Frequently Asked Questions
I’m interested in becoming a Catholic. Where can I find more information?
The best thing to do would be to contact the Catholic parish closest to you. This parish should have inquiry sessions for people who want to learn more about the Roman Catholic faith, using a process known as the RCIA (The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). Learn more about this process by clicking on Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.
Our parish is celebrating its 50th anniversary and the bishop is coming. What should we do to plan?
To plan a liturgy with the bishop, fill out the Planning Form with the Bishop and return it to the Office of Worship via email, fax or snail mail at least 3 weeks prior to the celebration. Contact the Office of Worship for additional information.
Where can I find information on how to pray the Rosary, and teach my children as well?
You’ll find information on the Rosary and other prayers in the section on Spirituality, under Paths of Prayer.
My church has no kneelers. How can we kneel during the Eucharistic Prayer if there are none?
There are indeed many churches around the diocese that do not have kneelers. While new churches to be built will have them, Bishop DiLorenzo is not asking any churches to retrofit their pews for he believes the expense to be unnecessary. In a church where there are kneelers, we are asked to kneel during the entire Eucharistic Prayer, unless impeded by age or infirmity. This, by the way, is a requirement found in the GIRM (General Instruction of the Roman Missal) in an addendum only in the United States, whereas the universal Church remains standing. In a church where there are no kneelers, we are to remain standing during the Eucharistic Prayer, but make a profound bow (twice) after the "words of consecration", as the presider genuflects. In other words, we are asked to do the same gesture of reverence as concelebrating priests do. No one is being asked to kneel on the floor; the deep bows asked of us are profound signs of reverence, should we know enough to do them.
Is it enough to receive communion under just one species, bread or wine?
While reception of communion under the forms of both bread and wine is the fullest expression of sharing in Eucharist, the Church teaches that one receives the entirety of the Body and Blood of Christ in each species by itself. So receiving the consecrated bread itself, or just the consecrated wine, is receiving the entire Christ. This is recommended especially in particular cases; for example, when one is a celiac, allergic to wheat, one can receive the wine alone; or if one suffers from alcoholism, then one can receive the bread alone.
At the Holy Thursday celebration, who and how many may have their feet washed? Isn’t it only twelve men? May we substitute washing the hands of people at this liturgy?
In the United States, there is no gender or number limitations. See the complete response under Guidelines and Policies, Holy Thursday Mandatum. (PDF). Please do NOT have a washing of the hands at the Mandatum! This is too reminiscent of the action by Pilate. The whole point of the washing of the feet is the extraordinarily humble act of bending low to the ground to wash the dirty dusty feet of others, as modeled by Jesus.
On Good Friday, are we supposed to venerate a cross or a crucifix with the image of Christ upon it?
While the document Built of Living Stones says that we may venerate cross or crucifix, the GIRM and the Roman Missal consistently refer to the “cross” and not “crucifix” as the object of veneration. The GIRM, as we know, does not mince words when it means to be specific. Perhaps the best way to understand why it is the cross and not the crucifix that we venerate on Good Friday is to understand the history of this devotion. On Good Friday, it has always been the wood of the cross that we venerate. “Behold the wood of the cross, on which hung our salvation.” This has been a tradition in the church since at least the end of the 4th century, when the Spanish pilgrim Egeria wrote about celebrating Good Friday at Golgotha. She spent Holy Week in Jerusalem not too long after St. Helena's discoveries of the true cross. The cult of the cross flourished and relics of the true cross were being disseminated and venerated. Pilgrimages to sacred sites multiplied and Egeria recorded in her journals detailed descriptions of the celebration of the Adoration of the True Cross at Golgotha. Good Friday celebrations included the Adoration of the Cross in those places where fragments of the True Cross were kept, in Antioch for example, and soon spread beyond the holy places. It is most important to note that in the descriptions of the Veneration of the Cross, it is the relic of the True Cross that is the object of veneration, not a crucifix.
Look closely at the language of the prayer texts used on Good Friday. We celebrate the Lord’s Passion with the Resurrection in mind. Veneration of the bare cross takes us from the tree to the instrument of the death of Jesus to the bare cross from which Christ is free – a powerful multivalent symbol!
Shouldn’t the tabernacle be the center of our prayer and be placed in the sanctuary?
The tabernacle should be in a place that is “truly noble, prominent, readily visible, beautifully decorated, and suitable for prayer,” (GIRM #314) - a mandate that has been carefully followed by most of our churches, modern or traditional in architecture. Our Eucharistic theology teaches us that it is at the altar that Christ becomes truly and fully present to us. The altar “which in the gathering of the faithful will signify the one Christ and the one Eucharist of the Church” should be so placed “as to be truly the center toward which the attention of the whole congregation of the faithful naturally turns.” (GIRM #303, 299)
According to the most recent teaching of the Church, the following options are given for the placement of the tabernacle:
It may be located either in the sanctuary, apart from the altar of celebration, in a form and place more appropriate, not excluding on an old altar no longer used for celebration; or even in some chapel suitable for the faithful’s private adoration and prayer and organically connected to the church and readily visible to the Christian faithful. General Instruction to the Roman Missal, (GIRM#315)
May eulogies be given at a funeral Mass?
The Rite of Christian Funerals does not include the addition of personal eulogies at a funeral Mass. The rite actually says, “A brief homily based on the readings is always given after the gospel reading at the funeral liturgy and may also be given after the readings at the vigil service; but there is never to be a eulogy.” (OCF # 141) The custom of the eulogy comes from Protestant funeral services that may not have the rich ritual and prayers that are ours. Nevertheless, it has indeed become a custom in some places to allow words of remembrance to be said at a Catholic liturgy.
For pastoral reasons, many pastors have decided to allow a brief personal reflection to be given. The preference would be that it be done at the Vigil Service, a time when people gather to remember, tell stories, and celebrate the life of the one who has died. Some pastors will ask that it precede the actual liturgy and others will permit it at the end of Communion. Because the Rite is very clear on eulogies, Bishop DiLorenzo does not need to officially forbid them. Pastors decide on their own whether a brief reflection – and not a true eulogy – would be pastoral and permissible.
May Confirmation for unbaptized children in the RCIA process be delayed until after Baptism and First Eucharist?
No, it may not. All three celebrations must be celebrated in the proper order: Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. For additional information, see Sorting It All Out. (PDF)
Must the name of the person for whom the Mass is offered be mentioned aloud?
Based on Canons 945-958, the requirement regarding mass intentions and offerings is that the donor of the offering knows when the mass is to be celebrated, and that it be inscribed in a parish record. Nowhere in canon law does it state that is it necessary to publicize the mass intentions. Therefore, if the name of the intention is in the bulletin, for example, that is more than sufficient. It is not required that the name of the person for whom the mass is being offered be said aloud during the liturgy, either in the General Intercessions or in the Eucharistic Prayer.
May the American flag remain on a coffin during a funeral liturgy? May the flag be displayed in the sanctuary?
Any national flags or the flags or insignia of associations to which the deceased belonged are to be removed from the coffin at the entrance of the church. They may be replaced after the coffin has been taken from the church. OCF #132. For the policy of the Diocese of Richmond regarding the use of flags in the church, see the following: Display of National Flags. (PDF)
Should the font be emptied during the season of Lent?
There has never been an official instruction directing a church to empty the baptismal font. Rather this innovation became a custom in many places as a way to heighten the Lenten desert experience by making us “thirst” for that water. Yet does it truly make sense? Prior to Vatican II, many holy water stoops were emptied (there is a directive for doing that Good Friday and Holy Saturday, the days when the Eucharist is not celebrated and a good opportunity for a thorough cleaning), and the small baptismal fonts then in use year-round were usually empty and filled only for baptisms.
During Lent, the environment is pared down. We fast from decorations and flowers and lively music, but the primary symbols remain in place: altar and ambo (lectern), cross and font, water and oil, incense and candlelight, bread and wine. None of these are removed. So even during Lent, the font and holy water continue to mark our comings and our goings - babies baptized, the deceased sprinkled, and Catholics blessing themselves with the Sign of the Cross. And finally, the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship issued a statement (3/14/03: Prot. N. 569/00L) stating that removing holy water from the fonts is not permitted.
