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Lineamenta

Instrumentum Laboris for 2005 Synod Meeting on Eucharist

I have not yet read this document completely, but here are some links about it.

Update 20 July 2005

Ten days ago I read the document in three hours.

A disappointment for me is that the term "liturgical law" does not appear. Instead the term used is "liturgical norms" which appears seven times. For example: "The ongoing formation of the clergy needs to rekindle a spirit of communal prayer to strengthen a disposition of humbly adhering to the spirit and letter of liturgical norms."

The word "rubrics" is used three times:

"merely transgressions of the rubrics" (n. 26)

"the lack of precision in the rubrics" (n. 57)

"58. Generally speaking, the Lineamenta responses provide a picture of the shadows existent in the celebration of the Eucharist.

"Where some liturgical rubrics are treated with mistrust, others seem to be adopted to provoke changes inspired by ideologies or theological misconceptions, not a few of which come from movements and groups seeking changes in the liturgy. ..."

I find n. 58 particularly confusing. Is it a shadow that people follow the rubrics in the liturgical books? Perhaps the message is that "unofficial rubrics" are adopted, but this is not clear.

In n. 26 and n. 58 it does not promote a positive sense of rubrics as important rules for the good of the community.

By J.R. Lilburne, 9 July, 2005. Updated 20 July 2005. I give what I have written on this page to the public domain.

Other sites

The instrumentum laboris at www.vatican.va

Cathnews.com report