first, devotions to Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and the saints in the forms of

pilgrimages, patronal feasts, processions, popular devotions, and novenas; second,

the rites related to the liturgical year; third, traditional practices in conjunction with
the celebrations of the sacraments and other Christian rites such as funerals; and
fourth, institutions and religious objects connected with various forms of popular
religiosity (Chupungco, 102 summarizing Sartore 1989:232-33)

POPULAR RELIGION, THE

LITURGY, AND THE CULT OF
THE DEAD
Resources »Eapr »East Asian Pastoral Review 2005 »Volume 42 2005 Number 1 2 »Popular
Religion The Liturgy And The Cult Of The Dead
By Peter C. Phan
Peter Phan is Ignacio Ellacuria Professor of Catholic Social Thought at
Georgetown University, Washington, DC. He received his STD from the Pontificia
Universitas Salesiana, Rome and his PhD from the University of London. He has
authored several books and contributed numerous articles to theological journals.
A prolific writer, he recently wrote In Our Own Tongues: Perspectives from Asia
on Mission and Inculturation and Christianity with an Asian Face: Asian
American Theology in the Making. Both are published by Orbis Books.

A couple of years ago the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of
the Sacraments issued a directory on popular piety and the liturgy.1 The
publication of this document, irrespective of the merit of its contents, marks a
significant shift in the Church’s evaluation of what the Directory calls "popular
piety." As is generally recognized, there was at Vatican II little discussion of
popular piety as such. Rather the Council’s concern was with what it called pia
exercitia, that is, devotional practices. These, it declares, are to be highly
recommended, "provided they conform to the laws and norms of the church."
Moreover, "such devotions should be so drawn up that they harmonize with the
liturgical seasons, accord with the sacred liturgy, are in some way derived from it,
and lead the people to it, since in fact the liturgy by its very nature is far superior to
any of them."2
In the immediate post-Vatican II era, as the liturgical reform went into full swing,
popular religion suffered a serious decline. All its four forms, as classified by
Domenico Sartore, were affected: first, devotions to Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and
the saints in the forms of pilgrimages, patronal feasts, processions, popular
devotions, and novenas; second, the rites related to the liturgical year; third,
traditional practices in conjunction with the celebrations of the sacraments and
other Christian rites such as funerals; and fourth, institutions and religious objects
connected with various forms of popular religiosity (Chupungco, 102 summarizing
Sartore 1989:232-33). Due to the pressing need to educate and form the people of
God for liturgical celebrations by means of new texts and rites, so that they may
"understand them [liturgical celebrations] with ease and take part in them fully,
actively, and as a community (SC, 21)," little attention was given to the role of
popular devotions. "Popular" was often derided as unsophisticated, superstitious,
emotional, individualistic, reactionary, and even anti-liturgical.
In recent decades, however, there has been, to judge from the avalanche of
published literature, an intense interest in what is called "popular piety," "popular
religiosity," "popular religion," "folk religion," "common religion," or more
narrowly, "popular Catholicism."3 Whereas popular religion—popular understood
not in the sense of being fashionable or in vogue but in the sense of originating
from and being practiced largely by the common people, as opposed to being
codified, approved, and propagated by the religious leaders—has always been
present in human history, the widespread interest in and the scholarly study of this
religious phenomenon are of recent vintage in the West. In the wake of cultural
anthropology, sociology, psychology, and other sciences in the humanities,
theology has of late taken up a sustained investigation of popular religion and with
it, of popular culture.4
This plethora of theological literature on popular religion is both cause and effect
of a noticeable resurgence of popular religion not only among the churches of the
Third World (Parker 1996), but also among Christians of the First World.5 One of
the contributing factors to this come-back is the widespread dissatisfaction with the
classical form of Vatican II’s reformed rites characterized by
Roman sobrietas, brevitas, simplicitas, and linearrationality which do not respond
to the people’s need for emotional and total involvement in liturgical
celebrations.6 This need is met by popular religion with its emphasis on
spontaneity, festivity, joyfulness, and community.7
The stubborn persistence of devotional practices and the failure of certain liturgical
reforms sparked a new interest among theologians and liturgists in the nature and
function of popular religion. For example, among Latin American theologians,
there has been a shift from an elitist and Marxist view of popular religion as
Catholicism deformed by superstition and as the opiate of the masses, and hence an
obstacle to liberation (represented by Juan Luis Segundo) to the view that popular
religion as a mass phenomenon is an indispensable and powerful force for the
liberation of the people, and hence something to be promoted (represented by Juan
Carlos Scannone).8 Hispanic/Latino theologians too have made significant
contributions to the understanding of popular religion, and more specifically,
popular Catholicism. In a very helpful essay, James L. Empereur has surveyed the
contributions of two prominent Latino theologians, namely, Orlando Espín and
Roberto Goizueto, to the theme of popular devotion as the
privileged locus theologicus and as the embodiment of the aesthetic dimension of
the Christian faith.9
As a contribution to the theology of popular religion and liturgical inculturation,
this essay first presents the Directory by summarizing its main contents. Next, by
way of example, it will discuss the Directory’s treatment of one of the pious
practices that has profound implications for Asian Catholics, namely, the cult of
the dead. Finally, some suggestions will be made as to how popular religion should
be viewed from the Asian perspective.10
Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy
With over 250 pages, the Directory is a lengthy document by Roman standards. It
is to be noted that it is called a "directory" with the subtitle of "Principles and
Guidelines." Its purpose is not doctrinal but pastoral, namely, "to offer guidelines
and, where necessary, to prevent abuses or deviations" (4). Its addressees are
primarily bishops and their immediate collaborators, that is, "episcopal vicars,
priests, deacons, and especially the rectors of sanctuaries" (5). It is also important
to note that the theme is "popular piety and the liturgy." The conjunction "and" is
operative here. The Directory intends to treat neither popular piety nor the liturgy
in themselves but rather their mutual relationship.11
The Directory is divided into two parts, corresponding to its two foci, principles
and guidelines, with a helpful Introduction. The Directory begins by noting the
ambiguous status of popular piety during the post-conciliar era and the need to
retrieve its important contribution to the Christian life. It quotes Pope John Paul
II’s Apostolic Letter Vicesimus Quintus Annus (1988) in which the pope raised the
question of the role of popular piety and its relationship to the liturgy. According to
the pope, "The pious exercises of the Christian people and other forms of devotion
can be accepted and recommended provided that they do not become substitutes
for the liturgy or integrated into the liturgical celebrations. An authentic pastoral
promotion of the liturgy will know how to build on the riches of popular piety,
purify them and direct them towards the liturgy as an offering of the people." This
is, in a nutshell, the theology that informs the Directory’s guidelines.
The Directory is aware of the lack of a uniform terminology for the subject under
discussion and attempts to determine, somewhat arbitrarily, how expressions
should be used. "Pious exercises" refer to "public or private expressions of
Christian piety which, although not part of the liturgy, are considered to be in
harmony with the spirit, norms, and rhythms of the liturgy... (and) always refer to
public divine revelation and to an ecclesial background" (7). "Devotions" refer to
"external practices" of the faithful toward the Divine Persons, Mary, and the saints
(8). "Popular piety" designates "those diverse cultic expressions of a private or
community nature which ... are inspired predominantly not by the Sacred Liturgy
but by forms deriving from a particular nation or people or from their culture" (9).
"Popular religiosity" refers to the "religious dimension in the hearts of people,
nations, and their collective expressions... (and) does not always necessarily refer
to Christian revelation" (10). The Directory goes on to describe what it calls "the
language of popular piety," that is, its various expressions: gestures, texts and
formulae, song and music, sacred images, sacred places, and sacred times (14-20).
Most importantly, the Directory enumerates the theological principles that should
govern the practice of popular piety, in particular its relationship to the liturgy.
First, the liturgy enjoys preeminence over all other forms of prayer, including
popular piety, because it is necessary, whereas others are optional (11). Secondly,
though optional, popular piety should be highly appreciated (12). Thirdly, while
valuable, popular piety must be renewed and, when necessary, corrected according
to biblical, liturgical, ecumenical, and anthropological principles (12). Fourthly,
popular piety, though distinct from the liturgy, must be harmonized with it (13).
Fifthly, in this harmonization, "formulae proper to pious exercises should not be
commingled with the liturgical actions"; "a superimposing of pious and devotional
practices on the liturgy ... must be avoided"; "precedence must always be given to
Sunday, Solemnities, and to the liturgical seasons and days"; "attempts to impose
forms of ‘liturgical celebrations’ on them (pious practices) are always to be
avoided" (13).
Part One of the Directory, entitled "Emerging Trends: History, Magisterium and
Theology," devotes three chapters to the three themes mentioned in the title.
Chapter One gives a bird’s-eye view of the history of the development of popular
piety and its relationship to the liturgy. Chapter Two summarizes the official
teaching of the Church on popular devotion, its value, its deviations, and the way it
must be harmonized with the liturgy. Chapter Three enunciates the theological—
trinitarian, ecclesiological, and biblical—principles for an evaluation and renewal
of popular piety and its inculturation.
Part Two, entitled "Guidelines for the Harmonization of Popular Piety with the
Liturgy," is the longer and more practical part of the Directory. The most lengthy
and detailed is Chapter Four, on the liturgical year and popular piety, which goes
through the liturgical year, from Advent to the end of the Ordinary Time, and
correlates pious practices with the liturgical seasons and feasts. The remaining four
chapters deal with the veneration of Mary, cult of the saints, suffrage for the dead,
and shrines and pilgrimages respectively.
All in all, the Directory is a timely and helpful document. It rightly retrieves the
important role of popular piety, long neglected in the West, for Christian life. It
reintroduces many pious practices, most of which are unknown to Catholics of the
post-Vatican II era. Most importantly, it lays down the theological principles
governing the practice of popular piety and its relationship to the liturgy, which is
its overriding concern. On the other hand, it is these five principles, above as
enunciated, that, when applied strictly and indiscriminately, causes pastoral
difficulties and lessens the effectiveness of pious practices for both individuals and
communities. A close analysis of what the Directory says about what it terms
"Suffrage for the Dead" (Chapter Seven) will illustrate both its strengths and
weaknesses.
Suffrage for the Dead: An Evaluation
Chapter Seven of the Directory can be divided into three parts: the first provides
general theological principles for the cult of the dead, the second discusses
liturgical practices in honor of the dead, and the third presents the memorial for the
dead in popular piety.
Theological Principles for the Suffrage for the Dead
The Resurrection of the Dead
The Directory insists that the Christian faith in the resurrection of the dead is the
context in which to understand the meaning of death and the suffrage for the dead.
It acknowledges that death can be seen both as a natural "end of earthly life" and as
"the wages for sin" (249). As either, death is an existential enigma, says the
Directory, recalling the teaching of Vatican II’s Pastoral Constitution on the
Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et spes): "It is in regard to death that the
human condition is most shrouded in doubt" (18).
However, according to the Directory, in the light of Jesus’ death and resurrection
and of God’s promise to raise the dead, the curse of death has been transformed
into a blessing: "Death is the passage to the fullness of true life" and "The death of
a Christian is an event of grace, having as it does, a positive value and significance
in Christ and through Christ" (249). That is why, the Directory notes, paradoxically
the Church calls the Christian’s day of death his or her dies natalis (birthday). The
Christian has already died "in Christ"—sacramentally—in baptism, and physical
death seals that "dying with Christ" and "consummates it by incorporating them
fully and definitively into Christ the Redeemer" (250).
In an important statement which has extensive ramifications for the cult of the
dead, the Directory affirms that eternal life is possible for those who are not
Christians: "The Church’s prayer of suffrage for the souls of the faithful departed
implores eternal life not only for the disciples of Christ who have died in his peace,
but for the dead whose faith is known to God" (250).12
The Meaning of Suffrage for the Dead
The Directory defines suffrage for the dead as "an urgent supplication of God to
have mercy on the souls of the dead, to purify them by the fire of His charity, and
to bring them to His kingdom of light and life" (251). It links the practice of
suffrage for the dead to the doctrine of purgatory which professes that "no one ...
can be received into God’s friendship and intimacy without having been purified of
the consequences of personal sin" (251). The Directory also connects it with the
doctrine of the communion of saints insofar as the living members of the church
help the souls of the departed achieve their final purification through their suffrage
which consists primarily "in the celebration of the holy sacrifice of the Eucharist,
and in other pious exercises, such as prayers for the dead, alms deeds, works of
mercy, and the application of indulgences to the souls of the faithful departed"
(251).
Liturgical Celebrations for the Dead
Christian Funerals (Exequies)
The Directory presents the rite of Christian funerals as composed of three parts.
First, prayer vigil, during which the Christian community gathers to pray for the
deceased, listens to the Scripture, comforts the bereaved, and expresses solidarity
with those in sorrow. Second, the celebration of the funeral Mass, which is "the
true Christian refrigerium for the deceased" (252). The Directory cautions that the
homily should avoid "any form of funerary eulogy" (252). Third, the rite of
committal, the funeral cortege, and burial. The Directory urges that "every stage of
the rite of exequies should be conducted with the greatest dignity and religious
sensibility," with the utmost respect for the body of the deceased; decorous and
ostentation-free funeral furnishings; and a proper use of the cross, the paschal
candle, the holy water, and incense (253).
With regard to the disposal of the corpse, the Directory expresses a strong
preference for burial in the ground since this recalls the earth from which humans
come and to which they return and the burial of Christ himself (254). Nevertheless,
it notes that cremation is permissible, provided that "such choice was not
motivated by anything contrary to the Christian doctrine."13 It also exhorts that the
ashes be buried and not kept in the home.
Other Suffrages
Other liturgical celebrations for the dead include the offering of Mass on the third,
seventh, and thirtieth day following their deaths as well as on their anniversaries.
The Directory also mentions November 2, All Souls Day, on which "the Church
incessantly offers the holy sacrifice of the Mass for the souls of all the faithful
departed and prays the Liturgy of the Hours for them" (255). Suffrage for the dead
is done every day during the celebration of the Mass and at Vespers. The Directory
appropriately reminds those who have made offerings for Mass intention that the
Church prays for all the faithful departed, "so as to avoid possessive or particular
ideas that related the Mass only to one’s ‘own’ dead" (255).
Memorial of the Dead in Popular Piety
The Directory prefaces its discussion of the memorial of the dead in popular piety
with its oft-repeated caveat about maintaining a proper relationship between the
liturgy and popular devotion, "both in its doctrinal aspect and in harmonizing the
liturgical actions and pious exercises" (256).
Doctrinal Principles
According to the Directory, the popular cult of the dead must be inspired by the
following seven doctrines of the Christian faith: 1. The paschal meaning of death,
that is, death as participation in Christ’s death and resurrection through baptism; 2.
The immortality of the soul; 3. The communion of saints; 4. The resurrection of the
body; 5. The glorious coming of Christ; 6. Eternal retribution; and 7. Eternal life
(257).
In light of these doctrines, the Directory insists that care must be taken that
practices of the cult of the dead is not "contrary to the Gospel" and not be seen as
"pagan residues" (257). Consequently, the following five dangers should be
avoided: divination, interpretation of dreams related to the dead, belief in
reincarnation, denial of the immortality of the soul and separation of death from
the resurrection, and "the application of spatio-temporal categories to the dead"
(258).14
Pious Practices for the Dead
After some warnings about the widespread contemporary phenomenon of "hiding
death and its signs," especially in cities (259), the Directory ends the chapter with
an enumeration of various pious practices of suffrage for the dead: novena for the
dead in preparation for All Souls Day and the octave prolonging it; visits to the
cemetery ["which should be seen as deriving from the bonds existing between the
living and the dead and not from any form of obligation, non-fulfillment of which
involves a superstitious fear"] (260); membership in confraternities whose
activities include burying the dead, praying for the dead, and support for their
families; suffrage for dead by means of almsgiving, works of mercy, fasting,
applying indulgences, and recitation of prayers, especially the De profundis [Out of
the depths, Ps 51] and the Requiem aeternam[Eternal Rest] (260).
Critical Reflections
As has been mentioned above, the Directory’s guidelines for the suffrage for the
dead are prefaced by a presentation on the theological meaning of death and the
liturgy of funerals. Curiously, for a document purportedly concerned with popular
devotion, Directory devotes the lion’s share of its attention to the theology of death
and the liturgical celebration of funerals and comparatively little on the practices of
popular piety toward the dead. Anyone looking for a full and detailed treatment of
this latter theme will be sorely disappointed.
As will be argued below, the Directory’s narrow focus on suffrage for the dead,
while concentrating on what the Church does for the dead, neglects many aspects
of the cult in honor of the dead. The latter aspect, as the history of the so-called
Chinese Rites Controversy has amply demonstrated, is a culturally important and
theologically challenging part of the popular piety toward the dead. A few
reflections, then, on the strengths and weaknesses of this chapter are in order. In
the process, indications will be given as to how the Directory’s treatment of
popular piety toward the dead can be expanded and enriched.
Suffrage for the Dead and the Paschal Mystery
The Directory helpfully recalls the intimate connection between the death of a
Christian and the mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Such connection is
strongly affirmed by the 1969 Order of Christian Funerals (Ordo
exequiarum)15 and is succinctly expressed by the Catechism of the Catholic
Church: "The Christian meaning of death is revealed in the light of the Paschal
mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ in whom resides our only hope"
(1680).16 This notion of death as the last "Passover" of the Christian into the
eternal life inaugurated by Christ, participation into which is already realized—
albeit not yet fully—in the sacramental celebrations, in particular baptism and
Eucharist, overcomes the partial and mutually antithetical understanding of death
as either the natural end of biological life or the penalty of sin, which the Directory
mentions (249). This emphasis on the paschal character of Christian death is a
welcome corrective to the theology underlying the Tridentine Rituale Romanum of
1614 which is heavily clerical in structure and penitentiary in nature. In the
Tridentine ritual, the primary celebrant of the funeral is not the laity but the priest
who is seen as endowed with the power not only to forgive sins but also to
intercede efficaciously for the remission of the punishments on behalf of the
deceased.
This paschal note also retrieves the theology underlying the liturgical celebration
of funerals in the early church in which the certainty of the salvation wrought by
Christ and faith in the resurrection animate expressions of hope, joy, and
communion rather than pains, sadness, and despair (Ntedika 1971). It also puts in
proper perspective other themes regarding death widespread since the Middle Ages
such as the final and dramatic struggle with the devil in the moment of agony, the
survival of the soul separated from the body, the localization of the soul in the
"bosom of Abraham" and in "heaven," the need for "refrigerium," and the
forgiveness of sin and the salvation of the soul in the other world.
Another positive contribution of the Directory is its reminder that suffrage for the
dead is not done only by means of the offering of the Eucharist, prayers, and the
application of indulgences for the dead but also by support for the bereaved,
almsgiving, and works of mercy (251, 260). In this way the social and charity
dimension is fostered in the cult of the dead which often runs the risk of selfish
concern for the dead members of one’s family and a one-sided emphasis on the
beyond.
Suffrage for the Dead or Cult in Honor of the Ancestors?
It has been pointed out above that the scope of the Directory’s treatment of popular
piety toward the dead is unduly narrowed by the rubric of suffrage for the dead. To
be sure, the various pious practices mentioned by the Directory in no. 260 (e.g.,
novena, octave, visit to the cemetery, application of indulgences, etc.) are part of
what people do for the dead but they do not broach one essential aspect of popular
piety toward the dead, namely, the cult in honor of the dead, in particular, the
ancestors.
This omission is a highly unfortunate lacuna since it is precisely the cult of
ancestors that has been the greatest obstacle for conversion to Christianity in those
Asian countries influenced by the Confucian tradition as well as in African
countries with a strong tradition of ancestor worship. The absence of a treatment of
the cult of ancestors is no doubt a result of the Directory’s almost exclusive focus
on Western pious practices for the dead. Tellingly, the Directory, when alluding to
the customs and usages connected with the "cult of the dead," places the expression
in quotation marks and goes on warning that "great caution must be used in
examining and evaluating these customs. Care should be taken to ensure that they
cannot be interpreted as pagan residues" (257).
Furthermore, in terms of the relationship between the liturgy and popular devotion,
the Christian reception of the cult of ancestors in Africa and Asia offers the most
instructive examples of how these two forms of worship can be fruitfully
integrated into each other. Regrettably, the Directory fails to take advantage of
existing liturgical adaptations to achieve its main objective, namely, to
"harmonize" popular piety and the liturgy without falling into the doctrinal pitfalls
it repeatedly warns against (258).
This is not the place either to recount the vicissitudes of the Chinese Rites
Controversy17 or to present the African theology of Christ as the Proto-
Ancestor.18 Rather my intention is briefly to illustrate by way of one example,
namely, the cult of ancestors in the Rite Zaïrois, how popular piety toward the dead
goes far beyond the Directory’s category of suffrage for the dead and, more
importantly, how it can enrich the liturgy itself. Whether the introduction of the
cult of worship into the Eucharist belongs to the category of garden-variety
"legitimate variations and adaptations to different groups, regions and peoples"
(SC, 38) or that of "an even more radical adaptation of the liturgy" (SC, 40), for
which special ecclesiastical approval is required, is a moot point. 19 The fact is that
certain practices of the popular devotion to the dead are now an integral part of the
liturgy, and more specifically, of the Eucharistic celebration.
The Invocation of Ancestors in the Rite Zaïrois
The tortuous history of the Rite Zaïrois (RZ) from its inception in 1969 to its final
approval in 1988 by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the
Sacraments under the official title of "Missel Romain pour les Dioceses du Zaïre"
(Roman Missal for the Dioceses of Zaire) is in itself a fascinating and sobering
lesson on liturgical inculturation and ecclesiastical politics. 20 What is of interest
here is the way the RZ incorporates the cult of ancestors into the celebration of the
Eucharist itself. Recognizing the communion between the living and the dead,
especially their ancestors, between the church in heaven and the church on earth,
the RZ opens the celebration of the Mass with an invocation of the saints and the
ancestors, usually in the form of a litany. As Egbulem explains:

Most tribes of black Africa would not begin a public ceremony without invoking
the ancestors, who are believed to exercise real control over the living and under
whose surveillance people live. By opening the celebration with the invocation of
saints and ancestors, the Zairean Mass identifies the Christian assembly as the
meeting place between the Creator, the ancestors, and the living" (1997:59).
As Egbulem notes, what is new in the RZ is "the place in the liturgy at which this
invocation is made as well as the fact that the ancestors are asked to become part of
a celebration in which many of them never shared in their lifetimes" (1997:59-60).
As the priest’s invitation to the people before the invocation makes it clear:

Let us unite ourselves with all who,

even though they had not known Christ in their lifetime,
have however sought God with a sincere heart.
With God’s help,
they have accomplished God’s will,
and are now with God (1997:60 with slight modification).
The memory of the ancestors is repeated in various places of the Mass, especially
in the second part of the Eucharistic prayer, in which the Church prays for those
who have died in the hope of the resurrection.21
The invocation of the ancestors (and not only the dead in general) and the
invitation to them to participate in the Mass (which goes far beyond offering
suffrage for them) represent a successful attempt at liturgical inculturation in which
popular piety and the liturgy are harmonized with one another. They also go
beyond the Directory’s bedrock and oft-repeated principle that "the formulae
proper to pious exercises should not be commingled with the liturgical actions.
Acts of devotion and piety are external to the celebration of the Holy Eucharist and
of the other sacraments" (13). Fortunately, in this case, the incorporation of
popular devotion to the ancestors into the liturgy has enriched the Eucharistic
celebration immeasurably by making it a truly and genuinely local act of
worship.22
The Asian Context
Vietnam, along with Korea and Japan, has been heavily influenced by China,
especially its Confucian culture.23 This influence is most visible in certain funerary
rites and especially in the cult of ancestors. The Chinese Rites Controversy and
Rome’s ensuing prohibitions against the cult of ancestors affected Vietnamese
Catholicism, profoundly and extensively, even today. In 1964 the Vietnamese
hierarchy applied to Rome for permission to implement the 1939 decree
of Propaganda Fide permitting ancestor veneration. On 14 June 1964 the
Vietnamese bishops issued a letter "The Veneration of Ancestors, National Heroes,
and War Dead" spelling out the concrete norms to apply Propaganda
Fide’s instruction. In general, the bishops distinguished three kinds of acts,
attitudes, and rituals: those that are clearly secular, patriotic, and social expressions
of piety toward the ancestors, national heroes, and war dead; those that are clearly
religious in nature and contrary to Catholic belief, smack of superstition, and are
performed in places reserved for worship; and those that are of an ambiguous
nature. The first kinds are not only permissible but are to be encouraged and
promoted; the second are prohibited; and the third need to be examined according
to the common local opinion: if they are generally thought to be of a nonreligious
nature, they are permissible. If doubt concerning their nature persists, it is
permissible to act according to one’s conscience. If possible, explanations of one’s
intention should be given with due tact, or one can participate in a passive
manner.24
On 12 April 1974 the Vietnamese bishops issued another communication in which
they specified a list of activities, attitudes, and rituals deemed permissible:
"1. An ancestral altar dedicated to the veneration of the ancestors may be placed
under the altar dedicated to God, provided that nothing smacking of superstition
such as the ‘white soul’ [the white cloth representing the dead] is placed there.
2. Burning incense and lighting candles on the ancestral altar, and prostrating with
joined hands in front of the altar or the repository of the ancestors are gestures of
filial piety and veneration, hence permissible.
3. On death anniversaries it is permissible to present the dead person with
‘offerings of commemorative cult’ according to local customs, provided that one
eliminates things smacking of superstition such as burning paper money. It is also
recommended that the offerings be reduced or changed to express more clearly
their true meaning of respect and gratitude to the ancestors, for instance, flowers,
fruits, incense, and lights.
4. During the marriage rites, the bride and groom are permitted to perform the
‘ceremony of veneration toward the ancestors’ in front of the ancestral altar or the
repository of the ancestors. These rituals are expressions of gratitude toward,
recognition of, and self-presentation to the ancestors.
5. During the funerary rites, it is permissible to perform prostrations with joined
hands before the corpse as well as to hold burning incense sticks in joined hands
according to local custom, as a way to express veneration for the dead person, just
as the Church permits the use of candles, incense, and inclination before the
corpse.
6. It is permissible to participate in the ceremonies venerating the ‘lord of the
place,’ who is usually called the ‘titulary genius,’ in the village community
building, to express gratitude toward those whom history shows have earned the
gratitude of the people, or the benefactors of the village, and not to express a
superstitious belief in evil spirits and harmful ghosts."25
The Cult of Ancestors in the Vietnamese Mass
In addition to the permission of these rituals of ancestor veneration outside of the
liturgy, the Vietnamese bishops have introduced two
properly liturgical innovations.26 The first is an expansion of the prayer for the
dead in the Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass. In the second Eucharistic Prayer,
instead of the simple formula "Remember our brothers and sisters who have gone
to their rest in the hope of rising again," the Vietnamese memento of the dead
reads: "Remember also the faithful, our brothers and sisters, who rest in peace in
the expectation of the resurrection, and the dead who can only trust in your mercy.
Remember in particular our ancestors, our parents and our friends who have left
this world...."27 Obviously, the explicit mention of "ancestors" is an attempt at
inculturating ancestor veneration into the liturgy, with significant theological
implications which will be detailed below.
The second liturgical innovation is the Masses for the celebration of the lunar New
Year or Tet. For the Vietnamese Tet is the most important cultural and religious
feast, the equivalent of New Year, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and
Christmas rolled into one.28 It symbolizes the total renewal of all things. All debts
should be paid, all bad feelings set aside, and everything should be clean and new.
On New Year’s Eve, especially at midnight (giao thua), there are various rituals to
perform, the main of which is to "welcome the ancestors" (ruoc ong ba) to the
home. Culturally, Tet is the celebration of the family: all members of the family
are supposed to return to the ancestral home to show gratitude to their ancestors
and to renew the family bond. Religiously, it is the occasion for the most solemn
celebration of the cult of ancestors. Members of the family gather before the
ancestral altar with the pictures of the dead ancestors displayed on it, make deep
bows, burn incense, make offerings, and pray for their protection. Catholics say
their prayers in front of the altar.
Tet is celebrated for at least three days: the first is reserved for the cult of ancestors
and the living parents, the second for near relatives, and the third for the dead.
Alexandre de Rhodes had already attempted to Christianize Tet by suggesting that
its three days be dedicated to the Trinity: "The first day in memory of the benefits
of creation and conservation, which is dedicated to God the Father; the second in
thanksgiving for the inestimable benefit of redemption, which is dedicated to God
the Son; and the third in humble gratitude to the Holy Spirit for the grace of being
called to be a Christian" (Phan 1998:80-81). In the 17 century and until even as
recently as the 20th, as long as the monarchy lasted, on the first day of the year the
emperor offered in the name of the nation the Nam Giao (south gate) sacrifice to
Heaven, which de Rhodes interpreted as a "sacrifice offered to the heavenly King"
(Phan 1998:92-3).
Given the central position of Tet, it is not surprising that the Vietnamese bishops
have undertaken to solemnize it with eucharistic celebrations. Five Mass formulas
have been composed to express the various meanings of Tet and are now in use:
the first for the end of the year in to give thanks and ask for forgiveness; the second
for New Year’s Eve to celebrate the passage into the new year (giao thua); the third
for the first day of the new year to praise God and to ask for peace and prosperity;
the fourth for the second day to pray for ancestors, grandparents and parents; and
the fifth for the third day to pray for the sanctification of labor.29
For our present purpose the fourth formula is of special interest. Here are some of
its significant prayers:
Collect: Father of mercies, you have commanded us to practice filial piety. Today,
on New Year’s Day, we have gathered to honor the memory of our ancestors,
grandparents and parents. Deign to reward abundantly those who have brought us
into this world, nurtured us, and educated us. Help us live in conformity to our
duties toward them....
Prayer over the Gifts: Lord, accept our offerings and bestow your graces
abundantly upon our ancestors, grandparents and parents, so that we may in our
turn inherit their blessings....
Preface: As we look at things in the universe, we clearly see that every being has
an origin and principle: birds have their nests, water its source, and the human
person coming into this world has a father and mother. Moreover, thanks to your
revelation, Father, we recognize that you are the creator of all things that exist and
that you are our Father. You have given life to our ancestors, grandparents and
parents so that they may transmit it to us. You have also filled them with good
things so we may inherit them by knowing you, adoring you, and serving you....
The inclusion of the veneration of ancestors in the Mass, and especially the
mention of the term "ancestor" in the Eucharistic Prayer, mark a monumental step
in liturgical inculturation in Vietnam. We have traveled a long way from the days
of the Chinese Rites Controversy. Theologically, it is important, at least for two
reasons. First, in mentioning the ancestors explicitly in the Eucharistic Prayer and
in praying for them, the Vietnamese text does not distinguish between Christian
ancestors and non-Christian ones (among Vietnamese Christians attending Mass
there are many whose ancestors did not receive baptism). In the cult of ancestors,
the ancestors are venerated not because they have been saved or were holy but
simply because they are ancestors. Simply in virtue of the physical bond with their
descendants, the ancestors are bound to protect them, and the descendants to honor
them. Furthermore, in describing the cult of ancestors, many Vietnamese bishops
have used not only the word to tien (forebears) but also thanh hien (saint and sage)
to refer to those who should receive this cult. Of course, they do not mean to say
that these are "saints" in the Christian sense of being officially canonized, but
clearly the old objection that the word "saint" should not be used for people like
Confucius no longer holds, and of course there is no suggestion that the non-
Christian ancestors have been damned simply because they were not Christian.
Secondly, there is in the prayers cited earlier an affirmation that somehow the
ancestors act as mediators of the blessings and graces that their descendants
receive from God. The descendants are said to "inherit" them from their ancestors.
Of course, in these prayers the ancestors are not directly asked to "intercede" with
God for their descendants, since these prayers are not addressed to them, in
contrast to those said in front of the ancestral altar at home. Theologically, of
course, there can be no objection to ask someone, dead or alive, canonized or not,
to intercede for oneself or others before God. The old objection that the cult of
ancestors, in so far as they are invoked in prayer, is superstitious is a red herring,
since no Asian who practices this cult believes that the ancestors are divine, in the
strict sense of this term.30
The Challenges of Contemporary Culture
In a helpful aside the Directory notes the phenomenon, widespread in
contemporary Western societies, of "hiding death and its signs." It points out how
doctors and nurses often hide the fact of imminent death, how tiny apartments do
not permit the holding of a vigil for the dead, how traffic congestion prevents
funeral corteges, and how cemeteries are no longer provided for in urban planning
(259). On the other hand, today funerals tend to be a very expensive affair, with the
cosmetic restoration of the corpse, the use of funeral parlor as a place of worship,
and the funeral director as the orchestrator of the funeral rituals. The Directory
urges that Christians reject both the "intolerance of the dead" and the
"commercialization of the dead" (259).
In addition to these two pastoral challenges to the Church’s care for the dead and
their families as well as to the popular piety toward the dead, others may be
mentioned. There has been a tendency to simplify the committal service and
celebrate it at the Church or the funeral home rather than at the graveside or the
crematory, thus truncating the process of mourning by the family and curtailing the
need to take a final and definitive leave of the deceased. At times the body is
disposed of without ceremony and without the family attending. No funeral is
celebrated and only a memorial service is held at a later date. Also there has been
an increasing privatization of funerals, with the attendance of close family
members only, apart from the parish community and its support, reflecting the
contemporary loss of the sense of belonging to a larger community. In reaction to
the extraordinary increase in the costs of funerals, some have planned a simple
disposal of their corpses with little or no ritualized resources for the living to cope
with grief. Even the pre-planning of funerals, though economically and practically
helpful, may disassociate death from grief and bereavement.
Furthermore, today death itself has acquired new faces that demand from the
Church a complex pastoral approach and perhaps even new funeral rites that would
allow the community to cope with these new forms of death in a truly Christian
way. Examples of new faces of death include: mass death (e.g., caused by terrorist
attacks or natural disasters), death as the result of socially and morally stigmatized
diseases (e.g., AIDS and drug addiction), and "problematic’ death (e.g., suicide,
people who have left the Church, and "public sinners"). The increasing popularity
of cremation poses challenges to the current funeral rites that presume burial as the
norm.31
While these new challenges to the liturgy of funerals and the popular piety toward
the dead are most prevalent in the West, these begin to emerge also in Asia, given
the impact of globalization. With regard to the rituals of the ancestor veneration, it
is increasingly difficult, to practice them in full given the frantic rhythm of modern
life. Often they are regarded as outmoded and quaint, especially by the young who
more often than not lack the requisite knowledge of their cultures to understand the
meaning of these rituals. Furthermore, in Asian countries where Christians are a
minority and co-exist with the followers of other religions which have feasts in
honor of the dead (e.g., the Buddhist festival of Ullambana, that is, offering of
foods to the "hungry ghosts" on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month), it is
highly recommended to synchronize the Christian feasts (e.g., All Saints and All
Souls) with similar non-Christian festivals.32
To meet the challenges facing the Church in matters of funerals and the cult of the
dead, it is imperative that the harmonization of the liturgy and popular devotion go
beyond the limited scope of the suffrage for the dead and include such steps as
those taken for example by the Zairean Rite and the Vietnamese Mass for the dead.
Only in this way can the deepest elements of African and Asian cultures relating to
the cult of the dead, in particular of ancestors, be preserved and celebrated. Only
thus can the process of reinforcing the awareness of pain and loss caused by the
death of the loved ones, of remembering the deceased, of going through mourning
and bereavement, of providing support and comfort to the survivors, and of re-
organizing one’s life deprived of the company of the beloved—a process enabled
by the funeral ritual itself—be achieved.
Funerals and the cult of the dead are endowed with psychological, social, and
religious significance. Psychologically, they provide the bereaved with the means
to cope with their loss and to reorganize their lives without the presence of their
loved ones. Socially, they re-affirm the bonds that bind the family, social group,
and Church together in moments of profound anguish and crisis. Religiously, they
reiterate God’s faithful love, the hope in the resurrection, and the comfort of fellow
believers. Given the importance of funerals, it is natural that the Church wants to
do everything possible to make them meaningful to people in their cultures:

Among all peoples, funerals are always surrounded with special rites, often of
great expressive value. To answer the needs of different countries, the Roman
ritual offers several forms of funerals. Episcopal Conferences must choose those
which correspond best to local customs. They will wish to preserve all that is good
in family traditions and local customs, and ensure that funeral rites manifest the
Christian faith in the resurrection and bear witness to the true values of the Gospel.
It is in this perspective that funeral rituals can incorporate the customs of different
cultures and respond as best they can to the needs and traditions of each region
(CDWDS 1994:58).
Excellent words, indeed! To implement this lofty goal, the Directory is a good
place to start, but as has been shown above, there is still a long way to go.

NOTES

1. Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

(CDWDS) 2002. The directory was signed by Jorge A. Cardinal Medina Estévez,
Prefect, and Archbishop Pio Tamburino, Secretary, on 11 December 2001.
Henceforth, the document will be cited as Directory, with the number of its
paragraphs in parentheses.
2. Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC), 13. The Directory may be viewed as an
implementation of this directive of Vatican II. This relative neglect of and
suspicious attitude toward popular religion by Vatican II was one of the results of
the triumph of the Liturgical Movement, spearheaded by Dom Prosper Guéranger,
at the Council. The Liturgical Movement saw popular religion as rooted in
subjective and emotional piety, thus favoring the Enlightenment’s individualist
tendencies which it wanted to combat. This belittling of "subjective" or "personal"
piety and consequent rejection of "all other religious exercises not directly
connected with the sacred Liturgy and performed outside public worship" were
criticized by Pope Pius XII as "false, insidious, and quite pernicious" (Mediator
Dei, 30). Papal condemnations notwithstanding, the Liturgical Movement’s
negative assessment of popular religion found its way into article 13 of SC. See
Malloy 1998:2-4.
3. For a helpful discussion of these terminologies and of popular religion in
general, see Schreiter 1985:122-43. Popular religion is often contrasted to official
religion, elite religion, and esoteric religion. Schreiter rightly notes the inadequacy
of these approaches and calls for an adherence in the studies of popular religion to
the following principles: "trying to listen to the culture on its own terms; adopting
a holistic pattern of description; remaining attentive to the audience and the interest
of the questioner in each event" (126). Other helpful discussions of popular
religion are found in Williams 1980:2-21; Lippy 1994:1-22; Candelaria 1990:1-38;
and Bamat and Wiest 1999:1-16.
4. As evidence of this resurgence of popular religion in contemporary theological
discourse, Anscar Chupungco cites the bibliography compiled by F. Trolese in
1979 which showed as many as 528 titles in Italian, French and Spanish languages
alone. See Trolese 1979:273-325, cited by Chupungco 1992:95. For works in
German, see ibid., 95, footnote 1. For a review of recent works on Hispanic
popular religiosity, see Wright 1998:141-6. The rise of this scholarly interest in
popular religion may be a symptom of a diffused malaise and disenchantment in
Western societies with the ideals of scientific, value-free and objective knowledge
spawned by the Enlightenment. In the United States, it has been accompanied by
the adoption of some beliefs and practices of Eastern religions and some forms of
Gnosticism such as New Age.
5. See Malloy, 5-8. On the resurgence of Marian devotion in the United States in
particular, see Phan 2000:425-39.
6. It is these characteristics that lie behind SC’s insistence on a "full, conscious,
and active participation in liturgical celebrations" (no. 14). For a presentation of
the critique of Vatican II’s liturgical reform by four ideologically diverse
theologians (Joseph Ratzinger, David Power, Francis Mannion, and Matthew Fox),
see Malloy, 12-20.
7. For a description of the general traits of popular religion, see Chupungco, 109-
11. Chupungco quotes C. Valenziano’s characterization of popular religion: "It is
festive, felt, spontaneous; it is expressive, immediate, human; it is communitarian,
collective, joyful, symbolic, traditional, alive" (109-10). See Valenziano 1979:83-
110. Chupungco, in his analysis of Filipino popular religion, identifies the
principal features of popular religion as follows: "These are, first, their literary
genre, which is marked by discursive and picturesque quality; second, their use of
sacred images; third, their preference for such devices for participation as
repetitiveness and communal recitation; and fourth, their use of dramatic forms
that are often strongly mimetic or imitative" (119).
8. For an exposition of these two opposing views of popular religion, see
Candelaria 1990, already cited above. Candelaria highlights the double dimension
of popular religion, already noted by Karl Marx, namely, its alienating effect and
its liberating potential. For a detailed study of popular religion in Latin America,
see Seladoc (Maximino Arias Reyero, Cristián Johansson and J. Manuel De Ferari)
1976 and Smith and Prokopy 1999.
9. See Empereur 1998:105-10. The works examined are mainly: Espín 1997 and
Goizueta 1995. Other Latino/a theologians should also be mentioned: Virgil
Elizondo, Allan F. Deck, Ana María Díaz-Stevens, Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo,
Alex García-Rivera, Timothy Mantovina, María Pilar Aquino, Jeanette Rodríguez,
and so on.
10. For an earlier discussion of mine on popular religion, see chapter 5 Popular
Religion and Liturgical Inculturation: Perspectives and Challenges from Asia in
Phan 2004:65-91.
11. For a comprehensive commentary on the Directory, see Phan 2004a.
12. This is a reference to the fourth Eucharistic prayer.
13. The Code of Canon Law, canon 1176, § 3 says: "The Church earnestly
recommends that the pious custom of burying the bodies of the deceased be
observed; nevertheless, the Church does not prohibit cremation unless it was
chosen for reasons contrary to Christian doctrine." See Beal, Coriden, and Green
2000:1408. See also canon 1184, §1, 3.
14. While the first five dangers are self-explanatory, what is meant by "application
of spatio-temporal categories to the dead" is rather cryptic, and no explanation is
given. Presumably the Directory warns against imagining purgatory, hell, and
heaven as "places" where the dead continue to exist and enjoy carnal pleasures or
suffer physical pains as retribution for their deeds, as is often depicted in popular
literature on the world beyond.
15. For a commentary on the Order of Christian Funerals, see Butherford 1990. For
helpful descriptions of funeral rites in various Christian denominations by different
authors, see "Funerals," in Bradshaw 2002: 215-27.
16. In emphasizing the paschal character of death in reforming funeral rites,
the Ordo exsequiarumimplements the recommendation of Vatican II: "Funeral rites
should express more clearly the paschal character of Christian death" (SC, 81).
17. For studies of this question, see Minamiki 1985; Noll 1992; Mungello 1994.
18. See, for instance, Schreiter 1991; Manus 1993, and Akinade 1995: 181-99.
19. See the document of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline
of the Sacraments 1994.
20. For a presentation of the RZ, see Egbulem 1997. Egbulem notes that the
official title was imposed on the Zairean church by the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith to underline the fact that the RZ belongs to the "Roman" rite,
and not a new rite. In Zaire, however, it is referred to simply as "Rite Zaïrois."
21. Egbulem rightly laments the fact that the RZ, when referring to the ancestors,
does not invoke them by their names, especially those of women, who too can
become ancestors.
22. Egbulem suggests further interesting additions to the RZ such as mentioning in
the various prayers of the Mass the functions that ancestors are believed to perform
for their people, ending the litany that commemorates the ancestors with an
acknowledgment of their participation in the Eucharist, and offering a piece of the
consecrated bread and some of the consecrated wine to the ancestors as in a
libation.
23. For what follows, see Phan 2003:122-29.
24. See the Vietnamese text in Sacerdos 43 (July 1965), 489-92. A French
translation is available as "L’Église du Vietnam et la question des rites," Missions
Étrangères de Paris 145 (May-June, 1966), 7-10.
25. Sacerdos 156 (1974), 878-80. My translation from Vietnamese.
26. The second edition of the Roman Missal in Vietnamese was published in 1992
by the liturgical commission of the Vietnamese episcopal conference. The missal
does not bear the Vietnamese bishops’ approval nor theimprimatur, but only
mentions the approval by the Department of Culture and Communication of the
Vietnamese government. However, permission for its publication had been given
by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on
21 February 1989 (prot. CD 1375/88, cf. Notitiae 29, 1993, p. 725). The
Vietnamese translation was approved by the same dicastery ad experimentum for
five years starting from 7 January 1994, including the Vietnamese texts of the
Mass for the lunar New Year, the Mass for the Feast of Mid-Autumn for children,
and the Mass for the Vietnamese Martyrs (prot. 2444/93/L and 2445/93/L
respectively, cf. Notitiae 30, 1994, 324). On the issue of the liturgical inculturation
of ancestor worship in Vietnam, see the excellent article by Roland Jacques, "Le
Dossier des rites chinois doit-il être rouvert?" cited in note 3 and Peter De Ta Vo,
"A Cultural and Theological Foundation for Ancestor Veneration Among
Catholics in Vietnam," PhD dissertation, The Catholic University of America,
Washington, DC, 1999.
27. My translation. The Vietnamese word for ancestors is to tien.
Literally, to means grandfather, tien means go before. A similar addition is found
in the third eucharistic prayer.
28. On the meaning of Tet, see Nguyen 1981:98-101.
29. See the Vietnamese Roman Missal, 1035-47.
30. The oft-invoked distinction between "veneration" and "cult" of ancestors,
accepting the former and condemning the latter, is more for the benefits of Western
Christians caught in the issue of iconoclasm and the Protestant reformers’ attack on
the cult of the saints. In Vietnamese, the word kinh tho, literally venerate-adore, is
a compound word; it may be used together, or singly, or in the reverse (tho kinh)
for living parents, dead ancestors, Christian saints, or God.
31. Among the funeral rites approved by episcopal conferences that take into
account contemporary challenges of death and dying in Western society, those of
French, German, and Spanish bishops deserve special attention. See Nouveau rituel
des funérailles, I. La célébration des obsèques; II. Prières pour les défuncts à la
maison et au cimetière (Paris: Desclée-Mame, 1972); Die kirchliche Begräbnisfeier
in den katolischen Bistümern der deutschen Sprachgebietes (Freiburg/Br., 1977);
and Ritual de exsequias(Barcelona: Coeditores liturgics, 1989).
32. In 1970 the Congregation for Divine Worship accepted the request of the
episcopal conference of Laos and Cambodia to celebrate the feast of All Saints and
All Souls in conjunction with the Buddhist feast in honor of the dead ("Prachum
Ben"). See prot. 240/70- "Laos and Cambodia," Notitiae 6 (1970):133.

REFERENCES
Akinade, Akitunde E.
1995 "‘Who Do You Say That I Am?’—An Assessment of Some Christological
Constructs in Africa," Asian Journal of Theology 9/1.
Bamat, Thomas and Paul Wiest (ed.)
1999 Popular Catholicism in a World Church: Seven Case Studies in
Inculturation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books).
Beal, John, James A. Coriden, and Thomas J. Green (eds.)
2000 New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law (New York, NY: Paulist
Press).
Bradshaw, Paul (ed.)
2002 The New Westminster Dictionary of Liturgy & Worship (Louisville:
Westminster/John Knox Press).
Butherford Richard (with Tony Barr)
1990 The Death of A Christian: The Order of Christian Funerals, revised edition
(Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press).
Candelaria, Michael R.
1990 Popular Religion and Liberation: The Dilemma of Liberation
Theology (Albany: SUNY Press).
Chupungco, Anscar
1992 Liturgical Inculturation: Sacramentals, Religiosity, and
Catechesis (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press).
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
2002 Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy: Principles and Guidelines (Citta
del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana).
1994 The Roman Liturgy and Inculturation: Fourth Instruction for the Right
Application of the Conciliar Constitution on the Liturgy (nn. 37-40) (Rome:
Edizione Vaticana).
Egbulem, Nwaka Chris
1997 The Power of Afrocentric Celebrations: Inspirations from the Zairean
Liturgy (New York: Crossroad).
Empereur, James
1998 "Popular Religion and the Liturgy: The State of the Question," Liturgical
Ministry 7 (Summer).
Espín, Orlando
1997 The Faith of the People: Theological Reflections on Popular
Catholicism (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis).
Goizueta, Roberto
1995 Caminemos con Jesús: Toward a Hispanic/Latino Theology of
Accompaniment (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis).
Lippy, Charles H.
1994 Being Religious, American Style: A History of Popular Religiosity in the
United States (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press).
Malloy, Patrick L.
1998 "The Re-Emergence of Popular Religion Among Non-Hispanic American
Catholics," Worship 72.
Minamiki, George
1985 The Chinese Rites Controversy from Its Beginnings to Modern
Times (Chicago: Loyola University Press).
Manus, Ukachukwu Chris
1993 Christ, the African King (Frankfurt: Peter Lang).
Mungello, David E. (ed.)
1994 The Chinese Rites Controversy: Its History and Meaning (Nettetal: Steyler
Verlag).
Nguyen, Huy Lai
1981 La Tradition Religieuse, Spirituelle et Sociale au Viet Nam (Paris:
Beaushesne).
Noll, Ray R. (ed.)
1992 100 Roman Documents concerning the Chinese Rites Controversy (1645-
1941) (San Francisco: Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History).
Ntedika, Joseph Konde
1971 L’évocation de L’audelà dans la Prière Pour les Morts. Étude de Patristique
et de Liturgie Latine (IVe-VIIe s.) (Louvain: Éditions Nauwelaerts).
Parker, Cristián
1996 Popular Religion & Modernization in Latin America: A Different Logic,
trans. Robert Barr (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books).
Phan, Peter C.
2004a Popular Piety and the Liturgy: A Commentary (Collegeville, Minn.:
Liturgical Press).
2004 In Our Tongues: Perspectives form Asia on Inculturation (Maryknoll, NY:
Orbis Books).
2003 In Our Tongues: Perspectives from Asia on Mission and
Inculturation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books).
2000 "Mary in Recent Theology and Piety: The View from the United States of
America," Ephemerides Mariologicae (October-December).
1998 Mission and Catechesis: Alexandre de Rhodes and Inculturation in
Seventeenth-Century Vietnam(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books).
Sartore, D.
1989 "Le Manifestazione della Religosità Popolare," Anamnesis 7 (Genoa).
Schreiter, Robert
1991 Faces of Jesus in Africa (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books).
1985 Constructing Local Theologies (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books).
Seladoc, Equipo et. al.
1976 Religiosidad Popular (Salamanca: Ediciones Sígueme)
Smith, Christian and Joshua Prokopy (eds.)
1999 Latin American Religion in Motion (London: Routledge).
Trolese, F.
1979 "Contributo per una Bibliografia sulla Religiosità Popolare," in Ricerche
sulla Religiosità Popolare(Bologna: Dehoniane).
Valenziano, C.
1979 "La Religiosità Popolare in Prospettiva Antropologica," in Liturgia e
Religiosità Popolare (Bologna: Dehoniane).
Williams, Peter W.
1980 Popular Religion in America: Symbolic Change and the Modernization
Process in Historical Perspective(Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois
Press).
Wright, Robert
1998 "Popular Religiosity: Review of Literature," Liturgical Ministry 7 (Summer).