Can someone help with something?

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Hi,

I understand that a reach-out is good when one is a believer. We believers like to reach out to others and invite them to our church etc. Now, I do the readings with other parish members and have realized that we’re just a few people to do the readings. We’re not a big group. I have tried to get more readers to help us since our priest has asked our parish to help us. I have done the reach-out for that reason. Now, our priest, once again, wants more readers to help us because he has gotten complaints that our group is too small and that some are tired of seeing the same people at the podium reading. I have spoken about this with the priest and he has expressed that we need more readers. I will help him with his Mass, but there is another thing. He spoke to me about the quality of the readings and that some readers do not proclaim the Word of God properly mainly because of their accent. The “spiritual” message doesn’t come off well because of the language barrier. Now, how can I help the readers’ group get bigger if the priest is picky about the quality of the reading? He is the priest and that is fine. However, I’m worried that if he gets too picky, there won’t be any readers left. How can we come to a common ground with increasing the readers’ number and getting “top” readers? What is the most important thing here…the quality or the number of participants? In the bible, we read that we have to work on our spiritual gifts…is that the priority?

Can you help me understand how I can recruit new people and at the same time keep the “quality” in mind? Does the priest have the last word in all of this? Is the church like a convent where God’s Word has to be expressed “perfectly”? How exact do we have to be in God’s temple where we welcome everyone of all levels?

Thanks,
Templum
 
You can do the following for recruiting:
  • Pray
  • Put invitation on church Bulletin
  • Do Podium announcement to ask for people’s participation
  • Recruit by personal invitation and word of mouth
You can hold training and practice sessions after the recruiting to enhance quality.
Get the readers together each week to practice so they will know how to convey the message in a clear and expressive manner.
 
Templum said:
Hi,

I understand that a reach-out is good when one is a believer. We believers like to reach out to others and invite them to our church etc. Now, I do the readings with other parish members and have realized that we’re just a few people to do the readings. We’re not a big group. I have tried to get more readers to help us since our priest has asked our parish to help us. I have done the reach-out for that reason. Now, our priest, once again, wants more readers to help us because he has gotten complaints that our group is too small and that some are tired of seeing the same people at the podium reading. I have spoken about this with the priest and he has expressed that we need more readers. I will help him with his Mass, but there is another thing. He spoke to me about the quality of the readings and that some readers do not proclaim the Word of God properly mainly because of their accent. The “spiritual” message doesn’t come off well because of the language barrier. Now, how can I help the readers’ group get bigger if the priest is picky about the quality of the reading? He is the priest and that is fine. However, I’m worried that if he gets too picky, there won’t be any readers left. How can we come to a common ground with increasing the readers’ number and getting “top” readers? What is the most important thing here…the quality or the number of participants? In the bible, we read that we have to work on our spiritual gifts…is that the priority?

Can you help me understand how I can recruit new people and at the same time keep the “quality” in mind? Does the priest have the last word in all of this? Is the church like a convent where God’s Word has to be expressed “perfectly”? How exact do we have to be in God’s temple where we welcome everyone of all levels?

Thanks,
Templum
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These are good questions you are asking.
– The priest does have a responsibility, in his parish, to make sure that the Word of God in scripture is expressed clearly and in a way that raises the hearts and minds of the congregation. So do not think he is being “picky”, he is just doing his job the best he knows how.
–The reader, unfortunately for some, should not be a distraction for others. Noone expects the reader to read “perfectly” as you said, however that does not mean that they should not use discretion.
–The church certainly welcomes “all levels” of people. I think we should remember what St. Paul said to the Corinthians in 1Cor.12:4-11 "There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes. …In other words not everyone who wants to read has this ability and it may be that they could be used in some other area where they would excel.

God bless you and your families
David
 
My personal opinion, perhaps you should find out exactly who is complaining about seeing the same readers in the fromt of the room. If there are a lot of complaints, then Ithink these people can each do something about it and take a turn reading. If the complaints are as numerous as it appears that shoulld recruit more than enough readers

CM
 
You could have a fun event like invite an acting coach to give a talk on good reading skills and have him speak at a supper or a breakfast and ask people to come to the supper and only sign up afterwards if they are interested.

You also could include in your “sales pitch” that if you have enough readers they won’t have to worry about doing it very often (in case some people are afraid they can’t always make it to the same scheduled Mass)

Just a thought.
 
Just another perspective that I’m not sure will help…I have noticed that people do complain about lectors not proclaiming correctly, or meaningfully, etc, etc. in my own Parish as well. While it is important that the word of God is delivered effectively, it is also important that the faithful be prepared for Mass before coming. By that I mean, I believe the readings for the Mass should ALWAYS be read and contemplated somewhat before ever going to Mass. If read and thought about ahead of time, even if the reader is not quite up to snuff, one knows what the reading is and what it means…I’m not saying that this is a “cure all” for a bad reading at Mass, but it does help, and it usually helps a lot. I guess to sum it all up, part of the responsibility of a fruitful Mass is up to the faithful as well. It always helps to have a good reader in order to reinforce the readings you read at home, but if you haven’t read them at home and then have a bad reader, how fruitful is the Mass then?

Possibly it would help the situation if there was a quip placed in your Parish Bulletin about the importance of being prepared for Mass, and looking over the readings ahead of time. From personal experience with good and bad readers, I have found myself that if I read them ahead of time, and even if the reader isn’t up to snuff, I still get a lot more out of them. Just a thought and my:twocents:🙂
 
Teelynn said:
Just another perspective that I’m not sure will help…I have noticed that people do complain about lectors not proclaiming correctly, or meaningfully, etc, etc. in my own Parish as well. While it is important that the word of God is delivered effectively, it is also important that the faithful be prepared for Mass before coming. By that I mean, I believe the readings for the Mass should ALWAYS be read and contemplated somewhat before ever going to Mass. If read and thought about ahead of time, even if the reader is not quite up to snuff, one knows what the reading is and what it means…I’m not saying that this is a “cure all” for a bad reading at Mass, but it does help, and it usually helps a lot. I guess to sum it all up, part of the responsibility of a fruitful Mass is up to the faithful as well. It always helps to have a good reader in order to reinforce the readings you read at home, but if you haven’t read them at home and then have a bad reader, how fruitful is the Mass then?

Possibly it would help the situation if there was a quip placed in your Parish Bulletin about the importance of being prepared for Mass, and looking over the readings ahead of time. From personal experience with good and bad readers, I have found myself that if I read them ahead of time, and even if the reader isn’t up to snuff, I still get a lot more out of them. Just a thought and my:twocents:🙂
Click to expand...
 
I have to strongly disagree with you about going over the readings in advance. To me, that would be like reading the LOTH a day in advance in order to be ‘ready’ to pray it the following day. A person can be well prepared for mass without knowing what the readings will be. I much prefer hearing them for the first time proclaimed at mass and then reflecting on them afterwards during the day or week. Even when the reading is poorly done, I’ll get something out of it (and if necessary can follow in the missalette).

With training (which the parish should provide), readers should at least be able to proclaim the scriptures slowly, loudly, and clearly and with some expression which comes from preparation and understanding the reading. Honestly, if they can’t even do that, they’re probably not called to this ministry any more than someone like myself who can’t carry a tune would be a cantor. Why not recruit some teenagers, maybe some who have acted in school plays? They have a tendency to read too fast but, once they overcome this, can be excellent.

I recently attended a diocesan workshop for readers. It was great. Parishes should have something similar a couple times a year.
 
Hi,
I’m not very educated in the field of religion. I’m a lay person who works for a living. I do have passion for church and I have been doing my best to feel part of the community. I have initated lunches and have done other things to help other lay people and myself to build our faith and the church. By doing things, I work on my own faith capacity and it’s quite uplifting especially when many people benefit from it. Anyhow, that said, I enjoy feeling part of a church. However, sometimes it’s hard to know the church system…that is, what does the priest do and what exactly can the lay do. I got your message in my last thread and I want to thank you for your great ideas. Now, as regards to the readings, I understood that a “priest does have a responsibility, in his parish, to make sure that the Word of God is scripture …].” Now, I have asked a church member to publish something in the Mass bulletin and I have asked our reader leader to schedule meetings from time to time in order that we go over the steps for the readings. That way, we can work hand-in-hand with our priest who needs spritual quality and at the same time, more readers. I felt the need to help since I can do this so easily. It’s not hard to do. I have done this sort of things before. Again, I want to thank all of you for your inspirational ideas. Now, I hope that our strategies work well for this setting.

Here is another question for you? How does the lay approach a priest for issues that pertain to his responsibilities? For example, people were telling me that our priest wanted more readers. I had the chance to talk with this priest and he stressed proclaiming the Word etc. I understood this fairly well. However after hearing about it from others, I felt it being repeated often. It got me worried a bit. Why is he telling this to others, that is, to another priest and to church helpers like me? He also said it in Mass. Why the need to tell this message so often? Isn’t once in the Mass enough? I felt that it was urgent just by the way he proceeded. I decided to talk with him to see if there was a deadline for recruiting readers. What was the rush?, I thought. I kind of wanted to know why we needed readers and more quality in our readings. He sounded a bit upset when I “questioned” his idea. He spoke with an arrogant and high tone and I was shocked by this attitude of his.

I like my priest, but when he wants something done, it’s hard to find out why sometimes. I managed to find out why with a calm and cool attitude. Are the lay expected to take orders and never know why? Is that the church system? Again, I’m not well-educated in religion, but I do have the ability to help the Mass. I discovered this along the way. I’m a lay who has the ability to do things for others in that place. However, how do I talk “business” with the clergy if something is related to his responsibility? Should I just stay quiet? When changes come our way, I instantly want to know why if I’m implicated. I find that normal. I don’t want to be “thrown out” of the church because of new policies…I find it hard for a lay to just accept things when priests come in our Mass and do new things without any consideration for the lay who are helping their Mass. It feel like it’s a dictatorship! Now this priest of ours does help us when he can, but when I want to find out something that is related to his job, I can find myself talking with an arrogant person who shows heartless feelings instead of calmly saying that “people have been complaining about our readers and we need to do something.” I am not to question his decision…this is how I feel. Is that the way the church works? Does the priest manage the church without any question? How can a lay intervene properly? It can cause confusion when there are changes. Isn’t it nice to explain to the lay why we need to do better readings etc.?

I guess my question is this: How does a lay behave when a priest “dictates” a change?I’m sure that the priest knows something, but can’t we know too, since we’re part of this family?

By the way, I have found myself talking with different clergymen and sisters and some raise their voice when speaking with me. It’s like saying, “The lay are stupid”…Some even get upset when we ask too many questions.

More questions: Are these religious people hurt when we lay, ask questions? Do we just stay quiet and don’t think?

Thanks,
Templum
 
Teelynn said:
Just another perspective that I’m not sure will help…I have noticed that people do complain about lectors not proclaiming correctly, or meaningfully, etc, etc. in my own Parish as well. While it is important that the word of God is delivered effectively, it is also important that the faithful be prepared for Mass before coming. By that I mean, I believe the readings for the Mass should ALWAYS be read and contemplated somewhat before ever going to Mass. If read and thought about ahead of time, even if the reader is not quite up to snuff, one knows what the reading is and what it means…I’m not saying that this is a “cure all” for a bad reading at Mass, but it does help, and it usually helps a lot. I guess to sum it all up, part of the responsibility of a fruitful Mass is up to the faithful as well. It always helps to have a good reader in order to reinforce the readings you read at home, but if you haven’t read them at home and then have a bad reader, how fruitful is the Mass then?

Possibly it would help the situation if there was a quip placed in your Parish Bulletin about the importance of being prepared for Mass, and looking over the readings ahead of time. From personal experience with good and bad readers, I have found myself that if I read them ahead of time, and even if the reader isn’t up to snuff, I still get a lot more out of them. Just a thought and my:twocents:🙂
Click to expand...
Excelent advice teelynn!
 
I used to work with an older man at a retail outfit. I was his supervisor and I had many above me. Often I would receive orders from my superiors who, in my own opinion, did not know what they were doing and they did not give good reasons for the work they requested, if they gave any reasons at all. I would become frustrated with them at times wishing they would confide more in me. The advice this old man gave me is the same advice I would like to pass on to you. “Ours is not to reason why, ours is just to do or die!” I hated that advice when he gave it to me at the time because it did not seem very helpful to what I wanted. You are lacking in humility as I was! You may have a hard time with this but it is true. OBEDIENCE TO OUR RELIGIOUS LEADERS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH A DICTATORSHIP. Luke 10:16 says, “Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” Those are Jesus’ words! We ought to have a deeper reverence for our priests especially in these times. Read the lives of the saints and try to imitate their humility in the face of prideful leaders. you have talked about your work or the work that you can do for the church. And that is great but do not rely on you own abilities, This is Christ’s work and the Holy Spirit’s work. Beware of what Jesus said about those who rely on themselvesin Matt.7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’ Trust in Jesus! He said he would never leave his Church! Rely on his grace to accomplish these things that you are seeking after. He will take care of it in his time. Be patient with that priest and show humble trust in Jesus by showing humble trust in this priest. Here is one of my favorite prayers that I like to recite after receiving our Lord in Holy Eucharist:

Litany of Humility
O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved…
From the desire of being extolled …
From the desire of being honored …
From the desire of being praised …
From the desire of being preferred to others…
From the desire of being consulted …
From the desire of being approved …
From the fear of being humiliated …
From the fear of being despised…
From the fear of suffering rebukes …
From the fear of being calumniated …
From the fear of being forgotten …
From the fear of being ridiculed …
From the fear of being wronged …
From the fear of being suspected …

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I …
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease …
That others may be chosen and I set aside …
That others may be praised and I unnoticed …
That others may be preferred to me in everything…
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…

God bless you and your family!
 
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