The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments publishes a note to bishops and episcopal conferences on the celebration of Holy Week 2021 taking into account worship and health security.
By the Vatican News staff writer
The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has published a note to bishops and episcopal conferences on the celebration of Holy Week 2021. The text provides basic guidelines to assist bishops in their task of providing the spiritual well-being of pastors and faithful to living this great week of the liturgical year of the Church. The Covid-19 pandemic presents this year the key challenge to celebrate these liturgies normally. The note calls for “prudent decisions so that the liturgy can be celebrated fruitfully for the People of God … while respecting the safeguarding of health and what has been prescribed by the authorities responsible for the common good.”
The Congregation refers to a decree it issued on March 25, 2020 and notes that the guidelines offered for the celebration of Holy Week in this document can also be followed this year. Situations vary from country to country, where some have strict conditions of blockade, making it impossible for the faithful to gather in the Church, while others have returned to a more normal pattern of worship.
The note highlights how the use of social media has helped the local church a lot to “offer support and proximity to its communities during the pandemic.” He suggests that this media outreach continue and encourages the faithful who cannot attend their own church to follow diocesan celebrations as a sign of unity.
The text also recalls the importance of returning to a normal experience of the Christian life through the physical presence of the faithful at Mass, where circumstances allow, as noted in a letter in August last year that the Congregation addressed the presidents of the Episcopal Conferences around the world entitled “Let us return to the Eucharist with joy!”
Finally, the note says that the chrism Mass can be moved to another more appropriate day, if necessary, and that appropriate aids for family and personal prayer are encouraged.