The Catholic Church in my town had the Crucifix and all the statues shrouded in purple

[hedgehog]

this morning. I remember that happening on Passion Sunday when I was a kid, but didn't that all go away after Vatican II? Do they even call the Sunday before Palm Sunday Passion{/i] Sunday any more?

[Matilda]

1. They used to do it here,

but it was after the Holy Thursday evening mass. I've never heard of it being done before that day.

I rather liked the symbolism. The statues were all covered with purple cloth, the baptismal font was emptied, and
so were all the vessels of holy water. And the altar was stripped after the Host was taken to a shrine after the
mass. Only the last of these still happens.

Everything was renewed at the Saturday Vigil. I thought it was a shame they abolished it, because it focused the
mind on the death of Christ. You were reminded every time you entered the church and there was no holy water to
bless yourself with.

[47of74]

2. The Cathedral parish I'm a member of

They cover the crucifix on and after Palm Sunday, not before. Also it stays covered right up until Pentacost. We used to empty the baptismal font and other vessels of holy water at the beginning of Lent, but this year the water's staying in place until I believe Holy Thursday - this is due to a new liturgical director. On Holy Thursday evening the reserved hosts are removed from the tabernacle and taken to a shrine in our gathering space.

I mentioned here on this forum, but I was out at St. Francis Xavier in Dyersville a couple weeks back and they had done some of this - covering the altar and pulpit with purple cloth.

[hedgehog]

3. Using purple to set a Lenten tone is one thing, but covering the statues on

the 5th Sunday of Lent is a part of a strategy to return as much as possible to a pre-Vatican II Church in this particular case, I believe. This particular priest is very shaky on both liturgy and symbols. He loves to do a Latin Mass, but according to someone who knows these things better than I do, he doesn't use the proper gestures and his Latin is pretty bad. The priest who offered the Last Holy Thursday Mass before my parish closed isn't much better. He processed with the Host around the church after Mass, but then placed the Host back in its usual tabernacle! Every other priest had always placed the Host in the tabernacle in the side chapel. The main tabernacle is supposed to be left empty and with the door open on Good Friday.


For years I've seen the Baptismal fount and Holy water founts emptied on Holy Thursday after Mass to stay empty until new water is blessed at the Easter vigil. My old parish covered the statue of Christ behind the altar, but it was a statue of the Risen Christ and was only covered on Good Friday.

[Matilda]

4. I had in my head that the purple drapes were put up on Holy Thursday,

but now I recollect that it was some time during Lent. I don't understand why they felt it necessary to stop doing
that.

I don't know why they don't empty our baptismal font or the holy water stoups - is this just our church? The
whole idea, I know, was that Christ is dead and not yet risen, so we don't have the benefits of his Resurrection -
I like the symbolism of that.

And I've never seen the Host going back into the Tabernacle after Holy Thursday mass - in our church it's placed in
the Lady Chapel, and people can visit to meditate and pray until about 11.00 pm. It's very moving to see the
chalice brought down from the Tabernacle and incensed in silence, then we sing 'Tantum Ergo' as it's carried to the
chapel. Then the utter silence as the altar is stripped - it's one time nobody ever speaks, except in whispers.
You'd have to be made of stone not to feel something awesome happening.

[Gman]

7. I'm coming to have the opinion that

these conservatives that keep pushing to overturn Vatican II are being schismatic. They would have it that Vatican II was schismatic. I think it's the other way around.

[hedgehog]

8. The diocese here is in the process of closing parishes to ensure that

all the remaining parishes are led by a priest. Understand, we are talking about viable, active parishes here, not ones that are down to 20 people. Anyways, the priest assigned here spent two years alienating the people of the larger, active, Vatican II style parish as he turned a smaller conservative parish into his private fiefdom. Once the larger parish was folded into the conservative parish, over half the people had left for other Catholic parishes, other churches or no church at all. Technically, it may not be schism, but effectively....

[47of74]

9. Ours had to close some parishes

A lot of small parishes have had to close over the past 15 years or so in the Dubuque Archdiocese. A lot of the other small town parishes what they do now is put about half a dozen or so in a cluster - they all share one priest who does most of the sacramental work while the other administrative work is handled by someone else. This someone else might be a lay administrator or a brother or sister. Something they did in one area was close several small parishes and put up a new large building to serve the area.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. Most Episcopalians drape the atar cross in purple

after stripping the altar at the end of the Maundy Thursday service.

We usually don't have any statues to drape, but we sing all the hymns a capella (with the choir providing the four-part "accompaniment") on Good Friday.

[KitSileya]

6. I was surprised to see the crucifix and altar frontal etc covered, not on Passion Sunday

but from Ash Wednesday, this year. We've always covered from Passion Sunday, so this was something new, and nothing I've read so far says it should be covered all lent. Most parishes that are changing, are changing from only covering in the Sacred Triduum back to covering during Passiontide, but not us. I do like the rationale behind the two-week covering, tho, that of concentrating more deeply on the spiritual, and also the visual poverty we get as a penance this final period of Lent.

[Matilda]

10. There appears to be no hard and fast rules these days.

I found this link which sets out the current position:

http://www.catholicliturgy.com/index.cfm/FuseAction/LawText/Index/6/SubIndex/98/LawIndex/33


We have a very big crucifix behind our altar, and during the tenure of one of our pastoral associates (a professional
actress and director, who transformed our liturgical dramas), the crucifix was taken down during the last week of
Lent, and a plain wooden cross put in its place. From the Saturday Vigil throughout the Easter season, a white
cloth was draped over the cross, symbolising the shroud of the empty tomb. Only after Pentecost was the crucifix
put back above the altar.

But the men who had to take the crucifix down and replace it later complained about how heavy it was (her reply:
"Think what it was like for Jesus!"), and when she eventually moved on, the practice was discontinued. So on Good
Friday, the Passion will be performed in front of an unveiled crucifix.

They have no idea.

[Zuni]

11. In my parish

in the old days, the whole altar of the church was covered with drapes. Now they strip the altar on Holy Thursday. The Eucharist is taken out of the Tabernacle, all of the Holy water containers are emptied. The Eucharistic Chapel is closed. The lighting around the altar is turned off.

I went into Church on Friday morning for confession and the whole atmosphere was stark and bare. The Church seemed much smaller. Spiritually it was very different, probably because of the empty tabernacle.