In Ars celebrandi et adorandi (The Art of Celebration and Worship), Bishop Paprocki utilizes the guidance and teaching of Pope Benedict to address the faithful of the diocese on the “art of celebrating the eucharistic liturgy properly and adoring the Lord in the Eucharist devoutly.”

Bishop Paprocki begins his letter to the clergy and the faithful with a background of the “Presence of Christ in History.”

“We are never far from Jesus,” Bishop Paprocki writes. “In our diocese, the faithful have opportunities every day to receive the Lord into their hearts at daily Masses celebrated in our various parish churches and chapels.”

Growth in the Church through Beauty in the Liturgy

Bishop Paprocki says that the minutia sometimes found within church rules and regulations can many times blur the beauty that is the church itself: “Active participation of the faithful” in addition to its “edifices, magnificent works of religious art and the graceful celebration of the liturgy, accompanied by harmonious music and inspiring homilies.”

The ars celebrandi

Bishop Paprocki notes that Pope St. John Paul II joined his successor, Pope Benedict, in reminding the faithful of the art of celebration. In his encyclical on the Eucharist, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, (Church from the Eucharist) St. John Paul II said, “No one is permitted to undervalue the mystery entrusted to our hands: it is too great for anyone to feel free to treat it lightly and with disregard for is sacredness and it universality.”

After citing constraints the church has placed on itself through the ages, Bishop Paprocki explains his specific views and guidelines regarding celebrating the eucharistic liturgy with a view to returning it to its rightful place as the centerpiece of the church.

In addition, Bishop Paprocki directs that:

• tabernacles that have been moved should be returned to the center of the sanctuary;
• churches be kept open and accessible to the public while taking into account necessary safety concerns for worshippers and buildings themselves;
• a “profound bow — purposefully and reverently from the waist — can be a fitting way to reverence the holy Eucharist, but only if one cannot genuflect; and
• pastors be urged to conduct processions with the Blessed Sacrament through the public streets especially on the Solemnity of the Body and the Blood of Christ.