Help for tomorrows mass

[JillianRose]

hi friends:

tomorrow we are having mass for for our lady of Guadeloupe. our celebrant is our bishop. how to I address him in case I meet him.? do I bow? Please and thank you. sorry if I posted in the wrong spot.

 

[corsair]

“Excellency” genuflect on the left knee, take his hand and kiss his ring. Simple.

God Bless

 

[1_with_God]

“Excellency” genuflect on the left knee, take his hand and kiss his ring. Simple.

God Bless

You must be kidding!

 

[Like]

You must be kidding!

Why do you think he must be kidding? How do you greet your Bishop in Cal?

 

[UpUpAndAway]

You must be kidding!

Why? To my understanding corsair is correct, although custom can vary slightly from country to country.

 

[Reuben_J]

hi friends:

tomorrow we are having mass for for our lady of Guadeloupe. our celebrant is our bishop. how to I address him in case I meet him.? do I bow? Please and thank you. sorry if I posted in the wrong spot.

You can address him, ‘your Lorship’ but ‘bishop’ would be fine too. Go for the former if you are not sure or if it is more formal. Yes, you can kiss his ring. No need to bow though it is not prohibited actually.

Have a blessed mass.

 

[1_with_God]

Why do you think he must be kidding? How do you greet your Bishop in Cal?

I thought he must be kidding because that would be showing the Bishop more respect than we are allowed to show to our Lord Jesus Christ when we receive Him in the Holy Eucharist.

Our Bishop informed us that when we go for Holy Communion we are Not to genuflect, we are Not to kneel, that a slight bowing of the head is permissable.

When I met him I touched his shoulder and said “Hi, good homily.”

 

[philial]

I’ve met a few bishops over the years. I’ve only ever referred to them as ‘father’, and never kissed a ring. So far I’ve not been zapped… So far, that is!

 

[JM3]

hi friends:

tomorrow we are having mass for for our lady of Guadeloupe. our celebrant is our bishop. how to I address him in case I meet him.? do I bow? Please and thank you. sorry if I posted in the wrong spot.

fisheaters.com/addressingclergy.html

Stand when he enters the room and remain standing until he invites you to sit. Men must remove their hats in his presence. When it is your own Bishop, kneel on your left knee and kiss ring as sign of respect for his office. If kneeling would be awkward or impossible, or if he is not your own Bishop, bow at the waist and kiss his ring (do not do either if the Pope is present). Repeat reverential gestures when leaving his presence.

 

[Joannm]

I see our bishop several times a week. I just say “Hi Bishop…how are you today.” or some other pleasantry.

 

[paperwight66]

I see our bishop several times a week. I just say “Hi Bishop…how are you today.” or some other pleasantry.

Me too, Or rather, I generally say ‘Your Grace’. Certainly no kissing of rings or bending the knee.

 

[englishredrose]

If it helps he is the equivalent of area manager of a company… Give him respect yes but he probably would like you to feel ‘relaxed’ with him unless you are on ceremony meeting him as in guard of honour type cermony. Otherwise if it a case of shaking his hand on the way out of church as with the priest, do just the same with the bishop. A good morning and a point about the sermon that you particularly heard, whether it the priest or bishop that did the sermon and a thank you for being here with us today would be enough. Just as you would your priest, the bishop is no different.

 

[Reuben_J]

If it helps he is the equivalent of area manager of a company… Give him respect yes but he probably would like you to feel ‘relaxed’ with him unless you are on ceremony meeting him as in guard of honour type cermony. Otherwise if it a case of shaking his hand on the way out of church as with the priest, do just the same with the bishop. A good morning and a point about the sermon that you particularly heard, whether it the priest or bishop that did the sermon and a thank you for being here with us today would be enough. Just as you would your priest, the bishop is no different.

Good point there. Unless formality is required, casual meeting with the Bishop would not demand much protocol. Especially for lay people during or after the mass, he would be seen more as a pastor and encounter with him is based more on cordiality and pleasantry. I could go to Cardinal Pell at the entrance of St Mary after the mass and would say, “It was a nice homily” and he would beam with pleasure at the compliment.

However during formal meeting, especially with other Bishops, if you are representing or a delegate from a movement you may want to be more formal. I would kiss the ring definitely and call him “your lordship” or “your grace’ if he is an Archbishop. This is a gesture of respect and a sign of submission to his authority. No genuflecting though. The bow is there as you have to lower your head in kissing the ring.

 

[Allegra]

I think it’s a good question. We have a bishop that lives at our parish, and thus far, I’ve addressed him as “father” in casual conversation. But I wonder if that is correct. He is some sort of auxillary bishop and not the archbishop of our diocese.

 

[YoungTradCath]

In the United States it is generally accepted that the correct form of address for a bishop or an archbishop is “Your Excellency.” This actually correct everywhere, but in some countries it is also correct–albeit perhaps less formal–to address them as “monsignor,” which means my Lord. In the US we typically only use monsignor to address priests who have been given one of the monsignorial titles (Chaplain of His Holiness, Prelate of Honor, Protonotary Apostolic). “Your Grace” and “Your Lordship” are not used in the US for Catholic bishops.

Cardinals may be addressed as “Your Eminence” or “Lord Cardinal” as per the most recent legal document on the matter, from Paul VI. The latter is less formal, but probably does not appear so.

As far as the bowing, genuflecting and kissing are concerned, it is certainly traditional to genuflect on the knee (usually left) and kiss a bishop’s ring. It is not required, and may be inappropriate in certain circumstances, but it is a traditional Catholic practice and there is nothing wrong with it in principle. People do it to the Pope all the time, and if you have a habit of watching episcopal liturgies on EWTN like liturgy nerds such as me, you see people kissing bishops’ rings all the time as well.

In sum, I would say:

Cardinal, “Your Eminence” or “Lord Cardinal”
Archbishop or bishop, “Your Excellency;” “Bishop” seems rather informal to me unless connected to his surname like “Bishop Johnson,” but is a term of direct address in use (by way of analogy, wouldn’t it seem weird to address the Sovereign Pontiff in person as Pope, as in, “Hello there, Pope!” I think so, rather awkward. Same situation here.)
Genuflecting and kissing may be done, but seems to me dependent on circumstances

 

[Rich_C]

I thought he must be kidding because that would be showing the Bishop more respect than we are allowed to show to our Lord Jesus Christ when we receive Him in the Holy Eucharist.

Our Bishop informed us that when we go for Holy Communion we are Not to genuflect, we are Not to kneel, that a slight bowing of the head is permissable.

When I met him I touched his shoulder and said "Hi, good homily."

LOL

I think your sensibilities are in the right place.

 

[JillianRose]

In the United States it is generally accepted that the correct form of address for a bishop or an archbishop is “Your Excellency.” This actually correct everywhere, but in some countries it is also correct–albeit perhaps less formal–to address them as “monsignor,” which means my Lord. In the US we typically only use monsignor to address priests who have been given one of the monsignorial titles (Chaplain of His Holiness, Prelate of Honor, Protonotary Apostolic). “Your Grace” and “Your Lordship” are not used in the US for Catholic bishops.

Cardinals may be addressed as “Your Eminence” or “Lord Cardinal” as per the most recent legal document on the matter, from Paul VI. The latter is less formal, but probably does not appear so.

As far as the bowing, genuflecting and kissing are concerned, it is certainly traditional to genuflect on the knee (usually left) and kiss a bishop’s ring. It is not required, and may be inappropriate in certain circumstances, but it is a traditional Catholic practice and there is nothing wrong with it in principle. People do it to the Pope all the time, and if you have a habit of watching episcopal liturgies on EWTN like liturgy nerds such as me, you see people kissing bishops’ rings all the time as well.

In sum, I would say:

Cardinal, “Your Eminence” or “Lord Cardinal”
Archbishop or bishop, “Your Excellency;” “Bishop” seems rather informal to me unless connected to his surname like “Bishop Johnson,” but is a term of direct address in use (by way of analogy, wouldn’t it seem weird to address the Sovereign Pontiff in person as Pope, as in, “Hello there, Pope!” I think so, rather awkward. Same situation here.)
Genuflecting and kissing may be done, but seems to me dependent on circumstances

You are right. I noticed on the bulliton it said. “His Excellency”. It was extremely packed so I just shook his hand and smiled. He even blessed my babies and our statues of Guadaloupe and our water for Lordes!! COOL!! He did the Mass in Spanish. Reminds me of the days when we went to Latin mass. Thanks guys I can always count on you so I don’t make a fool out of myself… xoxo

 

[Like]

I thought he must be kidding because that would be showing the Bishop more respect than we are allowed to show to our Lord Jesus Christ when we receive Him in the Holy Eucharist.

Our Bishop informed us that when we go for Holy Communion we are Not to genuflect, we are Not to kneel, that a slight bowing of the head is permissable.

When I met him I touched his shoulder and said “Hi, good homily.”

I understand your statement now that your Bishop informed of what he allows. The only thing our Bishop REQUESTS is to remain standing until all have received.

I was taught by sisters and priests in the late '40’s (early '50’s) to do as Corsair posted. Times are a changing.

 

[moon1234]

It depends on the Bishop as well. Bishop Morlino in the Diocese of Madison is happy to oblige formal respect for his office. It is common for people to kiss his ring and genuflect on the left knee while doing so, especially after Mass and if you have a scheduled meeting. I see this more in the traditional circles though.

In the US we use Your Excellency. Your Lordship is VERY Brittish. Seeing as we had a little spat with the Brittish a few centuries back we typically do not use that title in the US.

 

[ijf90]

I thought he must be kidding because that would be showing the Bishop more respect than we are allowed to show to our Lord Jesus Christ when we receive Him in the Holy Eucharist.

Our Bishop informed us that when we go for Holy Communion we are Not to genuflect, we are Not to kneel, that a slight bowing of the head is permissable.

Oh, that’s heartwrenching. Listen to these videos of Francis Cardinal Arinze as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments… youtube.com/watch?v=Ap1KL2D5ae4 youtube.com/watch?v=Cc0g3UMRtMM

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To the OP, I’m glad it went so well!