Liturgists meet in Kuching

Jun 09, 2023

By Neil Mah
The 25th meeting of the Episcopal Regional Liturgy Commission (ERLC) took place at St Peter’s College Seminary from May 22 to 24.

The meeting saw 27 delegates from the 11 arch/dioceses in the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei (CBCMSB) attending to discuss matters related to the liturgy in the region, as well as to facilitate coordination, networking, and resource sharing among the arch/dioceses.

Bishop Sebastian Francis, who serves as the president of the ERLC and the CBCMSB, welcomed the delegates to the meeting. He expressed his joy in seeing that all the arch/dioceses were fully represented at this silver jubilee edition of the meeting. The prelate also took the opportunity to extend a special welcome to the new delegates attending for the first time.

During his opening remarks, Bishop Sebastian briefed the delegates on the synodal journey of the Conference and the ongoing preparations for the Malaysian Pastoral Convention (MPC) 2026. The MPC is a significant event planned for the future, which will bring together the Catholic community in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei to discuss pastoral matters and set a direction for the Church’s mission in the region.

In unity with the Universal Church in its preparation for the XVI general Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2023, the prelate announced that all churches, Marian shrines and parishes in the Conference organise a solemn moment of Marian prayer on May 31. Liturgical guidelines and suggestions were sent out to all arch/dioceses.

At this meeting, Fr Ignatius Yeo of Singapore Archdiocese gave an input of sacraments and sacramentals, sharing the importance of using the official liturgical texts when administering the sacraments and blessings of sacramentals.

The delegates had the opportunity to fellowship with one another through a night outing to Kuching city, attending the welcome dinner hosted by Archbishop Simon Poh of Kuching Archdiocese, and visiting the construction of the up-coming impressive new St Peter’s Gothic Church at Padungan, and the adjacent columbarium complex.

Delegates of ERLC, both new and long serving, were given the opportunity to share their experiences attending this meeting where all shared a fruitful and enriching experience in coming together to discuss matters of the liturgy, to network and collaborate together, and hoped for more urgency and expediency to decisions and implementation of matters discussed.

The gathering ended by announcing the 26th ERLC meeting to be held on June 3-6, 2024 in Miri, Sarawak.

                                    Matters discussed during the ERLC

Alkitab Versi Borneo
Other topics discussed included updates on the Bahasa Malaysia (BM) Mass text and lectionary. Bishop Francis reminded all present that CBCMSB has endorsed the Alkitab Versi Borneo (AVB) as the official BM text for the region. He informed that a committee had been formed under Archbishop Simon Poh from Kuching Archdiocese to prepare and send out weekly Sunday Mass texts based on the AVB translation for churches to use.

Although this AVB version is still open for improvement and refinement, it is the valid provisional BM liturgical texts to be used for Masses. After completing the three-year cycle and making improvements, the ERLC will consider printing the official BM Mass texts for the Conference.

The prelate also provided an update on the translation efforts for the AVB in the Catholic context. He shared that a translation committee, overseen by Bishop Richard Ng from Miri Diocese, had successfully completed the translation of the Deuterocanonical books to make them suitable for Catholic use within the AVB.

The committee is in the process of collecting quantity orders for the Deuterocanonical books from the nine dioceses in Malaysia. As the AVB itself was already available, the committee planned to print only the supplementary Deuterocanonical books for now. Bishop Francis mentioned that the CBCMSB would consider printing the complete AVB Catholic Edition (AVB-CE) at a later stage.

The ERLC advised all dioceses not to print any Bahasa liturgical booklets for now until all AVB liturgical texts are finalised and approved by CBCMSB.

Sing Your Praise to God
The ERLC Liturgical Music Committee (ERLC- LMC) updated the conference delegates that the new Sing Your Praise to God (SYPG) hymnal Accompaniment Edition meant for musicians and choir has been compiled and is being printed.

Fr Vincent Chin, the secretary of ERLC, said that the SYPG hymnal project commissioned by the CBCMSB had been ongoing for more than 20 years and was finally completed. He described the process of compiling the hymns as tedious and painstaking, with careful attention given to ensuring that all the hymns included were liturgically appropriate and had cleared copyright for use.

Fr Vincent emphasised that the license obtained for the SYPG hymnal only covered its printing and did not include permission for projection. Therefore, it was important for churches to understand that the hymnal should not be projected on screens during liturgical services.

He also said that CBCMSB no longer held any responsibility for the old SYPG book as it had been officially phased out. As a result, Fr Vincent strongly encouraged all churches that conducted English Masses to make full use of the new SYPG hymnal.

As the SYPG hymnal project has been completed, ERLC-LMC proposed embarking on the next phase of liturgical music development in the Conference, which is to collect and compile locally composed hymns (Propers and Ordinaries). The ERLC agreed that such a compilation will be made available in the public domain, to be shared for free, and the composers, whose work are chosen for this compilation, must agree to this policy.

Hymnal in Chinese
With regards to the Chinese hymnal review process, it was reported that the working committee is in the midst of collecting all the Chinese hymn books currently used in the region. All Chinese Mass choirs have been given a period of one year, till June 2024, to submit both hard and soft copies of the current hymns to be reviewed by the working committee and to be considered for the compilation.

Pozoo No Kinoingan
Hymnal The three Sabah dioceses will collaborate and review the Pozoo No Kinoingan hymnal (combination of Bahasa and Kadazan-Dusun hymns). Other dioceses will also send compilations of Bahasa hymns for review.

Printing of Prayers, Lectionary
ERLC was informed that the new translation for English Eucharistic Prayers for Mass with Children is available and will be printed for the Conference.

The ERLC meeting was also informed that the Paulines and CTS publications are no longer printing the New Jerusalem Bible based English Lectionary, and have now opted to use the English Standard Version Catholic Edition (ESV-CE). ERLC will bring this matter to the July CBCMSB meeting to discuss and decide which lectionary version the Conference will adopt.

Christmas Celebration
The meeting also discussed liturgical fixture for December 24, 2023 which falls on Sunday. It was decided during the day, Masses will be celebrating the Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B while the evening liturgy will celebrate the Christmas Midnight Mass.