Having masses said for someone

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Most of the masses I attend are said for a deceased loved one. No one has ever told me who a mass can be said for.

Can a mass be said for a deceased or alive non catholic?

Can a mass be said for someone alive you want to come back to the church?

Are there any restrictions on who a mass can be said for?
 
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Convert3 said:
Most of the masses I attend are said for a deceased loved one. No one has ever told me who a mass can be said for.

Can a mass be said for a deceased or alive non catholic?
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Yes. See my further comments below. I do this all the time as a lot of my relatives, friends and other people I care about aren’t/ weren’t Catholic and I also think that deceased non-Catholics are very much in need of prayers.
Can a mass be said for someone alive you want to come back to the church?
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Yes. See my further comments below. This is a situation where you’d probably want to make sure there’s no public mention of your Mass request.
Are there any restrictions on who a mass can be said for?
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Just common-sense ones. You wouldn’t request a Mass be said for a canonized saint because the saint is already in heaven according to the Church. So I wouldn’t request a Mass for the soul of St. Padre Pio. I might request a Mass in honor of St. Padre Pio, or in thanksgiving to St. Padre Pio for his help.
Also you wouldn’t request a Mass for any bad intention, such as a Mass asking for your enemy to die or suffer a horrible accident.

Further Comments:
When requesting Masses for living people, you usually need to let the parish or other place arranging the Mass know that the person is living and also take note of whether the person’s name will be made public anywhere (like published in a bulletin) or whether the organization is planning on sending a Mass card to the person.

Living people might not want their names published in a church bulletin. For one thing, there is a tendency for people reading the bulletin to assume all the published names are dead. If it’s an elderly person and their name is down for a Mass in the bulletin, their friends at church will assume they died. I have seen parishes handle this by just putting “Special Intention” and others would put something like “Joseph Jones (Living)”.

Also, if there’s a chance that the living person you’re having the Mass said for wouldn’t be happy about it, or if a deceased non-Catholic then their relatives wouldn’t be happy about it, then you’re best off making sure the person’s name doesn’t appear anywhere like a bulletin, and that no Mass card is sent to their house or their relatives’ house. You can have a card sent to you or you can just skip the card.

I find it very helpful to just make my Mass requests online to the missions and either tell them don’t send a card, or just send the card to me. In this way I can have Masses said for anybody I want, living or dead, including people I don’t personally know (like a celebrity for instance) and relatives who aren’t Catholic and wouldn’t be too thrilled about me saying, “I had a Mass said for you.” And nobody needs to know about it.
 
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I have seen Mass intentions in our bulletin such as +John Doe. I’ve never asked, but assumed this was a deceased Catholic?
 
St. Anselm once suggested that a Mass said for someone still alive has greater worth than a thousand Masses said for someone after their death. Not to minimize the usefulness of a Mass for the dead, but to emphasize the usefulness of a Mass for the living.

Living people in a state of grace receive added benefits not available to the dead:
  1. Increase of merit (assigned heavenly joy and glory) forever—CCC 2010).
  2. Added sanctifying grace (a deeper sharing in the life of God—2 Pet. 1:4).
  3. Actual graces (conscience-nudges to do good and avoid evil— CCC 2000),
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The + indicates the person is deceased. As to whether John Doe was Catholic, we don’t know and it doesn’t matter. The Church does not require a person to be Catholic in order to have a Mass said for them.

Typically you will be asked if the person is living or deceased and some parishes also ask about your relation to the person (this question is never asked for online requests, only by some parishes). That’s all they will ask.
 
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If + is before the name of a layman (
“Dlee said:
+John Doe
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then the person is deceased.

If + is before the name of a bishop, e.g. +Borys, +Constantine he could be either living or deceased (respective examples).
 
Convert3 said:
Can a mass be said for a deceased non catholic?
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Yes, in the hope that God in His Mercy has saved their soul.
Convert3 said:
alive non catholic
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Again, yes. For their conversion to the Catholic Faith, then for whatever other needs may be warranted.
Convert3 said:
Can a mass be said for someone alive you want to come back to the church?
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Most definitely. The Masses I have offered for the living are for the conversion of family members.
Convert3 said:
Are there any restrictions on who a mass can be said for?
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None as far as I know. The intentions obviously have to be in line with Catholic teachings etc & the good of the person/soul. iow, you wouldn’t request a Mass to be said for wrong intentions.
 
What is a typical donation for the mass?
 
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That’s not necessary. He can request it for Joe, special intention, and ask that Joe’s name not be published and he generally won’t be asked to state what the intention is. No need to disclose that Joe has a drinking problem, marital problem etc.

He can of course request it for all those with addictions too, but we don’t necessarily want to do that. We might want to focus on just Joe.
 
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My intent is to have masses said for family that has fallen away from the church, and for my parents, who were Protestant and passed away in 1988 and 1999.
 
Yes, it’s true different parishes handle things differently. This is why unless I’m requesting a simple Mass for a deceased Catholic family member, I usually just go online. Much easier.

If one has Facebook Messenger, I recommend the Missio.org Messenger app to request a Mass. It’s very easy. I request several Masses a month with it.
 
Convert3 said:
My intent is to have masses said for family that has fallen away from the church, and for my parents, who were Protestant and passed away in 1988 and 1999.
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I don’t know what your budget is, but consider Gregorian Masses for your parents. You will not be able to get them through your parish, but there are many online places to request them. Cnewa.org is one that I have used for my relatives.
You can also consider perpetually enrolling them in Masses at your favorite shrine, such as St Jude or many other places. Then they share in regularly said Masses without you needing to make multiple requests.
 
I write on the prayer request envelope that Father gets who and what my intention is for. What gets announced sometimes before Mass starts or at the end of the notices which are covered after the homily and while the first collection is taking place is - ‘This Mass is being offered for the intention of the donor’. I do write on my envelope that the intention is not to be made public. The above is also what is written in the newsletter.

For deceased relatives, the above could also apply, or it may be just stated publicly (if you don’t mind and have stated so) “for the deceased parents of John Doe” - nothing mentioned about whether they were Catholic or not or even if Catholic whether they were practicing or not.

It could also be written simply as “Anniversary of death of Mr & Mrs Doe, or Anniversary of death of John Doe’s parents.”
 
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