I laughed…but could have cried.
:yup:
The commentator remarks are usually for a “teaching mass” where a priest or deacon is often acting as a commentator to teach the rubrics and/or meaning of the mass to the parish.
Also commentators might also be involved in a mass where a large amount of non-Catholics are attending, or example a funeral for a public official who happens to be Catholic.
But there really isn’t any reason for a commentator for a typical Sunday or Daily Mass at a parish.
I agree entirely.
This is also the opinion of Fr McNamara in
A Commentor’s Role
I believe that such indications are usually only necessary when some special rite is celebrated, such as the Litany of Saints during ordinations or in places where there are frequent visitors from different parts of the world who might be used to other practices.
Otherwise I believe that it is better to leave aside choreographic gestures and indications for regular Sunday Masses. Some of these might have been necessary at the beginning of the reform until people got used to the new rite. But after nearly 40 years of practice I think most Catholics now know when to kneel, sit and stand.
Fr McNamara also cites the relevant liturgical directions:
The liturgical function of the commentator is described, along with that of sacristans, ushers, and those who take up the collection, in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, No. 105:
“The commentator …] provides the faithful, when appropriate, with brief explanations and commentaries with the purpose of introducing them to the celebration and preparing them to understand it better. The commentator’s remarks must be meticulously prepared and clear though brief. In performing this function the commentator stands in an appropriate place facing the faithful, but not at the ambo.”
No. 352 of the GIRM later insists on the need for preparation: “Since, indeed, a variety of options is provided for the different parts of the Mass, it is necessary for the deacon, the lectors, the psalmist, the cantor, the commentator, and the choir to be completely sure before the celebration which text for which each is responsible is to be used and that nothing be improvised.** Harmonious planning and carrying out of the rites will great assistance in disposing the faithful to participate in the Eucharist**.”
(emphasis added)
I will defend why I called it an “abuse” for the commentator to say: “Please stand to welcome the gospel”.
- If this is a regular event at Sunday masses then it should be in the commentor’s notes, indicating that it has the approval of the parish priest, and that is not “improvised” by the particular commentator.
If it is in the commentator’s notes then I have less of a problem with it. At least it’s authorized and consistent.
In my parish it is not in the notes. Most commentators say it when there is no choir, but I don’t. Most
don’t say it when there is a choir, but a few insist on it and it sounds like an interruption when the choir is standing to sing the Alleluiah and the commentator interjects with “Please stand to welcome the gospel”. Clearly some commentators have a strong opinion that it
should be said, while at least one (myself) have a strong opinion that it **should not **be said.
- My strongest objection is to the words “… to welcome the gospel”. That is a statement of why we are standing, and it is probably wrong. We are standing **for **the gospel, for the whole reading of it, not to just to “welcome” it. If something must be said, then why not say “Please stand for the gospel”?
- It is distracting. At the time our attention is focused on the ambo after the reading of the psalm. We all know that the gospel acclamation comes next, and that we are to stand. Then there is a strange interruption from side of the church “Please stand to welcome the gospel”. (Note above: “harmonious planning…”).
- It is entirely pointless. In every Mass we stand for gospel, just as we sit for the homily, kneel for the consecration, etc. Of all these gestures, the most obvious and well known is the standing for the gospel. If someone is a visitor and unfamiliar with the Mass then this is the easiest one to just follow the congregation with.
I attend a Cathedral Mass where it is never said, and there is never any confusion.
If there is some value in it, then why do we also not say:
- “Please join in the response to the psalm”
- “Please sit and listen to the homily” (or “Please sit while Fr Joe reflects on the gospel”)
- “Please kneel in reverence for the consecration”
- “Please stand for the Lord’s Prayer”?
It may be useful for the commentator to direct the congregation when there is a change in the liturgy. For instance, at our parish we did introduce a pause for reflection, and the first time we did this the commentator announced it. However, for things which happen predictably every week, the commentators words are only a distraction.
So, I regard it as an abuse, because it violates the principal of not adding parts to the mass which are unneccessary, unhelpful, and/or unapproved. It is also the “thin edge of the wedge” for the commentator to feel that he/she may have other things to say (as often happens in practice).
