By Anne Marie Amacher
With only 2 1/2 weeks until implementation of the third edition of the Roman Missal, parishes have stepped up efforts to educate parishioners about changes in prayers, responses and music of the Mass.
In the Iowa City area, parishes have been offering educational sessions city-wide and using the booklet “Understanding the Revised Mass Texts” by Liturgy Training Publications.
More than 120 households from St. Mary, St. Patrick and St. Wenceslaus parishes and Newman Catholic Student Center, all in Iowa City, and St. Thomas More Parish in Coralville are participating, said Dan Teets of St. Mary Parish.
Sessions are held Monday and Tuesday mornings and Wednesday evenings at St. Patrick, Monday evenings at St. Mary’s, Thursday evenings at St. Thomas More and Sunday afternoons at St. Wenceslaus. The Newman Center has helped advertise the sessions, he noted.
Teets said the sessions include information about why and how the Mass texts been revised. Topics cover introductory rites, Gloria, Liturgy of the Word, Profession of Faith, Liturgy of the Eucharist, Eucharistic Prayer, the mystery of faith, Communion and concluding rites.
In addition, St. Mary’s is providing pew cards that will be placed in the pews beginning in Advent. Patti McTaggart, coordinator of liturgy, has provided a CD of the new settings for Mass parts to all musicians and parish council members. She will provide training to cantors and other musicians.
At St. Mary Parish in Solon, three-minute video segments have been shown before each Sunday Mass since Sept. 4, said Father Jim Vrba, the pastor. Although there are 25 total videos of “Lord, Teach Us to Pray: The Meaning and Beauty of the Roman Catholic Mass,” his parish will use 12 of them.
The videos explain changes in the wording of prayers and provide a refresher on the parts of the Mass.
Fr. Vrba has created his own bulletin inserts with more “in-depth meaning” than he found in suggested bulletin inserts. As for music, the melody of some of the new musical settings is played after Communion to get the congregation used to hearing it.
In early November the parish began learning the musical parts at homily time. A book study will be introduced in early 2012 on “Living the Mass” by Father Dominic Grassi and Joe Paprocki of Loyola Press.
St. John Vianney Parish in Bettendorf has offered its liturgical ministers sessions on the new Roman Missal and will offer more sessions this fall. Eleanor Kiel said the transition committee used the “Becoming One Body, One Spirit in Christ” DVD as well as original material for slides and also presented a recap on liturgical Church history. Educational bulletin blurbs and inserts also will be provided.
The new Gospel Acclamation and Lamb of God will be gradually introduced into the new musical setting during Mass as these texts do not change, she noted. The new Eucharistic acclamations will be taught in preparation for Advent. Father Robert McAleer, pastor, and Father John Hynes, a retired priest who helps with Masses at St. John Vianney, will do homiletic catechesis week to week.
Since last fall, a parish leadership team at Prince of Peace Parish in Clinton has been sorting through the new Mass settings, said Andrew Tadlock, music director at the parish. Mini introductions began in early November. “Our parish will rely on using the core leadership teams (of liturgy, parish school, parish council and others) throughout the parish to begin introducing the new texts.”
Each music mini session will be two to four minutes long before Mass and will begin in sequential pattern according to the order of the Mass, Tadlock said.
In Pella, St. Mary Parish has been publishing questions and answers in its newsletter about the upcoming changes. Pew cards and other participation aids containing prayer responses will be available during the transition.
Lynn Cooper, director of music, said in a parish bulletin that the music ministry will get the parish comfortable with the new Mass music. Beginning in mid-September, the parish added the Alleluia and Amen to the existing Mass since the words don’t change. The Memorial Acclamation will be used as a Communion song in preparation for its proper place when the new Roman Missal is implemented.
Our Lady of Victory Parish in Davenport formed a 12-person steering committee to prepare for the new Roman Missal. A subcommittee planned a three-hour workshop that has been offered twice to all parishioners and liturgical ministers who wanted to understand more about the changes.
According to Msgr. James Parizek, the pastor, and Trish Gallagher, pastoral associate of faith formation, inserts and short promotions after the homily have encouraged the parish to read the learning materials.
Students at the parish school, John F. Kennedy Catholic School, as well as those in faith formation sessions and youth group are using booklets prepared by Maureen Kelly titled “What’s New About the Mass.” Small-group learning for adults begins this month, using Father Paul Turner’s “Understanding the Revised Mass Texts.”
Sacred Heart Parish in Newton has provided its parishioners six ways to learn more about the new Roman Missal. They were encouraged to attend the parish faith festival in September on Understanding the Mass; invited to register for adult small groups to learn about the changes; read bulletin inserts; visit the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website on the missal; watch “Lord, Teach Us to Pray” or watch the Roman Missal Changes webinar produced by Loyola Press.
Our Lady of the River Parish in LeClaire selected “Mass of Christ the Savior” as its Mass setting and has introduced the congregation to the new selections. At the end of his homily, Father Joe Wolf, the pastor, has parishioners recite a selected prayer or prayer response printed on laminated cards in the pews.
Explanation of changes in the new missal http://www.davenportdiocese.org/lit/liturgylibrary/lit0NewMissalSeriesCombined.pdf
