Charlotte bishop confirms altar rail ban in liturgical directives for schools

Bishop Michael Martin of Charlotte has issued a series of new liturgical directives for Masses celebrated in the three Catholic high schools under his jurisdiction.

The Catholic Herald previously reported on the recent ban of the altar rails in a Charlotte Catholic high school, to which the bishop has now added further provisions governing school liturgies, according to latest reports.

The measures include a prohibition on the use of kneelers and communion rails during the distribution of Holy Communion. Students will also be required to act as extraordinary ministers during the Eucharist at school liturgies, according to reports from Rotare Caeli.

In addition, the bishop has directed that projectors and screens be installed in the school chapels. These are to be used to display hymn texts and longer parts of the Mass, including the Gloria and the Creed, in place of printed worship books.

At larger Masses, a student will be expected to deliver a personal testimonial about his or her faith life, lasting three to five minutes.This intervention is to take place between the final prayer and the blessing and dismissal.

The new instructions were reportedly delivered verbally, following the earlier controversy when a draft set of diocesan liturgical norms was leaked and drew international criticism. Unlike that draft, which applied to parish liturgies across the diocese, the current directives concern only the schools, though they represent a significant change in established practice there.

The Diocese of Charlotte has not released an official written statement, and the instructions are understood to have been communicated directly to the schools. Rotare Caeli reports that the measures have already begun to be implemented.

This is not the first measure Bishop Martin has taken against traditional rubrics in the diocese. Earlier this year he ordered that the practise of the Traditional Latin Mass be withdrawn from parish churches where it had previously been celebrated and, instead, be confined to a single designated chapel in Mooresville, in line with the restrictions of Traditionis Custodes.

Leaked drafts of diocesan liturgical norms also revealed provisions aimed at banning the use of Latin in parish liturgies more generally. These included instructions that all prayers, responses and hymns be given exclusively in the vernacular, effectively erasing the language of the Roman Rite from diocesan worship.

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Photo: A priest serves Holy Communion. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images.)during