By Beth Griffin
A “simple weekday Mass” is in the works when Pope Francis celebrates the liturgy with 20,000 people at Madison Square Garden during his U.S. visit.
“Simple” takes on a new dimension when the pope is the celebrant and the congregation clears security checkpoints hours before the opening notes of the entrance hymn at the Sept. 25 celebration.
“In substance, every Mass is the same. This one is a little bit more elaborate,” Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan said of the archdiocese’s planning effort.
The liturgical option for the day is the Mass for Peace and Justice, Cardinal Dolan said, explaining that the choice reflects the “high emphasis Pope Francis puts on this, and because that day he will be at the United Nations and also visit two sites in the archdiocese devoted to that.”
“The readings and prayers are a given,” Cardinal Dolan said. But the music, the gifts, the intercessions, the readers and other elements have been carefully selected to represent the diverse “languages, families, apostolates, parishes and ministries of this vast region,” he said.
Father Matthew Ernest, director of the archdiocesan Office of Liturgy, told Catholic News Service, that some of the liturgical options selected “will make it more like a simple weekday Mass,” including eliminating the Gloria and the Creed and using only one reading before the Gospel.
Father Ernest said the first reading will be in Spanish, the Gospel will be sung in English and Pope Francis will offer the second eucharistic prayer in Latin. He is expected to preach the homily in English and Spanish. Intercessions will be made in English, Spanish, Polish, Gaelic, German, Tigrinya and Italian.
The liturgist said the pope will concelebrate the Mass with cardinals, bishops from the New York province and an as-yet-undetermined number of local priests. Other participants include “faithful parishioners” who represent communities or ministries and seminarians studying at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers.
“The seminarians will be the servers and, as you can imagine, they’re thrilled,” Father Ernest said. “We’re putting all the seminarians to work. They’re not simply attending the event. Some are singing, some are serving, some will direct traffic in the halls.”
Jennifer Donelson, director of sacred music at the seminary, said 10 seminarians from the school’s Schola choir will sing the communion antiphon.