Angelus News | July 31-August 7, 2020 | Vol. 5 No. 21

A call to
pastoral
conversion
Can a new Vatican
document get parishes
to think beyond the
‘territorial model’?
BY JOHN L. ALLEN JR. /
ANGELUS
St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican as seen through a window of Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome in this 2018 file photo. On July 20, the Vatican issued a new
instruction on pastoral care that emphasizes the role of laymen and laywomen in the Church's mission, but said most parishes must be led by priests.
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/AHMEDJADALLAH, REUTERS
ROME — Frequent bathing, it
turns out, is a bit of a modern obsession.
Historian John Kelly observes
that in medieval Europe, taking
a bath was considered dangerous both
to public morals and personal health.
He believes widespread reticence
to bathe was among the factors that
favored the spread of the Black Death
in the 14th century.
The attitude was enshrined in a
famous remark attributed to Queen
Elizabeth I, to the effect that she took
a bath only once a month “whether I
need it or not.”
Some Church-affairs devotees may
have flashed on that line when they
saw a new instruction this week from
the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy.
At first blush, it may seem a document
brought out for largely bureaucratic
reasons whether it was actually needed
or not.
Yet for Americans in particular, the
document may turn out to be surprisingly
useful, not so much for its
contents, really, as the conversation it
beckons.
Issued July 20, the instruction does
not create new Church law or change
existing policies, but more or less
brings established guidelines for the
parish under one roof.
The formal title is, “The Pastoral
Conversion of the Parish Community
in the Service of the Evangelizing
Mission of the Church.”
Perhaps the lack of a clear explanation
as to “Why now?” accounts for the
highly varied ways in which it’s been
reported. When there’s no obvious forest,
it’s tempting to get lost in the trees.
Consider these three headlines, drawn
from English and Italian coverage:
• “Vatican: Laity have a role, but most
parishes must be led by priests.”
• “The revolution of Pope Francis:
From baptisms to funerals, laity can
celebrate the sacraments.”
• “Vatican, new rules for the parish:
Offerings aren’t a tax to collect.”
If you didn’t know better, you’d
scarcely think these three pieces were
talking about the same document. The
first two create almost diametrically
opposed impressions of the spirit of the
text, from a restrictive line on the lay
role to an almost wildly permissive one.
As a fact-checking matter, the document
doesn’t envision nonpriests,
including deacons, religious, and laity
“celebrating” the sacraments in the
same fashion as priests. For one thing,
they can’t say Mass.
It confirms that a bishop may delegate
a nonpriest to lead a Liturgy of the
Word where a priest is not available,
and, with the approval of the national
bishops’ conference and the Vatican,
nonpriests may also lead rites for
funerals and baptisms and also witness
weddings. In many dioceses around the
world, that’s already common practice.
Also in keeping with existing rules,
the document says nonpriests may
preach under certain circumstances
but they can’t deliver a homily during
Mass. With reference to the third
24 • ANGELUS • July 31-August 7, 2020