Congratulations to parishioner Arielle Calvillo, daughter of (Fire Chief) Angelo & Maria Calvillo, who is getting married next Saturday, April 6th to David Pike. We wish them the best as they begin this new chapter in their lives. May the Lord grant them many healthy and happy years together.
The photos in the display case in the vestibule have been changed to reflect past activities here at St. Leo’s such as Ethnic Day, Holy Name Sweetheart Balls and Spaghetti Dinners. Be sure to take a look as it will bring back memories for many of you and will show others how large and active St. Leo’s has been over the years. Our thanks again to John & Jeannie Sabol who have done a great job arranging these pictures for us.
Over the centuries (20 of them to be exact), the Catholic Church has had a liturgy (our main worship, also called the Mass) which has developed and changed. While the two main parts of the Liturgy have remained intact (The Liturgy of the Word and The Liturgy of the Eucharist), the way we celebrate the great Sacrifice of Christ on the cross has seen many revisions, based upon the needs of the current generation. While the structure of the Mass will always remain the same, things like our postures, gestures, prayers, songs, ministries, etc. will always be undergoing adaptations. We saw a major change in the liturgy after the Second Vatican Council in the mid 1960’s when we moved from Latin to English (or whatever the vernacular is for those celebrating). The priest began to face the people instead of facing in the same direction as them (making it look like he had his back to the people). The congregation or assembly was encouraged to take a more active and conscious part in the prayer instead of being simple spectators of what the priest is doing.
Our last smaller modification came a few years ago when many of the prayers were revised to attempt a more faithful translation from the Latin. For example, we began to reply to the priest’s greeting of “The Lord be with you” with the words “And with your spirit” instead of the former “And also with you.” We have become so accustomed to these smaller modifications that we probably don’t even remember the “way we used to do it.”
Bishop Perez has had the opportunity to visit a great number of parishes in our diocese and has observed that there is a variety of postures used by people in the pews, especially during the Communion Rite. Some kneel, some stand, & many parishes (such as ours) wait to change posture until the Blessed Sacrament is placed back into the tabernacle. The Bishop would like to return to the normative postures for Mass that the Church has had in place since 2003. This simply means that we will stand during the distribution and reception of Holy Communion until the last person has received. At that time, the Communion Hymn will end and you may kneel or sit for private prayer. This change will take place on the Sunday after Easter. More reflections on this in the bulletins prior to that time.