The Diocese of Chalan Kanoa was established 35 years ago on November 08, 1984. As in any growing Diocese, one of its main goal is to foster, promote and implement good pastoral liturgy throughout its parishes.
During the early part of 2018, under the leadership of Fr. Harold D. Funa and the Members of the Commission on Worship, recommended to Bishop Ryan a list of guidelines on liturgical celebrations. After a careful review of those recommendations, Bishop Ryan Jimenez approved the recommendations and full implementation took effect on Monday, September 10, 2018.
The list of guidelines include the following:
Mass Intentions
- Mass intentions should be read by the commentator before the start of the mass.
- Name of the deceased person(s) being offered in the intention will be mentioned by the presider within the mass in the “Commemoration of the Dead’.
- For a recent death, name of deceased will be mentioned daily for the first nine days of a recent death.
Liturgical Music
- The Diocese recognizes the importance of devotional songs at Mass, such as Tuesday’s song for San Antonio, Monday’s song for San Vicente or any Marian song on weekdays. It should be noted that the singing of the San Antonio song after mass during the kissing of his relic is within the guidelines.
- However, it is also important to sing appropriate liturgical songs that are reflective on the day’s solemnity or feastday. An example of this would be singing “Prayer of St. Francis” on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4th.
- Thus, it is encouraged that the singing of devotional songs AT Mass is done only on the first week of the month and make use of the day’s feast in selecting music for liturgical celebrations.
Universal Prayer
- Universal Prayer “We pray” should be used instead of “We pray to the Lord” so as to avoid the redundancy of praying: We pray to the Lord…Lord, hear our prayer.”
- Each parish is encouraged to include a daily universal prayer at weekday Mass.
Presentation of Gifts
- Order of Offertory – Bread and Wine comes first before collection basket and other gifts.
Communion
- Choir members may receive Communion first before singing communion song or when there is a large choir, the first half of the members would alternate in receiving communion.
- A “quiet time” after Communion should be observed.
- It is suggested that the “Act of Spiritual Communion Prayer” will no longer be prayed over the microphone. The reason is that it is a personal prayer for those who cannot receive Holy Communion and therefore, it is not a communal prayer.
Devotion to the Blessed Mother
- It has been the practice that flowers are offered to the Blessed Mother during the entire month of May at the beginning of mass.
- Starting in May 2019, the offering of flowers to the Blessed Mother will be done immediately after the rosary or novena.
- There will be a moment of silence before Mass begins.
- Proper liturgical songs will be used at the Eucharistic celebration.
The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) provides guidelines and regulations for how the Mass is celebrated. It is the intent and hope of Bishop Ryan that the provisions of the GIRM will be implemented by all people involved in pastoral ministry and that the additional guidelines indicated in the Liturgical Guidelines approved in September 2018 are specifically for the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa.
Furthermore, it is also the hope of Bishop Ryan that a common liturgical practice across the entire Diocese will serve the common spiritual good of the people of God in light of the fact that many people travel from one parish to another for one reason or another.
Thank you and May God Bless Us All!
