Palm Sunday Gospel & Homily

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Today, Palm Sunday, at our Traditional Latin Mass, a lay person read the entire Gospel in English out loud from the lectern while our priest quietly read the Gospel in Latin to himself. Afterwards, there was no Homily (we went directly to the Credo).

Everything I’ve read says that a priest or a deacon must proclaim the Gospel, unless the Passion is chanted using three different parts (then a lay person may chant one of the parts, but not from within the sanctuary); also, that a Homily is required on Sundays.

Can anybody direct me to a document that permits this?
 
What, you mean their are liturgical abuses in the EF Mass as well? That cannot be! :eek:

Sorry for the sarcasm.

I don’t know much about the EF Mass. At our OF Palm Sunday Mass today there was no homily. But it was in a Benedictine Abbey, fully chanted in Gregorian Chant and French plainchant, and it was 2 hours long.
 
amgp said:
Today, Palm Sunday, at our Traditional Latin Mass, a lay person read the entire Gospel in English out loud from the lectern while our priest quietly read the Gospel in Latin to himself. Afterwards, there was no Homily (we went directly to the Credo).

Everything I’ve read says that a priest or a deacon must proclaim the Gospel, unless the Passion is chanted using three different parts (then a lay person may chant one of the parts, but not from within the sanctuary); also, that a Homily is required on Sundays.

Can anybody direct me to a document that permits this?
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Sounds like the priest did in fact proclaim the Gospel, you did say he read it in Latin. Today’s Gospel is so long that it is normal to only have it in Latin, add to that the blessing and distribution of the palms and a sermon is often omitted, you got a benefit if someone read it to you in English while the priest read it in Latin. Doesn’t sound much different than following along in your missal at a weekday Mass where the priest only reads the Latin Gospel.
 
Bob_Aliano said:
Sounds like the priest did in fact proclaim the Gospel, you did say he read it in Latin. Today’s Gospel is so long that it is normal to only have it in Latin, add to that the blessing and distribution of the palms and a sermon is often omitted, you got a benefit if someone read it to you in English while the priest read it in Latin. Doesn’t sound much different than following along in your missal at a weekday Mass where the priest only reads the Latin Gospel.
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The Priest read it to himself, no? That’s not proclaiming the Gospel.
 
Bob_Aliano said:
There was no Liturgical abuse in this case, see my post above, end of story.
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Sorry but in my mind “proclaim” is a public act and should be loud enough so that someone who does understand Latin could hear it.
 
OraLabora said:
Sorry but in my mind “proclaim” is a public act and should be loud enough so that someone who does understand Latin could hear it.
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If the Altar Boys responded the Gospel was audible, perhaps you should have served. There were many in our church and I suspect many other churches who were using the little red booklet and did not get the benefit of the Gospel at all, might as well have been silent as aloud in Latin for them. I have been to many weekday Masses in which the the priest was barely audible, not so unusual.
 
OraLabora said:
Sorry but in my mind “proclaim” is a public act and should be loud enough so that someone who does understand Latin could hear it.
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This is the 1962 Rubric covering the Gospel:

“Then, standing with his hands joined at his breast, as above, he reads the Gospel until the end. When he has finished, the minister standing at the Epistle side below the lowest step of the Altar replies:
Laus tibi, Christe.”

Note two things; there is no mention of reading the Gospel in an elevated voice as is instructed in other parts of the Mass and the Altar Boy who is supposed to respond is the one furthest from the Gospel side of the altar, he has to hear the priest. The response comes before the priest kisses the Gospel so there is no outward clue, it has to be audible.
 
Bob_Aliano said:
I think you need to find another nit to pick at, this was not Liturgical abuse.
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Did you really mean to address this comment to me? What exactly am I nitpicking at? Further, did see me use the term “liturgical abuse” in my brief comment?
 
we had a wonderful homily today given by our Nigerian priest. i always want to clap after he gives a homily. he spends so much time and work on writing it. they are wonderful and today was not a disappointment. his homily was lengthy also this morning.
 
At our High Mass this morning the priest sang the Gospel in latin; the Passion according to Matthew. For a Diocesan priest he did a fantastic job. I was able to follow along very easily.
 
TrueLight said:
Did you really mean to address this comment to me? What exactly am I nitpicking at? Further, did see me use the term “liturgical abuse” in my brief comment?
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Read the Rubric, there is no Liturgical abuse. You are taking a personal opinion and expanding too far.
 
Please forgive me if I wasn’t clear in my original post. I specifically asked for a document showing where it’s allowed for a lay person to read the Gospel to the people (instead of the priest), and for no Homily being presented on a Sunday.

I know that in the Novus Ordo for Palm Sunday, others are allowed to read various parts of the passion narrative, but the priest must at least read the parts where Jesus speaks.

The only reason I knew that the priest read the Gospel to himself today is because my son served at the Mass and saw the priest reading it (to himself).

Unlike other parts of the TLM, the Gospel reading is not a silent prayer offered to God on the people’s behalf. From everything I’ve read, the Gospel has to be proclaimed to the people by the priest or a deacon.
 
amgp said:
Unlike other parts of the TLM, the Gospel reading is not a silent prayer offered to God on the people’s behalf. From everything I’ve read, the Gospel has to be proclaimed to the people by the priest or a deacon.
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And that is true. I’m not sure if you are going to find a document that says that the priest must say it audibly and that a member of the laity should not be reading the Gospel to the congregation at the same time, which is why someone s trying to find his loophole.

Maybe someone else can chime in.
 
amgp said:
Please forgive me if I wasn’t clear in my original post. I specifically asked for a document showing where it’s allowed for a lay person to read the Gospel to the people (instead of the priest), and for no Homily being presented on a Sunday.

I know that in the Novus Ordo for Palm Sunday, others are allowed to read various parts of the passion narrative, but the priest must at least read the parts where Jesus speaks.

The only reason I knew that the priest read the Gospel to himself today is because my son served at the Mass and saw the priest reading it (to himself).

Unlike other parts of the TLM, the Gospel reading is not a silent prayer offered to God on the people’s behalf. From everything I’ve read, the Gospel has to be proclaimed to the people by the priest or a deacon.
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the only times we have not had a homily is when there is going to be a lent mission and perhaps the priest giving the mission wants to talk to the people about the topic of the mission and what they can expect. there have been a few times we have not had a homily, but there has been some type of speaker in its place. i thought that the deacon or priest always had to read the Gospel, not a lay person.
 
TrueLight said:
The Priest read it to himself, no? That’s not proclaiming the Gospel.
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In the strict sense of the English meaning, it’s not proclaiming the Gospel. It is, however, necessary in the '62 Mass. But if you noticed, the actual Gospel of Palm Sunday was read at the end of Mass where the Last Gospel is usually said.

Besides that, the Passion carries different rules than the Mass Gospel. For instance in the OF, the congregation and speakers are allowed to respond at certain points. This would violate the normal priest/deacon roles of proclaiming the Gospel.
 
I did not go to an EF, but we also did not have a homily. Instead our priest instructed us to reflect and there was silence for at least a full 5 minutes (not just a brief moment). After the long Passion reading, there is so much to think about, that I did not feel cheated by not having a homily.
 
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