Greetings AJV,
I figured there were some priests who would recite the words in brackets. But people responding to the The Peace of the Lord be with you with And also with you is much different then them saying Amen during the Eucharistic Prayer in which they should be quiet unless doing the Acclamation.
This should not be happening in regards to the people saying Amen. This is not liturgically correct as it belongs properly to the priest and the concelebrating priest to say the Eucharistic prayer. Congregation should not to respond.
God Bless.
Anathama Sit
You’re right that it “should not be happening” the difficulty though is that when Catholics hear a priest say “through Christ our Lord” the word “Amen” just pops out automatically.
We hear that on occasion in the readings, especially when the reading is the conclusion of one of the Epistles. Just this past Sunday, for example, the reading concluded “To our God and Father, glory forever and ever. Amen.” Sure enough, about half the congregation said aloud “Amen” as the reader was saying “The word of the Lord.” That happened at all of my Masses this past weekend, and I will bet it happened at most parishes as well.
What did I do? Nothing. There was no point in me addressing the congregation and saying “you should not have said amen at the end of the reading.” It would have achieved nothing positive.
Now, if a priest chooses to say the optional words in brackets during the Roman Canon, and he pauses to wait for the congregation to say amen, or he encourages this, it would be a problem (indeed, an abuse).
When this happens unintentionally, it’s better for the priest to simply ignore it at the moment and continue with the Canon as if nothing happened. A priest who uses that option should “probably” find a way to explain to the congregation that no amen is said by them. Perhaps a few words at the end of the homily might be appropriate here. Maybe the priest is already doing that, or something like it.
Based on the information we have, we don’t know if it’s being done intentionally or not. One thing I can say though is that the type of priest who takes liberties with the Mass is generally not likely to be the type of priest who uses the Roman Canon regularly anyway, and is even less likely to say the optional parts.
From my own personal perspective, I used to say those optional “through Christ our Lord amen” but people kept responding “amen”. I then went to saying them in a soft voice, same reaction. After a while, I just stopped saying them. The new Mass translation might be an opportunity for me remind people not to say it, and I might consider trying them again when we use the new Missal. Maybe, maybe not.
