No Homily Today

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I was very upset today. I look forward to the homily. It is usually eye opening for me. Today however, we did not have a homily. A video was shown instead! :eek: There was a video from our bishop about the current diocean appeal. Then afterwards, the pastoral associate said a few words underscoring the importance of giving and saying that we will be recieving a phone call from the priest or a fellow parishoner. I was so upset about this. I am pretty sure that this isn’t what that time in Mass is earmarked for.

Sorry to complain here. Guess I just needed to get it off of my chest to people who care.

What would you do? Normally I would talk to the priest, and then the bishop. I don’t know if that would really be appropriate here?
 
You did hear a homily. It was from the Bishop and it was on the topic of Stewardship and the diocesan appeal.

This is completely within the Bishop’s authority. I am surprised you have never encountered the Bishop’s appeal before now.
 
This weekend in our diocese, we had a 12-minute video on stewardship- by the bishop. It tied directly into the Gospel reading. This year’s diocesan appeal is even themed, “Feed my sheep”. It showed how six of the parishes in our diocese practice stewardship. The priest also talked on how our parish was tied to the Gospel reading, and how it was our responsibility to help “feed my sheep” not just the burden of the priests of the diocese, even in tight economic times.

Father Serpa might have said that the homily should not be replaced with a video, just some tie-in from another source to replace the homily. He did not say that he, Father Serpa, had authority over bishops. When a bishop needs to see all the parishes in his dicoese, he can’t make it to every parish, even in a week. In the olden days, before there was such media, he would have had a letter read “from the pulpit” by each pastor. This way, he can do it himself, and get his point across without any interpretation on the part of his priests. Pope John Paul II endorsed modern media as a source of evangelism (otherwise, you might not have this forum).

I am sorry there was disappointment at not receiving a homily, in that it was not the format of strictly exegesis and elaboration on the day’s readings. But, it was one week out of 52, for another form of catechesis. It was for a purpose, not to take away from anybody’s “eye opening” or catechesis. In fact, it was catechesis!

If it was me (oh wait, it was), I would prayerfully consider how much I can afford to give to the diocesan appeal this year, and then do so. 🙂
 
My parish saw that same kind of video more then two months ago, maybe even longer now.

It was shorter then our pastors regular homily, so no one complained much.:rolleyes:
 
My suggestion is to write the Bishop and complain. What the priest did was not acceptable.
 
Kanda said:
I was very upset today. I look forward to the homily. It is usually eye opening for me. Today however, we did not have a homily. A video was shown instead! :eek: There was a video from our bishop about the current diocean appeal. Then afterwards, the pastoral associate said a few words underscoring the importance of giving and saying that we will be recieving a phone call from the priest or a fellow parishoner. I was so upset about this. I am pretty sure that this isn’t what that time in Mass is earmarked for.

Sorry to complain here. Guess I just needed to get it off of my chest to people who care.

What would you do? Normally I would talk to the priest, and then the bishop. I don’t know if that would really be appropriate here?
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The Bishop may address the parish via media during the homily time. He may use DVD, Audio, or have a letter read.
 
chrysostom15 said:
My suggestion is to write the Bishop and complain. What the priest did was not acceptable.
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If she writes the bishop and complains she will embarrass herself. It is completely within the bishop’s authority to have a letter read or a video shown to give his homily message regarding stewardship-- or anything else.

You are inaccurate to say what the priest did was unacceptable. He is under the bishop’s authority, and the bishop has the authority to have a homily of his read/shown at Mass.

Don’t forget, the Bishop is the shepherd of the entire flock of the diocese.
 
1ke said:
If she writes the bishop and complains she will embarrass herself. It is completely within the bishop’s authority to have a letter read or a video shown to give his homily message regarding stewardship-- or anything else.

You are inaccurate to say what the priest did was unacceptable. He is under the bishop’s authority, and the bishop has the authority to have a homily of his read/shown at Mass.

Don’t forget, the Bishop is the shepherd of the entire flock of the diocese.
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Exactly. And what’s the bishop going to say? “Gee, did I talk too long? Did I not make my point? Did Father Whatshisface fiddle with the DVD so my message wasn’t clear?”
 
Well, I feel sheepish. 😊 I had never encountered this before. Any time that the bishop wanted to say something, he has always done it in person before. I was just so surprised and it was such a deviation from the norm that I thought it wasn’t right.

You are right. It was a message about stewardship. I was so set in my mind that I didn’t open my heart to the message that was really being given.

I am very ashamed of myself. Thank you all for helping me see my faults and for not making me feel bad or stupid about it.

I appologize for my unwarrented rant and for taking your time on the issue. I am still learning. :o
 
Last Sunday (Divine Mercy Sunday), my priest finished proclaiming the Gospel and then physically slumped on the ambo. He said, “With Holy Week last week and three funerals this past week, I’m preached out. I won’t be talking much today.” He took about two minutes and briefly tied the readings into Divine Mercy Sunday.

My first inclination was to be appalled. Then I thought about it: Two parishes. Two Holy Thursday Masses. Two Good Friday Masses of the Pre-Sanctified. One Vigil. Three Easter Sunday Masses. A week of Daily Masses. Three funerals. Three extra evenings set aside for Confession the first part of Holy Week. No Vicar, no Deacon.

I took a moment at Communion to prayer for Father’s health and thank God for his dedicated service to two parishes. Rather than be upset that Father didn’t preach a long Homily, I prayed for an increase to vocations to the priesthood in our diocese. I prayed for the Holy Spirit to grant the Bishop the wisdom to run another class of Deacon candidates.

I left Mass grateful that Father was able to preach briefly on Divine Mercy, and appalled that our diocese’s clergy shortage was so great that he was only able to give a brief message.

Sorry to take this off-topic. Just needed to vent and share.
 
Kanda said:
Well, I feel sheepish. 😊 I had never encountered this before. Any time that the bishop wanted to say something, he has always done it in person before. I was just so surprised and it was such a deviation from the norm that I thought it wasn’t right.

You are right. It was a message about stewardship. I was so set in my mind that I didn’t open my heart to the message that was really being given.

I am very ashamed of myself. Thank you all for helping me see my faults and for not making me feel bad or stupid about it.

I appologize for my unwarrented rant and for taking your time on the issue. I am still learning. :o
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Don’t feel too guilty. You don’t want to take too much of the bishop’s stewardship speech to heart. You don’t want the diocesan finance people to faint because you have “carried” your whole parish allotment.😉
 
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