Bishops approve twin documents on anointing of the sick

By Mark Pattison, Catholic News Service

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- The U.S. bishops, gathered in Baltimore for their fall general assembly, voted Nov. 16 to approve revised texts in both English and Spanish for the anointing of the sick.

The English version was approved 196-4 with one abstention. The Spanish edition was approved 200-3 with three abstentions. The documents require approval by two-thirds of the Latin-rite bishops. To reach that threshold, 167 yes votes were needed.

"The Order of the Anointing of the Sick and Their Pastoral Care," submitted by the bishops' Committee on Divine Worship, was introduced the afternoon of Nov. 15 during the bishops' first public session of the assembly. The committee also introduced the document's Spanish-language counterpart, "Ritual de la Uncion de Los Enfermos y de Su Atencion Pastoral."

"Since a new English version of this ritual book is being proposed in a separate action item at this meeting, the Committee on Divine Worship is of the mind that we will be best served by having a Spanish version of the text that mirrors the new English book," said Archbishop Leonard P. Blair of Hartford, Connecticut, committee chairman, in introductory written remarks to his fellow bishops in the Spanish version.

Speaking to the bishops Nov. 15, Archbishop Blair said, "The committee is of the mind that our (current) book is longer and more cumbersome than it needs to be," with "options that are not in use or practiced by the priest." Yet "the Latin version does have some gaps that call for adaptation," he added; he said those texts were included in the proposed new book the bishops would vote on the next day.

"These parallel English and Spanish editions will be useful for priests who are more fluent in one language than the other and will also help ensure consistency in the celebration of our rites," Archbishop Blair said in his introductory remarks.

The new books will replace an English-language book in use since 1982 and a Spanish version approved in 1983.

"This sacrament offers to the sick the grace of the Holy Spirit, by which the whole person is helped toward salvation, is lifted up by the faithfulness of God, and is strengthened against the temptations of evil and the anxiety of death," reads the introduction to the proposed document.

In its first chapter, one instruction declares, "It is desirable that the sick be encouraged to pray when alone or with their families or with those who take care of them, drawing their prayer principally from Sacred Scripture, either by meditating on the parts that show the mystery of human suffering in Christ and in his work, or by using formulas of prayer and beloved passages from the psalms and other texts."

The second chapter advises the priest that, in a hospital setting, "the priest should take account of other sick who may be in beds in the same location. He should be attentive to whether they are able to take part in the celebration or perhaps are very weak, or whether, if they do not profess the Catholic faith, they may appear to become somewhat ill at ease."

In celebrating the anointing of the sick in a large assembly of the faithful, the newly approved document says, "care should also be used to foster the full participation of those present, especially in providing appropriate singing, which can stir up unity in the faithful, foster common prayer, and manifest paschal joy, with which the rite appropriately resounds."

When it comes time for a commendation of the dying, it says, priests and deacons "by their presence," it says, "show more clearly that a Christian dies in the communion of the church."

After Archbishop Blair's presentation, retired Bishop Michael D. Pfeifer of San Angelo, Texas, asked whether the committee gave thought to a combined English-Spanish book, with one language on the even-numbered pages and the other language on the odd-numbered pages.

Archbishop Blair replied that the committee does not mandate such a treatment, but that it's the publisher's decision.