After the switch to a new Mass translation, old liturgical books should be respectfully buried, either intact or after being burned, according to the U.S. bishops.
“Whether or not the Sacramentary has been blessed by an official rite, it is appropriate to treat it with care,” the bishops’ Secretariat for Divine Worship said in a recent response to several queries from U.S. Catholics. “Its disposal should be handled with respect.”
The bishops’ liturgy office recommends “burying the Sacramentary in an appropriate location on church grounds or perhaps in a parish cemetery” after the switch to a new liturgical translation, which took effect on Nov. 27.
“Some have even suggested following a custom used in various Eastern churches,” they noted, “whereby liturgical books or Bibles are placed in the coffin of the deceased as a sign of devotion and love for the liturgy.”
Some Catholics may be surprised to learn that it is appropriate, and even customary, to burn or bury old liturgical books and other religious items.
According to the U.S. bishops’ secretariat, the ashes of liturgical books should be collected and “placed in the ground in an appropriate location on church grounds.”
Catholic tradition offers these means of disposal in order to ensure that objects used in worship are not casually discarded or mistreated even when they are no longer needed for use or reference.
The liturgy office advised parishes to keep a copy of the old liturgical translations in their archives or libraries.
Hymnals and hand missals are also among the types of items that would traditionally be blessed, and should therefore be replaced respectfully after the changeover.
But the secretariat acknowledged it “might be difficult to appropriately dispose of a large number of copies of such books.”
If burning and burial are impractical, non-archived hymnals and hand missals “could be stored for use by prayer or study groups in the parish, offered to parishioners for their own private devotional use, or donated to other small communities that could effectively make use of them.”
The secretariat also noted that the new liturgical books ought to have been blessed using the rite provided in the Church’s official Book of Blessings before their first use on 2011’s First Sunday of Advent, possibly at a weekday Mass the preceding Saturday, or outside Mass at a separate parish gathering.
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How about distributing the old translations to Catholics in Exile who have not attended Mass for a long time anyway, and are now so confused that they don’t really know if they should: Go with the Latin Mass crowd and become hard core conservatives, or become Protestants, or even decided to abandon religion altogether and become Jehovah’s Witnesses. How about it!? When is the next change coming, and the one after that? And after all is said and done, how much holier will using the new Missal make us. Seems like if someone is an ugly,mean-spirited person that no book of any kind is going to make them any better, now or 500 years from now, or 500 years ago. Better yet, how about joining up with Bishop Spong?
Merlin, it all depends how much you trust in God’s will and grace in your own life whether or not using the new translation will make you holier. And as far as mean-spirited people being changed by something like this, you’d be surprised how far a prayer would go on that person’s behalf toward helping them find the truth of God and the truth of how people should act towards each other. I prayed for two and a half years and by the grace of God my father started coming back to mass and has become less of a mean-spirited person than he was before. I continue to pray for him to this day and he has continued to grow closer to God. Instead of complaining, why not pray? God bless you!
Well Merlin, as long as you are asking for some ” ‘splainin to be done”. How do we go back and repair what was robbed from us from over 45 years of using the intentional translational blunder that we have been subjected to. My 2 years of high school latin were more than sufficient to see the errors that were foisted as a “fait accomplie”. And yet…Rome’s request to fix the translation was fought for another 35 years of “collegiality”, which allowed the Holy Mystery of the Mass to be ...pedestrian. It is well past time for this damage to be repaired. And yet… the grace was present inspite of all. So….keep them or manage them reverently.
Steve
This applies not just old Missals but also Holy Pictures and Statues. They are not just throwen out in the trash.
I have no idea what they’re not going to do. We have a mandatory recycling program where I live so I suspect if not going to be used, must be recycled as are the weekly bulletins. I was fortunate enough to obtain one for private devotions that I will keep…the music more than the readings.
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