Universalis, your very own breviary in pixels...

Monday 23 February 2009

Sprinkling Rite During Gloria

My parish, as long as I have lived here, has had the peculiar, to me, custom of performing any sprinkling rite during the Gloria (except the one with the renewal of baptismal promises that replaces the Credo on Easter)

I always wondered where the practice originated, but the couple times I broached the subject, people who might have known became somewhat defensive, and I backed off, (I didn't want to be pegged as the Liturgy Police... even if I do have the scanner in the den, to listen to the dispatcher and the patrol cars ;oP)

Well, now I know.
Instructions for Confirmation arrived from the chancery (they don't actually concern me, because I am given unpaid leave for anything Toby decides.)

So, bishops, (or O of W's) orders --"please keep in mind that when the Gloria is to be sung, the Sprinkling Rite will occur during the sung Gloria.
If the choice is made to have a sprinkling rite song, the Gloria should be completely omitted (A spoken Gloria is not appropriate. ) For appropriate Sundays in the Liturgical year the Gloria is always sung."

Huh?

A series of partial truths and tiny errors, IMO -- the sprinkling rite if used replaces the PENITENTIAL Rite, not the Gloria.
While the Gloria is a hymn and yes, it should be sung, if the Liturgy of the day calls for a Gloria it cannot licitly be omitted.
But if singing it is not an option, (yet -- it is presumed that this would be in a liturgically immature or musically challenged parish that was on its way to remedying the situation,) the Gloria must at least be spoken.

Just leaving it out is less appropriate than reciting it.
Does this O of W have a tendency to present preferences as rubrics?

1 comment:

Dad29 said...

O's of W have presented preference over legislation for about 40 years.