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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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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.—(Read full biography).

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PDF Download • Trinity Sunday (22 pages)

Feel free to download this Organ Accompaniment Booklet for Trinity Sunday (Second Vespers). Notice how the modes progress by number. Psalm 1 is mode 1; Psalm 2 is mode 2; Psalm 3 is mode 3; Psalm 4 is mode 4; Psalm 5 is mode 5. I am told by an expert that other feasts (such as Corpus Christi) are likewise organized by mode, and it’s called a “numerical office.”

—Jeff Ostrowski
10 June 2022 • “Official” rhythm of plainsong

I continue to search for the most beautiful way to present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores. (Technically, the “pure” rhythm of the official edition is what everyone is supposed to use.) You can download my latest attempt, which is the Introit for this coming Sunday: Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Because this is not an ancient feast, the Introit had to be adapted (perhaps around 750AD). Prior Johner says the adaptation is “not an entirely happy one.”

—Jeff Ostrowski
7 June 2022 • FEEDBACK

From Chelan, Washington: “CCWatershed is a God-sent resource that I can’t function without! Such great work by the team to bring beauty back to our liturgy!” From Gainesville, Florida: “I am so appreciative of the work, of my brothers and sisters in music!” From Troutman, North Carolina: “Keep up the excellent work in service of the Liturgy!”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“From six in the evening, his martyrdom had continued through the ghastly night until nine o’clock in the morning. After fifteen hours of torture rarely if ever surpassed in the bloody annals of the Iroquois, the soul of Gabriel Lalemant was freed from its charred and mutilated prison and summoned to join his comrade Jean de Brébeuf in the radiant splendor of God. March 17th, 1649, was the date; for Brébeuf it had been the sixteenth.”

— ‘Fr. John A. O’Brien, speaking of St. Gabriel Lalemant’

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