Greeting neighbor during Mass/Liturgical abuse?

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LetItBe

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Last weekend, our pastor announced that starting next week, before the Homily, we will be asked to turn to our neighbor, introduce ourselves, and ask them how we can pray for them in the coming week. I have heard of doing this BEFORE Mass, but never DURING Mass! Our diocese has just begun revealing a new strategic plan (to address a priest shortage and shrinking membership among other things), and our priest has been gently telling us for a while now that some people are not going to like it, but he hopes we will be open to it. Therefore, I am uncertain as to whether this new addition to the Mass is the priest’s idea or the bishop’s (I will find out more at an upcoming meeting.) Does the priest and/or bishop have the authority to change the Mass in this manner? If not, what recourse do I have? What information can I take to the meeting to show that this is not allowable?
 
Welcome LetitBe. Good to meet you.

It seems that a crowd talking before the homily and after the readings is too disruptive. The homily should flow from the readings that were just read and not interupted by a lot of talk of personal things.
 
It makes no sense. It’s like people being at your house for 20 minutes and all of a sudden saying to them let’s all greet each other. Greetings should be done upon first getting together. If parishoners are going to greet each other it should be at the beginning.
 
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Last Sunday I attended a Churches together event in our town, several hundred people came to worship together. We were asked to pray for the needs of the people sitting near us. I can only say that I found it to be a powerful experience; having a stranger pray for my needs; and then to pray for them in return.

Sometimes I can go to mass feeling like a stranger in my own church; I believe praying together helps build communities. We go to mass to be with our Lord and with our neighbour. Maybe a good time to do this would be to include it within the bidding prayers.
 
GIRM #24 “These adaptations consist for the most part in the choice of certain rites or texts, that is, of the chants, readings, prayers, explanations, and gestures which may respond better to the needs, preparation, and culture of the participants and which are entrusted to the priest celebrant., the priest must remember that he is the servant of the sacred Liturgy and that he himself is not permitted, on his own initiative, to add, to remove, or to change anything in the celebration of Mass.”

Which comes from Sacrosanctum concilium #22
"22. 1. 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.
  1. 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.
  2. Therefore no other person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority."
For all you know, the Bishop may have passed down instructions regarding the implementation of this. Priests take a vow of obedience to their Bishops at their ordination.

There are parts in the Mass where the priest, within his rights, can make various changes.

I suggest when you attend this meeting to listen first, ask for clarificiation if necessary, then pray to God about all this and if it is His Will that you speak up. If you do decide to speak up, I also suggest speaking to your priest privately and not at a public meeting challenge him on whether you think he is right or not. Just my two cents worth - feel free to ignore.

I too have been to a Mass where this occurred and it made me so uncomfortable I cringed inside - talk about uncomfortable! I was there for Mass, not a social get together. But others thought it was a good idea and were used to it. This was the first time I had encountered it and I was not ok with it.
 
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LetItBe said:
(to address a priest shortage and shrinking membership among other things)
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I agree with the OP and other commenters that it doesn’t sound like a good idea, for several reasons. However, one important thing to look out for when it happens is this: Is it working? What impact, if any, is it having on the priest shortage and shrinking membership?
 
CRV said:
I suggest when you attend this meeting to listen first , ask for clarificiation if necessary , then pray to God about all this and if it is His Will that you speak up . If you do decide to speak up, I also suggest speaking to your priest privately and not at a public meeting
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I think this is very good advice for dealing with the situation.

As for the situation itself:
Greeting each other before or after Mass sounds to me like a good idea.
Doing it during Mass sounds disruptive.
 
OP, while all of the others here have a point, you’ll be hard pressed to find anything stating that it’s prohibited - because it’s not. During the homily like this, it can be done. (Whether that’s prudent…) For the initial time being, you may be best to express your opinion and then, as your user name says, “let it be”.
 
Priests do all sorts of things during the homily time. Some of them have the congregation speak to their neighbors about praying for them, some of them say extra Mary prayers, some of them do other things. This isn’t unusual and probably doesn’t rise to the level of “liturgical abuse”.

If this bothers you, talk to your pastor; once he tells you why he thinks it’s just fine (as obviously he does) you can write to the bishop, where I predict your letter will probably fall on deaf ears. Good luck.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Priests do all sorts of things during the homily time. Some of them have the congregation speak to their neighbors about praying for them, some of them say extra Mary prayers, some of them do other things. This isn’t unusual and probably doesn’t rise to the level of “liturgical abuse”.
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👍 This.

To my view, this looks like a preparation for the prayers of the faithful, so that the congregants might know for whom and how to direct their prayers. Where would you place it?

Moreover, it doesn’t omit, add, or change any of the rubrics of the Mass, so it doesn’t seem to be “liturgical abuse.” Discomforting, perhaps… but not ‘abuse’, per se.
 
Gorgias said:
Moreover, it doesn’t omit, add, or change any of the rubrics of the Mass,
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Stopping the Mass and asking everyone to start talking to the people around them isn’t a change? Sorry, if this happened in my parish on Sunday I’d be looking for another parish on Monday. I know a lot of people on CAF like to dismiss priests taking liberty with the Mass, but as I heard Msgr. Pope say an EWTN Radio this morning, “Father, this isn’t your Mass.”
 
Well, I’m a busy person and it’s more important to me that I find a Mass on Sunday and every other day of the week that I can fit into my schedule, than having the Mass operated perfectly to my liking. I’m willing to bet that a lot of Catholics are not that concerned if the priest takes 1 minute of homily time to have people talk to their neighbor or say an extra prayer. It either doesn’t bother them, or even if it does, it’s not worth it to them to drive 15 miles or even 5 miles to a different church. If they get that wound up about it, the odds are they aren’t even at the parish church, they’re already driving a half hour or an hour to go to the TLM.
 
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LetItBe said:
If not, what recourse do I have?
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Liturgical Abuse is kind of a strong term, often used when something we don’t personally like takes place…but regardless…Your “recourse”…be angry and do not partake in this greeting,

If this is the closest thing to “liturgical abuse” you have to endure, I’d say, it was a pretty good Mass!

Reminds me of the old, “Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?”
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Well, I’m a busy person and it’s more important to me that I find a Mass on Sunday and every other day of the week that I can fit into my schedule, than having the Mass operated perfectly to my liking.
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Going to Mass on Sunday is the most important thing I do. It is worth my time to go where a Mass is celebrated properly.
Tis_Bearself said:
I’m willing to bet that a lot of Catholics are not that concerned if the priest takes 1 minute of homily time to have people talk to their neighbor or say an extra prayer.
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I agree completely, most Catholics don’t care. That makes me very sad.
Tis_Bearself said:
If they get that wound up about it
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I see this in most of these discussion threads on priests taking liberty with the Mass . The priest is wrong, whether I approve or disapprove.
 
DIERM said:
If this is the closest thing to “liturgical abuse” you have to endure, I’d say, it was a pretty good Mass!
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Why must the Church (not just the parish, as the Mass is a public prayer of the Church) endure a priest deviating from the rubrics?
 
MikeInVA said:
Why must the Church (not just the parish, as the Mass is a public prayer of the Church) endure a priest deviating from the rubrics?
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We’re called to pick up our cross daily and endure far worse things, as did our savior, so again, if this is the biggest pain or indignation we must endure along our way, I’d say we don’t have much to complain about!
 
oh this, this a thousand times.

Look, we all know that the OF has places (several) where a priest can choose options. We know that. We aren’t the Liturgy Nazis out there, to use a phrase far too often used here, “checking to see if Father is wearing black shoes instead of brown ones” or standing with our pads ticking off points if he doesn’t raise the chalice to the exact predetermined height at the Consecration.

We are the people in the pews who have had decades now of priests tweaking here, there, and everywhere. Mostly yeah we ARE just grateful if Father ONLY does a couple of things like walking around the church during the homily playing ‘question and answer’, or ONLY does the Apostles Creed, or ONLY changes a couple of phrases, like, ‘behold the Lamb of God, welcome are those called to His table’ instead of 'to the Supper of the Lamb" or whatever. We know they’re not according to the rule but we offer it up.

And that’s how we wind up with priests who go way beyond. . .no penitential rite, no gloria, no creed of any kind, ad libbed Eucharistic prayers, heresy in the homilies (Jesus was wrong in this, this, and that teaching, Jesus sinned when He was lost in the Temple, Mary sinned because she didn’t trust in God, St Paul is not to be trusted because he was against women). . . because we get conditioned to ‘just one more’ tweak and so it goes. . .

How long O Lord, how long will Your people suffer?
 
DIERM said:
We’re called to pick up our cross daily and endure far worse things, as did our savior, so again, if this is the biggest pain or indignation we must endure along our way, I’d say we don’t have much to complain about!
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So a priest deliberately deviates from the rubrics, but we’re the one’s who are wrong if we recognize it as a deviation from the rubrics? My responsibility as a lay Catholic is to attend Mass, the priest’s responsibility as a priest is to follow the rubric.
 
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