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Notes from the Office of Liturgical Formation, Art & Environment, Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA)Monday, 25 March 2019LENT and TRIDUUM and THE RITE OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION OF ADULTS (RCIA)Prayers for you as your journey through Lent continues.If you have elect, how were the celebrations of their First Scrutiny this past weekend? As noted in the email you were sent late last week, these - the Scrutinies - are not optional celebrations, and absences need the dispensation of Bishop. Want to talk more about this, and the Second and Third Scrutinies to come? Please join us for the “gathering” of RCIA catechists this Saturday, 30 March, from 10:00 am – Noon here at the Pastoral Center or virtually via Zoom at . Topics will be feedback and mystagogy on the Rites of Election, the celebration of the Scrutinies, the Presentations of the Lord’s Prayer and Creed, and the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil. You are all most welcome to join us!Remember that by virtue of Canon and RCIA Law, pastors and priest administrators:Are obliged to confirm and give eucharist to all those deemed “at the age of reason,” or over seven years of age, at their baptism. (See canons 842:2 and 852:1, and National Statutes for the Catechumenate 11-18.) Are also obliged to confirm and give eucharist to those being received into the Church, those baptized Christians desiring Full Communion with the Catholic Church. (See National Statutes for the Catechumenate 30-36. As mentioned in 35, all of our bishops have entrusted the celebration of this rite to our pastors and priest administrators.) Note: These receptions can happen at the Easter Vigil or on any Sunday upon discernment of readiness.Whereas Bishop Cantú reserved the right to confirm all adults baptized Catholic, Bishop Kicanas is allowing pastors and priest administrators to confirm - at the Easter Vigil - those Catholic adults whose preparation for confirmation and eucharist was with the elect in the context of the RCIA. Permission must be granted by Bishop, however, as per National Statutes for the Catechumenate 28-29. Please send a letter to Bishop with the request to confirm, explaining the situation and preparation of the candidate, no later than 1 April. (See canons 842:2 and 884:1, and the National Statutes for the Catechumenate 25-29.)Bishop Kicanas has extended his blessing on the celebration of the Sacrament of Matrimony on Holy Saturday for those adults preparing to receive any of the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil. The six months of marriage preparation still apply, and the celebration must be kept simple. Contact the Tribunal Office if you have questions, and see the Wednesday, 13 March Notes for more information.It is time to begin to promote your Triduum liturgies. To begin in darkness, on Holy Saturday, 20 April, your Easter Vigil should start no earlier than 8:00 pm.CHRISM MASS and EASTERTIME CONFIRMATIONSThe Chrism Mass is on Tuesday, 9 April, at 5:30 pm. You and your parishes should have received information about the Mass, the need for parish representatives to receive the oils, and the form to use if you want extra amounts of any of the oils. Both the representative and oil request forms are posted in the documents on the Liturgy and RCIA page via the Evangelization and Formation tab of our diocesan website. Deadline for the request for extra oils is 3 April.Priests, if you happen to have your own diocesan chasuble and stole, please bring them with you to the spring assembly and the Chrism Mass. We have ordered more but will not have them in time for the Chrism Mass. Deacons, please bring your own diocesan dalmatic and stole.On Tuesday, 9 April, please make every effort to be at the Cathedral no later than 4:45 pm. All clergy will be gathering and vesting in the school building.The spring celebrations of the Sacrament of Confirmation with baptized Catholic adults are scheduled for Saturday, 25 May at Our Lady of Grace in Artesia at 3:00 pm, and Sunday, 26 May at our Cathedral of the Immaculate Heart of Mary at 4:00 pm. The information and paperwork for these celebrations is on our website at . Thank you to all parishes and catechists that have returned not just the Parish Form, but the candidate forms!Note that it is Grace Cassetta, Director of Children and Adolescent Catechesis, that is responsible for the scheduling and celebrating of confirmation of the youth of our parishes. Please contact her at the Pastoral Center if you have any questions about dates or other information for the confirmations with youth.OTHER LITURGYYou are always given the discretion of not serving the Blood of Christ if/when a notable number of your parishioners are ill with colds and the flu as evidenced by the accompanying coughing. This should only ever be for a few weeks, at most, and with the explanation of why, as well as the encouragement of folk who are ill not to receive from the Cup. (Please now, as allergy season gets under way, do not take the Blood of Christ away for the sneezing and sniffling. “We” folk with allergies are not contagious, just a bit miserable.)It has been asked if there is a determinate number of intentions that can be offered for every Mass. There is no number set by Canon Law or diocesan policy, but reason and charity would suggest that you not have more than four or five. If this is an issue for you, please raise the question at the spring assembly or at one of your vicariate meetings. Speaking of which, I am hopeful of being able to attend future vicariate meetings so that we can address issues and share information. We will also be needing to prepare for vicariate welcomes of our new bishop after he is installed/ordained, as per the request of Bishop Kicanas. So, Vicars, please let me know when your next meetings will be and be thinking about where a Mass and reception is possible in your vicariate. UPCOMING FORMATION OPPORTUNITIESThe LTP Winter/Spring Virtual Workshops? continue with workshops for Readers/Lectors tomorrow, 26 March and 9 April. There are workshops for Liturgists/Liturgy Committees 27 March and 10 April. There is An Introduction to the Pastoral Care of the Sick on 14 May. Find out more and register at virtualworkshops or see the flyer in the documents of the Liturgy and RCIA page of our diocesan website.This summer the Hispanic Pastoral Musicians Conference will be in Odessa, Texas, 27-29 June. Find out more and register at Friday-Saturday, 26-27 July, our diocese will resume our Catechist Enrichment Day. To be held at the Cathedral, we hope that clergy will be present Friday evening and Saturday morning. Mark your calendars, please. (There is no Diocesan Eucharistic Congress this year.)Also mark your calendars for the return of TeamRCIA to El Paso on 8-9 November. This visit they will present on the Rites of the RCIA.One last thing to mark your calendars for is Study Week 2020, 15-18 January in Tucson, the annual offering and gathering of the Southwest Liturgical Conference (SWLC). ................
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