Since the suppression of the subdiaconate and minor orders in 1972, the Church has retained only two instituted ministries for laymen: Acolyte and Reader. The Latin Mass rubrics still assume the older structure of major and minor clerics, including the restrictions on a minor cleric serving as a straw subdeacon. That clerical system no longer exists outside of former Ecclesia Dei communities.
(more…)Tag: faith
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Why We Pray for the Dead — Even the Pope
How we pray as a Church shapes what we believe as a Church. During the reforms of the funeral rites after Vatican II, many changes were made. The most striking was the removal of the sequence Dies Irae.
Some argue that the language of the Dies Irae was too harsh, not hopeful enough, and should have been excised. But take a moment to read it—it is striking and powerful:
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