Sept 2024 Praenotanda

FROM THE DIRECTOR

Dear friends and colleagues,

As we begin a new “year” of liturgical and sacramental ministry, I hope the summer has provided a bit of time to recharge and renew your zeal. Thanks for all that you do to serve the Church at prayer.

In this issue of Praenotanda, you’ll find information about the new Order of Christian Initiation of Adults and a meeting for initiation coordinators and team members on Sept 24: please RSVP and join us!

Of note, 2025 Annual Resources are now available for sale. Offering these at a deep discount to liturgical and sacramental ministers is a service the ODWS is glad to provide. We apologize for the technical glitches over the last few days that have rendered the shop unavailable: it should be online now and for the foreseeable future.

Finally, I hope to see many of you in Pittsburgh in early October for the national FDLC meeting, this year focused on worship in Families of Parishes. I think this will be a great opportunity for you to connect with peers from around the nation in similar situations.

As always, if there’s anything that Matthew, Gloria Ann, or I can do to assist you in your worship and sacramental ministries, please let us know.

Jeremy Helmes
ODWS Director

FROM THE MUSIC DIRECTOR

I want to take this opportunity to inform you of a couple of exciting opportunities for music and prayer that are on the horizon in our archdiocese.

On February 22nd, the Cathedral will be hosting the regional Pueri Cantores Youth Choral Festival and Mass. This is for unchanged treble voices for those in grades 4-12. Our clinician for that day is James Kennerley. He is a renowned children’s choir director trained in the English choir school tradition. The day begins at 9am and concludes with Mass at 3:00 p.m. that day. For more information or to register your choir go to www.pcchoirs.org

Denise Jasek, Associate Director for Adult Evangelization & Pastoral Ministry in the Center for the New Evangelization, is wanting to offer a weekly prayer opportunity for pastoral musicians in our archdiocese. She knows how we tend to work and worship isolated from one another and will be reaching out through the ODWS to engage with us in weekly prayer, including
Lectio Divina, for us to pray and grow in our personal discipleship and ministerial roles together. I welcome this and I hope you will too. More information will be forthcoming in the following weeks.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact myself, Jeremy, or Gloria Ann if we can do anything to help you in your ministry.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Matthew J. Geerlings
Music Director

Our Eucharistic Mission in a Polarized World

For the 2024 election cycle – both the election year and the time that will follow – we have decided to lean into both our reliance on the Eucharist (especially in this year of the National Eucharistic Congress) and our call to heal the deep divides that exist in our country and abroad. This powerful series with Fr. Aaron Wessman, GHM will consist of six distinct talks – each focusing on a different challenge with polarization and how the Eucharist can address it – held at different locations around the archdiocese as well as live streamed. You’ll find more information online and we invite you to explore both this page and iVoteCatholic to explore how you and your community can live out our call to be faithful citizens.

2025 Annual Publications Now Available!

Annual publications for the next liturgical year, such as the Workbook for Lectors, At Home With the Word, Sundays & Seasons, Year of Grace Calendars, and more are now available at deep discount to parishes and schools.

You can always visit our Shop for archdiocesan resources to assist bereaved families, engaged couples, and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion.

Remember that parishes, schools, and other non-profits can shop tax free by sending us your sales tax exemption number in advance!

Q. Is the New American Bible the only translation of Scriptures we can read from at Mass?

A. Since May 19, 2002, the revised Lectionary, based on the New American Bible is the only English-language Lectionary that may be used at Mass in the dioceses of the United States, except for the current Lectionary for Masses with Children which remains in use. The 1970 edition of the New American Bible is used in the Scripture readings and canticles of the Liturgy of the Hours (except the Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc dimittis.)