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Online Edition - Vol. VIII, No. 4: June 2002

About Letters to the Editor
READERS' FORUM

Readers' Forum -- the lively "Letters to the Editor" of the Adoremus Bulletin provides a forum for exchange of ideas, comment and information on the sacred liturgy -- but the letters column is not published online. (See below for a sample letter from the current issue).

If you are reading the Adoremus Bulletin in the "online edition" only, you are missing one of the most popular and useful features of the journal. To become a member of Adoremus -- and receive the "hard-copy" edition, including the "Readers Forum", see Membership page.

We are grateful for your letters. While we read every letter, we get so many that it is impossible to answer or publish all of them. In selecting those to appear in "Readers Forum", preference will be given to subjects of widest interest. Letters should be 250 words or fewer, preferably typed. They may be e-mailed. Please include your name, address, city and state (which may be withheld on request). If a letter refers to a previous issue of AB, please include the date of that issue and name of article. All letters may be edited for publication. Be sure to indicate clearly if your letter is NOT intended for publication.

Readers' Forum for June 2002
Kneel before Sanctus? -- Background music -- Blessed Sacrament Chapel -- Location of tabernacle -- Cathedral renovation -- Norms for church architecture -- Love thinks not of efficiency -- The Eternal Language -- Vox Clara -- Role of Deacons -- Kneel means worship -- Rules for the "general intercessions"? -- Strange twists -- Sidestepping the Sacred -- Mysterious omissions -- John XXIII and Latin -- Worshipping whom? -- Footwashing -- Down Under -- Sprinkling rite
Love thinks not of efficiency
In the February 2002 issue, Joseph Mangone Jr. writes on the practice of extraordinary ministers' purifying the sacred vessels after Communion ("Don't Sweat Details", p. 2). He writes, "I can't believe that people are so worried about who cleans the vessels after communion and other 'minor' things in the liturgy.... This [practice] frees-up our clergy after Mass to greet people and to be present to them while the Communion ministers take care of the vessels". Mr. Mangone's comments summarize well what appears to be the mainstream of current American Catholic thinking on the meaning of Liturgy.

In response to Mr. Mangone's remarks, I offer the words of Christ Himself: "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul and mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-39).

This is not an either/or proposition; it is a both/and proposition. Jesus is present in the Eucharist. Every particle of Host and every drop of Precious Blood is our God whom we should love with all our heart, soul and mind. Why should we want to "free-up our clergy" from a precious encounter with our Lord right after Communion?

After the priest purifies the vessels, he can "be present" to the congregation by sitting in his chair, leading the people in silent prayer. After Mass, he can greet and hug and embrace everyone! It's not about efficiency; it is about Love of God and neighbor.

Eugene Kania
Wheaton, Illinois

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