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Pope on Eucharistic worship and um"ty
VATICAN CITY (NC) — Eucharistic worship is "the soul of all Christian life" and "must not be an occasion for dividing Catholics and for threatening the unity of the church," Pope John Paul II said in a Holy Thursday letter to the world's bishops. The pastoral letter, "On the Mystery and Worship of the Holy Eucharist," emphasises the church's "special duty to safeguard and strengthen the sacredness of the Eucharist," which is "the centre and goal of all sacramental life." The pope described the Eucharist as "the principal and central 'raison d'etre' of the sacrament of the priesthood, which effectively came into being at the moment of the institution of the Eucharist, and together with it."
'SCANDAL'
Junta's riot story 'false' S AN SALVADOR (NC). — Bishops from El Salvador, Brazil, Ecuador, England, Panama, Peru and Venezuela and Protestant church leaders h ave called the junta's v ersion of t he mass deaths last Sunday false..
The Right-wing junta has blamed the populist Left-wing Co-ordinadora for the riot in which left up to 11 people shot and m ore than 20 others trampled to death in the Plaza in which the openair funeral of the
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murdered Archbishop R omero was to take place. The churchmen have denied that a group tried to take the remains of the archbishop or that the bomb was planted in the square or that the Leftists held the bishops in the cathedral afterwards. "We wanted to stay with the terrified people inside the cathedral," they said. "From the steps of the cathedral we saw, and o ther witnesses have stated that they saw the bomb being thrown from the national palace. "We saw security forces that morning in the city and on the main roads but we saw some Co-ordinated group burning cars to clear exits just in case." Organisers say 200,000 p eople, many in Coordinadora formations, f illed the four -acre square. The government says there were 30,000.
He called on priests and bishops to guard against actions that would tend to downgrade the importance of the Eucharist. "God preserve us from behaving in a way that lacks respect, from undue hurry, from an impatience that causes scandal," he said. Pope John Paul also apologized in his name and that of all bishops "for everything which, for whatever reason, through whatever human weakness, impatience or negligence, and also through the at times partial, one-sided and erroneous application of the directives of the Second Vatican Council, may have caused scandal and disturbance concerning the interpretation of the doctrine and the veneration due to this great sacrament." The pope said that distributing Communion in the hand had led to some scandalous attitudes. In countries where Communion in the hand was permitted, he said, "a deplorable lack of respect toward the eucharistic species has been reported." "It also happens, on occasion, that the free choice of those who prefer to continue the practice of receiving the Eucharist on the tongue i s not taken into a ccount," the pope added. The Polish-born pope
prefers not to give Communion in the hand, even in countries such as the United States where the practice is permitted.
LAITY But he stressed that criticism. of Communion in the hand was "in no way meant to refer to those who, receiving the Lord Jesus in the hand, do so with profound reverence and devotion, in those countries where this practice has been authorized." Pope John Paul said that the distribution of Communion by deacons and lay persons trained for the task was permissible. But he emphasized that priests had "a primary responsibility for the sacred species."
TEXT, DRESS "Deacons can only bring to the altar the offerings of the faithful and, once they have been consecrated by the priest, distribute them," the letter said. "The church can grant this faculty to those who are neither priests nor deacons . . . but always a fter an adequate preparation." The importance of the use of approved liturgical texts in the Mass and the observance of other liturgical requirements, such as the wearing of vestments, was also stressed in the papal letter. "We have been greatly moved when reading books written by priests who had been prisoners of extermination camps, with descriptions of eucharistic celebrations without the abovementioned rules," Pope John Paul said.
Eucharist. T hose indications would include provisions for Catholics who, "having been educated on the basis of the old liturgy in Latin, experience the lack of this 'one language," the letter said.
MORTAL SIN Pope John Paul called for "understanding (and) full respect toward these sentiments and desires" and said that "as far as possible these sentiments and desires are to be accommodated." The letter stressed the importance of not receiving Communion "unworthily. that is to say in a state of mortal sin." Entire congregations "quite frequently" took Communion at Mass, sometimes without taking "due care to approach the sacrament of penance so as to purify ore's conscience," the pope said. On the other hand there were Catholics who, because of an attitude of
"exaggerated severity" toward themselves, did not take Communion when they were able to do so, he added. The former concept wrongly promoted "the idea of the Mass as only a banquet," while the latter indicated "a lack of eucharistic 'hunger' and 'thirst,— the letter said. P ope John Paul s trongly urged the practice of eucharistic devotion. "With the help of your brothers in the priesthood," Pope John Paul told the world's bishops, "do all you can to safeguard the sacred dignity of the eucharistic ministry and that deep spirit of eucharistic communion which belongs in a special way to the church as the people of God."
DIVISION? The pope did not elaborate on his statement that the eucharistic liturgy s hould not divide Catholics. But he could have been speaking to conservatives who do not accept V atican 11 liturgical changes and to liberals who criticize the conciliar norms for not going far enough. Both positions have been the source of strong c ontroversy in the church.
LATIN "But although in those conditions this was a proof of heroism and deserved profound admiration, nevertheless in normal conditions to ignore the liturgical directives can be interpreted as a lack of respect toward the Eucharist," he added. The pope said the Vatican Congregation for Sacraments and Divine Worship would issue "detailed indications" on various aspects of the
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