SACRAMENTS
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opportunities but not the rite of the Sacrament. Perhaps a still simpler rite ought to be composed for those occasions when this Sacrament would be periodically administered to a person in a prolonged sickness. A truly contemporary rite might come into existence only when a theolog;• gap is bridged. Theologians have demonstrated that this Sacrament is clearly a continuation of Christ's ministry to the sick. How this ministry is related to the ministry of healing of modern medicine has not been adequately developed. Should not this relationship be expressed in the Sacrament of the Sick? HOLY ORDERS
On June 18, 1968 Pope Paul VI issued the Apostolic Constitution; Approval of a New Rite for the Ordination of Deacons, Priests and Bishops. This Apostolic Constitution was the covering letter for the Consilium's revision of the rite for the confenal of these three sacred Orders. The purpose of this revision was "to add,. delete, or change certain things, either to restore texts to their earlier integrity, to make the expressions clearer, or to describe the sacmmental effects better." ORDINATION TO THE DIACONATE
Pope Paul summarizes the revision of the rite of conferring the diaconate thus; "In the ordination of deacons only a few changes were to be made, taking into account both recent prescriptions concerning the diaconate as a proper and permanent grade of the hierarchy in the Latin Church and also a greater . simplicity and clarity of the rites." The revised rite would be celebrated in this manner ; 1) The rite should take place in the presence of a great number of the faithful, preferably, on a Sunday or Holyday, at the cathedral or a parish church. 2) Within the cathedral the ordination ceremonies would be perfonned at the bishop's chair or, if that is in a poor location, at a chair between the altar and the edge of the sanctuary. 3) The ordination is performed after the Liturgy of the Word for which appropriate readings