How does this sit with you?

[georgewithfaith]

After receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion the Mass ends. Right after receiving Christ some people like to stay in prayer and adoration for some time after Mass.

Now what if the priest immediately after Mass, takes about an hour to deliver a message to those assembled addressing his concerns about someone in the parish who called him greedy in a conversation they had during the week? The priest said he was hurt by these allegations of being called greedy. It is a new parish, they recently bought the building and there was controversy because not everyone wanted it. The raised funds for a car for the priest and now are considering raising funds for him to have a house.

Is this disrespectful to the Eucharist to address such concerns immediately after Mass? Could there have been another way to approach this matter? Maybe it was appropriate for the priest to take that time to talk about his concerns.

 

[Mrs_Sally]

I’m not sure I agree with the idea of a priest taking an hour after Mass to spontaneously air a personal grievence, but it does seem reasonable to have a scheduled time after a Sunday Mass when the parish is at the church anyway to discuss a major fund-raising effort and where and how the monies are to be spent.

 

[Pregustator]

1. You can leave at the dismissal, so nobody was obliged to stick around and listen to him; that’s to his credit.
2. What kind of craker jack parish are we talking about here? Is this a mainstream, diocesan church?

 

[georgewithfaith]

1. You can leave at the dismissal, so nobody was obliged to stick around and listen to him; that’s to his credit.
2. What kind of craker jack parish are we talking about here? Is this a mainstream, diocesan church?

You pose a fair question. The parish is a syro-malabar parish. It is part of the syro-malabar diocese under Mar Bishop Angadiath in the U.S.A.

 

[HCC]

After receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion the Mass ends. Right after receiving Christ some people like to stay in prayer and adoration for some time after Mass.

Now what if the priest immediately after Mass, takes about an hour to deliver a message to those assembled addressing his concerns about someone in the parish who called him greedy in a conversation they had during the week? The priest said he was hurt by these allegations of being called greedy. It is a new parish, they recently bought the building and there was controversy because not everyone wanted it. The raised funds for a car for the priest and now are considering raising funds for him to have a house.

Is this disrespectful to the Eucharist to address such concerns immediately after Mass? Could there have been another way to approach this matter? Maybe it was appropriate for the priest to take that time to talk about his concerns.

Let’s see…arrogance, hubris, immaturity and yes, greedy…what else comes to mind?

I’ve dealt with this sort of thing before, when a priest asks, “Can everyone stick around after Mass, I need to address something important?” So, I wait to hear what it is about, then I roll my eyes, get up in the middle of the speech, genuflect and exit. I usually sit near the front, so when I have done that, it happens to have more impact.

It is this type of behavior that makes me think married priests would be a good thing. It would force a good many of them to grow up and make more responsible decisions with other’s time and money.

 

[PatriceA]

After receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion the Mass ends. Right after receiving Christ some people like to stay in prayer and adoration for some time after Mass.

Now what if the priest immediately after Mass, takes about an hour to deliver a message to those assembled addressing his concerns about someone in the parish who called him greedy in a conversation they had during the week? The priest said he was hurt by these allegations of being called greedy. It is a new parish, they recently bought the building and there was controversy because not everyone wanted it. The raised funds for a car for the priest and now are considering raising funds for him to have a house.

Is this disrespectful to the Eucharist to address such concerns immediately after Mass? Could there have been another way to approach this matter? Maybe it was appropriate for the priest to take that time to talk about his concerns.

If the concerns are multiple within the parish, and need to be addressed before the rumor mill goes out of whack, than addressing the parish as a whole while they are still assembled after mass would be the best opportunity.

Our local town is currently working on combining/closing a few of the surrounding parishes. The rumor mill was running at such a high level that our priest finally had to address the situation during one of his homilies.

I would give your priest the benefit of the doubt in this situation.

 

[ConstantineTG]

After receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion the Mass ends. Right after receiving Christ some people like to stay in prayer and adoration for some time after Mass.

Now what if the priest immediately after Mass, takes about an hour to deliver a message to those assembled addressing his concerns about someone in the parish who called him greedy in a conversation they had during the week? The priest said he was hurt by these allegations of being called greedy. It is a new parish, they recently bought the building and there was controversy because not everyone wanted it. The raised funds for a car for the priest and now are considering raising funds for him to have a house.

Is this disrespectful to the Eucharist to address such concerns immediately after Mass? Could there have been another way to approach this matter? Maybe it was appropriate for the priest to take that time to talk about his concerns.

If its after Mass, then its fine. The Mass is done. I’ve had a pastor who’d rant during the Announcements part, but not for half an hour. Our parish had problems getting things done for repairs and sometimes he would rant during Announcements.

 

[yellowbird]

Let’s see…arrogance, hubris, immaturity and yes, greedy…what else comes to mind?

I’ve dealt with this sort of thing before, when a priest asks, “Can everyone stick around after Mass, I need to address something important?” So, I wait to hear what it is about, then I roll my eyes, get up in the middle of the speech, genuflect and exit. I usually sit near the front, so when I have done that, it happens to have more impact.

It is this type of behavior that makes me think married priests would be a good thing. It would force a good many of them to grow up and make more responsible decisions with other’s time and money.

How do you know the Priest wasn’t in the right? Maybe he wanted to address people’s concerns about the $ situation. I think it’s rude to hope to have the most “impact” when you’re leaving to prove some sort of point. Especially when it’s your Priest. Have some respect for the office why don’t you?

And what a laugh that married Priests might solve the problems you identified. Like husbands are always mature & responsible, making good decisions with other’s time and money? You’re joking, right?

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

It is this type of behavior that makes me think married priests would be a good thing. It would force a good many of them to grow up and make more responsible decisions with other’s time and money.

While I understand your point (as insulting as it might be to some), I do have to note that married deacons aren’t much better than priests in regards to these types of things. I’ve met more than one deacon in love with the sound of his own voice. So I don’t think it comes to down to married v. celibate.

 

[HCC]

How do you know the Priest wasn’t in the right? Maybe he wanted to address people’s concerns about the $ situation. I think it’s rude to hope to have the most “impact” when you’re leaving to prove some sort of point. Especially when it’s your Priest. Have some respect for the office why don’t you?

You are correct. I was not there, so I don’t know the situation, I was going on the OP’s frustration, a sentiment I have shared a number of times over the years. I only get up and leave to make a point when it is something ridiculous or inane, obviously there are times when community concerns or needs have to be addressed.

I am curious though, why do these little talks always revolve around some sort of secular matter or scandal? Why is it that a priest never gets up and says, “It has come to my attention over the last few months that many people in our congregation are living together, outside of marriage…” or “I would like to take a few moments of your time, if your don’t mind staying because I want to clarify our understanding, as a Catholic community, of the real presence of the Body and Blood of Our Dear Lord…”

I’ll eat my shorts!

 

[puzzleannie]

After receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion the Mass ends. Right after receiving Christ some people like to stay in prayer and adoration for some time after Mass.

Now what if the priest immediately after Mass, takes about an hour to deliver a message to those assembled addressing his concerns about someone in the parish who called him greedy in a conversation they had during the week? The priest said he was hurt by these allegations of being called greedy. It is a new parish, they recently bought the building and there was controversy because not everyone wanted it. The raised funds for a car for the priest and now are considering raising funds for him to have a house.

Is this disrespectful to the Eucharist to address such concerns immediately after Mass? Could there have been another way to approach this matter? Maybe it was appropriate for the priest to take that time to talk about his concerns.

If the priest has a matter he needs to take up with the whole parish, right after Mass seems the most appropriate time. What alternative would you suggest?

 

[Bob_Aliano]

It is this type of behavior that makes me think married priests would be a good thing. It would force a good many of them to grow up and make more responsible decisions with other’s time and money.

A 30 second scan of the current private debt situation around the world would clearly indicate the nonsense of this statement! More relevantly, do you believe Congress is good at managing others time and money because the politicians are married?

 

[bkayw]

When our 25 year ordained priest arrived at our parish, he did the same thing. Got all offended about a conversation he had with someone in the parish and then without using names, he brought the conversation before the entire parish.





That’s just a stupid move over nothing. Didn’t help him or the person who mistakenly thought he/she was having a semiprivate conversation with him.

I still haven’t been to confession with him.

 

[Aramis]

Disrespectful? No.
Unfortunate? Perhaps; young parishes are a major expense, and EC parishes generally smallish (even when large, by Roman standards, not big). He probably reached almost the entire parish thusly.

Hopefully, it was effective.