| February 12, 2007 | Volume 82, Number 8 | |
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Purification term puzzles readerIn her piece on “Revising a ritual” Barbara Hughes catches a number of us lay people on our high horses for expressing outrage at being left out of the purification of vessels after Communion. She pleads for humility and understanding and highlights the positive aspects of the new rubric — that the purification of the vessels by the priest or deacon is part of the worship, and that it gives us time for thanksgiving and reflection. Yet some questions remain. If we lay people were able to purify the vessels in a back room, we should be able to do it around the altar. As for the time of thanksgiving and reflection, it is denied to the celebrants who are left with “doing the dishes,” especially if you have half a dozen of them. Incidentally, I am puzzled by the use of the term “purification.” According to my dictionary purification means the removal of pollution. Doesn’t this border on sacrilege?
(Barbara Hughes responds: As to Mr. Pelissier’s comment about the priest or deacon not having the same time for thanksgiving, the practice seems to place emphasis on their role as servant. Deacons were originally chosen from the community to wait on tables, but not every parish has a deacon. My column simply reflects my view regarding the new rubric. I’m sure other people see it differently, but one thing is sure — obedience to the Church is not an option. I was merely sharing how I came around to a more accepting position. Some have found it helpful.)
Office of Worship clarifies commentsI admire Barbara Hughes’ confession of her acceptance of the return of an older ritual, and love the quote of Annie Dillard, one of my favorites! However, lest it appear to be what the Church teaches, I’d like to comment on what Ms. Hughes wrote. To imply that to place vessels with a few eucharistic particles on a side table or in the sacristy is “to relegate the Guest of Honor to a back room or a side table” is not what the Church teaches, but rather the opinion of that author. The General Instruction to the Roman Missal (universal law) clearly states that “sacred vessels are purified by the priest, the deacon, or an instituted acolyte after Communion or after Mass, insofar as possible at the credence table” [GIRM, no. 279]. The wonder of celebrating and sharing Eucharist is that we receive the “Guest of Honor” into our very bodies, that he might become us, and we become him — the Body of Christ. It is not that we gaze in awe at the vessels that contained him, but that we marvel at the Gift broken and shared with us! While the vessels that held the consecrated elements should be treated with reverence, they are not to be reverenced. They do not need to be “front and center,” nor should they be. During the Eucharistic Prayer and distribution of Holy Communion, cups and plates contain the bread and wine that become Body and Blood of Christ. When that is finished, the remaining consecrated wine is consumed, fragments of consecrated bread are gathered together, the vessels are set aside on the credence table to be unobtrusively purified now or later, and finally washed. What is truly a minor ritual has suddenly taken on much more than it is supposed to mean! I would offer that what needs to happen, and so rarely does, is for the Silence after Communion to be a moment of true silence, when no activity takes place, when presider and deacon and communion ministers are still, and when organ or piano is mute. Then, perhaps, Thanksgiving would have time to blossom.
Xaverian Brothers influenced Mr. BeazleyI read with interest Barbara Hughes’ article (January 29, 2007) on the work of the Beazley Foundation. There were several misstatements, however, which I am sure Barbara would be happy to see corrected. Fred W. Beazley did not “drop out of Portsmouth Catholic High School at the age of 16” simply because the school did not yet exist. Rather, Beazley attended St. Paul’s Academy for Boys, staffed by the Xaverian Brothers beginning in 1892. St. Paul’s had a junior high component, where Beazley was a student (it was discontinued in 1925). Fred did not transfer to the senior high at St. Mary’s, Norfolk (staffed by the Xaverians from 1891) as did other boys from St. Paul. It was not “Father Fabian, a priest at the school” who had such an influence on Beazley, but Brother Fabian Lyons, CFX. Fabian Hall on the campus of Frederick College (now a campus of Tidewater Community College), endowed by the Beazley family, was named after this educator, who died in 1929. Besides boys’ schools in St. Mary’s and St. Paul’s parishes, Xaverian Brothers staffed schools in St. Vincent’s parish, Newport News (1902), and in Richmond at St. Peter’s (1881), Cathedral of the Sacred Heart (1917) and St. Patrick’s (1900), as well as The Xaverian School in Alexandria (1919) and Old Point Comfort College (1898). As Barbara Hughes rightly emphasized, the Beazley Foundation has had a remarkably generous impact in the Hampton Roads area.
This article did not appear in the Web edition of the Catholic Virginian
Priest’s sister thanks benefactorsLast week I had the pleasure of meeting with the secretary of the Pontifical North American College. She was very pleased by the recent response and generation of funds from people of the Diocese of Richmond in memory of my brother, the late Msgr. Charles Kelly after a letter from Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee appeared in the Catholic Virginian. I thank Archbishop Dolan, who had served as rector of PNAC, for sharing his thoughts and memories. He, along with the late Cardinal James Hickey, were among the founders of the Father Charles A. Kelly Chair of Pastoral Formation at PNAC in Rome. I also wish to thank all who have supported this very worthy cause not only now, but also in the past. My father, Charles Kelly, Sr., and I are sincere in our appreciation of your generosity. The fund now stands at $110,000 toward the goal of $150,000. For more information, contact me at 804–569–1927.
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