Pope Benedict XVI likes to celebrate Mass on an altar bearing six candles, or seven if there is one behind the central crucifix.It’s a venerable Christian tradition, drawing possibly on the Jewish menorah or the use of seven acolytes in early medieval Masses.
So I don’t know what to make of persistent reports that the organisers of the papal Mass at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, have decided not decorate the altar with six candles.
Can this really be true?
Monsignor Guido Marini, the Pope’s Master of Ceremonies, usually goes to enormous trouble to ensure that the Holy Father’s wishes are implemented.
I’m mystified.
Are the organisers trying to appease the spirit of John Knox?
Seriously: this rumour is doing the rounds, and – though a dispute about altar decoration may seem petty to non-Catholics – it’s damaging for the Scottish Church.
Also… I believe there will be 400 priests present at the Mass.
That will be more than enough to distribute Holy Communion to even as many as 50,000 communicants.
Church rules on this question are quite clear: lay people are to distribute the Sacrament only if there is a shortage of priests.
So I’m assuming that there can be no truth in the rumour that Scottish parishes are being asked to provide “extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion” for Bellahouston.
“Lay ministers are not a feature of papal Masses, and if they were suddenly to make an appearance here it would look like sleight of hand,” says my source.
“It would enable the old liberals to say afterwards: well, the Pope was OK with it in Glasgow.”
I think the decision to ask Susan Boyle to sing at the service was a mistake, because it looked as if the organisers were using a TV personality to tempt Catholics to a papal Mass.
But, in the end, that’s a question of taste. Playing fast and loose with the Vatican’s liturgical guidelines is another matter, however.
I do hope Mgr Marini will put a call through to Glasgow to check that these rumours are untrue.
SIC: TG/UK