Father Hilgartner to be among leaders of workshops on new missal

WASHINGTON – Registration is now open for a series of workshops to help prepare priests and diocesan leaders for implementation of the revised Roman Missal.

The 22 workshops will take place in each of the nation’s 15 regions beginning in April and continuing into November. They are sponsored by the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship and the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions, in cooperation with the National Organization for Continuing Education of Roman Catholic Clergy and the National Association of Pastoral Musicians.

Each seminar will be staffed by either Monsignor Anthony Sherman, executive director of the divine worship secretariat, or Father Richard Hilgartner, associate director and a priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

A second speaker will be either Brian Reynolds, chancellor and chief administrator of the Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky.; Dolly Sokol, director of development of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, N.M.; or Peter Zografos, director of campus ministry and an adjunct faculty member at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio.

Topics to be covered include the historical and theological context of the new missal; the role of the priest celebrant in both proclaiming and singing the texts; the impact of change on both priests and laypeople; and suggested strategies for implementing the missal locally.

According to an announcement at the Vatican in late January, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments is pulling together the final version of the English translation of the missal. Because bishops’ conferences approved the Roman Missal in sections over a period of years, a final review and minor edits were needed to ensure consistency, said a congregation official.

Most English-speaking bishops’ conferences are preparing materials to introduce and explain the new translation with the hope that people will begin using it in parishes at the beginning of Advent 2011. The exact date for implementation in each country, however, will be set by the bishops’ conference in that country after final Vatican approval of the translation.

The dates and locations for the workshops are: April 15-16, Cincinnati; April 20-21, Richmond, Va.; April 29-30, Phoenix; May 11-12, Grand Rapids, Mich.; May 13-14, Kansas City, Mo.; May 19-20, Helena, Mont.; May 24-25, St. Paul, Minn.; June 8-9, Denver; June 21-22, Orange, Calif.; June 29-30, Louisville; July 20-21, Emmitsburg, Md.; Aug. 5-6, Milwaukee; Aug. 10-11, Trenton, N.J.; Aug. 24-25, San Francisco; Sept. 7-8, Oklahoma City; Sept. 22-23, Boston; Sept. 29-30, Seattle; Oct. 4-5, Alexandria, La.; Oct. 18-19, Albany, N.Y.; Oct. 26-27, Honolulu; Oct. 28-29, San Antonio; and Nov. 4-5, Orlando, Fla.

The workshops will run from 2 p.m. on the first day until 3 p.m. on the second day.

Further details about the seminars is available at www.fdlc.org, and registration for the workshops (limited to priests and diocesan leaders) is at www.usccb.org/romanmissal.

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