Gospel reading unsuitable for Mother's Day

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Rosalinda

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My pastor wants to change the Liturgical Readings for this Sunday because it is Mother’s Day. He called me up looking for a particular passage and I skirted a direct confrontation for a while suggesting the passage he was seeking wasn’t particularly suitable either. Then I reminded him Mother’s Day is a secular feast day not a liturgical one. Finally, I told him that I wasn’t prepared to assist him because he has no right changing the liturgical readings in the first place. He claimed he has been doing it for years and has authority to do so. To which I replied he has no such authority and is abusing the rights of his parishioners to celebrate the Mass as the Church intends it.

Needless to say, father was irate with the allegation. If he wants to talk about the importance of mothers he is free to express his ideas during his homily. He is not free to subsitute other bible passages. What can one do? The rest of the parish doesn’t seem to mind the elderly pastor’s eccentricities.

By the way, the church in question practices the Byzantine Ukrainian rite. Should this make any difference?
 
I have always liked this saying…
Stand up for something even if you are standing alone.

Personally, I hope your pastor is open to your suggestions. Sometimes they need a firm reminder of what is necessary and proper as well as liturgically correct. Remarks in his homily would be appropriate in my opinion, but the liturgy is about Jesus’ sacrifice… I stand with you on this decision.

Hopefully, your pastor will take this as constructive criticism not a personal attack on his priesthood, which it is not.
 
Here’s what the USCCB says (I don’t know if it being a different rite would make a difference???):
usccb.org/liturgy/q&a/mass/addword.shtml

<<Changing Approved Liturgical Texts

Thank you for your question of changing liturgical texts.

Canon 846 of the Code of Canon Law states:

The liturgical books approved by the competent authority are to be faithfully observed in the celebration of the sacraments; therefore no one on personal authority may add, remove or change anything in them.
Number 22 of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy states:

Regulation of the sacred liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church, that is, on the Apostolic See and, as laws may determine, on the bishop.
In virtue of power conceded by the law, the regulation of the liturgy within certain defined limits belongs also to various kinds of competent territorial bodies of bishops legitimately established.
Therefore, absolutely no other person, not even a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority.
Therefore, no one may change any approved and confirmed liturgical text. This includes, but is not limited to the “Lectionary for Mass” and the “Sacramentary.”

Email us at bcl@usccb.org
Committee on the Liturgy | 3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington DC 20017-1194 | (202) 541-3000 © USCCB. All rights reserved.>>
 
Since this Forum generally deals with Liturgical questions pertaining to the Latin Rite (current Mass), the likelyhood of someone giving you the answers you seek is less. I would recommend contacting the office of the Bishop for your Eparchy and asking them directly.
 
Our diocesan ORDO [Liturgical directions} states:
Today ;is mother’s Day (USA). This secular observance must in no way diminish the primary focus of this Sunday as the celebration of the pascal mystery. However, in order to provide some recognition th this holiday, model intercessions and a Prayer Over the People may be used. I think it is probably derived from a USCCB directive.
Click to expand...
 
Rosalinda said:
Finally, I told him that I wasn’t prepared to assist him because he has no right changing the liturgical readings in the first place. He claimed he has been doing it for years and has authority to do so. To which I replied he has no such authority and is abusing the rights of his parishioners to celebrate the Mass as the Church intends it.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I don’t know the answer to your question. But I just wanted to say GOOD FOR YOU! That took great courage.
 
By the way, the church in question practices the Byzantine Ukrainian rite. Should this make any difference?

It might. And I stress might. The Byzantine lectionary is different from the Latin. Could this be what your priest was referring to? If not, he is probably out of line. The suggestion to contact the Epachy is an excellent one.

CHRISTOS VOSKRESE!

Jeff
 
You have step one completed. Now, with your documentation (an email or letter to Father regarding the matter- make it polite and respectful!!!), CC the bishop.
 
Sometimes, I find it to be difficult to ‘convince’ my Pastor of anything other what he has already decided.
I understand your frustration.
Of course, my feeling is that his intentions are good ones, in wanting to honor mothers this weekend.
But there are other, more appropriate ways to do this, without changing the Mass. Sometimes, if I approach my pastor this way (I call it ‘sideways’), it works.
For example, I would have suggested honoring the mothers in your congregation through adding a hymn like “On This Day, O Beautiful Mother” as a meditation; or asking a local florist to donate bulk quantities (or footing the cost as a parish) of long stemmed carnations/roses to be handed out to all mothers on their way out the door after Mass.
None of this is inappropriate, yet it still manages to honor your pastors good intentions to begin with.
Just a thought.
Good luck.
 
I’d like to make the observation that we have a ton of Latin Rite people answering a Liturgy question regarding a Byzantine Rite situation.

I don’t believe that guidelines from the USCCB would be applicable here, which is why I gave the guidance to contact the Eparchy. I don’t know what the rules on substituting readings in the Byzantine Rite are. Although I doubt it, there may very well be some sort of alternative option for Mother’s Day.

As others have posted, there are other ways of honoring Mothers with flowers or music. I am not sure how the hymn On This Day, O Beautiful Mother would work in the Byzantine Church. There are specific chants assigned, and I’m not sure how negotiable they are. (That reminds me, I should hand out a copy for my choir to sing this Sunday).

Although Liturgy and Sacraments is definately a “Church-wide” forum, alerting some of the Eastern Rite posters over in the Eastern Christianity forum about this thread might get more Rite-specific answers.
 
The Byzantine usage is to read Acts 16:16-34 and Jn 9:1-38. It is the Sunday of the Man Born Blind. You can instead suggest to your priest how these passages could be tied in to Mother’s Day.

For instance, in the Epistle reading we hear about an entire household being baptized. It was the parents of the family who had the responsibility to care for the spiritual needs of the children and slaves, and we see them deciding for the entire household to become Christian. We hear this same phrase from Joshua who said, “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Sometimes parents must choose such things for their children, and sometimes their children are not happy with those choices, but we can see that parents have the right and the responsibility to make these important decisions for all in their care. Sometimes the mothers must even choose, like those Joshua was speaking to, to go against their own families’ faith and traditions to do the will of the Lord. It isn’t easy to follow Christ, and it isn’t any easier to lead the next generation to Him, either. But that is exactly what God has charged all parents with doing. The mothers who are present are also providing the day to day spiritual care of their children by bringing their children to church each week to receive the Lord in the Mysteries, by assuring that they are properly baptized and chrismated, and then assuring that they are properly catechized and receiving Repentance, and lastly by being examples themselves of a living faith. This is no easy task and deserves the support of the entire church, and especially of their husbands.

Notice the active role the jailer took in his family’s faith formation. Mothers today also need the fathers of the family to take an active and supportive role in their households, especially in their faith formation. There is a saying that goes, “The best thing a man can do for his children is to love their mother.” Celebration of motherhood should not happen once a year on a secular holiday, but every day in every family. Some women do not have the benefit of husbands who are able to provide this support, so it is even more important for us as their church community to celebrate motherhood and life with them in their daily struggles. When a child is fussing, do we give his mother the look of death, wondering what sin she or the child must have done, or do we lovingly offer our help to her? When a toddler is fidgeting, do we tell his mother to take him out or do we offer to hold him and show him the icons? All of us, whether we are old or young, married or single, parents or not, have a role to play in supporting the family and celebrating the life that motherhood brings.

In the Gospel we hear about the mind born blind. It opens with Jesus’ disciples asking who had committed the sin which caused this: the man or his parents. Jesus responds that no one sinned and this man had been set aside for the honor of showing the greatness of the Lord. Your priest can point out to the mothers present when they or their children are suffering, it is not a punishment from the Lord. When their children are born with Down’s Syndrome or learning disabilities or Cerebral Palsy or blindness they can be assured that they were chosen for this struggle so that the light of Christ can shine through them.

He might choose to highlight the Byzantine priest Fr. Alin Dogaru who is serving the Romanians in Ohio. He and his wife have three girls. The two youngest were born conjoined at the head and are currently undergoing very risky separation surgeries. Many people say they should have aborted the girls. Christ says they were chosen so that the works of God could be shown through them. (There is a thread in the Eastern Christianity forum about them if you want to learn more.)

The mothers in your parish might not have anything as severe as blindness or conjoined twins to deal with, but they do have their own daily trials and struggles. Christ tells us through these readings of the importance of the parents in guiding their children, and of allowing our family’s sufferings to show Christ to the world.

We should not look at ourselves and wonder what we did to deserve such struggles, as all families have struggles, but we should look to the icon of Christ and wonder what we did to deserve such grace. To be chosen by the Lord to show his works is an honor he calls all mothers to.

Christ will rejoice with them, just as he rejoiced with Paul and Silas when the jailer’s family was converted. He has a plan for them, just as he had a plan for the man born blind. He wants us to believe and be baptized, to walk in his ways, and through us our entire household will be saved.
 
It is worth noting that there are reasons that the Sunday readings can be changed, but most deal with the celebration of a parishes patronal feast.

Mother’s day doesn’t quite rise to that level.
 
Thank you everyone for your (name removed by moderator)ut. MusicMan, a letter to the local eparchy may be in order.
[sign]Although I doubt it, there may very well be some sort of alternative option for Mother’s Day. [/sign]

Regretfully, the pastor changes the liturgical readings routinely. This is not a phenomenon reserved for Mother’s Day. He has unabashedly said he knows better than the bishop what his parishioners need to hear.

Regardless of the rite, this pastor does not have a proper attitude. 😊
 
Father went ahead and changed all the lectionary readings from the approved and confirmed ones on the Liturgical calendar for Byzantine rite Catholics. Our gospel reading was a mere four lines from Mark 3:31:35

"The mother of Jesus and his brethren came, and standing outside, they sent to him, calling him…‘Who are my mother and my brethren?’ …‘Behold my mother and my brethren. For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.’"

I have written three letters thus far to his bishop but hesitate to mail any one of them. It would have been my preference to work this out with my pastor who is also a friend. Given his age and years of service to the Church I’m not interested in winning an argument or jeopardizing his position. This parish is so small, comprised mostly of elderly faithful; struggling to remain financially viable; my fear is the bishop might just close it down. After all, five churches locally in the Roman rite are closing. Alerting the bishop may prove a fatal error.

Nonetheless, maybe my emotions are confusing my thinking and if I feel there is a serious liturgical abuse happening here my duty, as a member of the Body of Christ, is to inform the bishop.

By the way, I have posted this in the Eastern Rite forum but no one has pinned down exactly what norm has been violated and if indeed parish priests have this freedom in the eastern rite. They seem equally doubtful though. Father reiterated this claim again yesterday and as much as told me to go ahead and contact the bishop. It won’t make any difference.

Jennifer J:[sign]Therefore, no one may change any approved and confirmed liturgical text. This includes, but is not limited to the “Lectionary for Mass” and the “Sacramentary.[/sign]

Sacrosanctum Concilium is strictly a constitution of the Latin rite.(Please correct me if I’m mistaken on this point.) I only wish I could show this to my pastor but he would probably say he is not bound by it either. One would hope a Vatican II document would carry weight but I doubt it. 🤷
 
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