The text of the blessing in English and Spanish is posted online and is being published as a booklet addendum to the Book of Blessings/Bendicional. The blessing will be included in future editions of those liturgical volumes.
“We hope the use of this blessing will provide not only support and God’s blessing for expectant parents and their child in the womb, but also another effective witness to the sanctity of human life from the first moment of conception,” said Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans, Louisiana, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship.
I foolishly thought briefly this had come from the last TEC General Convention….
I wonder why it needs to be codified and put in a book. If you want to pray for a fetus, go for it. But wouldn’t you pray for the mother carrying the fetus, as well? The mum isn’t mentioned in the article, which is a bit odd.
@Teatime2,
It is especially interesting that the mother isn’t mentioned since the rubrics for the newrite pretty much mandate a blessing for the mother right after the blessing for the child:
“God, author of all life,
bless, we pray, this unborn child;
give constant protection
and grant a healthy birth
that is the sign of our rebirth one day
into the eternal rejoicing of heaven.
Lord, who have brought to this woman
the wondrous joy of motherhood,
grant her comfort in all anxiety
and make her determined
to lead her child along the ways of salvation.”
There are optional blessings for the father and the rest of the family.
As for codifying things in books, I think that’s just how the Catholic Church does things.
perhaps the mother is not mentioned to highlight the baby as an individual worthy of dignity in its own right
No, the mother is mentioned in the newrite! She’s just not mentioned in the article.
Actually I have done this kind of blessing most of my ministry- and I have been ordained 45 years!