Confiteor

[Elzee]

I know today there are 3 Penitential Rites a priest can choose from. Does anyone know if, with the new missal changes I hear about occasionally, the Confiteor may be required? I think this is a beautiful prayer and it really helps me focus on preparing myself for Mass. But our priest says he prefers the one he uses (I can’t remember how they are numbered now so I don’t know which ‘number’ he uses) and has used it exclusively for at least 12 years. I know this is his choice, but I guess selfishly I would like to see the Confiteor become required. Does anyone else feel this way?

 

[Deacon_Ed]

From what I have seen so far, that is still one of the three options, but is not required.

Deacon Ed

 

[tpmjr42]

Elzee:

I know today there are 3 Penitential Rites a priest can choose from. Does anyone know if, with the new missal changes I hear about occasionally, the Confiteor may be required? I think this is a beautiful prayer and it really helps me focus on preparing myself for Mass. But our priest says he prefers the one he uses (I can’t remember how they are numbered now so I don’t know which ‘number’ he uses) and has used it exclusively for at least 12 years. I know this is his choice, but I guess selfishly I would like to see the Confiteor become required. Does anyone else feel this way?

I certainly do. Since the beginning of the year, the Confiteor has been missing in every Mass I have attended at my regular parish. But then again, I’m in Los Angeles and penance doesn’t seem to be on the agenda. ;(

 

[Elzee]

I haven’t figured out why this is never used (at least in my parish and most of the churches in my town). I don’t know if it’s the penance aspect, the petitioning of Mary and the Saints (who we never hear about in our parish…can’t remember the last time our parish said a Hail Mary or anyone even mentioned our Blessed Mother…).

 

[Cleindian44]

tpmjr42:

I certainly do. Since the beginning of the year, the Confiteor has been missing in every Mass I have attended at my regular parish. But then again, I’m in Los Angeles and penance doesn’t seem to be on the agenda. ;(

We haven’t been using it either. I asked a member of my chuch’s liturgy committee about it last Sunday with no answer. Liturgy abuse?

 

[Elzee]

Cleindian44:

We haven’t been using it either. I asked a member of my chuch’s liturgy committee about it last Sunday with no answer. Liturgy abuse?

It’s not an abuse because there are 3 Penitential Rites the priest can choose from. I’ve just never been given a reason by a priest on why this one appears to be rarely used. I’ve just heard ‘personal preference’, with no rationale behind it.

 

[palmas85]

At the Novus Ordo Mass I attend during the week the Confiteor, in English, is always used. However at other Masses I have been to here in San Diego it is not. I get the impression it depends on the Priests’ view of the Mass. If he sees the Mass primarily as a sacrifice and secondarily a meal he is more apt to say the Confiteor. If he sees the Mass as primarily a meal and secondarily a sacrifice, he is more apt to use one of the other prayers. I may be wrong on that but that is how it seems to me.

I agree it is a beautiful prayer and beautifully expresss the contrition and sorrow we should all feel for the sins we have commited…

 

[Elzee]

palmas85:

At the Novus Ordo Mass I attend during the week the Confiteor, in English, is always used. However at other Masses I have been to here in San Diego it is not. I get the impression it depends on the Priests’ view of the Mass. If he sees the Mass primarily as a sacrifice and secondarily a meal he is more apt to say the Confiteor. If he sees the Mass as primarily a meal and secondarily a sacrifice, he is more apt to use one of the other prayers. I may be wrong on that but that is how it seems to me.

I agree it is a beautiful prayer and beautifully expresss the contrition and sorrow we should all feel for the sins we have commited…

This is very interesting - I think you may have nailed it in our parish at least. I’ve never thought about this before. Our priest constantly focuses on the Eucharist as a meal and nourishment for our souls, but rarely ever talks about the sacrifice of the Mass or its re-presentation. Actually, I’ve never heard him talk about this now that you’ve got me thinking about it. I remember seeing a film at our parish once on the ‘Eucharist’ - but 99% of it focused on how wheat was grown and sharing a loaf of bread at your dinner table and saying prayers as you share it. It made me very uncomfortable because it seemed to say the Eucharist was not a whole lot more than a community sitting around a table sharing bread, just like you would do at your own dinner table. I remember thinking… why didn’t they explain the meaning of the Mass and its foreshadowings, it’s relation to the Passover, the sacrifice of the Lamb, Abraham and Isaac, Malachi 1:11, Melchizedek, the Book of Revelations… Now I may know why, possibly.

Can you explain to me the rationale behind why it may be considered more a meal than a sacrifice (or vice versa) by some priests?

 

[SMHW]

Elzee:

Can you explain to me the rationale behind why it may be considered more a meal than a sacrifice (or vice versa) by some priests?

My guess is that its that old pendulum effect again.

It goes back to seminary training. These (meal view) priests probably had teachers who thought the church emphasized the sacrifical aspect of the Mass to the detriment of the meal aspects and as a result went overboard in the other direction to ‘correct’ the problem. Unfortunately the sacrifical aspects got lost in the process.

In some places the pendulum is swinging back the other direction. In other places it hasn’t finished its swing yet.

 

[A.Pelliccio]

Mea Culpa, :strikes breast: Mea Culpa, :strikes breast: Mea Maxima Culpa :strikes breast:

I have never seen this done In my parish. I only experince this at the TLM. I really wish this was used more often.