Announcements: before Mass or after Communion?

[ccmcmg]

Does the Church require that announcements are made as part of the Mass? At many parishes I’ve attended, they are right before the final blessing, directly after Communion.

For me personally, this ‘disrupts’ my flow of thought and reverence after receiving Communion. While reading another thread here, someone mentioned that their announcements were made before Mass. I thought, “What a great idea!”

In my parish, it couldn’t hurt. While some might argue that it disrupts their prayer time before Mass has started, in my parish, the loud conversations inside the pews is what disrupts my prayer time. As someone mentioned, it is also a good time to remind people to turn off their phones, and use a few moments to silence our hearts in preparation for Mass (some of us might need this reminder).

What’s your opinion?

 

[Casilda]

I like them before mass, before the procession with the priest. I agree that the time after communion for prayer should not be interrupted with church business. I have been present when an announcement was made by the priest ‘during’ communion.

 

[Elizium23]

The most common mistake I see is that the priest holds the post-Communion prayer until after the announcements. This is ostensibly done so that we don’t have to stand up and then sit back down again to listen to the announcements, but it is wrong, because it places them in the middle of the Communion Rite, rather than after Communion and before the Concluding Rite. But this is a logical place for announcements. The whole assembly is gathered and attentive. If they are given before Mass, then you will not reach the latecomers, and depending on the parish, there may be many who habitually or accidentally arrive late. However, it is useful if you plan to go on and on with many points, such as my parish does. There are frequently five paragraphs to be announced and it is all done before Mass. The space after Communion is reserved for the priest to make some very brief, important announcement, or sometimes for a member of a ministry to come up and speak, as I did with the KofC and the Bible Study being held.

I have no problem with announcements being placed after Communion according to the rubrics. I really have no problem with them coming before Mass, either. I just believe they should be incredibly brief so as not to waste our time. Our parish has a bulletin and a website for very good reasons.

 

[tee_eff_em]

Does the Church require that announcements are made as part of the Mass? At many parishes I’ve attended, they are right before the final blessing, directly after Communion.

This is the time built into the Mass when announcements *may *properly be made. But it is not obligatory that any announcements be made. The GIRM:

1. When the Prayer after Communion is concluded, brief announcements should be made to the people, if there are any.

1. Once the Prayer after Communion has been said, the Deacon makes brief announcements to the people, if indeed any need to be made, unless the Priest prefers to do this himself.

:twocents:
That said, nothing has pleased me more than when my parish moved the announcements to prior to the start of Mass, from where they had *improperly *been for as long as I have been here: Between the Intentions and the Offertory.

tee

 

[DoGodsBidding]

I like them before mass, before the procession with the priest. I agree that the time after communion for prayer should not be interrupted with church business.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

The problem with having them before Mass is that there is no one there to hear them.

 

[CatholicRaven]

I like them after Communion, because many of the things announced in our parish are ways we can live out our Catholic faith. Our priest is excellent about giving a bit of time for silence after the Prayer after Communion, and then making announcements. To me, it’s not an interruption, but a continuation of the Gospel message: We’ve just heard what we’re supposed to do… now here we are given some ways to do it.

Just my :twocents:

 

[Casilda]

The problem with having them before Mass is that there is no one there to hear them.

I agree with you to a point. There are some people there, those who have just prayed the daily rosary, or attended the adoration, just gotten out of confession or have made it a point to be early to enjoy the mass in its fullest. The latecomers are in my opinion those that don’t care a flip about the announcements anyway. Maybe they come late and leave early not to be involved with these trifle announcements.

 

[DaveBj]

The problem with having them before Mass is that there is no one there to hear them.

That’s not true at our parish. Pretty much everyone who’s going to be there is in the pews when the reader makes the announcements.

What I hate is when our priest wastes homily time by re-plowing the same ground that the reader had already gone over.

 

[Mumbles140]

I like them after Communion, because many of the things announced in our parish are ways we can live out our Catholic faith. Our priest is excellent about giving a bit of time for silence after the Prayer after Communion, and then making announcements. To me, it’s not an interruption, but a continuation of the Gospel message: We’ve just heard what we’re supposed to do… now here we are given some ways to do it.

Just my :twocents:

I agree for the most part. I’ve been at churches where the lector reads the announcements prior to announcing the celebrant (also done in collaboration with asking people to turn off phones and remove gum), and also at the Latin Mass where the announcements are read prior to the readings in the vernacular.

 

[bardegaulois]

In my opinion, the place for announcements, unless for a grave reason, are printed in the parish bulletin, not spoken from the pulpit.

God bless.

 

[tawny]

Does the Church require that announcements are made as part of the Mass? At many parishes I’ve attended, they are right before the final blessing, directly after Communion.

For me personally, this ‘disrupts’ my flow of thought and reverence after receiving Communion. While reading another thread here, someone mentioned that their announcements were made before Mass. I thought, “What a great idea!”

In my parish, it couldn’t hurt. While some might argue that it disrupts their prayer time before Mass has started, in my parish, the loud conversations inside the pews is what disrupts my prayer time. As someone mentioned, it is also a good time to remind people to turn off their phones, and use a few moments to silence our hearts in preparation for Mass (some of us might need this reminder).
What’s your opinion?

In my Church the annoucements are read when we sit down for the collection at the conclusion of the Prayer of the Faithful.

 

[ccmcmg]

I like them after Communion, because many of the things announced in our parish are ways we can live out our Catholic faith. Our priest is excellent about giving a bit of time for silence after the Prayer after Communion, and then making announcements. To me, it’s not an interruption, but a continuation of the Gospel message: We’ve just heard what we’re supposed to do… now here we are given some ways to do it.

Just my :twocents:

Thank you for giving me another way to view it. I appreciate it!

 

[Netty1]

I like them after Communion, because many of the things announced in our parish are ways we can live out our Catholic faith. Our priest is excellent about giving a bit of time for silence after the Prayer after Communion, and then making announcements. To me, it’s not an interruption, but a continuation of the Gospel message: We’ve just heard what we’re supposed to do… now here we are given some ways to do it.

Just my :twocents:

This happens the same way in our parish, there is a period of reflection and silence and then Father gives out the notices. As they all concern parish life, I agree with your view that they are a continuation.

 

[FNDRB58]

The most common mistake I see is that the priest holds the post-Communion prayer until after the announcements. This is ostensibly done so that we don’t have to stand up and then sit back down again to listen to the announcements, but it is wrong, because it places them in the middle of the Communion Rite, rather than after Communion and before the Concluding Rite. But this is a logical place for announcements. The whole assembly is gathered and attentive. If they are given before Mass, then you will not reach the latecomers, and depending on the parish, there may be many who habitually or accidentally arrive late. However, it is useful if you plan to go on and on with many points, such as my parish does. There are frequently five paragraphs to be announced and it is all done before Mass. The space after Communion is reserved for the priest to make some very brief, important announcement, or sometimes for a member of a ministry to come up and speak, as I did with the KofC and the Bible Study being held.

I have no problem with announcements being placed after Communion according to the rubrics. I really have no problem with them coming before Mass, either. I just believe they should be incredibly brief so as not to waste our time. Our parish has a bulletin and a website for very good reasons.

Why would announcements be a “waste of time”, long or short. I presume all announcements are to the point and informative. We shouldn’t be in a hurry to leave Mass anyway. I have no problem with announcements after Communion as long as a minute of quiet time/meditation is given by the priest before the announcements so we can reflect on what just happened (receiving the Lord). Sometimes the priest wants to elaborate on an announcement or give his own, so announcements at the beginning wouldn’t work unless we are asking the priest to come down to the altar then go back so he can process down the aisle to start the Mass…seems awkward to do that.

 

[Book_Worm]

I agree with you to a point. There are some people there, those who have just prayed the daily rosary, or attended the adoration, just gotten out of confession or have made it a point to be early to enjoy the mass in its fullest. The latecomers are in my opinion those that don’t care a flip about the announcements anyway. Maybe they come late and leave early not to be involved with these trifle announcements.

Or perhaps they’re late because the baby spit up as they were leaving for Mass and had to be changed. Or perhaps the battery died on their car and they had to jump start it. Or perhaps there was a fire on their way to Mass and they were rerouted ten miles out of their way.

The first happened a month ago to DD and her family and the second two happened to us this past winter.

It’s nice to know that our fellow Catholics were being so judgmental of us and and finding us to be so uncaring about the goings-on in our parish.

 

[Elizium23]

They are a waste of time because I, like most literate Americans in my parish, am able to pick up a bulletin, open it, and read all the announcements therein, which are not limited to short announceable sound-bites, and not liable to be garbled between the printing, reading, and my hearing thereof. If I neglect to pick up a bulletin or I am sick, then I have access to the parish website, where all these events are placed on the calendar for anyone who cares to look.

If there is a pressing announcement with a definite need to know, such as the regular Mass next week will be cancelled, then by all means announce it from the pulpit. But I really don’t need to hear about six ministries doing fund raisers that will all have tables in the courtyard because I can plainly see them - I can’t miss them - as I make my way outside.

 

[zab]

Our pastor has started the practice of giving announcements before Mass begins. I like this practice better than the previous practice of giving announcements before the final blessing. It doesn’t interfere with before Mass prayers because he starts the announcements at the time Mass is scheduled to begin.

 

[CyrilSebastian]

At the local Church here, sometimes the announcements are declared before the beginning of Mass.
At other times the announcements are declared after Communion.

 

[markomalley]

There are specific rubrics regarding the Liturgy of the Bulletin. Suggest you consult them here.