Letters instead of sermons

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Polak

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So I’m sure some people will think I am being picky here, but I was wondering what people’s views are on when the priest reads a letter rather than saying a sermon in church?

I personally am not a fan of letters from the higher ups in the church, that have to be read by priests during mass. It doesn’t have that personal touch of a priest actually giving a sermon to his parishioners in his own words.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes the letters the priest reads can be interesting to listen to, but I just feel, a pre-written letter can be given out and read by parishioners any time, but during the mass the priest ought to be allowed to always give the message of that Sunday in his own way. It just seems like the bishop or whoever writes the letter to be read out on a given Sunday, gets to force people listen to what he wants to say, without even having to be there. Well, perhaps ‘force’ is a bit harsh, but you know what I mean [I hope]. It’s like ‘right, instead of giving a sermon to your parishioners and saying what you want to say, here is a letter from me. I want you to read what I have to say, all around the country.’

It isn’t a big deal I suppose, but it’s my personal feeling. When I’m in church and it’s time for the sermon and I see the priest beginning to read a letter, I’m not as interested as I would be in listening to his sermon, particularly as I enjoy my priest’s sermons [I still listen though of course].
 
Polak said:
So I’m sure some people will think I am being picky here, but I was wondering what people’s views are on when the priest reads a letter rather than saying a sermon in church?
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If that’s what the Bishop says to do, then that’s what he has to do. Does this happen often? It’s rare in our Archdiocese.
 
The homily is an important part of the Mass, but not the most important part of the Mass.

In fact in Daily Mass, it’s optional.

Some people place too much importance on the homily…they desire to be stimulated, moved, encouraged. That’s fine, but next to being present at Our Lord, during the Last Supper, His Passion, His Death, and His resurrection (which we get to be part of at EVERY Mass), a homily is quite insignificant.

I think the protestants dwell on sermons and on moving orations, Catholics shouldn’t. We have the Eucharist.

The purpose of the homily is to move the intellect or the will, or both.

A well-formed Catholic - despite a terribly rambling, badly developed homily - can still squeeze out a marvelous resolution for the week, from any homily, leveraging also the rich readings the Church generously lines up for us at each and every Mass.

An occasional letter is fine. No big deal. We need to stop complaining and instead search for some content from the Mass( if not from the Readings or the homily, or all the other liturgical prayer’s we’re generously given, then from our own abandoning prayer in the middle of the Mass) to form a useful resolution to work on.

Leave the complaining to the “protestants”. They protest we don’t…we use the virtue of enterprise to pull out of the Mass something very useful for our interior life in the week ahead, however lacking the homily if some letter is read.

If the pastor or priest thought it was needed or would be useful…trust him. Obey him, practice docility. Pray for him.
 
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Our archbishop usually has a short video (with a letter for parishes not set up with AV equipment) for messages he REALLY wants everyone to get, but it is short enough that it does not preclude a homily.

As for letting the priests say it their own way, if the message is from the Archbishop I think the priests are fine with letting him write what he wants said rather than giving them a “writing assignment” and that could lose some of his meaning in translation.
 
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I don’t have an issue with a priest reading it during mass. Actually, I think it’s a good idea, so everyone knows.

However, I would not be a fan of the priest reading the letter as his homily. I would prefer the priest read the letter AND give a homily.

I’m also not a fan of a priest playing a video from the Bishop during the Homily. I think any videos should be shown either before mass officially starts or after mass officially ends (before the recessional hymn)

God bless.
 
Hey Wo, sorry I didn’t see your whole name, I believe on Sundays they are the priests own words, during the week , he just reads from the Gospels , on Sundays I believe he may just be glancing down on his notes to make sure he didn’t leave anything out. I find it helpful, instead of just listening to Rock on my FM in the car, there are a lot of good Christian Radio, Dr Dobson, etc they don’t have to be Roman Catholic messages, anyone who preaches love/peace and will make me a better husband, father, friend, I will listen to that person. Hope it helps, reading Letters from the Prophets, Apostles, Psalms etc can be inspirational. Hope you get more out of your local priest. I’ve never left Church feeling poorly. I hope this is not your case and I’m not judging in ANY WAY, God Bless, have a great day.
 
Was your priest mandated to read these letters?

During the annual Catholic Appeal, the bishop in my diocese mandated that parishes actually replace the homily with a film containing a fundraising appeal. I was pretty put off by it, but it only happened once a year.

It also would depend on the content of the letter. We read at least excerpts from the letters and epistles of Paul at Mass all the time, don’t we? 😉
 
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In my diocese, we hear directly from our Bishop by letter and or video once or twice a year. Mostly once a year to ASK us to donate to the Diocesan Annual Appeal to fund the social work done at the Diocesan level.

We have 100 parishes and our Bishop just cannot make a personal appearance to each one, at each Mass during the fund raising season. Corporal Works of Mercy need funding. He asks through a letter and video.
 
Our Archbishop does the same, but it’s designed to take up the entire homily.

Our pastor will give some words on the readings however. It makes the Mass extra long, but we understand that this is necessary to keep all the ministries of the Chancery going along with its various charitable efforts, and for the support of the seminarians which is a top priority. We have anywhere from 50-70 seminarians in formation in any given year.
 
Yes, the people in the pews tend to not realize what everything costs.
 
The only time I can remember the Priest in our parish reading a letter was when it was something sent out by the Archdiocese.
 
My bishop sends a letter to the parishes for Lent every year that is supposed to be read instead of the homily. The priests and deacons are the bishop´s local area representatives. There is a priest who asked me if father X read the letter or preached at the Mass I went to. When I said father X preached about the contents of the Gospel reading the other priest just said: “Father X should have read the Bishop´s letter!!!”

The letter is translated into several languages and can be found on the diocese website. The bishop hasn’t sent a video yet but I guess there could be in the future.
 
I love it…someone was “pretty put off” by being asked to be generous.

When we ask people to be generous…we’re doing them a favor!
When we ask some people to ask others to be generous…we’re doing them even a bigger favor!

Being asked to be generous helps us to grow.

we need a “re-think” around your reaction; it’s a form of consumerism.
 
Most of the time it’s politicking from the pulpit. Which is illegal in the United States.
 
Dhc8_Type said:
Most of the time it’s politicking from the pulpit. Which is illegal in the United States.
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Good thing it wasn’t illegal back in the biblical times or our Bible would be pretty thin. 😄
 
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As a practical matter, wouldn’t it be more appropriate to read the letter before the final prayer instead of at the homily?
 
The bishop is the pastor of the diocese and the priests are his representatives sent by him to serve in your parish. If he wishes to get a certain message across throughout his diocese and can’t be in every place at the same time, why not have a letter be read? There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
 
I like a good homily as much as the next person but I’ll take a letter from the Bishop over the read homilies from a homiletic service that is the norm in our parish.

On the odd occasion that our priest has been unavailable on a weekend and his confrère, who resides in our rectory and serves the Mission down the road, celebrated Mass for us it was refreshing to listen to a homily that was spoken directly to us, rather than read, if you know what I mean. He usually even asks a question that he hopes someone will answer. He doesn’t put anyone on the spot, but he’s always happy to get a response for a member of the congregation.
 
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