Nick Baty wrote:So how/when/where do you explain the restructuring of the pastoral area, the merging of the parish with its neighbours, the new structure of the rites of initiation, the commissioning of lay funeral ministers etc? When do you invite people to join the bereavement team, the outreach project for sex workers, the soup kitchen? How else do you let people know what is going on in this living, breathing community?
Southern Comfort wrote: And while we're on the subject of pastoral insensitivity, I wonder how many clergy have noticed this appalling para in GIRM?
382. At Funeral Masses there should usually be a short Homily, but to the exclusion of a funeral eulogy of any kind.
One wants to assume that they actually mean that a eulogy should not replace the homily, but the phraseology makes one fear that they actually do not want a eulogy at all, ever.
GIRM 382 follows closely the Catechism of the Catholic Church no. 1688.
I presume most people would be shocked if a presentation, on for example parish reorganisation, was inserted into the celebration of a Mass for the Dead. It would - I imagine - be deemed 'insensitive' or 'disrespectful'. Yet apparently it is okay to insert such presentations into a Mass in communion with Jesus Christ that celebrates his death and resurrection.
Because these things affect the whole community not just the three or four people who are in a position to attend such a meeting.
BobHayes wrote:I presume most people would be shocked if a presentation, on for example parish reorganisation, was inserted into the celebration of a Mass for the Dead.... Yet apparently it is okay to insert such presentations into a Mass in communion with Jesus Christ that celebrates his death and resurrection.
You're suggesting that Masses for the Dead don't celebrate Christ's death and resurrection?
BobHayes wrote:I presume most people would be shocked if a presentation, on for example parish reorganisation, was inserted into the celebration of a Mass for the Dead.... Yet apparently it is okay to insert such presentations into a Mass in communion with Jesus Christ that celebrates his death and resurrection.
You're suggesting that Masses for the Dead don't celebrate Christ's death and resurrection?
I could have worded my posting better and will hold my hand-up to careless phrasing. That said, I am sure you know the answer to your own question Nick.
So, to be succinct, do you think it is okay to insert a presentation into any Mass because too many parishioners presume that 'Go forth and glorify the Lord by your life' is a euphemism for 'Job done, see you next Sunday'? If people do a runner at this point, I suggest that catechesis, rather than administrative creativity it what is needed!
By the way, I don't make these comments from some rural idyll where activism is routine. At the inner-urban church where I worship anywhere between twenty and forty will attend an after Mass meeting.
Ten times greater than the number you find turn-up post Mass, eh? But to the question again, do you think it is okay to use the Mass as a vehicle for a presentation?
BobHayes wrote:Ten times greater than the number you find turn-up post Mass, eh?
Ten times more? But not enough. In our case just 50% of the assembly would be present to hear information which affects all.
BobHayes wrote:But to the question again, do you think it is okay to use the Mass as a vehicle for a presentation?
A rather strange question as, surely, noone would agree with that and noone has suggested it. But you appear to object to giving information to the community before the community is dismissed.
BobHayes wrote:Ten times greater than the number you find turn-up post Mass, eh?
Ten times more? But not enough. In our case just 50% of the assembly would be present to hear information which affects all.
BobHayes wrote:But to the question again, do you think it is okay to use the Mass as a vehicle for a presentation?
A rather strange question as, surely, noone would agree with that and noone has suggested it. But you appear to object to giving information to the community before the community is dismissed.
Not at all. Brief announcements are reasonable if that is the only option to communicate them effectively.
Incidentally, it was a formal, ten-minute presentation by a guest speaker (in a cathedral) that struck me as wholly inappropriate. The solemnity of the sung Mass was interrupted by the hectoring of a speaker eager to tell worshippers what a fine organisation he represented. After ten minutes we then moved to the Concluding Rites.
Parish newsletter not seen by many? Isn't that the piece of paper put inside the hymn books along with a Mass card and handed to worshippers when they arrive? The paper some read before Mass begins, others during the homily? The paper that has the antiphons and readings on one side and parish announcements on the other?
So, you're a First Communion parent. You've come to Mass because the PP has told you that you must in order to register your child for First Communion. Will you really sit and read a piece of paper about why First Communions take place at the cathedral after Confirmation?
You're a 90-year-old who's lived in the parish all your life. You've always been involved, what some would call "devote". But now your eyesight is failing. Will you sit and read a piece of paper which explains that you're now in a new parish with a new name?
You can't read....
You have a parish priest who speaks superbly but has problems putting his thoughts into written form...
You missed out 'lighting in the church is poor', 'English is not my first language' and 'the photocopier has been excommunicated', but I take your point. So, please tell me, how long is 'long enough' for these announcements within and interrupting the Mass at which we celebrate the Eucharist - the 'source and summit of Christian life'? Two minutes, five, ten, twenty?
