In a letter to Parish Priests and Lay Pastoral Leaders published this week, Archbishop Dew on behalf of the Bishops Conference of New Zealand invites and encourages Catholics to treat the new Missal as a taonga (treasure).
The texts of the third edition of the Roman Missal were first approved by the Bishop’s Conference in 2009 and confirmed by the congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on April 8 this year. The Missal will come into use on the first Sunday of Advent.
The Archbishop described the Missal as “beautiful, dignified, practical and sturdy, without being ostentatious or unnecessarily expensive”
The Missal contains both English and Māori texts and has been arranged with the New Zealand Liturgical Calendar in mind – thus Epiphany is assigned to the Sunday between 2 and 8 January, Waitangi Day and Anzac Day are properly noted as National celebrations, St Peter Chanel and St Mary of the Cross MacKillop are given the rank of Feast and so on.
Chants in the Missal are conveniently arranged next to the spoken text in the Order of Mass and for such prayers as the Preface.
Also giving the Missal that special New Zealand touch are the stylised illustrations which have been specially commissioned to set the Missal apart as distinctly ours with the use of the Southern Cross, the koru and the use of local fauna and flora.
Priests will be offered workshops in November to help them become familiar with the texts.