The Churching of Women

(From the New Liturgical Movement)

Today was the feast of the Presentation and Purification. As usual, because I am on Alaskan time, the entire Traditional Catholic Blogging World posted about this, so I will refrain from being redundant. For those looking for more explanation click the following links:

• New Liturgical Movement - Feast of the Presentation and Purification
• Father Acervo - Presentation of The Lord

Something that I read about a while ago that really peaked my interest, that also correlates to this feast, is the ritual of "The Churching of Women." [The below is taken from a post on the Archdiocese of Washington D.C.'s blog by Msgr. Charles Pope]:

Though it has never been required by the Church it is a beautiful way to welcome back and bless a woman who has perhaps been away for a few weeks  giving birth. She has labored well for her family, her child and the Church and this ritual can serve simultaneously as a blessing and thanksgiving extended by the Church to the noble women who are our mothers. The blessing can be given after a baptism, after mass, collectively to recent mothers, or individually. It is true that the current baptismal rite contains a blessing for the mother but this older rite is a more single and special blessing. The Pope’s recent Motu Proprio permitting the older forms of the sacraments to be used has made these older rituals also more available.

I think this would be an AWESOME ritual to reinstitute across the board. I think it could EASILY be done after Mass at most parishes. If I am correct, the ritual itself is OUTSIDE of the context of Mass, so there is no problem in performing it in Churches where only the Novus Ordo Mass is used.

How better to promote the Pro-Life message of the church, and a very spiritual, traditional, and meaningful way to honor the sacrifice and blessings of motherhood? Aside from the occasional mention at a "Mother's Day Mass" when does the Modern church honor the Mother? Heck, many of the Marian Feasts have become "optional" or "not required in the U.S." If we don't honor Mary, why would we honor other women?

Like many other areas of our faith, I think it would serve us well to return and reclaim the traditional aspects of our faith that served many of our ancestors quite well.

A good explanation is found on the Archdiocese of Washington's (D.C.) blog:
The Churching of Women - AOW
A PDF of the ritual can be found here: The Churching of Women

More Resources:

• New Advent - Churching of Women
• WDTPRS - Father Z. - Churching of Women
• Fish Eaters - Churching of Women

-Posted by: Joe