Church in the World

New Missal ready in next few months

Australia

Australian Catholics can expect few changes in the way they celebrate the Eucharist despite Vatican approval for proposals submitted by their bishops, according to one of the country's leading liturgical authorities, writes Mark Brolly.

The executive secretary of the Australian bishops' commission for liturgy, Fr Peter Williams, said that the changes could be introduced as early as the next couple of months. The bishops would decide a single date on which the changes would come into force.

Fr Williams said the two changes would be that Australian Catholics would stand to respond to the celebrant's invitation to pray before the Eucharistic Prayer (now they remain seated) and they would stop and bow as they approached the minister of the Eucharist before receiving Holy Communion. "We are hoping to have a uniform implementation date, possibly over the next couple of months," Fr Williams said. The Vatican recently approved the "General Instruction of the Roman Missal" submitted by the Australian bishops, relating to the third Latin edition of the Missal published in 2002 and translated into English. The instruction explains how the Mass is to be celebrated and states the liturgical principles that guide its celebration.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge, chairman of the bishops' commission for liturgy, said while there were some small changes affecting the posture and gestures of people attending Mass, the main changes simply fine-tuned some liturgical practices that would affect priests, deacons and lay liturgical ministers.