"The pastoral letter of December 17 [has] caused a great deal of concern amongst the priests and faithful of the Diocese of Charlotte."
More than 30 priests in the Diocese of Charlotte have submitted a set of questions to the Vatican related to recent liturgical changes announced by the local bishop, including a decision to ban the use of altar rails and kneelers for communion.
Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv. Credit: Diocese of Charlotte
The dubia were sent in a letter to the Dicastery for Legislative Texts on Jan. 5.
The letter, obtained by The Pillar, requested formal guidance and clarification about whether a diocesan bishop has the authority to make liturgical changes announced and proposed by Charlotte Bishop Michael Martin, OMF Conv., in recent months.
The letter containing the dubia was signed by 31 priests from the Diocese of Charlotte — roughly a quarter of the priests in the diocese, according to the diocesan priest directory.
Two-thirds of the signatories are pastors.
The letter notes that it arises in response to a pastoral letter released by Bishop Martin last month, announcing that altar rails, kneelers, and prie-dieus will not be permitted for reception of the Eucharist in the diocese, beginning in early 2026. Temporary or movable fixtures used for kneeling to receive communion must be removed by Jan. 16.
There have been rumors that the bishop also plans to introduce additional piecemeal regulations on the liturgy, based on a leaked policy draft that would have prohibited Roman style vestments, altar crucifixes and candles (in favor of those used in the processional and placed next to the altar), the use of the Latin language, and the recitation of vesting prayers, customarily recited by priests as they don the vestments used for Mass.
“Both the leaked letter from this past summer and the pastoral letter of December 17 have caused a great deal of concern amongst the priests and faithful of the Diocese of Charlotte, especially in those parishes that have allowed the faithful to use an altar rail or prie-dieu for the reception of Holy Communion,” said the letter accompanying the dubia.
Included in the dubia is a question about whether a diocesan bishop may ban the erection of altar rails and order the removal of altar rails that are already lawfully in place.
“The General Instruction of the Roman Missal states that the sanctuary ‘should be appropriately marked off from the body of the church either by its being somewhat elevated or by a particular structure and ornamentation,’ (GIRM 295). In addition, ‘Attention must therefore be paid to what is determined by this General Instruction and by the traditional practice of the Roman Rite and to what serves the common spiritual good of the People of God, rather than private inclination or arbitrary choice’ (GIRM 42),” the letter said.
“Since an altar rail is a common and traditional ‘structure and ornamentation’ that marks off the sanctuary from the body of the church within the Roman Rite, it is asked whether a diocesan bishop has the legitimate authority to prohibit the erection of altar rails within churches or other sacred places in his diocese.”
The letter from the priests also asked if the bishop could prohibit the use of an altar rail in parishes where the rails already exist and are used by parishioners to receive communion.
Another dubium questioned “whether a diocesan bishop may prohibit the use of kneelers to assist members of the faithful who, of their own accord, wish to receive Holy Communion kneeling.”
The letter noted that the General Instruction of the Roman Missal explicitly permits kneeling to receive communion, and asked, “As a pastoral provision, may a parochus or rector in charge of a church or oratory place a kneeler or kneelers to accommodate the latter option of those who, of their own accord, wish to receive Holy Communion while kneeling?”
The priests who signed the letter also asked whether a diocesan bishop has the authority to ban priests from wearing certain styles of vestments when those vestments are not elsewhere prohibited in Church law.
They questioned whether a diocesan bishop can prohibit Communion by intinction, since intinction is explicitly referenced as an option in the General Instruction for the Roman Missal, but Martin’s pastoral letter indicates that it “should not be considered an option in the Diocese of Charlotte for distribution to the faithful in public celebration.”
The signatories of the letter further asked whether a diocesan bishop can ban liturgical elements – such as prayers, gestures, chants, or ornaments – on the grounds that such elements are commonly associated with the pre-Vatican II celebration of the Mass, given that passages in the General Instruction and Redemptionis Sacramentum that affirm traditional vestments and practices.
More: https://x.com/catholicsmark/status/2008361519684190346?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w
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