Desiderio Desideravi and Parish Formation

Fr Allen Morris
Music and Liturgy 49.2 (June 2023)

Information

Some of us follow liturgical blogs, many of us are probably members of the Society of St Gregory, and all of ‘us’ have at least dipped into this issue of Music and Liturgy. So, we have some awareness of Desiderio Desideravi (henceforth DD). But most people in our parishes will not be doing these things. The Pope’s letter was addressed to them too. He perhaps relies on the likes of us to ensure it is passed on, or at least drawn to people’s attention. The Society has been doing its part but, tucked away in north Birmingham, I don’t know what bishops and other clergy have been doing elsewhere to assist with this work.

It is important work: just letting people know. It is probably the minimum that can be done to assist co-responsibility for the life of the Church. Again, some (relatively few) of us will be anxious to be informed about these things because of an existing sense of responsibility, but others too might find their interest tweaked even by the appearance of a note in the parish newsletter, especially if that note is able to give some sense of the importance of the matter.

The continuing Synodal process helps us all hear people saying that they want to share in responsibility for such things. Such words are not always accompanied by equivalent action, but the sharing of information is the first thing any of us can do in order to assist broader co-responsibility.

Formation

I think Pope Francis took special effort to make his letter accessible to people who are not familiar with the Church’s understanding of her liturgy. Yet the letter is still likely to be a tough read for others. If we think we are able then we ourselves can set about the work of trying to help others more easily engage with its contents and apply them to our local pastoral settings. I’ll describe what’s been happening in Boldmere!

Ministerial formation

The first public mention of Desiderio Desideravi in this parish was probably when we were publicising a deanery Refreshment Day for parish liturgical ministers. Fortunately, DD’s publication came a few days before the finalisation of the programme for our day, so the opportunity was there to include a session introducing DD and to put a printed copy of the letter into the hands of attendees.

Open to all ministers, these days focus on ministry of word, music and holy communion. First meetings focussed very much on considering what the General Instructions of the liturgical rites, particularly the Mass, say about celebration and ministry.

So, in a sense, there was little new information in DD for us to grapple with. But given how far pastoral practice sometimes strays from what the General Introductions expect, it is no bad thing to be reminded (and from the top?) of how much these things matter, and that we are freshly encouraged to improvement! [1]

Much formation at least seems to begin with top-down input. But it only begins to make a difference when we engage in change and development together at parish and deanery level. Offering such formation at this level has its challenges of course – but at least it establishes a sense of immediate personal responsibility for the things under consideration. It is especially helpful when groups of ministers can be helped to acknowledge these things together and commit to work together as agents for change and development in the communities that they worship with, Sunday after Sunday.

Even when only one or two ‘catch the vision’, it begins to make a difference and some progress can be made. Sometimes that progress will not only be real but immediately evident (for example, readers developing a sense of working together and experiencing their being supported by other readers). Sometimes it will be less evident for it can seem all we have been helped to is a clearer understanding of the obstacles we face. But that new awareness – even when unwelcome! – is a stage in the continuing work to try and do better what it is that we are asked to do; and more importantly who we are asked to be, formed by the celebration of the liturgy.

General parish formation

It can be helpful for the parish at large to know that those who take a lead in the ministry of their parish liturgy, Sunday after Sunday, continue in formation, and to have some idea of the content of the formation being offered. So far as forming the wider parish in the matters raised in DD is concerned, a section of the weekly newsletter was dedicated to sharing extracts from DD, weekly following the Refreshment Day. [2]

Offering these extracts serves various purposes. Most obviously they remind us of DD’s existence and its intent, and briefly set some of its content before the parish. Simply doing the ‘right thing’ has its formative quality but offering explanation can help people to that lightbulb moment: ‘Ah! That’s why we do it. Of course.’

We have been working at improving the quality of our parish celebrations in a number of respects. For example, introducing times of silence into our worship – after the invitation to pray before the Collect, after Readings and after the biddings in the Prayer of the Faithful. Generally, when we embarked on this ‘work’ we also offered wider formation. But new people join the parish all the time and often people don not pick up on formation when it is first offered. So, given that how we take care over silence is not typical in all parishes, it was helpful that Pope Francis provides the explanation some might still need:

“Among the ritual acts that belong to the whole assembly, silence occupies a place of absolute importance. Many times it is expressly prescribed in the rubrics. Silence is not an inner haven in which to hide oneself in some sort of intimate isolation, as if leaving the ritual form behind as a distraction. Liturgical silence is something much more grand: it is a symbol of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit who animates the entire action of the celebration. Silence moves to sorrow for sin and the desire for conversion. It awakens a readiness to hear the Word and awakens prayer. It disposes us to adore the Body and Blood of Christ. It suggests to each one, in the intimacy of communion, what the Spirit would effect in our lives to conform us to the Bread broken.” [3]

Even if formation is generally offered from the top down, it does not always need to be provided by the clergy. Pope Francis makes particular note of this and emphasises the role of family members – parents, godparents and others in Sunday Mass. Perhaps Pope Francis is a little too optimistic on the capacity of these to offer such formation. Quite often these family members are not secure in their own understanding and capacity for liturgical participation. Yet their role is indispensable, and it needs supporting. Maybe the most evident opportunity is in the regular processes of preparing parents and children for first sacraments—baptism, confirmation and eucharist. So more is being done to ensure that the formation provided assists them to a better understanding of what we do in our prayer.

At the same time those opportunities need supporting by more general interventions that can help better establish ‘good practice’ in the general congregation. The following encouragement has been featured a number of times in our newsletter over the past months. It repeats the encouragement given to parents in sacramental programmes and provides explanation to others of what they may well see other parents doing with their children:

Bringing children to church

To get a couple of things out of the way first: children of all ages are welcome at all of our parish Masses, and inevitably children will raise the ‘noise’ level at Mass, even quite considerably. Let’s take all that for granted.

However, ‘just’ bringing children to Mass is not what parents and grandparents and godparents are asked to do for their children, the children of our parish. They are asked to help the children slowly, gradually, learn how to take part in the Mass, and find meaning there, ultimately to be able to have fruitful encounter with Jesus there.

A few things seem especially important here:

• Bringing them to church in good time before Mass begins, so they can spend a time in prayer, perhaps offering their own prayers with you before the figures of Our Lady and the Sacred Heart, praying especially for the particular things that are happening in their lives and the lives of their families.

• Helping them to get into the habit of thinking what they want to pray about during the Mass: something to say thank you for, sorry for and help with, for example. Your doing the same and talking with them about your choices offers great encouragement to them.

• During the Mass regularly encouraging them to join in responses and songs. It is lovely when this happens but too many parents sit beside children, not seemingly responding themselves and doing nothing to offer encouragement to their children.

• And of course, regularly being part of our parish celebration of Sunday Mass has its place. Parishioners regularly comment on how children are brought to Mass for ‘special’ things but very few are seen the Sunday after. Without regular practice children cannot learn how to pray the Mass and acquire the Christian spirit.

The Church warns that unless we help children to take their proper active part, understanding and engaging with what we do, then bringing them to church can be pointless and even harmful. That’s the last thing, surely, that anyone would want. But ensuring that this does not happen takes care and commitment from parents.

During the Preparation Year (though effectively a year of eight months), on one Sunday a month there is liturgical formation in the homily and in the newsletter for the children preparing for Holy Communion, and on another Sunday for children preparing for Confirmation. This is offered at all Masses. The Masses do not become ‘special Masses’: we stick rigorously to the texts provided in the Lectionary and the Missal. The material for those preparing for Holy Communion is based on the various actions of the Mass (gathering, listening, etc). For those preparing for Confirmation, the material is based around the gifts of the Spirit and liturgical prayer. It is rarely difficult to yoke these themes with whatever else seems appropriate for the day and the newsletter provides space for those things which are not so easily or helpfully engaged with at Mass. These basic considerations of liturgical participation and prayer are there for the children and their families, and they also help keep the rest of us more mindful of what we do, how and why.

In conclusion, DD urges us to work to raise the quality of our celebrations of the liturgy and our participation in it. There are many particular details we can attend to, but our work will surely have its greatest effect when we seek to ensure that we ‘join up the dots’. What Pope Francis invites us to do is to re-establish a culture when we do not think of ourselves as ‘going to’ Mass, in the same way we might go to the shops, or to the cinema, but thinking of ourselves coming together as Church in order to celebrate Mass together according to our different situations and roles, and not seeing the Mass simply as something we do on a Sunday morning but as the resource that feeds our Christian living throughout the week, offering us strength, including the strength to acknowledge our weaknesses so that we will always be ready to gather next Sunday, mindful of our hunger for what we still need to receive from the Lord.

 Notes
[1] It may be of interest to know that many of the resources prepared for use at these refreshment days (including that on Desiderio Desideravi) can be downloaded at catholicprayersblog.wordpress.com/category/resources-for-liturgical-ministers 
[2] Typically introduced as follows: ‘In a recent Letter to the Church, Pope Francis called for the Church to be helped to take its proper part in the Liturgy. He speaks of what is needed so that we might most fully participate in the action of the Mass and the sacraments.’ Extracts have been published in the order DD 8; 42f; 44f; 52; 53; 47; 60; 64f.
[3] Desiderio Desideravi (2022) n.52