So the area rural deacons, if they are available and willing, are going to be trained for a Sunday Celebration in the Absence of a Priest.
I had thought that it would be a simple Communion service. But it turns out that for Sundays, it is a bit more involved.
From the document I was able to find, which hopefully is current:
"The order to be followed in a Sunday celebration that does not include Mass consists of two parts, the celebration of the word of God and the giving of holy communion. Nothing that is proper to Mass, and particularly the presentation of the gifts and the eucharistic prayer, is to be inserted into the celebration. The order of celebration is to be arranged in such a way that it is truly conducive to prayer and conveys the image not of a simple meeting but of a genuine liturgical assembly.
The following is an outline of the elements of the celebration.
The Mass parts would not be sung, but the singing of hymns is encouraged, particularly songs of thanksgiving after Communion.
- Introductory rites. The purpose of these is to form the gathered faithful into a community and for them to dispose themselves for the celebration.
- Liturgy of the word. Here God speaks to his people, to disclose to them the mystery of redemption and salvation; the people respond through the profession of faith and the general intercessions.
- Thanksgiving. Here God is blessed for his great glory (see no. 45).
- Communion rites. These are an expression and accomplishment of communion with Christ and with his members, especially with those who on this same day take part in the eucharistic sacrifice.
- Concluding rites. These point to the connection existing between the liturgy and the Christian life."
One thing this source emphasizes, over and over, is that the SCAP shouldn't be normalized; that if there is a Mass in the parish at another time, either on Saturday evening or Sunday, that this service shouldn't be used. Only one SCAP should be used for weekend worship, multiple times should not be scheduled in the same parish. It should be treated as unusual and emergency. Which is a nice thought, I suppose, that it wouldn't actually take the place of Mass. But there is every chance that it will be normalized, because the rural deanery is one serious illness or death of a priest away from this being the necessary means of worship in a parish or parishes affected.
Hi Katherine, I've been aware of it, have never had to do it.
ReplyDeleteMost of the parishes in our local area have a Sunday evening mass. But, seemingly by mutual agreement, they don't do the Sunday evening mass on holiday weekends - Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving weekend, Independence Day if it happens to land on a weekend. I've been at the parish on a number of these occasions (we do a feed-the-hungry-and-homeless thing on some Sunday evenings during the summer), and have been confronted with dozens of parishioners (and probably non-parishioners) pulling into the parking lot and rattling the locked doors of the church because they want to go to mass. As it's Sunday evening, there would be no other, later masses - this was, they thought, their last chance to go to mass. So I always end up standing in the parking lot on those evenings, explaining to everyone as politely as I can that there is no mass tonight, but it will be back next week, and no, I don't know of any other parishes that are having Sunday evening mass.
I mention this because on those occasions, I've been tempted to grab a missal, a lectionary, a full ciborium from the tabernacle, and some vestments, and do an impromptu word-and-communion service, right there in the parking lot. But I've been told not to do that, so I haven't (so far :-)).
Yeah, I can see how it would be confusing for people when there is usually a Sunday evening Mass, except when there isn't (we used to cal the Sun. evening one the bartender's Mass). I suppose one would have to get permission to do a Communion service then, but it seems like the archdiocese should authorize it, under the circumstances.
DeleteWe are unlikely in our town to need to do the SCAP, since there are three parishes, and one could go to the other two in a pinch. But the deacons often share duties at the rural parishes when there is a need.
I wonder what will happen to daily morning Mass. We're down to one a week, on Thursdays. This will cease when Father dies.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if there were a lay-led prayer service, even just a morning or evening rosary.
I understand Catholics feel a deep need for the sacraments, but when these are not available on a daily basis, how will daily worship together be encouraged?
Our parish does a word-and-communion service on Fridays, led by laypersons. That's pretty common around here, although at a lot of parishes it's done partially or fully by deacons. I did it a few times, but it doesn't really fit my schedule, inasmuch as it's a work day for me.
DeleteWe do SCAPs annually in this diocese when priests go on a Monday afternoon through Thursday morning convocation with the bishop. Morning and afternoon Masses that are missed (Tues p.m. through Thurs a.m.) become SCAPs, or maybe Weekday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest. The diocese encouraged deacon formation from the start, so we have many of them. We used to have a parochial vicar who is uncomfortable around priests, and he used to arrange to stand in for other priest's must-have Masses during the period. But he's a pastor now and can't get away with that.
DeleteThe SCAP is, basically, the Liturgy of the Word, then a big skip to the Our Father, Communion and blessing. You could follow it in the missal. It is a satisfying service, for what it is, but you wouldn't want to replace the Mass with it. If I were reforming it, I would add one or two more prayers -- maybe one to notice what we were not doing -- to what the rules call part c.
Tom,
DeleteThe WCAPs are not the same as SCAPs. The Sunday Celebrations were intended to be something more that just Liturgy of the Word plus communion. There in lies the problem. It is covered under item c) Thanksgiving in the outline above.
Tom, a priest who is uncomfortable around priests, that is funny!
DeleteI have enjoyed going to daily Mass since retirement. However yesterday I got asked to return to my old job for several weeks while a former coworker is recovering from surgery, starting the last week of October. So I suppose I won't be able to do daily Mass as often.
DeleteSounds like priests will need to consecrate a whole lot of hosts ahead of time for the various CAP services.
DeleteJean: Jesus via FedEx?
DeleteLooking around the internet, this practice seems to be very much a work in progress. Lots of different dioceses trying to make sense of it with various, sometimes contradictory practices.
ReplyDeleteTwo good articles:
A 2010 Pray Tell article on the topic. Take a look at the comments. Even the experts, Rita Ferrone and Paul Inwood seem to be trying to make sense of it.
A master's thesis done by Chris Angel under Fr. Anthony Ruff's direction. Called "Short Term Solution: Long Term Problem" it takes a look at the history of communion outside of Mass and the problems that it poses for Sunday celebrations where we want both the Eucharist prayer and Communion.
Note that this is very different from the situation of giving communion on weekdays. This is done regularly during Lent in the Byzantine tradition with a combination of vespers, liturgy of the word and communion. Our own remnant of this type of service is on Good Friday. Before Vatican II it was called the Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified which is what the Orthodox still call it. Both in my opinion are very beautiful services.
Ah, yes, communion on weekdays apart from Mass. Back in the Latin days, many parishes had Communion before Mass for people on their lunch hour who couldn't stay for Mass. That led to the immortal announcement by Fr. Cahill one Wednesday at Gesu in Milwaukee: "Communion up the center aisle and down the side aisles, ashes up the side aisles and down the center aisle, and Mass will begin in five minutes."
DeleteI have to admit, it worked.
Jack, thanks for that reference to the Pray Tell discussion from 2010.
DeleteI think what people want is something like mass, even if there is no Liturgy of the Eucharist. In very broad strokes, this is what happens on Good Friday. In short: a Liturgy of the Word which would be identical to that of mass, followed by distribution of Communion. In the weekday celebrations we do, this is the basic order of service. And that order maps to the basic outline of other liturgies such as baptisms, weddings and funerals.
I think the idea of adapting Morning Prayer or the prayer of some other Hour for this SCAP purpose would only work in faith communities, like abbeys or convents, that already have a strong foundation of celebrating the Liturgy of the Hours in groups. With or without communion, Liturgy of the Hours is difficult for people who aren't familiar with it - it requires initiation and a regular habit of praying it. To be candid, I share some of the suspicion which I think Rita and Paul were implying in that 2010 Pray Tell conversation: the goal of making these SCAP celebrations unlike mass was not for any pastoral reason (in fact, that goal is contrary to pastoral considerations), but rather to jealously guard the alleged uniqueness of the priest's role as presider: if there ain't a priest, then it must not look, walk or quack like anything a priest would possibly lead. That's a "Benedict church" consideration rather than a "Francis church" consideration. Of course, Benedict's church and Francis's church are one and the same, but I think it's handy shorthand for distinguishing different approaches to pastoral problems.
"(in fact, that goal is contrary to pastoral considerations), but rather to jealously guard the alleged uniqueness of the priest's role as presider:"
DeleteYes, Jim, that looms large. Many dioceses have their own interpretations of the rules. You can google them. Much attention to the presider/leader and where he/she sits, inside or outside the sanctuary. The deacon sometimes gets the pastor's chair (I guess emphasizing ordination) and sometimes a chair outside the sanctuary or even the front pew (I guess that emphasizes deacons are not priests).
Yes, "..the priest's unique roll as a presider." Brings to mind one of my pet peeves, that apparently thhe GIRM specifies that the deacon shouldn't purify the Communion vessels at the altar, that being the priest's territory. It ends up that he has to do it on a credence table in the corner, or in the sacristy after Mass. And the EMHCs or servers are not allowed to do it.
DeleteMy suggestion for a pastoral solution would be a Sunday evening service consisting of vespers, liturgy of the word, and communion (which is one of the SCAP options.
ReplyDeleteThe presiders at this would be deacons and/or lay people who had participated in the Eucharist celebrated elsewhere on either Saturday evening or Sunday morning. The hosts would be brought from that service. It would keep the notion of "pre-sanctified" and would be similar to the early church practice of sending hosts from the bishops Mass to suburban eucharistic celebrations.
I am an occasional kibbitzer on an Episcopal site. Mention is made there of an Evensong service, either on Sunday evening or midweek. Sounds like it is a bit more formal than our Evening Prayer from the breviary. Might be similar to what you are talking about.
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