Is it acceptable to delete parts of the Order of the Mass?

[Tom_LaFaver]

My confusion arises from the Invitation to Prayer prior to the Eucharistic Prayers and Consecration.

*Invitation to Prayer:

Priest: Pray, my brothers and sisters, that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.

All: May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands, for the praise and glory of his name,
for our good, and the good of all his Church.*

Our new pastor has made it his mission to ensure that mass never exceeds one hour duration. He tends to rush through things. As far as I can tell, he never has used this prayer.

It was my understanding that the order of the mass is not something that can be altered at an individual priest’s whim, yet this seems to be the case here.

Is this acceptable?

YBIC,
Tom

 

[benedictgal]

My confusion arises from the Invitation to Prayer prior to the Eucharistic Prayers and Consecration.

*Invitation to Prayer:

Priest: Pray, my brothers and sisters, that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.

All: May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands, for the praise and glory of his name,
for our good, and the good of all his Church.*

Our new pastor has made it his mission to ensure that mass never exceeds one hour duration. He tends to rush through things. As far as I can tell, he never has used this prayer.

It was my understanding that the order of the mass is not something that can be altered at an individual priest’s whim, yet this seems to be the case here.

Is this acceptable?

YBIC,
Tom

This is from Redemptionis Sacramentum:

[30.] The office “that belongs to Priests in particular in the celebration of the Eucharist” is a great one, “for it is their responsibility to preside at the Eucharist in persona Christi and to provide a witness to and a service of communion not only for the community directly taking part in the celebration, but also for the universal Church, which is always brought into play within the context of the Eucharist. It must be lamented that, especially in the years following the post-Conciliar liturgical reform, as a result of a misguided sense of creativity and adaptation, there have been a number of abuses which have been a source of suffering for many”.70

[31.] In keeping with the solemn promises that they have made in the rite of Sacred Ordination and renewed each year in the Mass of the Chrism, let Priests celebrate “devoutly and faithfully the mysteries of Christ for the praise of God and the sanctification of the Christian people, according to the tradition of the Church, especially in the Eucharistic Sacrifice and in the Sacrament of Reconciliation”.71 ***They ought not to detract from the profound meaning of their own ministry by corrupting the liturgical celebration either through alteration or omission, or through arbitrary additions.72 ***For as Saint Ambrose said, “It is not in herself … but in us that the Church is injured. Let us take care so that our own failure may not cause injury to the Church”.73 Let the Church of God not be injured, then, by Priests who have so solemnly dedicated themselves to the ministry. Indeed, under the Bishop’s authority let them faithfully seek to prevent others as well from committing this type of distortion.

Furthermore, in his address at the Gateway Liturgical Conference in St. Louis, Archbishop Malcolm Rajih noted that:

Liturgy is never anyone’s private property. No one is permitted to treat the liturgy lightly. It is a treasure given to the Church to be jealously guarded.

In other words, the priest, on his own authority, cannot add to nor subtract from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

 

[FrDavid96]

My confusion arises from the Invitation to Prayer prior to the Eucharistic Prayers and Consecration.

*Invitation to Prayer:

Priest: Pray, my brothers and sisters, that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.

All: May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands, for the praise and glory of his name,
for our good, and the good of all his Church.*

Our new pastor has made it his mission to ensure that mass never exceeds one hour duration. He tends to rush through things. As far as I can tell, he never has used this prayer.

It was my understanding that the order of the mass is not something that can be altered at an individual priest’s whim, yet this seems to be the case here.

Is this acceptable?

YBIC,
Tom

There are parts of the Mass that may be omitted (or not added) at the priest’s discretion. Sometimes, certain prayers may be said aloud, or silently (“Blessed are You Lord God of all creation…”)
That particular prayer is not one of them.
In Mass with a congregation, I cannot imagine any way it could be omitted licitly.

If a priest is celebrating Mass without a congregation AND there is no one there to respond, I believe that prayer may be omitted. The GIRM seems to indicate as much. That, as far as I can tell, would be the only time it would be possible.

 

[Sarabande]

Would that also be the case for omitting the Prayer of the Faithful? I’ve cantored for a couple of weddings at different parishes where I know that the couple had someone to do the Prayer of the Faithful, but the priest would just skip through it.

 

[FrDavid96]

Would that also be the case for omitting the Prayer of the Faithful? I’ve cantored for a couple of weddings at different parishes where I know that the couple had someone to do the Prayer of the Faithful, but the priest would just skip through it.

It’s strongly encouraged, but not strictly speaking required. It’s perfectly licit to omit it. It’s the choice of the priest presiding at that Mass.

 

[Blade_and_Blood]

Why not? Omitting other elements of mass have been acceptable in the past. Why not omit more?

Ironically Yours, Blade and Blood

 

[FrDavid96]

My confusion arises from the Invitation to Prayer prior to the Eucharistic Prayers and Consecration.

*Invitation to Prayer:

Priest: Pray, my brothers and sisters, that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.

All: May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands, for the praise and glory of his name,
for our good, and the good of all his Church.*

Our new pastor has made it his mission to ensure that mass never exceeds one hour duration. He tends to rush through things. As far as I can tell, he never has used this prayer.

It was my understanding that the order of the mass is not something that can be altered at an individual priest’s whim, yet this seems to be the case here.

Is this acceptable?

YBIC,
Tom

By the way, a full hour seems like an awfully long time if the Mass is “abreviated.” I am most curious to know if there is some reason why there appears to be a concern that it won’t end in one hour. Most curious. Thanks.

 

[John_Lilburne]

Completely unacceptable to remove this. The people are meant to stand when the priest has finished saying: “Pray, my brothers and sisters, that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.” Remove this and it creates chaos regarding the correct posture.

 

[Tom_LaFaver]

By the way, a full hour seems like an awfully long time if the Mass is “abreviated.” I am most curious to know if there is some reason why there appears to be a concern that it won’t end in one hour. Most curious. Thanks.

This is our Sunday mass, which lasted about 1:15 before he arrived as our new parish. The parish is large, and there are usually 1200 + people at Sunday masses. So communion takes a bit longer than in smaller parishes.

 

[Tom_LaFaver]

Completely unacceptable to remove this. The people are meant to stand when the priest has finished saying: “Pray, my brothers and sisters, that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.” Remove this and it creates chaos regarding the correct posture.

When he first arrived as our new pastor, there was much confusion. The confusion continues as he generally rushes the entire mass.

 

[benedictgal]

When he first arrived as our new pastor, there was much confusion. The confusion continues as he generally rushes the entire mass.

Tom, have y’all thought of maybe revising the Mass schedule? Perhaps if you put a tad bit of space between Masses, that would help alleviate the problem. This is certainly better than applying a hatchet approach to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

At my old parish in Austin, they retooled the Mass schedule just a tad so as to allow enough time for a properly celebrated Holy Sacrifice and ample transition between the liturgies.

 

[SongBird59]

My understanding is that no cleric - priest, bishop or deacon - has the right to alter anything in the liturgy. I believe the guidelines are very clear on this point.

 

[FrDavid96]

My understanding is that no cleric - priest, bishop or deacon - has the right to alter anything in the liturgy. I believe the guidelines are very clear on this point.

Well, yes and no. No one may change the Mass on his own authority. The Church does make provision for certain parts of the Mass to be omitted in certain circumstances, or simply as a general option. The issue here is to ask “is that part one of those parts?”

 

[Tom_LaFaver]

Tom, have y’all thought of maybe revising the Mass schedule? Perhaps if you put a tad bit of space between Masses, that would help alleviate the problem. This is certainly better than applying a hatchet approach to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

At my old parish in Austin, they retooled the Mass schedule just a tad so as to allow enough time for a properly celebrated Holy Sacrifice and ample transition between the liturgies.

This should not really be an issue. we have Sunday mass at 8:00, 9:30, 11:30, & 1:30 pm. With our previous pastor, and 70-80 minute masses, there was ample time to transition.

 

[FrCorey]

By the way, a full hour seems like an awfully long time if the Mass is “abreviated.” I am most curious to know if there is some reason why there appears to be a concern that it won’t end in one hour. Most curious. Thanks.

a Hour? OMG
go to a orthodox catholic mass once, they are around
3 or 4 hours and most is done behind a screen from the congregation.

 

[FrDavid96]

I’m just not seeing it. Even given that Communion will take a relatively long time for 1200 people, the rest of the Mass shouldn’t take so long that it fills up the rest of the hour…
…that is unless some other parts of the Mass are being overly extended.

I timed myself (spare me the laughs, please ). It took me less than 10 seconds to say “Pray brethren that our Sacrifice…the good of all His Church.” And I wasn’t even trying to rush it.

In my own experiences, even in large parishes, the only time the Mass goes over an hour is when some things are being overly-extended. I just don’t get it.
I certainly don’t see how skipping part of the offertory rite actually saves any time.
And most of all I don’t see how, given the fact that the priest is already rushing things, Mass it taking an hour.

I don’t doubt the facts that the OP has presented here, I just don’t get it.

 

[benedictgal]

I’m just not seeing it. Even given that Communion will take a relatively long time for 1200 people, the rest of the Mass shouldn’t take so long that it fills up the rest of the hour…
…that is unless some other parts of the Mass are being overly extended.

I timed myself (spare me the laughs, please ). It took me less than 10 seconds to say “Pray brethren that our Sacrifice…the good of all His Church.” And I wasn’t even trying to rush it.

In my own experiences, even in large parishes, the only time the Mass goes over an hour is when some things are being overly-extended. I just don’t get it.
I certainly don’t see how skipping part of the offertory rite actually saves any time.
And most of all I don’t see how, given the fact that the priest is already rushing things, Mass it taking an hour.

I don’t doubt the facts that the OP has presented here, I just don’t get it.

Of course, the parish could have fallen prey to the mistaken notion that one has to sing every verse in every song used for Mass. The pastor of one of our parishes has also decided that he will process out as the final verse of the final song is sung. He’s chosen some pretty long ones. It is really frustrating to go to that parish, especially when the songs are bad and, rather than looking at the altar as he’s waiting to process out, the priest stands front and center to make sure that no one is leaving before he does. In fact, he has shouted at people for leaving “early” (mind you after the dismissal) and has had the ushers bring the departed back into the church.

I asked my PV and he told me that there is no such requirement that every verse of every song has to be sung.