The Department for Christian Life and Worship has prepared Guidelines regarding the practice of Concelebration of priests at Mass and the participation of clergy in the celebration of other forms of the liturgy, for example Funerals and the Divine Office.
The Universal Church, through the Introductions to the Rites and other documents, has instructed how concelebration is to be regulated. These Guidelines bring together this information from the Missal and other liturgical books of the Roman Rite. Additional guidance is offered concerning concelebration in the Church in England and Wales which is intended to both complement and assist with the understanding and application of the universal norms.
The Guidelines indicate various aspects of the liturgy where the local Bishop may wish to establish diocesan guides and norms. Where such diocesan regulation exists it takes precedence over what is established in these more general guidelines.
The Guidelines were first issued in May 2006. A second edition of the Guidelines was issued in November 2008 with a number of minor amendments.