When is the time for adoration and confession?.

[helen rees]

Among the many changes introduced into our parish recently our parish priest is trying to encourage people to return to the roots of their faith and would like to see more adoration and people going to confession. Great in principle except we now have adoration before masses and he has invited priests to come in to hear confession during mass.

I love spending time in adoration and talking and listening to Jesus but am uncomfortable with spending time with Him then putting HIm back into the tabernacle to celebrate mass. It seems akin to opening the Christmas presents before christmas and putting them back round the tree.

And I wonder how much of mass you have to attend to be able to partake in communion which parts of the mass can you miss to go to confession - I probably would choose the homily?

I really want to understand why our Parish priest is changing so much and there is no point asking him to explain as he just says that our church is haemorrhaging young people and we need to teach more about our faith,
He has also stopped communion under both kinds and told the Extra-ordinary ministers of communion that they are not needed anymore as he does nt beleive in that the laity should undertake priestly roles.
Any thoughts on the above would be welcome

[Nick Baty]

My initial reaction: Find another parish!

[alan29]

I thought the age of priests experimenting with the liturgy was long gone.

[BobHayes]

Quite a few questions there Helen. Picking-up on several of them with my views - I am not suggesting that any are definitive answers!

Confessions during Mass. I have come across this in various places including Westminster Cathedral. Like you, I wonder to what extend one can 'miss' part of Mass to go to Confession.

Extraordinary ministers. They are supposed to be called upon only in 'extraordinary' situations - i.e. when the numbers receiving Communion are so great that the priest needs practical assistance. In some instances it appears that people have come to see extraordinary ministers as a matter of routine: that is not the intention.

Communion under both kinds. The bishops have discretion in authorising this practice. If authorised, I understand it is then a matter for the parish priest.

That your parish priest in trying to draw young people into the Faith and re-catechise the flock is surely to be welcomed in this Year of Faith. Change is always a challenge when one feels comfortable with a routine. My suggestion is support your priest and take a look at the four constitutions of the Second Vatican Council that we have all been asked to read. We all have much to gain.

[FrGareth]

Adoration: after Mass is the ideal, by exposing the Blessed Sacrament with a Host consecrated at that Mass, and beginning adoration following the Prayer After Communion, with no dismissal. BUT... in the real world there are very practical reasons for doing it different ways - e.g. a short break to clear up the sanctuary and allow Massgoers to depart before starting adoration; or in your case, perhaps there are logistical reasons why the priest or parish can accommodate it better before Mass than after. If you would prefer to have adoration after Mass and are willing to make a commitment to stay after, perhaps your PP will accommodate that as well! (Since we have Mass every day, you can have Christmas, or rather Easter, every day and finish yesterday's Easter treat just before today's Mass.)

Confession: obviously better not to have to miss part of Mass to get to confession, but I'm guessing your PP wants to maximise the opportunity, so for those souls who ONLY come to church for Mass, having a priest there to hear confessions during Mass might be the only thing that encourages them to go at all. Later in their spiritual journey they hopefully will want to go to the WHOLE of Mass and confession as well! Were I to be the priest hearing confessions during Mass (I never have been in that situation) and a penitent spent the whole of Mass up to the Lord's Prayer making their confession, I would certainly counsel them to go and receive communion as soon as they were absolved because they had spent the length of Mass in worship of God (by humbly making their confession) and need the grace of Holy Communion. (Were they to spend EVERY Mass in the confessional, then different counsel would be given!) There used to be received wisdom that you had to be there by the Gospel to legitimately take communion; but given that a sick person can receive communion on the basis of a penitential rite, line of scripture, the Lord's Prayer and a "Lord, I am not worthy" I would encourage anyone delayed from Mass for reasons for which they were not culpable to receive communion whatever time they arrive, if they have the right intention. An hour spent battling adverse circumstances with the intention of being at Mass is surely an act of worship! (I once spent 2 hours tubing around London and managing to just miss several weekday evening Masses in succession... didn't receive communion that day and only got 10 minutes of bits of Masses but I am sure the Lord appreciated the effort!)

Re Extraordinary Ministers, I echo BobHayes comments, but the churchmanship of the priest determines when that priest judges there to be "too many" people for the priest to manage alone.For some, it's 10,000 souls in Hyde Park, for others, it's 2 souls so one can minister the chalice to the other. Sounds like your priest has decided it shouldn't be done at all rather than invoking the "too many" test, but Extraordinary Ministers should always understand that they have no RIGHT to minister, but only when asked to fill a need.

The Church authorities have split values on Communion under both kinds. It is a "fuller sign" and therefore a good thing. But it probably requires an assisting minister, who should only operate if "truly necessary". Which has more weight? The Church has never defined the relative importance of the two things in comparison to each other. My own practice is that if there are only 2-3 people at Mass, I minister first the host and then the cup to the congregation myself, but for 4+ in attendance I consider the fuller sign, plus the desire to avoid an awkward pause between receiving the two kinds, is sufficient reason for a lay minister to administer the chalice.

...our parish priest is trying to encourage people to return to the roots of their faith and would like to see more adoration and people going to confession

Not exactly the roots of our faith. The practice of Eucharistic Adoration wasn't around for the first millennium, and confession to a priest for lesser sins came in with the Irish monks of the 7th Century! (Previously you would confess adultery, apostasy or murder to a bishop and anything else to your not-neccessarily-ordained soul-friend.)

Helen, it seems to me that you are not the target audience for what your priest is doing. You already love the Lord enough to care about when Adoration would be best and not missing Mass for the sake of going to confession. (Presumably confessions are also available outside Mass?) It sounds like this PP is desperate to make the best the Church has to offer available as readily as possible, ever if this means offering it at times which are't liturgically ideal. I think Jesus would approve - see Matthew 5:24!

[Southern Comfort]

My recollection is that for quite along period from 1969 the hearing of confessions during Mass was actually prohibited. Unfortunately John Paul II reinstated it by recommending the practice in a letter whose name temporarily escapes me (I am on the road).

[Peter Jones]

My recollection is that for quite along period from 1969 the hearing of confessions during Mass was actually prohibited. Unfortunately John Paul II reinstated it by recommending the practice in a letter whose name temporarily escapes me (I am on the road).

Misericordia Dei - section 2 of the "I decree…" part - but this sentence does use the word "even", implying surely that this is an exception rather than the rule. The important phrase seems to be "in order to meet the needs of the faithful".

[keitha]

Redemptionis Sacramentum also gives a bit of a take on this "This should nevertheless be done in an appropriate manner" - see para 76. Also see para 75 about conjoining of other rights to Holy Mass.