Congregation for Divine Worship defends return of in-person Masses

In a recent letter sent to the Presidents of Bishops’ Conferences throughout the world, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments exhorts the return of in-person celebrations of the Holy Mass, interrupted during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The document is signed by Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation. In it, the Cardinal affirms that it is “necessary and urgent to return to the normality of Christian life, which has the church building as its home and the celebration of the Liturgy, especially the Eucharist, as the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time, it is the font from which all her power flows.”

To this end, it is recommended that bishops be prudent in their actions, but firm in guaranteeing the right of the faithful to participate in the celebration of the Eucharist. The hope is also expressed that the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar no longer be reduced by the authorities to the category of gatherings, on a par with gatherings of a recreational nature.

The message also questions some health indications that bar receiving Communion on the tongue. According to the Cardinal, “The faithful should be recognized as having the right to receive the Body of Christ and to worship the Lord present in the Eucharist in the manner provided for, without limitations that go even beyond what is provided for by the norms of hygiene issued by public authorities or Bishops.”

Spanish chapel dedicated to Christ invaded

In the first half of August, the Chapel of Christ Most Holy in Planes, a hamlet in the Spanish city of Alicante, was desecrated by vandals. The invaders stole various objects, some of them sacred: a chalice and a paten, the crowns of the images of Our Lord and Our Lady and a dagger belonging to the image of the Blessed Virgin, among others.

According to information from the Archdiocese of Valencia, in addition to the theft, the thieves destroyed an altar dedicated to St. Joseph, whose statue was left on a chair. “The worst thing was the damage they caused, more than the economic value of what they stole,” stated Fr. Juan Crespo, the parish administrator. “It is truly regrettable, because the chapel is both the history and the heart of Planes; here devotion to Christ Most Holy and all that this means is very deep-rooted and, logically, the indignation is tremendous.”

In the last thirty years, this is the third time that the Chapel of Christ Most Holy of Planes has been subjected to an invasion of this kind.

Statue of the Blessed Virgin decapitated

On August 30, the Maronite Church of Our Lady of Lebanon in Toronto published the news, via a post on its facebook page, that the statue of Our Lady of Graces in front of the church’s main facade was decapitated. The head has not been found, although a search was carried out the area.

In the same message, the representatives of the parish lamented the occurrence and reported that it caused great shock among the faithful. They also stated that the police had been notified and were investigating the case, and that security camera recordings would be examined to aid in eventually identifying the aggressor.

Tornado destroys church, but statues remain intact

In Ibicaré, Brazil, in the State of Santa Catarina, a church was partially destroyed by a tornado that struck the region on August 14. The roof of the church collapsed completely, but despite this, all the images inside were completely intact. Among these were a statue of Our Lady of Aparecida and another of St. Joseph carrying the Child Jesus.

Profanation of the Blessed Sacrament

On September 8, thieves stole the tabernacle from the Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria, located in the city of St. Catherine’s, Ontario.

A group of faithful decided, on their own initiative, to conduct a search to find it. The next day they managed to recover it, finding it partially submerged in a canal, with the doors torn off. However, there was no sign of the ciborium, nor of the Blessed Sacrament. “Our hopeful presumption is that the consecrated hosts dissolved naturally in the water,” says Margaret Jong, vice-chancellor of the Diocese of St. Catharines in the Niagara region of Ontario.

Surveillance cameras show two people, apparently a man and a woman, invading the church at about half past four on September 8. In a radio interview that same day, the Bishop of St. Catherine’s Diocese, Most Rev. Gerard Bergie, appealed to the thieves not to do any harm to the Blessed Sacrament, and begged that it be returned intact to the Cathedral.

Monument to Holy Cross inaugurated in Brazil

On August 24 a giant crucifix built in the city of Taquarana, Brazil, was inaugurated. The monument is a tribute to the Holy Cross, to which the city is especially dedicated.

Seventeen metres high, it was erected on the Praça Alto da Santa Cruz, near one of the entrances to the city. The Shrine of the Holy Cross published a message on its Instagram page stating that the monument is “a great gift, bearing in mind that in 2021 the church will celebrate 200 years since the construction of the chapel, which became the parish and is now considered a shrine. It receives people from all over Brazil and holds one of the biggest celebrations in the State of Alagoas.”

The Diocese of Penedo, in which the city of Taquarana is located, also made a statement in this regard, recalling the words of a local writer: “After two hundred years of the history of the Cross of Christ in the Taquarana region, many families were brought up to understand that the Cross symbolizes the two directions that intersect in the commandment of love: the love of God in the vertical direction and the love of neighbour in the horizontal direction. The Cross accompanies us from an early age as a strong reminder of the greatest proof of God’s love for us: the giving of His only Son for the life of the world.”