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Views from the Choir Loft

CDW Guidance for Holy Week 2021

Fr. David Friel · February 18, 2021

AST YEAR, as surely everyone recalls, the celebration of Holy Week was subject to adaptations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The variations from standard practice were enumerated in two decrees published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW). Recently, it was announced by the CDW that last year’s guidance may be applied again this year, although it leaves ample leeway for local bishops to make decisions based on the particular circumstances of their territory. Some areas, for example, would presumably be able to celebrate Holy Week with fewer adaptations this year, while ongoing lockdowns and health concerns might prevent a more normalized celebration in other places.

The full text of this recent announcement is available for download. Given in several languages, the English text appears on pp. 5-6.

* PDF Download • CDW Guidance for Holy Week 2021

One portion of this communication is particularly interesting, and so it is reproduced here:

The use of social media has greatly aided pastors in offering support and closeness to their communities during the pandemic. Alongside these positive results, problematic aspects were also observed. For the celebration of Holy Week, it is suggested that media coverage of the celebrations presided over by the Bishop be facilitated and favoured, encouraging the faithful who are unable to attend their own church to follow the diocesan celebrations as a sign of unity.

Links to the two decrees published last year are available in this post. These may be important to review as dioceses determine how the Holy Week liturgies will be celebrated in the year of Our Lord 2021.

Finally, it may also be worth revisiting another document published this past year by the CDW, namely Cardinal Sarah’s heartfelt letter, Let us return to the Eucharist with joy! A link to the full text is available here.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

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Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Coronavirus Pandemic, Holy Week, Robert Cardinal Sarah Last Updated: February 18, 2021

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Fr. David Friel

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at St. Anselm Parish in Northeast Philly. He is currently a doctoral candidate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Yet, with all its advantages, the new Missal was published as if it were a work put together by professors, not a phase in a continual growth process. Such a thing never happened before. It is absolutely contrary to the laws of liturgical growth, and it has resulted in the nonsensical notion that Trent and Pius V had “produced” a Missal four hundred years ago.

— Josef Cardinal Ratzinger (1986)

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