Devotions: The Start of My Search

It is interesting when in the course of researching something - you 'unearth' more information than you realized existed. That's what I'm discovering with my research on Catholic devotions. Quite honestly, I thought my inquiry would be limited to who, what, where, when, and why. I didn't think that I'd be reading about what the Holy Fathers, Roman Congregations, and U.S. Catholic Bishops had to say about the subject.

So here I am, a few weeks into the journey, and I'm discovering documents I've never heard of. I can't claim to understand these documents fully, and I wouldn't dream of interpreting them, as I am not a theologian. As a librarian though I can certainly lead you to these documents.

Popular Devotional Practices: Basic Questions and Answers, issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is a great place to start. Some of the questions they answer are:

What are the origins of popular devotions?

What is the relationship between popular devotions and the liturgy?

What is the relationship between popular devotions and the Bible?

Why are there so many different forms of popular devotion?

Who has the responsibility to ensure that popular devotions are faithful to church teaching?

The Bishops issued this document in 2003, and stated:

"We aim to provide some explanation of popular devotional practices and their proper function in the life of the Church. On the one hand, we expect that, equipped with a fuller understanding of the proper role of popular devotional practices, the faithful will be better able to avoid possible misapplications and to recognize devotions whose appropriateness is questionable. On the other hand, we hope to encourage the faithful to make use of sound devotional practices, so that their lives might be filled in various ways with praise and worship of God. Faithful practice of popular devotions can help us experience God in our everyday lives and conform us more closely to Jesus Christ."

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Popular Devotional Practices: Basic Questions and Answers, 2003. http://usccb.org (accessed May 2006)

In the next few posts I'll take a look at additional documents relating to popular devotions. Until then, God Bless Your Day!