Catholic Liturgy Office Suggests Substitution for ‘reproaches’

The Secretariat of the Catholic Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy is recommending that the Good Friday “Reproaches” or “Improperia” not be used this year during Holy Week, it was announced here by the U.S. Catholic Conference. The Liturgy Committee’s secretariat here suggested that parishes use the option of substituting “other suitable songs” during the Veneration of the Cross in the liturgy of Good Friday, an option clearly spelled out in the church’s liturgical books.

The “Reproaches” consists of two medieval hymns that have Christ berating those who have been unfaithful to God. The secretariat acknowledged that this has sometimes been interpreted as addressed directly to Jews. “The church certainly does not intend to foster such an interpretation in its liturgy,” the secretariat said.

Last November the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy expressed serious concern over the possibility of such misinterpretations. The present English translation of the text is being carefully studied by the committee with the hope that a new text can be provided for future use, the secretariat noted. “Until that revised text is available,” the secretariat said it strongly encourages parishes to avail themselves of the option of using other suitable hymns.

Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum, national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee, hailed this development as an “historic action.” He noted that the removal of “this historically-conditioned ‘Improperia’ prayer with its memories of polemics, antagonisms and hostility toward the Jewish people will constitute a significant act of spiritual liberation” that will ultimately foster “a new spirit of mutual respect and solidarity between the Catholic and Jewish people.”