Appropriateness of priest sharing thoughts outside of the homily

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Darick

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In our parish, the priests routinely give 20-30 minute homilies. The length does not bother me, but I do have empathy for teenagers who routinely get up and leave about half way through, or young parents in a wrestling match with their toddlers for the last 15 minutes of the homily.

In addition to the long homilies, we also get a minute or two reflection right after the Lamb of God before communion. It is often an encouragement to lay our troubles at Jesus’ feet as we receive him in the Eucharist. I can see how this can be quite meaningful for people, but for those already critical of homily length, it feels very much like a second homily. At times, we even get a post-communion homily when the priest returns to his chair.

I am wondering if there is something in the rubric which expressly forbids the second and third homily as described above. I’m assuming that paragraph 84 of the GIRM might be used in a charitable conversation with our priests about the “second” homily.
http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-wor...uction-of-the-roman-missal/girm-chapter-2.cfm

Does that sound correct? What about the “third” homily? What about homily length?
 
You say “priests” in the plural, so it’s not just one priest who considers himself an exceptional preacher, to the point of routinely overstepping the Pope’s recommended ten-minute limit. How many different priests celebrate Mass in your parish, and do they all favor such long homilies? Are their homilies interesting? What is the general reaction among the parishioners?
 
As a revert who enjoyed the longer Protestant sermons, I kind of wish they would offer one particular Sunday mass where you knew up front that there would be a longer more in depth sermon. But teaching CDs and YouTubing good Catholic teachers are terrific and do much to meet this need or desire.
 
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Announcements after the Prayer After Communion are clearly permitted. From the Roman Missal’s Order of Mass:

“140. If they are necessary, any brief announcements to the people follow here.”

After the Lamb of God is meant to be a time of quiet prayer. From the Order of Mass:

“131. Then the Priest, with hands joined, says quietly:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,
who, by the will of the Father
and the work of the Holy Spirit,
through your Death gave life to the world,
free me by this, your most holy Body and Blood,
from all my sins and from every evil;
keep me always faithful to your commandments and never let me be parted from you.

Or:

May the receiving of your Body and Blood,
Lord Jesus Christ,
not bring me to judgement and condemnation,
but through your loving mercy
be for me protection in mind and body
and a healing remedy. ”

In the General Instruction of the Roman Missal it has:

“84. The Priest prepares himself by a prayer, said quietly, so that he may fruitfully receive the Body and Blood of Christ. The faithful do the same, praying silently.”

General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) n. 31 discusses when a Priest may talk to the faithful. There is nothing there that supports him saying something after the Lamb of God.

But an argument that could be made is that the Priest is performing the role of a lay minister, the commentator. It has in GIRM 105(b):

“The commentator, who, if appropriate, provides the faithful briefly with explanations and exhortations so as to direct their attention to the celebration and ensure that they are better disposed for understanding it. The commentator’s remarks should be thoroughly prepared and notable for their restraint. In performing this function the commentator stands in a suitable place within sight of the faithful, but not at the ambo.”

[Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 2010, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved.]
 
The priest is a human being. He sees troubles in this world and he wants to share some thoughts. Are the thoughts bad or heretic by nature? You want to take the Law against him. Why? If you don’t like it change parish.
Why do you want to police him around? Nobody liked it when the priests policed the world. Everyone says that was unloving and uninspiring. Why do you want to police a priest for his extra 10 minutes in a homily? I don’t get it.
These are extra 10-20 minutes a week, right? Less than a traffic jam. Less than lunch break.
Why not just change parish if you are so annoyed by him?
 
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“A minute or two reflection” is not a homily.

This past weekend I listened to a Protestant minister preach for 2 hours straight. A few people got up and left because normally he only preaches for like, an hour and a half.

In my experience, bored teens have been known to walk out on homilies that were only 10 minutes long.

Latino priests often talk for 20, 30 or even 40 minutes and nobody bats an eye.

People need to learn patience.
 
Personally, I don’t mind the long homilies if the priest or deacon is a good teacher & oratator. But if the priest or deacon, is simply reading his homily, the long ones can be very dry.

However, I have to say that it is a pet-peeve of mine when the priest regularly gives another talk or two at the beginning of mass and/or after communion.

I’ve seen priests who talk about the Saint of the day before the Penitential Act. It drives me nuts because he can easily do that at the start of his homily, before talking about the readings. It also drives me nuts when a priest talks OFTEN about an upcoming civil holliday, acts of mercy, seasons, or any other topic after communion because he can easily make that part of the beginning or end of his homily. It’s one thing if he forgot to mention something and wants to tell people, but it’s another thing when he purposefully does that.

So it’s a pet-peeve of mine because I feel the priest really does have the authority to add anything he feels is appropriate to his homily and the idea that he can only talk about scriptures during the homily is ironically a too-legalistic reading of the GRIM.
 
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Darick said:
In our parish, the priests routinely give 20-30 minute homilies. The length does not bother me, but I do have empathy for teenagers who routinely get up and leave about half way through, or young parents in a wrestling match with their toddlers for the last 15 minutes of the homily.
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I have zero empathy for teenagers; they are plenty old enough to know better than to get up and leave during Mass, and there is no reason whatsoever that they can’t sit through a homily, even if it is a whole 20-30 minutes. 😄 (I grew up Baptist and Evangelical, and a 20-minute sermon would have been considered short in our circles! 30 minutes was more typical, but it was not unusual for it to go longer.) I do have sympathy for parents trying to control a toddler during a long homily - that is a whole different matter than teens.
 
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In all charity, I think MOST teens and others who walk out during the homily are doing so in order to use the bathroom. I don’t think most are walking out due to total boredom.

Even teens have a tendency to not proactively use the bathroom before attending mass or going on a long trip.
 
Darick said:
I am wondering if there is something in the rubric which expressly forbids the second and third homily as described above.
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“Second and third homily”?!? 🤣

I think the GIRM allows for ‘instruction’ at certain points. That’s what your “second homily” following the Agnus Dei sounds like to me.

In addition, I seem to recall a document that addresses a post-Communion ferverino in positive terms. Can’t recall, at the moment, where I read that, though.

20-30 minute homilies, though? How does the bulk of the congregation respond to their length? Is your Mass really going 90 minutes? (Wow…!)
 
Tis_Bearself said:
This past weekend I listened to a Protestant minister preach for 2 hours straight.
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I have sat through sermons of that length. Such preachers in my experience, and after talking with others, have no idea they lost 80 percent of the audience after the first half hour. The preacher typically says something like, “I know we’re going a little overtime but this is SO important that I can’t just stop where we are…”. Stop anyway, I say.
 
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IDK, he got lots of social media comments about “WOW that was your best sermon yet, you kept it real” etc.
He’s a good speaker. Not everybody is.
My point however is that 20 minutes is nothing.
 
phil19034 said:
In all charity, I think MOST teens and others who walk out during the homily are doing so in order to use the bathroom. I don’t think most are walking out due to total boredom.

Even teens have a tendency to not proactively use the bathroom before attending mass or going on a long trip.
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Growing up, mom would not let us do this. We were supposed to use the restroom before church started, or else we just had to hold it until the service was over. The only people who had an excuse, in her mind, were elderly and very small children accompanied by a parent. I tend to agree, though of course I know some people have medical conditions or emergencies can arise.

Ha, I am starting to become a cranky old lady prematurely - “Back in my day, we didn’t wander about the church going to the bathroom while the pastor was preaching…” 😁
 
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In apast parish of mine we had a priest who would regularly allow guests to come up and speak. This might be (depending on the message) before the entry procession at the beginning of mass, before the homily, or at the end of mass along with the official announcements. Guest speakers could be anything from somebody who was taking some actions against abortion and was seeking volunteers to come along and help, to somebody who was collecting donations for our sister parish in Peru. Or just the leader of the church choir trying to drum up more people to join the choir, or the church caretaker asking for volunteers to come and help clean up the church grounds.

Several of those people had a habit of rambling on for ages and ages and often the priest had to intervene to stop them.
 
From the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, n. 31, about the Priest:

“He is permitted, furthermore, in a very few words, to give the faithful an introduction to the Mass of the day (after the initial Greeting and before the Penitential Act), to the Liturgy of the Word (before the readings), and to the Eucharistic Prayer (before the Preface), though never during the Eucharistic Prayer itself; he may also make concluding comments regarding the entire sacred action before the Dismissal.”

[Excerpt from the English translation of The Roman Missal, © 2010 International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved.]
 
phil19034 said:
In all charity, I think MOST teens and others who walk out during the homily are doing so in order to use the bathroom. I don’t think most are walking out due to total boredom.

Even teens have a tendency to not proactively use the bathroom before attending mass or going on a long trip.
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I work at a parish and I stand/sit near the restroom.

Sometimes it feels like it is a parade, there are so many people going in and out the door.
 
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