself to the care of souls in Mainz and to the apostolate of youth. He took his doctorate in theology in 1915 with a thesis on the theology of St. Bonaventure. In 1920 he taught theology at the University of Benno and three years later was called to the University of Berlin as Professor of Catholic Philosophy.

His dedication to the academic life by no means involved a withdrawal from pastoral experience. Among other things he reserved all his Sundays for the “university Masses” which were very well attended. His famous book on Christ, The Lord, is in substance a compendium of his Sunday sermons to the students during a period of four years.

Among his other famous writings are The Spirit of the Liturgy, Sacred Symbols (fundamental works in liturgical theology), The Essence of Christianity, A Portrait of Melancholy, The End of the Modern Age.

Editor’s note: Adoremus Bulletin has been celebrating throughout the year the centenary of Romano Guardini’s The Spirit of the Liturgy. Guardini died on October 1, 1968—50 years ago this month. L’Osservatore Romano, the daily newspaper of the Holy See, printed the following obituary in its October 10, 1968 issue, including remarks from Pope Paul VI. The distinguished German theologian, Romano Guardini, died in a Munich hospital, October 1st, at the age of 83.

On receiving news of his death the Holy Father [Pope Paul VI] sent a telegram of sympathy to His Eminence Cardinal Doepfner of Munich and appointed the Chargé d’affaires of the Apostolic Nunciature in Germany to represent him at the funeral. The following is the text of the telegram: To His Eminence Cardinal Doepfner: We have been deeply moved by the unexpected death of Professor Romano Guardini. We recall with the greatest esteem his praiseworthy work and successful efforts as a scholar and writer for a greater understanding of theological truths and for the formation of a true, liturgical devotion. His work was inspired by an apostolic love and a sense of responsibility, as well as by loyalty to the

others into the serious beauty of the Trinity.

Pray One and All One other point of Guardini’s must remain clear. Beautiful liturgy is not for the elite, it is not to be “the delicate morsel of the connoisseur,”16 it is not to be celebrated only in enclaves of the like-minded. No, the entire Church needs the beauty of the liturgy. And so those who know the power and potential of beauty must be missionaries of beauty in every ordinary and common part of the Church’s life. Every soul needs the grace of beautiful liturgy.

True beauty, Guardini wrote, is modest. And those who seek to reform the reform of the Church’s life must be modest too, as well as patient, generous, and virtuous. “Liturgy must be regarded from the standpoint of salvation,”17 Guardini writes. For the sake of souls’ salvation, we must continue to work with generosity and charity, for an “Opus Dei” of beauty in the work of sacred liturgy.

Originally ordained for the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, in his years as a priest,

that nourished the Pope Emeritus’ own liturgical formation, and for this reason I am delighted that Father Fessio is also publishing here the text of Romano Guardini’s The Spirit of the Liturgy—a “decisive” text that, in Cardinal Ratzinger’s words, “helped us to rediscover the liturgy in all its beauty, hidden wealth, and timetranscending grandeur, to see it as the animating center of the Church, the very center of Christian life.”8 But it is also to say—and this is indispensable—that our external liturgical practices must be acts of love and adoration that truly arise from the reality of our intrinsically ecclesial and profoundly personal worship of Almighty God. We know this from the simple acts of making the sign of the cross or of genuflecting: they can be merely routine acts largely devoid of meaning, or they can become small but intimate expressions of the heart and soul of one who truly loves and worships and, indeed, places God at the center of his life and gives him primacy in all of his activities. “This does not mean that we must always be thinking of God, but that we must really be penetrated by the reality of God so that our whole life… may be a liturgy, may be adoration.”9 Let us live the sacred liturgy with reverential awe and rejoice in and draw from the wealth and richness of its traditional signs, gestures, and rites, large and small, as true lovers of Almighty God—quite the opposite of those somehow “obliged” to perform servile acts of obeisance. Where necessary, let us rediscover why our Holy Mother the Church introduced the powerful symbols with which the sacred liturgy is replete and let Christ acting in and through them inform, enrich, guide, and sustain our lives of faith and our particular mission in the world, which is none other than the sanctification of the

5 the Most Reverend James D. Conley has served the Catholic Church in a wide variety of ways—as pastor, college campus chaplain, director of Respect Life ministries, theology instructor and a Vatican official. On April 10, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI named him auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Denver and he was ordained on May 30, 2008.

On September 14, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Conley as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Lincoln in Nebraska. Bishop Conley was installed on November 20, 2012, in the Cathedral of the Risen Christ in Lincoln.

1. R omano Guardini, The Spirit of the Liturgy (New York: Herder & Herder, 1998), 73.

2. Ibid., 74.

3. Ibid., 82.

4. Ibid., 75.

5. Ibid., 77.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid., 75.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid., 76.

11. Ibid., 78.

12. Ibid.

13. Ibid., 74.

14. Ibid., 83.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid, 82.

17. Ibid., 83.

whole of humanity.

Let us, then, truly live from the sacred liturgy, which surpasses all other acts, for no other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree.10 In so doing we discover the spirit and power of the sacred liturgy, and, if I may be so bold, this is the right way of celebrating the liturgy, inwardly and outwardly, that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has so earnestly sought.

In 1997, two years before publishing the German edition of The Spirit of the Liturgy, Cardinal Ratzinger wrote: “The Church stands and falls with the liturgy. When the adoration of the divine Trinity declines, when the faith no longer appears in its fullness in the liturgy of the Church, when man’s words, his thoughts, his intentions are suffocating him, then faith will have lost the place where it is expressed and where it dwells. For that reason, the true celebration of the sacred liturgy is the center of any renewal of the Church whatever.”11 Our Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has captured in these breathtaking words the essence of our present dilemma, and so, before closing, I wish to take this opportunity once again to express my deep gratitude to His Holiness for his precious contributions, which have, I believe, only just begun to shower forth their blessings upon Holy Mother Church, both for her life of prayer and for faith, for indeed lex orandi, lex credendi!

1. Cf. Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, 4 December 1963, n. 10.

2. Cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 14.

3. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, Ignatius Press, San Francisco 2000, pp. 22–23.

4. Pope St. John Paul, Apostolic Exhortation, Catechesi Tradendae 16 October 1979, n. 23.

5. Pope Francis, Message to participants in the Symposium ‘‘Sacrosanctum Concilium: Gratitude and Commitment for a Great Ecclesial Movement’’ 18 February 2014.

6. Cf. Joseph Ratzinger, Theology of the Liturgy, Collected Works vol. 11, Ignatius Press, San Francisco 2014.

7. In addition to his many papal discourses reflecting the primacy of the Sacred Liturgy in the life and mission of the Church, I would highlight Pope Benedict XVI’s Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis (22 February 2007) and his Apostolic Letter given motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum (7 July 2007), together with his Letter of the same date to Bishops accompanying Summorum Pontificum.

8. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, p. 21.

9. Pope Benedict XVI, Lectio divina, Seminary of the Diocese of Rome, 15 February 2012.

10. Cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 7.

11. Preface to Franz Breid, ed., Die heilige Liturgie, papers from the ‘‘Internationale Theologische Sommerakademie 1997’’ of the Priests’ Circle of Linz, Ennsthaler Verlag, Steyr 1997.

6

Adoremus Bulletin, October 2018

“Sign of the Great Mystery of Salvation:” A Reflection on the Rite of the Consecration of Virgins

By Elizabeth Black

Virgin Revision Promulgated in 1970, the revised ritual reestablishes the ancient vocation of virgins living in the world as its own unique vocation in the Church. The rite may be found in the Roman Pontifical alongside the rites for the ordination of a bishop, the institution of lectors and acolytes, Confirmation, and the consecration of an abbot. With the release this summer of the instruction, Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago, the vocation has drawn increasing attention from bishops and laity alike. The Instruction provides needed clarification, particularly in the area of formation, even while it raises other questions about the nature of consecrated virginity.

But the question remains, what exactly is consecrated virginity? The best place to answer this question is found in the Rite itself. Taking seriously the principle that the law of prayer establishes the law of belief,4 I will examine the Rite of the Consecration of Virgins in order to shed light upon the vocation and offer a reflection on its bridal and virginal nature.

First, then, to the praenotanda, or introductory notes. These preliminary words, which now precede each of the Church’s rites, provide the Church’s own explanation of the nature of consecrated virginity. Two eloquent sentences from the praenotanda sum up the essential elements of the vocation to virginity.

“The custom of consecrating women to a life of virginity flourished even in the early Church. It led to the formation of a solemn rite constituting the candidate a sacred person, a surpassing sign of the Church’s love for Christ, and an eschatological image of the world to come and the glory of the heavenly Bride of Christ.”5 There are three elements here which bear examining.

AB/PHOTO COURTESY OF PAT CORDELL; CAROL DOSS, PHOTOGRAPHER.

W

hile the Second Vatican Council’s Sacrosanctum Concilium is suitably known for its call for the reform of the liturgy in general, it can come as a surprise that the Constitution also mandated the revision of the Rite for the Consecration of Virgins.1 Despite the promulgation of the Rite, the vocation to consecrated virginity remains relatively unknown today. Nevertheless, the vocation dates back to the very earliest times of the Church, pre-dating even religious life.2 The virgin martyrs of the Roman Empire are among the first consecrated virgins. Take, for example, the consecrated virgins, St. Lucy and St. Agnes. These women lived in the world, but as brides of Christ. They did not take religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, nor did they live in community or wear habits. Their life was marked by a love for Christ the Bridegroom and service to his Church, but they lived externally “normal” lives.

For reasons outlined elsewhere,3 over time the consecration of virgins became associated exclusively with religious life.

In the decades leading up to the Second Vatican Council, however, there were a growing number of requests throughout the world to restore the ancient custom of consecrated virgins living in the world. Paragraph 80 of Sacrosanctum Concilium is the Council’s response to the request for the restoration of the integrity of the rite: “The rite for the consecration of virgins at present found in the Roman Pontifical is to be revised.”

Following the Litany of the Saints, the candidate for consecration places her hands in those of the bishop, saying: “Father, receive my resolution to follow Christ in a life of perfect chastity which, with God’s help, I here profess before you and God’s holy people.”

The Total Image First, the consecrated virgin is a “surpassing sign of the Church’s love for Christ.” In other words, the virgin stands as an icon of the Church, manifesting in her own individual life the total spousal dedication that the Church has for Christ. Throughout the Old Testament, Israel is referred to as a Bride of the Lord, whom the Lord espouses to himself. “For as a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; And as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you” (Isaiah 62:5). Idolatry was seen as a kind of impurity, and Israel was to keep her heart pure for the Lord. This she did not do, falling time and again. “Your depravity and prostitution brought these things upon you because you served as a prostitute for the nations, defiling yourself with their idols” (Ezekiel 23:29-30).

“ The virgin acts as a prophetess, reminding the Church of the glorious heavenly wedding feast.”

In the New Testament, the covenant with Israel is fulfilled when Christ comes as the Bridegroom to save his people from their idolatrous sins. Indeed, John hails him as the Bridegroom of Israel, and Christ too refers to himself as the Bridegroom (John 3:39; Matthew 9:1415). In the new dispensation, the Church is the Mystical Bride of Christ, dedicated entirely to her Divine Spouse. The consecrated virgin, in turn, reflects the Church’s spousal identity, by living in her own life a total, personal dedication to Christ. The Rite of Consecration is a liturgical act by which the Church reveals to the faithful an image of herself in the person of the virgin.6 Consequently, the virgin is secondly an eschatological image. As a bride of Christ, the consecrated virgin lives

in the present world the life that each baptized soul is called to live for eternity.

She is a living reminder that eternity is the heavenly wedding feast of the Lamb and his Bride the Church. In his vision of the Heavenly Jerusalem, St. John hears the righteous exclaim, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory.

For the wedding day of the Lamb has come, his bride has made herself ready” (Revelation 19:6-7). In this way, the virgin acts as a prophetess, reminding the Church of the glorious heavenly wedding feast.

Thirdly, because the virgin is an image of the Church, her consecration takes on a public dimension. While certainly acting out of personal devotion to Christ, the woman to be consecrated also stands as a public witness of the Church’s devotion to her Spouse. This is what the introduction means when it speaks of the virgin as being consecrated by means of a “solemn rite.” Later in the text, it is even stipulated: “to deepen understanding of the Church… the faithful should be notified of the celebration in good time.”7 The virgin is not only consecrated to God for her own salvation, but also for the good of the whole Church.

Spouse in the House With all this in mind, let us turn to the ritual itself. On the day of consecration, the candidate approaches the sanctuary in a wedding dress with a lit lamp recalling the lamp of the wise virgins of the parable. The consecration commences after the Gospel when the bishop begins by calling the virgin, “Come, listen to me, my child; I will teach you reverence for the Lord.”8 The virgin responds, “Now with all my heart I follow you, I reverence you and seek your presence.”9 The calling of the virgin highlights the fact that the vocation is a response to the gift of Christ. The bishop as another Christ calls the virgin to this vocation. She hears the Bridegroom’s voice and follows him. “My lover speaks and says to me, ‘Arise, my friend, my beautiful one, and come” (Song 2:10)!

Only after she has responded to the call does the candidate enter the sanctuary

“ The Rite of Consecration is a liturgical act by which the Church reveals to the faithful an image of herself in the person of the virgin.” and take her seat for the homily, further underscoring that she comes to the vocation out of a response to grace.

The homily provided by the rite contains some of the most beautiful explanations of “the gift of virginity and its role in the…welfare of the whole Church.”10 Consecrated virgins are seen by the Fathers as “images of the eternal and all-holy God”11 inasmuch as they remain unchanged and set apart. God the Father showed his love for this vocation because he chose a Virgin to be the mother of his Son. Indeed, Our Lord himself was a Virgin, and the Holy Spirit continues to anoint virgins with a new grace to be brides of Christ. The virgin is to be a witness of God’s love for man, and she is set apart for the service of her neighbor. The bishop reminds the virgin, “Make your whole life reflect your vocation and your dignity.”12 Immediately after the homily the bishop examines the virgin with three questions to confirm her readiness to take on this way of life. “Are you resolved to persevere to the end of your days in the holy state of virginity and in the service of God and his Church?

Are you resolved to follow Christ in the spirit of the Gospel that your whole life may be a faithful witness to God’s love and a convincing sign of the Kingdom of Heaven? Are you resolved to accept solemn consecration as a bride of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God?”13 Here we see a theological deepening in the examination of the candidate. Is she prepared to live physically as a virgin in service to God? Is she ready to deepen that service so that her whole life is a “convincing witness”? Is she prepared

7

AB/SAINT LUCY BY COSIMO ROSSELLI, SAINT AGNES BY TINTORETTO AT WIKIMEDIA

Adoremus Bulletin, October 2018

The virgin martyrs of the Roman Empire are among the first consecrated virgins. St. Agnes (left) and St. Lucy, for example, lived in the world, but as brides of Christ. They did not take religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, nor did they live in community or wear habits. Their life was marked by a love for Christ the Bridegroom and service to his Church, but they lived externally “normal” lives.

to be transformed in her very being by accepting consecration as a Bride of Jesus Christ? Each question reveals a deeper meaning of the vocation.

The wording of the third question is of particular interest. The bishop inquires whether she is prepared to accept consecration. This “passive” phrasing of the question reveals that the Church understands the consecration to be a wedding wherein Christ espouses the virgin to himself. “For as a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you” (Isaiah 62:5). In the Rite of Consecration, while the Church ascertains that the virgin is “resolved” to act in living out the life that the vocation demands (i.e., the spousal gift of self in service to God and his Church), the virgin is fundamentally in a receptive posture in relation to Christ, for it is Christ who espouses the virgin to himself in the person of the bishop.

Lay Down Your Life In a gesture replete with meaning, the virgin kneels, or even prostrates herself, at the foot of the altar while the congregation chants the Litany of the Saints. Each saint bears some connection to the vocation of consecrated virginity.

The Church asks the intercession of the early virgin martyrs and other women saints who have lived this charism. St. Maria Goretti, St. Rose of Lima, and St. Catherine of Sienna all find their way into the litany. Also included are St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Jerome, eloquent defenders of the vocation. While the Church is interceding for the woman, she offers herself to God, body and soul.

Following the Litany, the virgin once more renews her intention to be consecrated (the propositum),14 and the bishop extends his hands over her and offers the Prayer of Consecration. The oldest element of the Rite,15 this prayer is in the form of a preface and describes the consecration as an action of Christ to which the virgin responds. “You prompt them in this, their intention; now they give you their hearts.”16

Although the consecration is concluded when the virgin receives the insignia, she nevertheless fittingly attends the rest of Mass seated in the sanctuary, much as married couples do on their wedding day; she continues the wedding feast close to the Lamb, offering her sacrifice in union with Christ’s. By positioning the rite of the consecration of virgins within the context of Mass, the Church highlights the close association of the two sacrifices: Christ’s and the virgin’s. “So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma” (Ephesians 5:1-2).

In the homily of the rite for the consecration of virgins, the bishop reminds the candidate, “You are a sign of the great mystery of salvation, proclaimed at the beginning of human history and fulfilled in the marriage covenant between Christ and his Church.”20 In the totality of her person, body and soul, the virgin responds to With This Ring… the Bridegroom’s call. In turn, through After the Prayer of Consecration, the the intercession of the Church, the bishop sits and formally bestows the Heavenly Bridegroom espouses the insignia of the vocation: the ring, veil, virgin to himself, and sets her as a sign and the Liturgy of the Hours. The to the whole world of the heavenly life ring and veil indicate the virgin’s new to come where Christ will be all in all status; no longer is she an unmarried (I Corinthians 15:28). The rite of the woman. The ring is perhaps the most consecration of virgins brings to light recognizable sign that the virgin is now a Bride of Christ, while the veil is an this spiritual richness of the vocation ancient Roman custom which represents to virginity, and, further, reveals the Church’s own virginal heart, dedicated the matronly modesty of a married entirely to her Lord. woman.

Moreover, with the privilege of a Elizabeth Black is currently pursuing new status comes the responsibility of prayer. The bishop announces this when a Masters in Liturgy from the Liturgical Institute at the University of St. Mary he entrusts the Liturgy of the Hours to of the Lake, having received a B.A. in the newly consecrated. “May the praise Classics and Early Christian Studies from of our heavenly Father be always on Christendom College. your lips; pray without ceasing for the salvation of the whole world.”19 The ring, 1. Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy), (Washington, veil, and Liturgy of the Hours are visible DC: United States Catholic Conference, reminders to the virgin and to the world 1965), no. 80. that she is a married woman, dedicated 2. Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life entirely to the service of Christ in his and Societies of Apostolic Life, “Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago,” no. 5, accessed September 10, 2018, https:// Church.

Furthermore, virginity is a spiritual gift which does not stand in opposition to human marriage. “[Y]our loving wisdom chooses those who make sacrifice of marriage for the sake of the love of which it is the sign. They renounce the joys of human marriage, but cherish all that it foreshadows.”17 The prayer describes Christ as the “heavenly bridegroom” who is the “origin and inspiration” of those who give themselves to this way of life. It then concludes with the bishop begging Christ: “Be yourself their glory, their joy, their whole desire…. They have chosen you above all things; may they find all things in possessing you.”18 The Prayer of Consecration is a splendid prayer of the Virgin Church begging for the action of the Holy Spirit upon the woman to establish her as a Bride of Christ. In this prayer, the Church reveals her tender love for her daughters who are chosen to “follow the Bridegroom wherever he goes” (Revelation 14:4).

press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/ pubblico/2018/07/04/180704d.html.

3. See René Metz, La Consécration des Vierges: Hier, Aujourd’hui, Demain (Paris, France: Cerf, 2001).

4. “…ut legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi.” Literally translated, “…that the law of prayer establishes the law of belief.” Prosper of Aquitaine’s (5th c.) famous maxim, more colloquially known as lex orandi, lex credenda may be found as a theological and liturgical principle in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. See Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: Libreria Editrice Vaticana-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2000), par. 1124.

5. Congregation for Divine Worship, “Consecration to a Life of Virginity,” in The Roman Pontifical.

(Totowa, New Jersey: Catholic Book Publishing, 2012), 1.

6. “With the celebration of consecration, the Bishop presents the consecrated women to the ecclesial community as a sign of the Church as the Bride of Christ.” Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, “Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago,” no. 47, accessed September 8, 2018, https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2018/07/04/180704d.html.

7. Ibid., 4.

8. Congregation for Divine Worship, “Consecration to a Life of Virginity,” in The Roman Pontifical, 14.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid., 16.

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

13. Ibid., 17.

14. “In the rite, those to be consecrated express the sanctum propositum (the holy resolution). This is the firm and definitive resolve to persevere for their whole life in perfect chastity, and in the service of God and the Church, following Christ in accordance with the Gospel, to give the world a living witness of love and to be a clear sign of the future Kingdom.” Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, “Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago,” no.

19, accessed September 10, 2018, https://press. vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/ pubblico/2018/07/04/180704d.html.

15. The earliest extant version comes to us from the Leonine Sacramentary (7th c.). United States Association of Consecrated Virgins, Information Packet Regarding the Life of Consecrated Virginity Lived in the World, 54, accessed September 1, 2018, https://consecratedvirgins.org/usacv/sites/ default/files/documents/VocRes1-1InfoPkt_new. pdf.

16. Congregation for Divine Worship, “Consecration to a Life of Virginity,” in The Roman Pontifical, 24.

17. Ibid.

18. Ibid.

19. Ibid., 28.

20. Ibid., 16.

Adoremus Bulletin, October 2018 8 To Pray, Protect, and Promote: The Bishop’s Role in the Liturgical Life of the Church

T

he bishop’s role in the liturgical life of the particular Church1 over which he presides can be considered from three angles: 1) the liturgical life of the Church as the source of his own personal sanctification, 2) his role as chief priest and celebrant of the sacred mysteries entrusted to his stewardship, and 3) his pastoral role in promoting and regulating the Church’s public worship among that portion of the People of God entrusted to his care.

It’s Personal In an oft-quoted passage, St. Augustine once said to the people of the particular Church of Hippo, “For you I am a bishop, with you I am a Christian,”2 indicating that what he shares first and foremost with the faithful is the spiritual blessings Christ communicates to us through his Church: faith, sacraments, and a grace-filled life. Within his own soul the bishop must live the spiritual life that is made possible through the Church’s corporate worship. Now more than ever, we are acutely aware of how the pastor must first be a faithful disciple before he can begin to lead and form those brothers and sisters in the faith the Lord has given him. The words spoken to blessed Peter also apply to the bishop: “I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”3 So the bishop’s personal spiritual life must find its own source and summit in the Church’s sacred rites.

In his 2003 Apostolic Exhortation Pastores gregis, St. John Paul II stated that just as the paschal mystery of the Lord’s death and resurrection stood at the very heart of his mission on earth, so the sacramental celebration of that mystery should form the heart and center of the bishop’s life and mission—as it should for every priest.4 The Holy Father recommended the daily celebration of Mass by the bishop.

This counsel, of course, is an explicit application to the bishop of what the Code of Canon Law recommends for every priest: “Remembering always that in the mystery of the Eucharistic sacrifice the work of redemption is exercised continually, priests [sacerdotes] are to celebrate frequently; indeed, daily celebration is recommended earnestly since, even if the faithful cannot be present, it is the act of Christ and the Church in which priests fulfill their principal function.”5 Moreover, the bishop is urged to cultivate a love of the Holy Eucharist by devoting a “fair part of his time” [satis longum tempus] during the day to adoration before the tabernacle. In this way he allows his heart to be molded by the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for the sheep, and he can make constant intercession for his sheep.6 The second element of the bishop’s liturgical spirituality is the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours. This duty, first accepted when he was ordained a deacon, acquires particular force when carried out as an intercession for the flock entrusted to his care. In fact, before the imposition of hands in the rite of episcopal ordination, the candidate is asked: “Do you resolve to pray without ceasing to almighty God for the holy people of God and to carry out the office

“ Now more than ever, we are acutely aware of how the pastor must first be a faithful disciple before he can begin to lead and form those brothers and sisters in the faith the Lord has given him.” of High Priest without reproach?”7 This prayer for his people must become an essential element of his own spiritual life. In this way he will be seen both as a teacher of prayer and as one who promotes prayer by his personal example.

Since it is the bishop’s duty to invite all to conversion and repentance and to point out the destructive presence of sin in personal and social life, the sacrament of Penance must hold a special place in his spiritual life. In order to be an effective minister of the work of reconciliation, “he himself will have a regular and faithful recourse to that sacrament.”8 He does so not only to set an example to the faithful, but because of his own human frailty: “Mindful, therefore, of his human weaknesses and sins, each Bishop, along with his priests, personally experiences the sacrament of Reconciliation as a

profound need and as a grace to be received ever anew, and thus renews his own commitment to holiness in the exercise of his ministry. In this way he also gives visible expression to the mystery of a Church which is constitutively holy, yet also made up of sinners in need of forgiveness.”9 Now more than ever, it is important

for bishops to acknowledge publicly that they, too, are sinners in need of forgiveness.

The personal spirituality of the bishop includes much more than the points

“ The bishop is urged to cultivate a love of the Holy Eucharist by devoting a ‘fair part of his time’ [satis longum tempus] during the day to adoration before the tabernacle.” mentioned above. The essential liturgical elements of his spiritual life, though, must be the daily celebration of Mass, Eucharistic adoration, daily celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, and frequent recourse to the sacrament of Penance.

Nemo dat quod non habet (“No one gives what he doesn’t have”), says the Scholastic maxim, so the bishop must have a true liturgical piety if he is to lead his people in the Church’s life of grace.

Mystery Man One of the distinguishing marks of the last ecumenical council was the attention it paid to developing a fuller theological understanding of the bishop’s pastoral office in the Church. Most of chapter three (about four-fifths) of the

AB/ST. AUGUSTINE BY BOTTICELLI AT WIKIMEDIA

By Monsignor Robert J. Dempsey

In an oft-quoted passage, St. Augustine once said to the people of the particular Church of Hippo, “For you I am a bishop, with you I am a Christian,” indicating that what he shares first and foremost with the faithful is the spiritual blessings Christ communicates to us through his Church: faith, sacraments, and a grace-filled life.

Dogmatic Constitution on the Church is devoted to the nature and ministry of the episcopacy in the Church, which is also the subject of an entire document, the Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church.10 What emerges from these conciliar teachings is the bishop’s distinctive role of acting in the person of Christ as High Priest.

“In the person of the bishops…, the Lord Jesus Christ, supreme High Priest, is present in the midst of the faithful.…

[I]t is above all through their signal service that he preaches the Word of God to all peoples and administers without ceasing to the faithful the sacraments of faith.”11 This exercise of the supreme priesthood is carried out “above all in the Eucharist, which he himself offers, or ensures that it is offered,”12 since “the Church draws her life from the Eucharist,”13 which is “the source and summit of the Christian life.”14 This high priestly function is seen most clearly when the whole People of God of a particular Church gather around their bishop in his cathedral “in the same Eucharist, in a single prayer, at one altar at which the bishop presides, surrounded by his college of presbyters and his ministers.”15 Church law takes this theological principle and translates it into specific obligations for every diocesan bishop: he is to celebrate Mass frequently in his cathedral or another church of his diocese, especially on holy days of obligation and other solemnities.

In addition, he is strictly obliged— even if he does not do so publicly—to celebrate and apply a Mass personally for his people on Sundays and on the holy days of obligation observed in his region. If he is legitimately impeded from fulfilling this duty of the Missa pro

populo, he is either to apply the Mass on the same day through some other celebrant or to offer the Mass himself on another day.16 Since preaching is the pre-eminent function of the bishop17 and the homily is an integral part of the liturgy, the bishop should see his Eucharistic homily as the “most excellent” of all forms of preaching. He “should seek to expound Catholic truth in its fullness, in simple, familiar language, suited to the capacities of his hearers, focusing— unless particular pastoral reasons suggest otherwise—on the text of the day’s liturgy. He should plan his homilies so as to elucidate the whole of Catholic truth.”18 Effective preaching also includes the duty of personal integrity, for his teaching is prolonged by his own witness of an authentic life of faith. “Were he not to live what he teaches, he would be giving the community a contradictory message.”19 No one today can fail to see the importance of that observation.

The bishop’s exercise of the munus sanctificandi extends to the other sacraments of the Church as well. As the chief steward of the divine mysteries, he has responsibility for the entire process of Christian initiation, for he regulates the celebration of Baptism and is the original minister of Confirmation.20 In particular, his involvement in Christian initiation means that he should “celebrate its principal steps. And he should exercise his ministry in the sacraments of initiation for both adults and children at the solemn celebration of the Easter Vigil and, as far as possible, during pastoral visitations.”21 It is also his responsibility to regulate and promote the pastoral formation of catechumens, as well as to celebrate the rite of election if possible.22 Moreover, Please see BISHOP on page 11

Adoremus Bulletin, October 2018

Halloween, an essentially Paschal holy day, represents an unsurpassed opportunity for the lay faithful to express devotion to God through the veneration of all his saints. The good to be done is evident, as is the evil to be avoided: the saints are to be glorified, Christ’s victory over sin and death recalled. Anything which detracts from the glory of God and his saints is to be avoided.

By Marcel Brown

C

urrents in popular culture have so eroded the observance of Halloween that it can often be difficult, at times even impossible, to discern in contemporary revelry this great feast’s essentially evangelical religious meaning. The anticipatory celebration of the Solemnity of All Saints—Halloween—is a time when God’s pilgrim Church on earth rejoices in the lives of all his holy ones. As the annual celebration of Halloween approaches, we who are “in the world but not of it” (John 15:19, Evangelium Vitae, 82) are reminded once again of the importance of maintaining the Catholic meaning and purpose of all holy days, especially those which have been most widely adopted, adapted, and consequently distorted by our culture’s prevailing secularism.

Hero for a Day Indeed, it is difficult to think of a holy day more distorted by secularism than Halloween. The authentic spirit of the day has long-since been driven out of most places. Viewed by many as “a time for the children,” the young typically seize the opportunity to dress as some “hero” from a favorite film or television series, often with the encouragement of parents, teachers, and mentors. Whether child or adult, enveloping oneself in such a costume means adopting an alternative “I”, entering “into” or “becoming” the character imitated outwardly.

This newfound persona represents a whole ethos after which is fashioned a “new self,” a moral phantasm transcending the everyday and reaching for an ideal. To don such a costume is to incarnate the imagination, an inherently human and deeply spiritual act. What does it mean, therefore, when the young—and sometimes the not-soyoung—adopt an array of non-Christian and anti-Christian personas for their Halloween festivities? So-called “Gothic” costumes worn by trick-or-treaters and party-goers commonly evoke the Grim Reaper or even graver post-mortem fears.

Young adults clinging to the secularized “Halloween” of their childhood doff the attributes of superheroes (cape, sword, headband) in exchange for some daring or risqué

ensemble, a fancy suit with fedora and innuendo or some scandalously avantgarde frippery.

Halloween today more often points towards a proleptic anticipation not of beatitude, but instead its opposite, the second death.

“ It is difficult to think of a holy day more distorted by secularism than Halloween.”

Smashing Pumpkins If Catholics are to reclaim the authentic meaning of Halloween for all ages by making a genuine religious observance on All Hallows Eve, the first step must be to recognize and reject the secularization of the feast, the second step to think creatively about ways in which to recover the evening’s authentic devotional festivity.

The process of cultural recovery begins of course with the word “Halloween” itself, its history and what it signifies. The verb “to hallow” means “to make holy” while the word “e’en” derives from a shortening of the word “evening” in a phenomenon called syncope. Those who have been “sanctified” or “made holy” are God’s “hallowed ones,” “holy ones,” or “saints.” “Hallow-e’en” or “Hallows’ Eve” thus refers to the “Eve of All Hallows,” that is the Eve of All Saints Day. Observed as a holy day of obligation in parts of Western Europe from as early as the year 835, the Feast of All Saints has for centuries begun at vespers on the evening prior, October 31, following the custom of all Sundays and solemnities.

Halloween thus announces the earliest possible celebration of the Solemnity of All Saints, a devotional response to a largely pagan world.

Like many feasts on the liturgical calendar, Halloween is an instance of syncretism, the intentioned consecration to God of a formerly pagan festal celebration. The Old Celtic calendar had observed November 1 as the first day of the year, which made October 31 the Old Celtic calendar’s “New Year’s Eve,” a “night of all the witches.” In order to turn the attention of the faithful towards God and away from divination,

AB/GIUSTO DE MENABUOI AT WIKIMEDIA

AB/PARADISE, BY GIUSTO DE MENABUOI AT WIKIMEDIA

The Holy Ghosts of Halloween: Resurrecting a Catholic Feast

9

Props such as scythes and skulls have historically recalled our mortality and Christ’s victory over death. A fresco by Giusto de Menabuoi in the Baptistery in Padua, for example, depicts our Lord as the prototype of the Reaper, as “one who looked like a son of man, with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand” (Revelation 14:14).

astrology, clairvoyance, magic, sorcery, occult powers, and spiritism (see Exodus 20:1-3, Deuteronomy 5:6-7, and CCC 2115-17), the Church situated the Solemnity of All Saints in a manner which would turn the evil of pagan culture to some good. No longer would the evening be devoted to “all witches” or “all evil ones”; instead October 31 would be dedicated to All Saints.

Costume Customs The custom of dressing up for Halloween has a devotional dimension which, when undertaken with thoughtful intentionality, can aid in recovering Halloween’s authentic meaning. By dressing up as the saints whom they most admire, the young begin to consciously follow the saints’ example of Christian discipleship. The alternative “I” of Halloween costumes presents a golden opportunity for the young to appropriate devotion to particular saints whose witness they admire.

Nourished by continuous reading about the lives of the saints, children naturally pick a “favorite.” Dressing in festive commemoration, they fashion themselves after historical witnesses of real life in Christ. Transfigured thus, they become “living icons” or tableau vivant of those who have testified to the Christian faith not in fiction but in history and in truth.

By imitating the saints, Christians young and old make discipleship their own in a special way, following the exhortation of St. Paul who adjures the Corinthians, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). St. Basil the Great extends this logic to the lawful veneration of images, writing, “the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype,” to which he adds, “whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it” (CCC 2132). Proper veneration of the saints naturally leads to adoration of the Lamb who was slain (Revelation 5:12), whom all the saints adore (Revelation 7) and whom the 144,000 virgins joyously follow wherever he goes (Revelation 14). By imitating their witness, true devotion to the saints leads us sinners back to Christ.

Props for Death Standing in sharp contrast to popular culture’s secularized observance of

Halloween, even the customary appeal to the “frightful” has a devotional counterpart in the Catholic tradition.

Props such as scythes and skulls have historically recalled our mortality and Christ’s victory over death. For example, a fresco by Giusto de Menabuoi in the Baptistery in Padua depicts our Lord as the prototype of the Reaper, as “one who looked like a son of man, with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand” (Revelation 14:14).

Appropriately for the history of Halloween, whose antecedent coincided with an Old Celtic harvest-festival, the Christianization of the feast features a harvest. For “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (John 12:24; cf. Matthew 13: 20-30, Revelation 14:14-20), and “those who sow in tears will reap with cries of joy” (Psalm 126:5). The “reaper” of the Gospel therefore is Christ himself and the “harvest” consists of the souls of the blessed, the souls of all saints. The saints are the “wheat” which Christ separates from the “chaff ” (Matthew 13:30).

Halloween’s macabre accoutrements ought to remind us to be holy because we are destined for judgment (Revelation 14:15). The Letter to the Hebrews exhorts us faithful to prepare for the account which we must render at the hour of death (Hebrews 9:27).

Halloween’s visibly grim reminders of mortality therefore ought to elicit our devout attentiveness to the last things—death, judgment, heaven, and hell (CCC 1020-65)—while at the same time reminding us of Christ’s ultimate dominion over all. When the dead are raised, they will be “clothed with incorruptibility” (1 Corinthians15:50-54), for “Dying [he] destroyed our death, rising [he] restored our life” (Missale Romanum, option for the Mysterium Fidei).

Macabre Façade While the so-called “Gothic” aspect of Halloween might originally have been intended to remind us of our belief in the resurrection of the dead, the firstfruits of which have been glimpsed in Christ’s victory over death, our wayward culture has dislodged Halloween’s outward symbols of our mortality from their original source. Thus, today’s typical observance obscures the Please see HALLOWEEN on page 10

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Q A

Adoremus Bulletin, October 2018

THE RITE QUESTIONS : What’s the difference between a “natural marriage” and a “sacramental marriage”?

: This important question is perhaps one of the most commonly misunderstood distinctions regarding the Church’s teachings on marriage.

A “natural marriage” is a marriage that a man and a woman have when they enter into a marital relationship containing all the natural elements that God has put into what marriage is. Thus, even if they are not baptized Christians, they are truly a husband and a wife.

A “sacramental marriage” is when two baptized persons have a valid natural marriage and, because they are baptized, that marriage is now also a sacrament of the Church.

It is important to remember that marriage is first a “natural institution,” that is, it is established by God as a good in creation, endowing it with its own proper laws (cf. CCC 1603-1605 and Gaudium et spes, 48). Written by God

into the nature of man and woman, the common and permanent characteristics of marriage can be seen and understood by all. However, like other aspects of the natural moral law, it is not always transparent everywhere and with the same clarity due to ignorance, cultural biases, sin, etc. Nonetheless, where these natural law elements of marriage are followed, a human person, whether baptized or not, is able to enter into a true, valid marital relationship as God designed it to be. Contrarily, where any one of these natural aspects is missing, the relationship cannot be considered a valid marriage because it would lack an essential element that would have established it as a true act of marrying.

Canon 1055 identifies marriage’s essential, natural law elements: being between one man and one woman, established by and between themselves (through consent), as a partnership

for the whole of life, for the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring. Thus, whether a person is Catholic or not, baptized or not, to have a valid marriage, these natural law elements must be present. If they are, the marriage is a valid natural marriage. If they are not, the marriage cannot be considered valid.

Through Original Sin, the world, including the natural institution of marriage, is affected by disorder (cf.

CCC 1606-1608). Into this fallen world, Jesus Christ, the long-awaited Messiah whose relationship with his People is seen as a nuptial covenant (cf. CCC 1612), raises the natural institution of marriage to the dignity of a sacrament (cf.

CCC 1613).

Thus, the marriage of two baptized persons, in addition to being a valid natural marriage, is now one of the seven sacraments of the Church with all that

being a sacrament entails, including being an efficacious sign of Christ’s presence, a channel of the grace of the Paschal Mystery of Christ, etc. (cf. CCC 16411642).

Since baptism is the gateway to the sacraments and is necessary for the valid reception of the other sacraments (canon 849), it is necessary that both parties in a marriage be baptized in order for their valid natural marriage to be also a sacrament of the Church. In fact, canon 1055 §2 reminds us that a valid matrimonial contract (i.e., a valid natural marriage) cannot exist between baptized persons without it also being a sacrament, thus becoming a “sacramental marriage.”

When this is the case, the essential properties of marriage, namely unity and indissolubility, obtain a special firmness by reason of the sacramental graces involved (cf. canon 1056).

— Answered by Benedict Nguyen, Diocese of Corpus Christi, TX

Q : Can a Catholic funeral liturgy be celebrated for a non-Catholic?

A : The 1983 Code of Canon Law addresses three groups of “non-Catholics” for which the Church’s funeral rites may be celebrated.

First, “when it concerns funerals, catechumens must be counted among the Christian faithful” (Canon 1183 §1). Even though unbaptized, “Catechumens, that is, those who ask by explicit choice under the influence of the Holy Spirit to be incorporated into the Church, are joined to it in a special way. By this same desire, just as by the life of faith, hope, and charity which they lead, they are united with the Church which already cherishes them as its own. The Church has a special care for catechumens; while it invites them to lead a life of the gospel and introduces them to the celebration of sacred rites, it already grants them various prerogatives which are proper to Christians” (Canon 206 §1-§2).

Second, “the local ordinary can permit children whom the parents

intended to baptize but who died before baptism to be given ecclesiastical funerals” (Canon 1183 §2; also Order of Christian Funerals, 18). “In these celebrations,” explains the Order of Christian Funerals, “the Christian community entrusts the child to God’s all-embracing love and finds strength in this love and in Jesus’ affirmation that the kingdom of God belongs to little children” (237). Elaborating further, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them” (1261).

The Roman Missal contains Mass formularies for the “Funeral of a Child Who Died before Baptism,” which includes these instructions in its initial rubrics: “Should a child whom the parents wished to be baptized, die before Baptism, the Diocesan Bishop, taking into consideration pastoral

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circumstances, may permit the funeral to be celebrated in the home of the deceased child, or even according to the form of funeral rites otherwise customarily used in the region. In funerals of this kind there should ordinarily be a Liturgy of the Word, as described in the Roman Ritual.

Nevertheless, if at times the celebration of Mass is judged opportune, the following texts should be used. In catechesis, however, proper care is to be taken that the doctrine of the necessity of Baptism is not obscured in the minds of the faithful.”

Third, “in the prudent judgment of the local ordinary, ecclesiastical funerals can be granted to baptized persons who are enrolled in a non-Catholic Church or ecclesial community unless their intention is evidently to the contrary and provided that their own minister is not available” (Canon 1183 §3; also Order of Christian Funerals, 18; Directory for the Application of

Principles and Norms on Ecumenism, 120). On this last point, commentators speak of both “physical unavailability,” as when no congregation exists locally to which the deceased would otherwise attend, and “moral unavailability,” as when the deceased has not practiced his or her faith according to a particular denomination, or has attended the Catholic Mass with a spouse for a period of time. If a Funeral Mass is celebrated, the names of the non-Catholic deceased are not to be included in the Eucharistic Prayer (i.e., Eucharistic Prayers I-III).

Finally, the Church’s funeral rites consist in three principal elements: the Vigil, the Funeral Liturgy (whether with or without Mass), and the Committal.

Except where mentioned (e.g., in the funeral for a child who died before baptism), each component may be celebrated for the deceased.

— Answered by Christopher Carstens, Editor

Cont. from HALLOWEEN on page 9

Animated by faith and hope, Christians bear a great love for the saints and seek to imitate them precisely because the graces available to them are the very graces available to us all. The saints embody the faith and give us hope that the love of God can overcome every stumbling block (Greek scandalon) which comes between us and the opportunity for beatitude through life in Christ.

meaning of Halloween itself, or, worse, devolves once again into an essentially pagan festival.

Separated from Catholic teaching, grim or ghoulish costumes can be mistaken for, or can even become in reality, veneration of evil or of death itself. Those who dress as miscreant spirits without reference to the resurrection and Christ’s dominion over death draw near to idolatry by embodying attitudes “incompatible with communion with God,” namely by revering something “in place of God… power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state,” or, in this case, the macabre per se or death itself (cf. CCC 2113).

Death glorified, death apart from its subjection to the Paschal Mystery, death apart from Christ’s victory over death, is not death properly considered from a Christian standpoint. Christ has conquered death, as has been prophesied and fulfilled, “Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55; cf. Hosea 13:14). By his passion, death, and resurrection, by his Paschal Mystery, Christ’s victory over sin and its wages, death (Romans 6:23), has made available to us some share in “the lot of the saints in light” (Colossians 1:12).

Praise without Disguise As we draw near to the Feast of All Saints and its joyous anticipatory celebration on Halloween, we turn at long last to the question of how best to keep holy this vigil and its feast. As the Second Vatican Council has affirmed in Sacrosanctum Concilium, “Popular devotions of the Christian people are to be highly commended, provided they accord with the laws and norms of the Church…; these devotions should be so drawn up that they harmonize with the liturgical seasons, accord with sacred liturgy, are in some fashion derived from it, and lead the people to it, since, in fact, the liturgy by its very nature far surpasses any of them” (13).

Halloween, an essentially Paschal holy day, represents an unsurpassed Please see HALLOWEEN on page 12

11

Adoremus Bulletin, October 2018

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Continued from BISHOP on page 8

his personal example for many years— the bishop provides for the needs of his people particularly by exhorting “his priests to hold in high esteem the ministry of reconciliation which they received at their priestly ordination, and he should encourage them to exercise that ministry with generosity and supernatural tact,”26 since the

the Baptism of adults who have completed their fourteenth year is to be referred to the bishop, so that he himself may confer it if he judges it appropriate.23 As a matter of practice, though, the bishop often does not reserve the Baptism of adults to himself but directs that the sacrament be celebrated in the parish where the catechumen resides.

On the other hand, the Confirmation of those previously baptized in the Catholic Church (usually in infancy) is to be administered by the diocesan bishop himself or he is to ensure that it is administered by another bishop.

Priests may be granted the faculty (required for validity) only in cases of necessity.24 Among the bishop’s many tasks, great care should be given to proclaiming the mystery of God’s boundless mercy and the gift of the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins. This divine grace is made available especially in the sacrament of Penance, in which the faithful “obtain from God’s mercy pardon for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins.”25 While the bishop should be an exemplary minister of the sacrament himself—St. John Paul II gave the Church a vivid image of that ministry by

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entrusted to him. Thus his “ministry as both head and servant of the community of the faithful is exercised especially when he confers the Holy Orders of diaconate and priesthood.”28 The ministry of ordination is reserved to a bishop, and each candidate to the priesthood or diaconate should be ordained by his proper bishop or with

“ The bishop should pay special attention to the general principle laid down in Sacrosanctum Concilium that no one, ‘even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority.’” majority of the faithful receive the grace of this sacrament from the ministry of their priests. The bishop should also exercise vigilance in ensuring that the norms on general absolution are followed and remind his priests that “individual and integral confession and absolution constitute the only ordinary means by which members of the faithful conscious of grave sin are reconciled with God and with the Church.”27 Since Christ instituted in his Church a variety of ministries for the growth of God’s People and the good of the whole body, the bishop has the duty to provide ministers endowed with sacred power for the spiritual care of the flock

dimissorial letters authorizing another bishop to ordain him. So important is this ministry in the life of the particular Church, that the bishop is himself to ordain his own subjects unless he is impeded by a just cause.29 Temple Guard Within the particular Church, primary responsibility for promoting and regulating the sacred liturgy belongs to the bishop as high priest of his people.

The Second Vatican Council said that bishops are “the principal dispensers of the mysteries of God and are the moderators, promoters, and guardians of the liturgical life of the Churches entrusted to their care.”30 Not only

should the bishop be an exemplary celebrant of the liturgy, he must also promote the liturgical life of the Church by exercising his teaching office in such a way that his clergy and people have an ever fuller understanding of the Church’s worship. Thus he “should elucidate the inherent meaning of the rites and liturgical texts, and nourish the spirit of the liturgy in the priests, deacons and lay faithful.”31 No religious leader relishes the role of enforcer, yet in liturgical matters the bishop is obliged to “be vigilant that the norms established by legitimate authority are attentively observed.”32 He should pay special attention to the general principle laid down in Sacrosanctum Concilium that no one, “even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority,”33 since true liturgical worship can only be “offered in the name of the Church, by persons lawfully deputed, and through actions approved by ecclesiastical authority.”34 A proper, dignified, and spiritually fruitful celebration of the Church’s worship must have the highest priority in the pastoral care of his flock.35 In addition to urging the observance of those liturgical laws established by higher authority, “it also belongs to the diocesan bishop, within the limits of Please see BISHOP on page 12

Continued from HALLOWEEN on page 10

opportunity for the lay faithful to express devotion to God through the veneration of all his saints. The good to be done is evident, as is the evil to be avoided. The saints are to be glorified, Christ’s victory over sin and death recalled. Anything which detracts from the glory of God and his saints is to be avoided.

Because “praise is fitting for loyal hearts” (cf. Psalm 33:1), let us resolve this Halloween and Solemnity of All Saints to express in every detail of our cultural observance—in each activity, craft, song, skit, celebration and costume—the beauty and theological profundity of this great feast, witnessing in our very lives the words of Pope St. John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae (82): “In the proclamation of this Gospel, we must not fear hostility or unpopularity, and we must refuse any compromise or ambiguity which might conform us to the world’s way of thinking (cf. Romans 12:2). We must be in the world but not of the world (cf. John 15:19; 17:16), drawing our strength from Christ, who by his Death and Resurrection has overcome the

Continued from BISHOP on page 11

world (cf. Jn 16:33).”

Those who refuse to compromise the essence of Halloween naturally proclaim the Gospel and become apologists along the way. For instance, arranging for a day off of work on November 1 naturally invites questions, and those questions can be answered with confidence: “As a devout Catholic, I observe the Solemnity of All Saints as one of the holiest days of the year.” If time off of work isn’t possible, praying Evening Prayer I or II from the Liturgy of the Hours, in addition to attending Mass, witnesses strongly to sanctity of the day.

As for the youth, trick-or-treating children dressed as saints will certainly be asked, “And who are you supposed to be?” This question invites the young to bear witness to God by succinctly teaching the uninitiated about the lives of the saints. In smaller intentional communities such as families, schoolrooms, parishes, and catechetical programs, costume parties and competitions easily become the locus of the New Evangelization. The top prize in a contest might go to the one who tells best the short vita of their saint, or perhaps to the boy who

construction and renovation of church buildings, posture, liturgical music, and days of prayer, but with the exception of those modifications assigned by law to the diocesan bishop, “no additional changes to liturgical law may be introduced to diocesan liturgical practice without the specific prior approval of the Holy See.”39 Choices or options foreseen by liturgical law may be selected by the celebrant according to his prudent judgment, while variations not foreseen by the liturgical books may not be added on one’s own authority.

Pray, Protect, Promote The bishop’s lofty calling to act in the person of the Christ, the High Priest, must be reflected in his own life of liturgical prayer, in the way he celebrates the Church’s sacred mysteries, and in his promotion and regulation of ecclesial worship in the particular Church entrusted to him. In this way he will fulfill

A trick-or-treating child dressed as a saint (at left, versus a grisly ghoul at right) will certainly be asked, “And who are you supposed to be?” This question invites the young to bear witness to God by succinctly teaching the uninitiated about the lives of the saints. (Do you know who this saint is?)

has represented most realistically St. Francis’s stigmata, or maybe to the girl who has remembered to sew the Star of David upon the identifiably Carmelite habit of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.

Even adults can get in on the act— literally—by performing skits which both teach and delight. For actors and actresses alike, dressing up at Halloween reminds us of one of the

the “duty of offering to the divine majesty the worship of the Christian religion and of administering it in accordance with the Lord’s commandments and the Church’s laws,”40 so that the sacred liturgy may truly be the source and summit of the Christian life. This is a high calling: let us pray for our bishops.

Monsignor Robert J. Dempsey, a native Chicagoan, holds an M.A. in philosophy from Loyola University (Chicago), an S.T.B. from the Pontifical Gregorian University, an S.T.L. from the University of St. Mary of the Lake, and an S.T.D. from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Rome). Ordained a priest by Pope John Paul II in 1980, he worked as an associate pastor in three parishes. From 1991 to 2001 he was editor of the English edition of L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s newspaper. He is currently pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Lake Forest, IL, and also serves as a member of the Archdiocesan

AB/DIOCESE OF LA CROSSE

his competence, to lay down liturgical regulations which are binding on all in the Church entrusted to his care.”36 The various liturgical books and instructions from the Holy See spell out in greater detail what falls within the competence of the diocesan bishop, and there is an overview of his responsibilities in the Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops.37 At the same time, the bishop “must take care not to allow the removal of that liberty foreseen by the norms of the liturgical books so that the celebration may be adapted in an intelligent manner to the Church building, or to the group of the faithful who are present, or to particular pastoral circumstances.” 38 Thus, the bishop has authority to publish norms, for example, on concelebration, service at the altar, communion under both species, the

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Since Christ instituted in his Church a variety of ministries for the growth of God’s People and the good of the whole body, the bishop has the duty to provide ministers endowed with sacred power for the spiritual care of the flock entrusted to him. Thus his “ministry as both head and servant of the community of the faithful is exercised especially when he confers the Holy Orders of diaconate and priesthood.” Here, Bishop William Patrick Callahan, OFM Conv., presides over the ordination of priests in the Diocese of La Crosse, WI.

most profound truths of the Christian life, that “in order to become what you are not, you must go by a way in which you are not” (St. John of the Cross, “Diagram of Mount Carmel”). All the saints knew this, that “whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for [Christ’s] sake and that of the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35). If we’re not willing to consecrate our Halloween, are we really willing and ready to dedicate our entire lives to Christ, whether in season or out of season?

Marcel Antonio Brown serves as Dean and co-Founder of The Alcuin Institute for Catholic Culture, an initiative of the Catholic Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma. He holds his B.A. in English from the University of Dallas and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from The Catholic University of America. A scholar of the York Cycle who specializes in Catholic themes in literature, Dr. Brown resides in Oklahoma with his wife and their eight children.

1. s.v. “Halloween,” The Compact Edition of The Oxford English Dictionary, 2 Vols. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971).

Bioethics Commission, visiting lecturer at the Liturgical Institute in Mundelein, IL, and magistral chaplain of the Order of Malta.

1. For convenience sake, the terms “particular Church” or “diocese” will be used interchangeably, but they are meant to include all those jurisdictions that are equivalent in law (i.e., territorial prelature, territorial abbacy, vicariate apostolic, prefecture apostolic, permanently erected apostolic administration; see CIC, canon 368), and everything said of a Latin-rite diocese applies congrua congruis referendo to eparchies and exarchies in the Eastern Churches.

2. St. Augustine, Sermo 340, 1 (PL 38:1483).

3. Lk 22:32.

4. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Pastores gregis on the Bishop, Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World, 16.

5. Canon 904; when the Code uses the word sacerdos, it is meant to include both bishops and presbyters.

6. Pastores gregis, ibid.

7. Roman Pontifical, “Ordination of a Bishop,” 40, 70.

8. Pastores gregis, 39.

9. Ibid., 13.

10. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium, 18-27; Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church Christus Dominus.

11. Lumen gentium, 21.

12. Ibid., 26.

13. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia on the Eucharist in its Relationship to the Church, 1.

14. Lumen gentium, 11; cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10.

15. Sacrosanctum Concilium¸ 41; this form of Mass, which should be sung, is called the “Stational Mass of the Diocesan Bishop” in the Ceremonial of Bishops, 119, 121.

16. Canons 388-89; a parish pastor has the same obligation for his parishioners (canon 534).

17. Lumen gentium, 25, citing Council of Trent, session V, Decree on Reform, c. 2, n. 9; and session XXlV, can. 4.

18. Congregation for Bishops, Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops Apostolorum Successores, 122 a).

19. Pastores gregis, 31.

20. See Lumen gentium, 26.

21. Ceremonial of Bishops, 404.

22. Ibid., 406.

23. Canon 863.

24. Canon 884.

25. Lumen gentium, 11.

26. Pastores gregis, 39.

27. Ibid.

28. Apostolorum Successores, 144.

29. Canons 1012, 1015.

30. Christus Dominus, 15; cf. canon 835, §1, and Apostolorum Successores, 145.

31. Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum on Certain Matters to Be Observed or to Be Avoided Regarding the Most Holy Eucharist, 22.

32. Apostolorum Successores, ibid.

33. Sacrosanctum Concilium, 22, §3; cf. canon 846, §1.

34. Canon 834, §2.

35. Since the bishop must safeguard the unity of the Church, he should promote her common discipline by exercising “vigilance so that abuses do not creep into ecclesiastical discipline, especially regarding the ministry of the word, the celebration of the sacraments and sacramentals, the worship of God and the veneration of the saints” (canon 392).

36. Canon 838, §4.

37. Apostolorum Successores, 145-53.

38. Redemptionis Sacramentum, 21.

39. U nited States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Redemptionis Sacramentum and the Authority of the Diocesan Bishop,” http://www.usccb.org/prayerand-worship/the-mass/frequently-asked-questions/ redemptionis-sacramentum-authority-diocesanbishop.cfm, accessed September 10, 2018.

40. Lumen gentium, 26.