Father Stephen A. Baumann at 1020 Montgomery Road, Altamonte Springs, FL 32714-7420 US - Introduction
| Introduction |
On Holy Thursday, 2000, Pope John Paul II approved the revised Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, popularly known as the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. The present revision replaces the 1975 edition of the Institutio Generalis and is now available in Latin from the Vatican Press and in an English language study edition from the NCCB Secretariat for the Liturgy. This summary is offered to our readers in order to provide an introduction to some of the new aspects of this important liturgical document. At the outset, it is important to understand that the revised Institutio stands in direct continuity with the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) of the Second Vatican Council, and the former General Instruction on the Roman Missal (Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani) of l975. As with both these seminal documents, the prescriptions of the new Institutio are to be seen as concrete ways of specifying and underscoring the nature and importance of the sacred liturgy in the church's life (see Sacrosanctum Concilium, 5). The structure of the Institutio remains largely unchanged, though there are some significant exceptions. The number of paragraphs has been increased from 340 to 399. A ninth chapter of new material regarding "Adaptations which are the Competence of Bishops and Conferences of Bishops" has been developed in the light of the Fourth Instruction on the Implementation of the Constitution on the Liturgy (March 29, 1994). The introduction to the Institutio (1-15) contains the theological and spiritual rationale for what follows. These paragraphs deserve special attention because they show how this new document is an organic outgrowth of what has occurred since Vatican II in the reform of the liturgy, and they contain important theological insight about the central place of the Eucharist in the life of faith. As with the prior edition of the Institutio, its first chapter contains a general reflection on the "Importance and Dignity of the Eucharistic Celebration." The second chapter then examines the "Structure, Elements and Parts of the Mass." The third chapter ("Offices and Ministries in the Mass") is divided into three sections also found in the previous edition, dealing with the role of the ordained, the gathered faithful and special ministries. A fourth division has been added to the new edition, addressing the "Distribution of Roles and Preparations for the Celebration." Chapter four ("Different Forms of Celebration") has been significantly restructured. The first section regarding "Mass with a Congregation" is now divided into four parts: "Mass without a Deacon" (previously, "Basic Form of Celebration"); "Mass with a Deacon" (previously, "Functions of the Deacon"), "Functions of the Acolyte" and "Functions of the Reader." Part III (previously, "Mass without a Congregation") is now entitled "Mass at which only one Minister Assists." Chapter five ("The Arrangement and Furnishing of the Church for the Celebration of the Eucharist") is now divided into three sections: I. "General Principles", II. "Arrangement of the Sanctuary for the Sacred Synaxis" (formerly, "Arrangement of the Church"), and III. "The Arrangement of the Church." The structure of chapters six, seven and eight remains substantially unchanged. In other instances, paragraphs have been added which conveniently collect rubrical information found elsewhere throughout the Institutio or otherwise found in the Order of Mass. An example of this is found at number 90, which provides a convenient summary of the concluding rites. While much of the revision in the new edition is stylistic and editorial, bringing greater precision to the Institutio, many of the changes are introduced to nuance or enhance the meaning of a particular passage. For example, the adjective "sacred" is added regularly to such words as ministers, celebrations, hosts, vestments and action, in keeping with the Institutio's own general admonition that "[a]nything out of keeping with the sacred is to be avoided." (344) Likewise, the adjective "profound" has been added to the word "bow" in most instances and the adjective "liturgical" to the word "assembly" when suggested by the context. Other more substantive changes are described under the following five categories: I. The Bishop, Priest and Deacon; II. Lay Ministers; III. Ritual Changes; IV. Sacred Things and V. Adaptation.
