Is this normal/okay during the prayers of the faithful?

  • Thread starter Thread starter waanju
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
W

waanju

Guest
At a parish I sometimes attend (slowly transitioning over there, actually) the entire congregation repeats the name of the person we’re praying for during the prayers of the faithful. Like this:
“For all who are suffering in body, mind or spirit, especially Lucia Lopez (All: LUCIA) and Joseph McCann (JOSEPH), we pray to the Lord”
The rest is normal and I can sort of see the thinking behind it. It doesn’t come across as an overly sentimental hugfest sort of thing like it might seem like on paper, maybe because this parish is fairly solemn for a suburban parish in SoCal.
I was just wondering if this was a standard thing, since it’s something I’ve never come across before.
 
waanju said:
At a parish I sometimes attend (slowly transitioning over there, actually) the entire congregation repeats the name of the person we’re praying for during the prayers of the faithful. Like this:
“For all who are suffering in body, mind or spirit, especially Lucia Lopez (All: LUCIA) and Joseph McCann (JOSEPH), we pray to the Lord”
The rest is normal and I can sort of see the thinking behind it. It doesn’t come across as an overly sentimental hugfest sort of thing like it might seem like on paper, maybe because this parish is fairly solemn for a suburban parish in SoCal.
I was just wondering if this was a standard thing, since it’s something I’ve never come across before.
Click to expand...
I haven’t heard of the practice before. Anyplace.
 
Chatter163 said:
Common practice, usually with small groups, and especially at a weekday Mass. Not my favorite, but I first heard it in the late seventies.
Click to expand...
So it’s not TOTALLY unheard of. Okay. This is a rather small parish and it’s the only anomaly they seem to have, so I feel like some long ago pastor started it and the congregation just kept passing it on. It struck me as a little weird, but definitely not the worst thing ever. Still the most reverent Mass that is not in Spanish/Tagalog/Korean in the area.
 
It could be a good thing for the congregation to join in the prayers like that.

Tell me, does the congregation call out each name with equal intensity, more or less? I thought it might be awkward if someone who is more popular or well-liked gets a huge shout, while some relatively unknown person gets a murmur :eek:. If it ever came to that, I think we would have to reconsider the practice.
 
I’m going to offer a contrarian POV. As we keep a Book of the Sick and Book of the Dead, we are thus reminded that besides the specific names of Mass intentions for specific souls, we are offering our prayers for the souls of all the dead, particularly those in purgatory. I think that redowns also to the prayers for the sick, etc. Identifying by name any particular persons in that prayer, no matter how grave their situation, dilutes the universality of the prayer for all souls in the community and universally. How so one might ask? The mention might be “news” to certain folks in the pews, and the Universal Prayer is specifically ordered not to be “newsy” by its canonical structure.
Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule that cannot be ignored. If the POTUS were struck down by some grave illness, one could either place that in the second petition’s place about civic leaders in context of all leaders. If a bishop, the first prayer. But the Universal Prayer should not be liturgically conflated under any circumstances. YMMV
 
Chatter163 said:
Common practice, usually with small groups, and especially at a weekday Mass. Not my favorite, but I first heard it in the late seventies.
Click to expand...
That explains it (late 70s)

Well, the GIRM says:

The intentions are announced from the ambo or from another suitable place, by the deacon or by a cantor, a lector, or one of the lay faithful.[68]

The people, however, stand and give expression to their prayer either by an invocation said together after each intention or by praying in silence.

The GIRM (71) says an invocation AFTER each intention. So that’s the answer.
 
Beryllos said:
It could be a good thing for the congregation to join in the prayers like that.

Tell me, does the congregation call out each name with equal intensity, more or less? I thought it might be awkward if someone who is more popular or well-liked gets a huge shout, while some relatively unknown person gets a murmur :eek:. If it ever came to that, I think we would have to reconsider the practice.
Click to expand...
Well, most names seem to be said with equal intensity… except when the person has a very difficult to pronounce name. Then, there’s some mumbling.

I guess I should clarify that by “small parish”, I mean a couple hundred families… so not everyone knows each other.
 
On a couple of unrelated points which aren’t mention to be critical in any way. Here in the UK it would be very very strange to call the Parisj Priest a ‘Pastor’. That term would usually be used by Pentecostal Christians. And it struck me as strange that in one if the posts the priest was referrered to as ‘pastor’ not THE pastor. Is that usual. What is the term for a curate? And while the Jewish people (at least in the UK) who count the number of families in a congregation, I have never encountered that in our religion. Is that also a cultural norm?
 
Jimmygill said:
On a couple of unrelated points which aren’t mention to be critical in any way. Here in the UK it would be very very strange to call the Parisj Priest a ‘Pastor’. That term would usually be used by Pentecostal Christians. And it struck me as strange that in one if the posts the priest was referrered to as ‘pastor’ not THE pastor. Is that usual. What is the term for a curate? And while the Jewish people (at least in the UK) who count the number of families in a congregation, I have never encountered that in our religion. Is that also a cultural norm?
Click to expand...
It does seem to be a norm in the US (or at least around here) to count the families in the parish. St. So and so has a thousand families registered.
That is interesting about the term “Pastor”. We do use it.
 
Jimmygill said:
On a couple of unrelated points which aren’t mention to be critical in any way. Here in the UK it would be very very strange to call the Parisj Priest a ‘Pastor’. That term would usually be used by Pentecostal Christians. And it struck me as strange that in one if the posts the priest was referrered to as ‘pastor’ not THE pastor. Is that usual. What is the term for a curate? And while the Jewish people (at least in the UK) who count the number of families in a congregation, I have never encountered that in our religion. Is that also a cultural norm?
Click to expand...
A curate is usually referred to as a Parochial Vicar these days, but that is a fairly recent term, used perhaps in the last 10 years or so. When I was growing up in the 70s, the term was usually Assistant Pastor or Associate Pastor.
 
Hmm the unrelated notes are interesting. We have a bunch of parishes near each other, so hardly anyone goes to their geographical parish (mine is actually a bit farther away)… As such, people “register” at the parish where they attend Mass, so everyone knows how many families. As for my use of “pastor”, most parishes in my area have two to four priests, so we call the head parish priest the pastor. No idea why, maybe the prover terminology is too “formal” for Los Angeles.
 
waanju said:
At a parish I sometimes attend (slowly transitioning over there, actually) the entire congregation repeats the name of the person we’re praying for during the prayers of the faithful. Like this:
“For all who are suffering in body, mind or spirit, especially Lucia Lopez (All: LUCIA) and Joseph McCann (JOSEPH), we pray to the Lord”
The rest is normal and I can sort of see the thinking behind it. It doesn’t come across as an overly sentimental hugfest sort of thing like it might seem like on paper, maybe because this parish is fairly solemn for a suburban parish in SoCal.
I was just wondering if this was a standard thing, since it’s something I’ve never come across before.
Click to expand...
Hmm…I’ve lived in Los Angeles all my life and I’ve been/visited many different parishes in the archdiocese, but this is the first time I’ve heard of it. I do know that for Archbishop Gomez (and in the past Cardinal Mahony), the general rule was to leave it up to the pastor of the parish.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top