Homilist walking to and fro in/out of the sanctuary

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2heartsaz1

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#1. Our Bishop and several priests here in the desert tend to present their homily while moving as in to and fro, left to right, to center in the sanctuary and sometimes down near the front pews out of the sanctuary or even down the aisle. I understand the method of teaching is to hold attention and focus for all of us ADHD folks who have been harrassed during the week at the grocery store with crass lyrics and music while trying to read our shopping list… but what really gets me is
#2. when the homilist calls up several children to stand and/or role play during the homily or re-enactment of the Gospel or some like activity.

Should I be thinking something’s not quite right here or am I just nitpicky?

BLessings and Christ’s peace
which surpasses all understanding.
 
I sat in on my husband’s homiletics classes. The homilist can move, as long as he doesn’t leave the Sanctuary. Calling little kids up? I don’t like it, but I saw a bishop/Canon lawyer do it.
 
Moving around can be distracting, but I’m not sure if it’s necessarily incompatible with the following directive:
“The priest, standing at the chair or at the ambo itself or, when appropriate, in another suitable place, gives the homily” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 136).Just staying in place, whether at the chair or at the ambo, sounds like a great idea to me!
 
Detroit Sue:
I sat in on my husband’s homiletics classes. The homilist can move, as long as he doesn’t leave the Sanctuary. Calling little kids up? I don’t like it, but I saw a bishop/Canon lawyer do it.
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No one is to be in the Sanctuary during Mass except those ministers who have a specific function in the Sanctuary. The Homily I believe is to be given from the Ambo. Only a Bishop may give a homily from the chair seated. But in either case both are located in the Sanctuary.
 
We had a deacon and a curate who liked to stroll through the congregation with a wireless microphone as they preached. I often refer to these as the Opra Winfry homilies. (I suspect the deacon started to do it because father started to do it. They really like to “outcool” each other.)

[Slight change of subjet]
Remember the humeral veil used during benediction. The Priest or Deacon uses it during the Eucharistic Blessing. I was told that the veil is used to cover the priest’s hands, thereby putting himself in the background as much as possible, because Christ is really blessing us, not the priest or deacon.

[OK back to the topic at hand]
I like it when the homily is delivered from the ambo (or pulpit or whatever your want to call it.) The homilist has roughly 7 to 10 minutes to delivery the homily. On top of that most people in the congregation will try to find any excuse they can to avoid listening. The homilist’s personality understandably has to come out just to hold the congregation.

But, the homily is part the “Liturgy of the Word”, the proclamation of the Word of God. To my way of thinking, the ambo is like the humeral veil. Preaching from the ambo places the preacher in the background. Preaching from the ambo helps to keep us focused on the Word of God and not Father Dave’s latest remarkable insight or Deacon Vince’s outrageously funny joke. The homily is really serious business. (This doesn’t mean I’m against hearing a good joke during the homily.)

I really appreciate homilists who preach from the ambo. (I really hate that word as well as the word beatitude and any word that ends in “esis”.) It helps me maintain perspective. It helps me get serious. The homily shouldn’t be subjected to new gimmicks to drive up ratings. “Render to Opra the things that are Opra’s and to the homily the things that are the homily’s.”

Just call me a fuddy duddy.
 
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MackerelSnapper:
Just call me a fuddy duddy.
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Fuddy duddy.

😉

Tricia Frances
 
Our pastor walks around the sanctuary during most all of his homilies. His homilies are NEVER boring, he is a great teacher/speaker and he has sooooo much energy that I think if he stood still for the homily he would “bust” :whacky:

For me, it just seems more personal, like he is talking just to ME. Everyone I have talked to says the same thing. when Father gives his homily, its like he is talking just to me. :bounce:

God has blessed us with a holy and beautiful priest.
 
There’s a priest that does the same thing in Leesburg. I never go there. They brodcast on tv. IT DRIVES ME NUTS!!! I want to go there one day and install a bunji cord supporter to strap a bunji cord to his vestaments.
 
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Voice_Of_Reason:
There’s a priest that does the same thing in Leesburg. I never go there. They brodcast on tv. IT DRIVES ME NUTS!!! I want to go there one day and install a bunji cord supporter to strap a bunji cord to his vestaments.
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Great Idea!! :rotfl:

Annie
 
2heartsaz1 said:
#1. Our Bishop and several priests here in the desert tend to present their homily while moving as in to and fro, left to right, to center in the sanctuary and sometimes down near the front pews out of the sanctuary or even down the aisle. I understand the method of teaching is to hold attention and focus for all of us ADHD folks who have been harrassed during the week at the grocery store with crass lyrics and music while trying to read our shopping list… but what really gets me is
#2. when the homilist calls up several children to stand and/or role play during the homily or re-enactment of the Gospel or some like activity.

Should I be thinking something’s not quite right here or am I just nitpicky?

BLessings and Christ’s peace
which surpasses all understanding.
Click to expand...

Nitpicky. Every shepherd has his own style, including using children as a means of getting them involved in a mass that can otherwise seem interminable (by childhood standards). Sometimes we have to remember that our priests do their best to make mass new everytime they say it. Moving around and reaching out to the congregation really is a good thing, especially for a homily that needs to sink in and become part of us before we leave. This is not an abuse by any measure and it’s time to sit back and enjoy the mass for what it is and not as a sum of its parts.
 
loyola rambler:
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This is not an abuse by any measure and it’s time to sit back and enjoy the mass for what it is and not as a sum of its parts.
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Actually I have read that walking back and forth, while giving the homily, is an abuse. The priest should be giving the homily either at the podium or at the chair where he sits. He is not supposed to move around, or leave the sanctuary. I may be wrong at what it’s called, but I’m thinking it is one of the abuses listed in a Girm?? I’ll have to track it down.

:blessyou:
Annie
 
This is one of the rules of the church regarding the priest walking out of the Sanctuary while giving his homily.

The priest is actually prohibited from leaving the sanctuary while giving the homily. (GIRM 97)

:blessyou:
Annie
 
Apostolic Constitution
Promulgation of the Roman Missal Revised by Decree of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council
  1. The homily is given at the chair or at the lectern.
Our priest walks to and fro during his homily, and it’s like watching a tennis match. All the congregation’s heads are moving back and forth, creating a draft. 😃

Annie
 
loyola rambler:
…Moving around and reaching out to the congregation really is a good thing, especially for a homily that needs to sink in and become part of us before we leave. This is not an abuse by any measure and it’s time to sit back and enjoy the mass for what it is and not as a sum of its parts.
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Yea the priest or deacon can take a lot of unjustified heat for this. I think it says a lot about those of us in the congregation. This approach seems good because the members of the congregation don’t take time to prepare for Mass.
 
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