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DELAWARE MARRIAGE LICENSE CHANGES
The State of Delaware has revised its marriage license as many of you know. As a result of conversations had with Mr. Ken Boulden, Clerk of the Peace for New Castle County, it has been learned that the office wants the actual name (printed in the appropriate space) and the signature of the Officiant.
For the address they want the name of the church with address where the marriage took place. This will be the church where the marriage is recorded and filed. If there is any question about the information provided on the form, it is felt that the local church would be best able to answer the questions. It could be more difficult for them to contact an out of town visiting priest who after he does the wedding would most likely have no pertinent information on the couple.
RCIA
RCIA REMINDER
Thank you in advance for your prompt review of any pastoral-canonical issues concerning your new RCIA catechumens and candidates. By addressing these issues early in the process, we are able to be both pastorally sensitive and faithful to the Church's teachings. If the Chancery can be of assistance to you in handling complex cases, please do not hesitate to call.
BAPTISMAL CHARITY
"As soon as I was raised to the Chair of Peter, I approved the instruction in which the Church confirmed the practice of infant baptism, which has been in use since the beginning. In the pastoral practice of your local Churches, you have rightly insisted on the need to administer baptism only when there is well-founded hope that the child will be brought up in the Catholic Faith, so that the sacrament will bear fruit (cf.Canon 868.2).
At times, however, the Church's guidelines are interpreted more strictly than they are meant to be. As a result, parents are told without sufficient reason that their child's baptism must be postponed, or even refused.
Prudence and pastoral charity suggest a more understanding attitude toward those who approach the Church with good intentions to request baptism for their child.
The same pastoral charity should also restrain pastors from making demands that are not required by the Church's doctrine or law. It is right that parents should be properly prepared by their pastor, but it is equally important that the first sacrament of Christian initiation should be seen primarily as God the Father's gift to the child."
- Pope John Paul II, Nov. 18, 1999 to German bishops making their ad limina visit
ADOPTION AND BAPTISMAL REGISTER
NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
DECREE OF PROMULGATION
On November 18, 1998, the Latin Rite de iure members of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops approved complementary legislation for Canon 877.3 of the Code of Canon Law for the Latin Rite dioceses of the United States.
The action was granted recognitio by the Congregation for Bishops in accord with article 82 of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus and issued by Decree of the Congregation for Bishops signed by His Exellency Most Reverend Giovanni Battista Re, Prefect, and His Excellency Most Reverend Franciscus Monterisi, Secretary, and dated September 30, 2000.
The National Conference of Catholic Bishops, in accord with the prescriptions of Canon 877.3, hereby decrees that:
(I) For children baptized after their adoption is finalized, the following information shall be entered in the register:
a) the Christian name(s) of the child as designated by the adoptive parent(s);
b) the name(s) of the adoptive parent(s);
c) the date and place of birth;
d) the names of the sponsors selected by the adoptive parent(s);
e) the place and date of the baptism;
f) the name of the minister performing the baptism; and
g) the fact of adoption but not the names of the natural parents.
Baptismal certificates issued by the parish for adopted children will be no different from other baptismal certificates. No mention of the fact of adoption shall be made on the baptismal certificate.
(II) For children baptized before their adoption is finalized, the following notations shall be added to the baptismal register, but only after the adoption has been finalized and with due regard for the civil law of the jurisdiction:
a) parentheses shall be placed around the names of the natural parents;
b) the name(s) of the adoptive parent(s) shall then be added;
c) the child's former surname shall also be parenthesized and the new surname added;
and
d) a notation shall be made that the child was legally adopted.
Baptismal certificates issued by the parish for these individuals shall give only the name(s) of the adoptive parent(s), the child's new legal surname, the date and place of baptism, and the name of the minister who conferred the sacrament. The name(s) of the sponsor(s) shall not be given, and no mention of the fact of adoption shall be made on the baptismal certificate.
For future ease in reference, and to afford what may often be the only possibility of reference after the adoption has been finalized, a baptismal entry for the adopted child can be made in the baptismal register of the adoptive parents' parish, citing the date and location of the original baptismal record, and listing only the name of the adoptive parents, and the date and place of birth.
Parish personnel having access to parish registers have an obligation not to disclose to any person any information which would identify or reveal, directly or indirectly, the fact that a person was adopted.
As President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishop, I hereby decree that the effective date of this decree for all the Latin Rite dioceses in the United States will be December 1, 2000.
Given at the offices of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, DC, on October 20, 2000.
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Most Reverend Joseph A. Fiorenza Bishop of Galvveston-Houston President, NCCB
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Reverend Monsignor Dennis M. Schnurr
General Secretary
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LITURGY
CLARIFICATIONS FROM THE OFFICE OF WORSHIP REGARDING THE GENERAL INSTRUCTION OF THE ROMAN MISSAL, 2000
In response to several questions and phone calls regarding the status of the new General Instruction on the Roman Missal, Father Kenneth J. Martin, Diocesan Director of the Office of Worship, has issued the following summary as a guide for those charged with the orderly and correct celebration of the Sacred Liturgy:
1. The Latin edition of the General Instruction on the Roman Missal, entitled Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, approved by Pope John Paul II on Holy Thursday, 2000, is universal law and will go into force when the new Roman Missal is promulgated and published. No date has been given for this.
2. The English language study translation available from the BCL (Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy) is an "unofficial" translation that the BCL compiled so that people could get an advance look at what is contained in the new General Instruction. This English study translation is in no way definitive or authoritative.
3. An official English translation will be developed and this will need to be approved by the English-speaking Episcopal Conferences and then sent to the Holy See for confirmation and approval (recognitio).
4. The National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) will, most likely, study the 2000 edition of the General Instruction and discuss if any of their previous decisions in the Appendix of the current General Instruction (1975) need to be included, removed, restated, or revised. Any of these considerations, additions or subtractions will need to be confirmed and approved by the Holy See before they become particular law for the Dioceses of the United States of America.
5. The current General Instruction (1975) and its Appendix for the Dioceses of the United States are still in effect. The English study translation available from the BCL is just that, a study text. Therefore, it would be prudent for parish leadership to take a "wait and see approach". In the meantime, current liturgical practices should continue to observe the requirements of the 1975 edition of the General Instruction and its Appendix.
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