Catholic Replies
Editor’s Note: Regarding a recent reply on whether anyone was able to get to Heaven prior to Jesus’ death on the cross, we said that Enoch and Elijah may have been exceptions. We have since received the following comments from R.P.G. of Ohio. He said that the Catechism of the Catholic Church (cf. nn. 631 to 635) “indicates what Jesus did on Saturday morning before rising on Easter morning. The section of Luke 16:19-31, which both the CCC and the New American Bible identify as a parable, is more of a divine revelation than a parable.
“All of the other 33 parables in the Gospels always refer to a man, a woman, a shepherd, a farmer, etc., but this pericope identifies two real people, namely, Lazarus the beggar and Abraham, our Father in Faith. I could not find any reference to the realm of the dead [‘bosom of Abraham’] in the Old Testament. Thus I see it as a divine revelation, never before known.
“Even after 16 years of Catholic education and eight decades of attending Mass, I have never heard this mentioned. I suggest you mention these wonderful CCC teachings which give all of us great hope for our ancient ancestors from the time of Noah. Some other references from the Scriptures are: 1 Tim. 2:4, 1 Peter 3:19-20, 1 Peter 4:6, Eph. 4:8-10, as well as [Vatican II’s] Constitution on the Church, n. 16. Thanks for your excellent work in this column.”
Q. In answer to a recent question, you pointed out God is perfection and can do nothing contrary to His nature; thus He would not create a rock larger than Himself. In other words, God’s existence and essence are one and the same. My question has to do with the preparation of the bread and wine at Mass where the acclamation is, “Blessed be God forever.” It seems to me that the use of verb “be” in this context is wrong since with the subsequent “forever” it implies that God could at some point not be blessed. Since God is perfect, would it not be better to say, “Blessed is God forever” as a prayer response? — E.D., Maine.
A. According to Webster’s Dictionary, the word “be” means “to equal in meaning, have the same connotation as,” and it gives as an example, “God is love.” We see no reason to think that “Blessed be God forever” implies that God at some point would not be blessed. Similar wording can be found in the Book of Daniel (2:20): “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and power are his.”
Q. In regard to your comment about the bishops’ prayer for religious liberty, our parish has a Religious Freedom Committee, established on July 4, 2013. We have, with the pastor’s support and encouragement, designated the third Sunday of each month for the recitation of this Prayer for Religious Liberty before all Masses. A committee member leads the prayer just before Mass, and printed cards with the prayer are available.
We also recite the rosary for the intention of help for persecuted Christians following the Saturday morning Mass on the third Saturday. We recite the Sorrowful Mysteries, using the meditations from Aid to the Church in Need.
They can be found at: www.acnuk.org/peace-in-iraq-meditations-on-the-rosary.
There are at least two other parishes in our archdiocese that have such committees, but I am not sure what their practices are. Hope this is of interest! — T.M., via e-mail.
A. Yes, it is. Thank you for the information. By the way, the people in our parish recite this prayer after saying the rosary each morning before Mass.
Q. At Mass our priest prepares the bread and wine at the same time and then says the prayers over them one right after the other, without the intervening prayer, “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.” Is this proper? — J.S., Massachusetts.
A. No, nor is it proper, as some priests do, to hold up both the bread and wine simultaneously and combine the two prayers by saying, “Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread and wine to offer….” The rubrics of the Mass call for the priest to say two distinct prayers when separately offering the bread and the wine, and he is not to omit the prayer that begins, “By the mystery of this water and wine….” By the way, he does not have to say these prayers aloud, but may say them quietly, especially if an Offertory hymn is being sung.
The practice of some priests to make these kinds of changes in the liturgy has been condemned many times over the years. For example, in the 2004 Vatican document Redemptionis Sacramentum, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments said:
“The reprobated practice by which priests, deacons, or the faithful here and there alter or vary at will the texts of the sacred liturgy that they are charged to pronounce must cease. For in doing thus they render the celebration of the sacred liturgy unstable and not infrequently distort the authentic meaning of the liturgy” (n. 59).
Q. I have been asked to be a godparent for a friend’s child who is to be baptized. I understand that a Protestant has also been asked to be a godparent for this child. Is this permitted, and what are the Church’s guidelines for choosing godparents? — M.M.C., Rhode Island.
A. According to canon 874 of the Code of Canon Law, a godparent, or sponsor, for Baptism must be designated by the parent or guardian or pastor, must have completed their sixteenth year, unless the pastor makes an exception “for a just cause,” must have received the Sacraments of Confirmation and the Holy Eucharist, must be leading “a life in harmony with the faith and the role to be undertaken,” must not be bound by any canonical penalty, and must not be the mother or father of the person to be baptized.
The same canon says that “a baptized person who belongs to a non-Catholic ecclesial community may not be admitted except as a witness to baptism and together with a Catholic sponsor.” So a baptized Protestant can be listed on the child’s baptismal record, but only as a Christian witness and provided that the other person is a duly qualified Catholic. A Catholic who does not meet the requirements to be a godparent cannot serve as a Christian witness.
Canon 872 says that “only one male or one female sponsor or one of each sex is to be employed.” Thus, only one godparent is required, there cannot be more than two, and if there are two they must be a male and a female.
It has been our experience that persons often come forward to be godparents or sponsors for Confirmation who are not qualified, usually because they never received Confirmation themselves or they are living in an irregular marriage situation. Parents of babies to be baptized or children to be confirmed must make sure that the person they are inviting to be a sponsor is qualified to serve in this role. It’s a good idea to publish the conditions for sponsorship in the parish bulletin from time to time.
Q. Recently there was a funeral Mass in our parish for a person who had been buried a few weeks before at a private service somewhere else. The deceased had not attended Mass for some time and was divorced and remarried without an annulment, but the deacon gave a nice talk at the Mass. Also, our parish is holding viewings in front of the altar in church prior to a funeral Mass at the request of the funeral director. I have heard loud talking and laughing at the time of these viewings. Is this proper? — C.R., Pennsylvania.
A. Re the first situation, while the deceased had not been living as a faithful Catholic, perhaps he had repented as death approached and was in the state of grace when he died. According to canon 1184, the Church’s funeral rites can be denied only to “notorious apostates, heretics, and schismatics” or to “other manifest sinners for whom ecclesiastical funeral rites” would give “public scandal to the faithful.” Presumably this was not true in the case you mentioned.
Second, it is permissible to hold viewings in church, but the pastor ought to insist on proper decorum from those in attendance. Wakes often include loud talking and laughing as visitors remember the deceased, so perhaps they should not be held in church, or if they are, the Blessed Sacrament should be removed during the viewing.
