My 10-year-old son, who daily receives Holy Communion on his tongue while kneeling (and in fact has never received standing) just completed altar server instruction. He was told that when he serves, he must receive standing!!! (for the sake of uniformity!) I realize that serving is a privilege and not a right, but does exercising this privilege allow for his right to receive kneeling to be restricted? He has been looking forward to serving for so long now and would have the opportunity to serve nearly daily. It’s tearing us apart to think that he would have to go from always kneeling to almost always standing.

Indeed.  Lay people do not have rights when it comes to serving at the altar.  They cannot simply demand to serve and then serve only on their own terms, in their own way and style.

This is tough question.  On the one hand, the right of the faithful to receive whilst kneeling is inviolate.  This is affirmed in Redemptionis Sacramentum.  On the other hand, the priest may choose whom it pleaseth him to choose as altar boys.  If Father wants to make posture for the reception of Holy Communion a litmus test, he can.  Service at the altar is not a right.  Lay people serve at the pleasure of the priest.

Frankly, I would like priests to require all the altar boys to kneel to receive, and of course to use the Communion paten properly.

And wouldn’t it be great use as a litmus test the state of grace?

You might try to win the priest over to another view of the matter, but as a parent you can through good instruction and good example and practice help your children receive only when in the state of grace.

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STILL?  Are they still grizzling on about THIS?

The survey was conducted and now publicized by the usual über-liberal suspects.

Just guess what results they obtained?  You’ll be shocked to learn that the majority of those surveyed do not like new translation?  Are you not shocked?

Two points.

First, if you don’t like the new translation, brothers, just use Latin.   It is, after all, the liturgical language of the Church you belong to.   People can bring or refer to whichsoever translation they prefer.

Second, shall we review for a moment the differences between the Latin original, the obsolete 1973 version and newer 2011?   Just for kicks.   Remember, contrary to which naysayers claim, the 2011 version is not a slavishly literal version.  It does not follow the Latin word for word.

Here is, just as an example, the Collect for the 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time.  No translation is perfect, but summon back to your minds where we were before.

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus,
qui abundantia pietatis tuae
et merita supplicum excedis et vota,
effunde super nos misericordiam tuam,
ut dimittas quae conscientia metuit,
et adicias quod oratio non praesumit.

SLAVISHLY LITERAL VERSION:
Almighty and everlasting God, who in the abundance of Your goodness
surpass both the merits and the prayerful vows of suppliants,
pour forth Your mercy upon us,
so that You set aside those things which our conscience fears,
and apply what our prayer dares not.

CURRENT ICEL (2011):
Almighty ever-living God,
who in the abundance of your kindness
surpass the merits and the desires of those who entreat you,
pour out your mercy upon us
to pardon what conscience dreads
and to give what prayer does not dare to ask.

OBSOLETE ICEL (1973):
Father,
your love for us
surpasses all our hopes and desires.
Forgive our failings,
keep us in your peace
and lead us in the way of salvation.

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Misery, loss, pain come in the blink of an eye to people who, the day before… even hours or minutes before… were going about their daily lives.

Now and then I post here about the need to have a plan for when or if something really bad happens.  I am especially concerned that parents of small children have some sort of plans in place for some different scenarios.  Obviously you can’t cover every possibility, but some basic steps could make a difference.  Having clean drinking water and food for 72 hours, warm clothing, a way to communicate, means of self-defense and so forth.

So, make some basic plans.

Also, because we have to be concerned not merely with the body, please look at this image…

This could be your life.

Please develop the good practice of examining your conscience every day and going to confession regularly.  Please teach your children to examine their consciences and take them to confession, teaching them what to do and why.

Fathers, this could be your parish.  You will be called to account for the souls entrusted to you.  Preach about sin, about the Four Last Things, about the Sacrament of Penance.

“A subitanea et improvisa morte… From a sudden and unprovided death, spare us O Lord.”

A sudden death can be a blessing.

A sudden and unprovided death – unprovided in the sense of having no recourse to the sacraments when you are not in the state of grace – is a horrifying prospect.

Make plans for, provide for, the needs of both body and soul for yourselves and those in your charge.

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What I found interesting from the coverage, however, were a couple of snippets from CNN.

For example, a CNN reporter asks a fellow who has lost everything what he is going to do now.  Without missing a beat, the man said “Pray.”

In another example, the same CNN reporter says to the governor “the country’s pulling for you”.  The governor responded, “Thanks for the prayers.”

Apparently the separation of church and… all of public life has not taken place in Oklahoma.

Out here in fly-over country the first reaction of those suffering from the storm damage has not been to ask “When is the government going to help us?”

We Catholics in some areas of the country, perhaps in areas more heavily Catholic than Oklahoma, should take some notes.

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From 2011:

Today is the feast of St. Bernardine of Siena (+1444) in both the Extraordinary and the Ordinary Forms of the Roman Rite, and therefore I use this opportunity to offer something from one of his discourses about the Most Holy Name of Jesus.

St. Bernardine was famous for his preaching about the Holy Name and against the horrible sin of blasphemy.

We hear today a short selection from St. Bernardine’s Discourse 49, about the glorious Name of Jesus chosen for today’s Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours.  I read a bit of the Italian… sorry, it’s modern Italian… I don’t have the original version, alas, and then English.

Then I rant for while.

The piece is very thought provoking and useful for an examination of conscience.  We are made in the image and like of God, brought into being by the Word, now the Word made flesh.  We are made to speak with words.  But we so often fail in speech to live up to our dignity as images of God.  At least I do.  We occasionally lapse, but sometimes people fall into habits of speech, sometimes even habits of blasphemy which causes scandal making it easier for others to sin.

We have to examine closely our habits of speech and not by our speech disfigure the image of God, the Word made flesh.

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Please select a response and make comments on this subject in the combox, below.

And, yes, I know that some churches don’t even have an identifiable sanctuary any more.  You know what I mean by the question.

I suppose the flipside of the question is: Does having girls or women serving at the altar in anyway discourage or weaken vocations to the priesthood?  I’ll add that poll as well.

Anyone can vote, but only registered participants can leave comments.

And there is this

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Is there any significance between altar boys who wear black cassocks as opposed to those who wear red ones in the TLM?

No, there is no significance.  This is a matter of aesthetics.   Back in the day colored cassocks were tolerated by the Sacred Congregation for Rites.  To my mind it is a thing of fairly small importance.

I prefer to see black cassocks… but… hey!

That said, in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the servers wear paonazza, the same violet color that monsignors, canons and bishops use.  That is a long established honor.  The boys also attend the Pre-seminario San Pio X.  They are as close to being the chierichetti that chierichetti once were, if that makes any sense.

Also, the MC for a bishop or cardinal often wears paonazza, by custom.  I believe also the guy who carries the end of the prelate’s cappa magna wears paonazza.

The most important thing, however, is that they treat the cassock respectfully.  It is a privilege to serve at the altar, not a right.  The cassock helps establish a good esprit de corps, which is important for boys.  The cassock is an indication that the boy or man is substituting for a cleric. It could help inspire some of the boys and young men to think about priesthood.

UPDATE (brought to you by…..:

A reader asks:

Related to the recent post on the color of cassocks, how do you feel on an alb and cincture being used to replace a cassock and surplus?

Feel?  FEEL?  I feeeeeeeeellllll…..  ill.

(I don’t like it.)

And a surplice is almost never surplus.

On a slightly related note, is there a specific side the cincture hang down on? I believe I heard a seminarian saying that lay people should wear it on one side, and seminarians on the other.

I’ve never heard of such a thing.

This sounds like moving your tassel from one side of your mortar board to the other when you get your diploma.

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Sant’Anselmo, the Roman liturgical institute (which hasn’t always been a bastion of tradition), is going to offer a Masters degree in GREGORIAN CHANT.

From CNA:

Rome university launches course on liturgical music
By Estefania Aguirre

Rome, Italy, May 20, 2013 / 09:34 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A pontifical university in Rome has launched a master’s program in Gregorian chant and the use of the organ at Mass so as to build unity among Catholics world-wide.  [I just about fell off my chair.]

“The most important thing is that music, when it is truly liturgical, creates community,” Father Jordi Piqué, dean of the Pontifical University of Saint Anselmo’s liturgical institute, said May 20.

“When one hears a Mass that is sung or the organ interpreting a beautiful melody, it’s never individualistic, it’s always as a group,” he added at the Benedictine Abbey where the university is located.

Fr. Piqué, who plays the organ, is from the Benedictine Abbey of Montserrat, Spain, and was named dean of the program six months ago.

“The Pontifical Liturgical Institute has always had liturgical sources as its base and since the Second Vatican Council studies have been adapted to spread and make liturgy be valued by the faithful,” he explained.

“A very important part of liturgy is the music and chants, and now we’ve been able to unite with the Pontifical University of Sacred Music and offer this Master’s.”

The degree will require that students study Gregorian chant with “a scientific reflection” as well as seeing its central place, “directed within the liturgy.”

[...]

Read the rest there.

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Registered or not, will you in your charity please take a moment look at the requests and to pray for the people about whom you read?

Continued from THESE.

I get many requests by email asking for prayers. Many requests are heart-achingly grave and urgent.

As long as my blog reaches so many readers in so many places, let’s give each other a hand.  We should support each other in works of mercy.

If you have some prayer requests, feel free to post them below. You have to be registered here to be able to post.

Finally, I have a serious personal petition.

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Share it here and brighten our days.

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