Dear Brothers in Holy Orders,

Following the convocation yesterday, several priests asked me about the situation in the Dioceses of Phoenix and Madison where a decision was reached that Holy Communion under both kinds should be discontinued because it seemed that the indult allowing the practice in the United States had expired.

Having contacted the Secretariat for Divine Worship at the USCCB, I was informed that it is not a matter of the indult expiring. Rather the indult has been supplanted by The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (283) which states:

The Diocesan Bishop may establish norms for Communion under both kinds for his own diocese, which are also to be observed in the churches of religious and at celebrations with small groups. The Diocesan Bishop is also given the faculty to permit Communion under both kinds whenever it may seem appropriate to the Priest to whom a community has been entrusted as its own shepherd, provided that the faithful have been well instructed and that there is no danger of profanation of the Sacrament or of the rite’s becoming difficult because of the large number of participants or for some other cause.

In the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Communion under both kinds is permitted whenever it may seem appropriate to the Priests provided that the conditions in the aforementioned paragraph have been satisfied.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr
Archbishop of Cincinnati

UPDATE 6/17: Here is the USCCB press release.

Schola does primitive organum on the congregational parts.

Here it is:

Agnus Dei multilingual tropes – Pentecost

Though little is written about it, it’s an important topic. The Book of Blessings says that the sacramentary, lectionary, and other liturgical books are to be blessed, although the official Latin (De Benedictionibus) doesn’t mention the missal explicitly in this regard.

The BCDW recommends burying the old sacramentary on church grounds or in a parish cemetery. Other possibilities are placing the liturgical book in the coffin of a deceased person, as is done in various Eastern Churches, as a sign of the person’s devotion to the liturgy. One could also do ‘cremation’ (my term, not theirs) and bury the ashes on church grounds. Suggestion: keep one copy of the book for the parish archives.

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I’ve been given a sneak peak, and I can’t resist sharing an excerpt from Horace Allen’s piece, “Msgr. Frederick R. McManus: An Ecumenical Remembrance.” Presbyterian Horace Allen labored much with Msgr. McManus on many ecumenical liturgical initiatives – back in the goldens days of increasing ecumenical collaboration and convergence, before Liturgiam authenticam. Allen shares this delightful anecdote:

There was a national liturgical gathering in Boston and a number of mutual friends were in town. Everyone wanted to take Fred to dinner – a far greater number of eager guests than there were days on which to dine – and so “a great supper” was planned, and I suggested one of Boston’s premier “vintage” restaurants – and a popular clerical venue, I might add – Anthony’s Pier 4 on Boston’s renowned waterfront. This classic establishment, whose owner, Anthony Athanas, was patriarch of one of Boston’s most prominent Greek families, features walls that are a veritable iconostasis of celebrities, including Boston’s clerical celebrities, most prominent among them the late Richard Cardinal Cushing whose gatherings at Anthony’s are still the stuff of legend – and about whom Fred had many wonderful anecdotes to share.
Knowing that a large table at Anthony’s on a Saturday night with short notice was as unlikely a find as “the pearl of great price,” I decided to be creative. Our party arrived – at least a dozen strong – and, just as we had anticipated, the multitude of those waiting for a table suggested that our chances of eating before closing time were slim indeed. Only one person among us was dressed in clerics: and, as always, Fred’s crisp black suit was crowned with that wide Roman collar. “Put our names in right away,” one of our party pleaded, “but we’re going to be waiting forever!”
Not quite! For someone on the restaurant’s staff had spied Fred’s Roman collar and had hurried into the kitchen, from which, momentarily, a beaming Mr. Anthony Athanas himself emerged. He came right over to our gathering, everyone but me stunned by this personal attention on the part of no less an authority than the restaurant’s owner. “And this must be the party from His Eminence, the Cardinal’s Residence,” Mr. Athanas exclaimed. Then, spying Fred’s collar, “And you must be Monsignor McManus of the Cardinal’s staff! Come right this way, Monsignor! You and your guests! Your table is ready! Monsignor, do give His Eminence my best regards and the greetings of all of us here at Anthony’s. Enjoy your meal!” After Fred thanked Mr. Athanas and assured him that his best wishes would be conveyed to the Cardinal (whom Fred was not likely to see anytime soon, by the way!), he turned to me and shook his head at me with mock indignation, “Horace, you are incorrigible!” And he smiled!
But not long after that enjoyable evening together, darker days dawned both for Fred’s health and for the future of what had been, for a quarter century or more, our life’s common work and our ministry’s shared endeavor. …

I wouldn’t want to divulge the name of the cardinal. But his initials are Bernard Francis Law.

From: Horace T. Allen, “Msgr. Frederick R. McManus: An Ecumenical Remembrance.”

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Fr. Rick Hilgartner speaks in the following presentations:

What’s New in the Roman Missal? (part 1)

What’s New in the Roman Missal? (part 2)

What’s New in the Orations (Proper Prayers)

Parish Implementation

Videos presented by Msgr. Anthony Sherman:

How Did We Get Here?

Liturgiam Authenticam & Translating the Third Edition

The Process of Translating the Roman Missal, Third Edition

Msgr. Sherman also has a five-part series on the art of celebrating the Eucharist (the first part is here).

H/T: Bari Colombari, OCP Publications.

Msgr. Harbert notes that

A good deal has been made on this blog of the involvement of Mgr James Moroney with the 2011 Vox Clara text, but the situation isn’t as simple as some people seem to imagine. If you look at http://www.romanmissal.us/ you will find interviews with several Vox Clara members, and Mgr Moroney reciting new versions of the Eucharistic Prayers. But the text he utters differs in several places from that given on the USCCB website at http://www.usccb.org/romanmissal/order-of-mass.pdf.

I have spotted seven such discrepancies in Eucharistic Prayer 2 alone. Which is the approved text? . . . These aren’t just slips of the tongue. For instance, in the opening paragraph of Eucharistic Prayer 3, where the printed text reads “pure”, Mgr M says “perfect”.

Perhaps it is necessary to distinguish two versions, 2011a and 2011b.

Fr. Pádraig McCarthy is a retired priest of the archdiocese of Dublin. This article appears in the current issue of The Furrow and reprinted here by permission of the author.

HT: Roman Missal Changes blog (Our Sunday Visitor)