Celebrant announced

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mcmitton said:
Yes. Our cantor begins with a brief welcome, the Mass [that is, the nth Sunday of season or Holy day], the celebrant, if there is a separate second collection and its purpose, and a reminder to silence cell phones.
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That’s how it’s done in my parish as well.
 
I’ve never heard the name of the celebrant announced. There have been times I wished I knew the priest’s name… Usually so I could compliment him on something extraordinary he’d done. (I visit parishes other than my home parish a lot. I often go with less active Catholic friends, and it’s easier when I can persuade them to accompany me to a church close to their home.)
 
Usually. Sometimes the reader forgets, or is new and doesn’t know that he/she is supposed to state the name of the celebrant.

But I would say that 90% of the time, the celebrant’s named is announced.
 
Here the priest celebrant is announced by either the cantor or one of the readers.
 
Announcing the celebrant’s name always bothers me. I am not there to put on a performance. I am there to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The priest is, after all, in persona Christi. Who he is really doesn’t matter.

This practice really expresses a harmful attitude in the Church: that those who exercise some public ministry or apostolate are there to be recognized and celebrated for who they are, rather than for what they do.

The Mass is not a Broadway performance. It’s time (for some) to stop treating it as one.
 
In addition to announcing the celebrant and which mass is being celebrated, we read the often lengthy list of mass intentions. This is at the pastor’s request.
 
Nope. We have three priests at our parish.

This is what we hear from the person running the sound system:
“The holy mass is about to begin. Please make sure all electronic devices are silenced, and open your hymnals to number ____ for the opening hymn.”

Then one of the altar servers or ushers rings the bells in the back of the church, everyone stands, and I start playing the organ.
 
Yes. At my parish we have both a pastor and a vicar so the lector or cantor announces who the celebrant is-respectfully, of course. It’s not like “Father C’s in the house, yo!”😃
 
Yes, he is announced by the Lector and I’m glad for it because we are also reminded to turn off our cell phones.

Mass hasn’t begun yet so it shouldn’t be an issue at all. I wish they would go ahead and make any announcements then as a well. What the second collection is for, and whatever else they feel a need to tell us.
 
FrDavid96 said:
Announcing the celebrant’s name always bothers me. I am not there to put on a performance. I am there to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The priest is, after all, in persona Christi. Who he is really doesn’t matter.

This practice really expresses a harmful attitude in the Church: that those who exercise some public ministry or apostolate are there to be recognized and celebrated for who they are, rather than for what they do.

The Mass is not a Broadway performance. It’s time (for some) to stop treating it as one.
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My feelings exactly, Father.
I never heard of this before. You learn something new every day.
 
We’ve had a second priest at several of our Sunday Masses recently. He’s from another parish, we only have one priest. I have no idea why he is there, but there’s no need for us to know any details. Our regular priest is informal in style and always makes reference to the fact that 'we welcome Father D again today."

When our priest gets a holiday, we have a succession of visiting and/or retired priests taking mass, and they always say who they are. I prefer it, I like to be able to say ‘thanks Father Whatever’ after the Mass.
 
FrDavid96 said:
Announcing the celebrant’s name always bothers me. I am not there to put on a performance. I am there to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The priest is, after all, in persona Christi. Who he is really doesn’t matter.

This practice really expresses a harmful attitude in the Church: that those who exercise some public ministry or apostolate are there to be recognized and celebrated for who they are, rather than for what they do.

The Mass is not a Broadway performance. It’s time (for some) to stop treating it as one.
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Interesting perspective, Father; one I appreciate learning. As one of those “in the pews,” I always see it as a nice gesture and nod to the community aspect of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (which is certainly not the most important aspect, but it is part of it). "Please join us in the processional hymn, Number 1-2-3, and welcome our celebrant, Father Whoever, and Deacon Whichever . . . " seems fairly non-contrived and communal (and informative, especially for new parishioners who may be trying to sort out who is who among assigned priests and new priests and visiting priests . . . ). I never thought of it as the equivalent of “And here’s JOHNNY!!” 🤷
 
I do think it’s different when the parish has a visiting priest, or even a newly-assigned one.

Sure, in a situation like that, it might be nice to announce his name at the beginning of Mass, especially if the parish is not expecting him. We don’t want rumors going around “did Father Pastor leave, was he transferred, is he ill?” or “did we get a new parochial vicar?”

But when a parish has the same priest, or the same set of priests every week, there’s really no justification for announcing the celebrant’s name at every Mass.
 
IrishAm said:
Interesting perspective, Father; one I appreciate learning. As one of those “in the pews,” I always see it as a nice gesture and nod to the community aspect of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (which is certainly not the most important aspect, but it is part of it). "Please join us in the processional hymn, Number 1-2-3, and welcome our celebrant, Father Whoever, and Deacon Whichever . . . " seems fairly non-contrived and communal (and informative, especially for new parishioners who may be trying to sort out who is who among assigned priests and new priests and visiting priests . . . ). I never thought of it as the equivalent of “And here’s JOHNNY!!” 🤷
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Well, he’s the thing. We aren’t “standing to welcome the celebrant” we’re standing to begin the Mass. The entrance procession wasn’t put into the Mass as a way of greeting the celebrant, so why make it that? There’s a time for meet-and-greet; but that time isn’t during the Mass, or the procession.

I like the “heeeere’s JOHNNY!” line. I never heard that one. I’ll have to remember it.

I’ve known a few priests who did treat the entrance as a “here’s Johnny” moment. A scarce few, all of them ordained in the late 1960-s to 70s.

I don’t think anyone should go writing letters to the Congregation for Divine Worship complaining about this. It’s not that big a deal, and it is before the Mass starts anyway.

It’s just the attitude behind it that (sometimes) bothers me.

In practical terms, it’s usually not necessary anyway. Once I’ve been in the parish a while, they all know me. If they’re visitors they probably don’t care what my name is (let’s be frank about it, they’re likely to forget before the Gloria starts), and if they’re new, they’ll learn my name soon enough (that’s what the bulletins are for).

Without saying that this should be prohibited by liturgical law (please, I’m not suggesting taking this too far) I’m just not comfortable with the whole attitude of announcing the names of the ministers. What we really need to do as a whole Church is get back to the Sacrifice of the Mass and the priest in persona Christi

Just my perspective as a celebrant.
 
No, there’s only one priest. I have seen this done rarely. I don’t see a reason for it to happen unless there’s a visiting priest.
 
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