Octaves of Easter and Christmas

April 1, 2023

Question: The Church's calendar has two remaining octaves: Christmas and Easter. My understanding of an octave is that the feast being commemorated is so significant that one day is not enough to celebrate the depth of the feast. In the Easter octave, each day is celebrated as if it were Easter Day; no other feasts are celebrated during the octave. The Christmas octave, however, is different; there are indeed feasts that are celebrated or at least possible in conjunction with celebrating Christmas Day. Why is the Christmas octave different from the Easter octave? – V.S., Mobile, Alabama

Exposition During a Via Crucis

March 25, 2023

Question: I can understand reciting the rosary and the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary at a holy hour when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, but what about public Stations of the Cross? -- C.M.B., Ojai, California

Homilist During the Easter Triduum

March 18, 2023

Question: For Good Friday and Holy Thursday, the Roman Missal states the priest gives the homily. Does the priest have the option to delegate the homily to a deacon on these days? I've seen some information that one reason it says this explicitly is that since Good Friday isn't a Mass, this directive avoids the potential of the homily being delegated to a layperson. -- G.P., Ann Arbor, Michigan

Prayer Over the People

March 11, 2023

Question: Why is there not a formula of the solemn blessing for the Lenten season Sundays as well as ferial days? -- D.Z., Beijing

Liturgical Colors in Holy Week

March 4, 2023

Question: I have a query concerning the liturgical colors. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) in No. 346.b says: "As regards the color of sacred vestments, traditional usage should be observed, namely: [...] b) The color red is used on Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion and on Friday of Holy Week (Good Friday), on Pentecost Sunday, on celebrations of the Lord’s Passion, on the ‘birthday’ feast days of Apostles and Evangelists, and on celebrations of Martyr Saints." However, the traditional usage since the time of Innocent III was to use black for Good Friday, as a vestige of the oldest usage where black was used during the entirety of both the penitential seasons (De sacro altaris mysterio I.64). By the time of the Tridentine Missal, violet had replaced black all across Lent and Advent, except on Good Friday, which is apparently why Palm Sunday's liturgical color was also previously violet instead of red. I would like to ask what prompted the change to the use of red for both solemnities? Also, is there a lawful precedent by which the celebrant may vest in black for Good Friday or violet for Palm Sunday to observe the traditional usage per GIRM 346? -- A.U., Phoenix, Arizona

The Showing of the Holy Cross

February 25, 2023

Question: During the celebration of the service of the Lord’s Passion in the afternoon on Good Friday, pertaining to the procession of the cross to the altar before the veneration, the sacramentary gives two indications. 1) That the cross "unveiled" may be carried in procession by the minister with two candles, and "Behold the wood of the cross" is intoned three times from the entrance, the middle, and at the altar; then afterward it's put at the place prepared for the veneration. 2) The second form says the minister carries the veiled cross with two candles to the sanctuary and then, facing the people, intones the "Behold the wood of the cross" three times while unveiling the cross slowly. My concern is that most priests combine the two forms in my country. They veil the cross and sing the chant three times, at the entrance, middle, and at the sanctuary. Is this also OK? Or does one need to stick to one form, as seen in the sacramentary? -- N.A., Cape Coast, Ghana

When a Priest in Mortal Sin Celebrates Mass

February 18, 2023

Question: If a priest is not in the state of sanctifying grace, is the Mass and consecration lawful? And if a priest, bishop or cardinal publicly promotes same-sex marriages or the blessings of same-sex unions, is that person in a state of sanctifying grace? -- T.B., Courtenay, British Columbia

Singing at the Entrance and the Recessional

February 12, 2023

Question: I attend a parish where every Mass begins with a sung antiphon of two or three verses and then is immediately followed by a full entrance hymn; the recessional is done the same way: a sung antiphon followed by a recessional hymn. This seems repetitive to me, as in we should have either the antiphon or the hymn. Is this proper? -- V.S., Mobile, Alabama

Polish National Church and Communion

February 4, 2023

Question: In the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church, is someone baptized and who's made their first Communion in the Polish National Catholic Church permitted to receive Communion at a Roman Catholic church? – S.S.

Music and Singing at the Consecration

January 29, 2023