Consecration may be time to kneel

By RENATO GANDIA
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton

While waiting for the approved adaptations to the new General Instruction on the Roman Missal (GIRM), there will be no changes in the liturgical practices in the Archdiocese of Edmonton, Archbishop Thomas Collins told the WCR in a Feb. 11 interview.

"We will certainly be dealing with that later in the spring," the archbishop said.

When Rome issued a new Roman Missal in 2000, it came with a new GIRM.

Before the new Roman Missal is used in different countries there are different adaptations - depending on the local situations - that every conference of bishops in the world must make.

Such adaptations have been discussed by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and were sent over to Rome for approval.

"But the approved adaptations have not come back yet so we're not ready to implement until (the document) comes back," Collins said.

Only last October did the CCCB receive a fairly accurate translation of the GIRM, which was written in Latin originally.

At their annual meeting in October, CCCB unanimously agreed to establish the posture of kneeling as a minimum norm from the end of the "Holy, holy, holy" until the memorial acclamation, following the elevation of the sacred Blood.

At some 30 places in the new GIRM, Rome stated that the local bishops' conference will decide and will choose on the options presented.

The staff of the Canadian national liturgy office drew up a list of all the points that the CCCB has to make a decision.

To a great degree the new general instruction simply put together in one place a series of changes and adaptations made around the world over the last 20 to 30 years, said the archbishop.

The archdiocesan liturgy office is looking at the way adaptations were made in other places.

The office is in touch with the Canadian liturgy office as well as with the American liturgy office to prepare for the changes.

"But right now we have to wait for the approved adaptations from Rome," Collins emphasized.

Collins thinks before the summer, the liturgy office will be ready to at least substantially look at how the changes will be implemented.

"When we get (the approved adaptations), what we will do is conduct workshops for local parishes, presentations to the priests and parish teams, and publish information in the WCR," Collins said.

"They might change something. We don't want to implement one thing when something else is there. We'll wait till we get (the document) and then we will announce dates for these workshops.

Collins said he couldn't tell the WCR what kind of changes will take place. "The changes will be told to everybody in due time. I don't anticipate any huge things, but there's a whole series of minor changes."

When the archbishop was asked whether the people will be asked to stand or kneel during the Consecration, he said, "These are some of the things that we wait for with great interest. These are some of the things that we need to look at."

"As we implement the new instructions, we will deal with the issue."

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