When I saw that the Catholic Church in the USA is publishing two new editions of ritual books (the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults and Holy Communion Outside Mass) I must admit that I became somewhat jealous. This is not about the new translations per se. These new translations are based on the work of ICEL and, for better or worse, are available to all English-speaking Catholics via their Bishops Conferences. What made me feel jealous was the fact that both new editions are being published by multiple publishers (Catholic Book Publishing Co., Liturgical Press, Liturgy Training Publications, Magnificat and Midwest Theological Forum).
The US Church is still blessed with the resources and numbers to make it possible for businesses to publish their ritual books. However, from my vantage point in Ireland, things are not quite as easy. It was announced last February that Veritas, the national Catholic publisher, was to close at the end of this year.
I am sure that a solution will be found to enable the future publications of ritual books in Ireland. But at the moment, it is not clear who will meet that need. The chain of bookstores that Veritas operated was the primary place where Catholic books could be bought throughout the country. Considering the religious practice rates of people today, I would be surprised if any secular publishing house would publish ritual books as a service to the Irish Church. I am sure that they would agree to do so as a business venture, but things will most likely be more complicated.
Additionally, it is the case that many people now use digital platforms for certain liturgical books. The popularity of Universalis among those who pray the Divine Office (or Liturgy of the Hours) here is remarkable. Yet these digital editions are digital editions of published books. As far as I know the Dicastery for Divine Worship requires that a book be published in traditional print form, before they will grant it a confirmatio. So in the near future all ritual books will still need to be published in traditional printed form.
Keeping these books in stock is a challenge. Here in Ireland, the Rites of Penance, Marriage, Baptism of Children and Christian Initiation of Adults have been out of print for many years. I am in and out of many parishes and have never come across a parish that has the actual ritual edition of Baptism of Children, or seen a marriage celebrated using the aid of the published ritual book. I know that seminarians often have to avail of the death of a priest so that they can inherit a ritual book. Pdf scans of liturgical books are shared in the shadows among seminarians. Sometimes priests import books from abroad, which is not ideal either as the books are not exactly the same in each country, so, for example, a new copy of the Rite of Penance, imported into Ireland, from the USA would have a new translation of the sacramental formula that has not been approved or adopted for use in Ireland. But with the official book out of print for nigh on thirty years, what is a future priest to do?
I hope that new ventures in publishing will make it easier to obtain ritual books in the future. Maybe a service similar to Lulu or Amazon’s Kinde Direct Publishing (that I believe also allows for physical printed books) can be a solution in the future. But we still have some distance to travel before that. Maybe Catholic artists and digital designers can contribute to future publishing endeavors and help open new and exciting possibilities for the publishing of future liturgical books.
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