Place of Announcements in the Mass

[AloysiusBologna]

Are we not on a spiritual high after communion? Should we not go forth with spiritual zeal from that mountaintop rather than be so quickly pulled back down? Why not have announcements first, before mass and have them be interrupted by the late stragglers rather than the introductory rites? Let us go forth together focusing on a higher plane.

 

[hannajomar]

My former parish would read the announcements before Mass began. I loved this for two reasons:
~ It didn’t interrupt Mass.
~ It gave stragglers a few minutes to get to their seats before Mass began.

 

[Phemie]

Are we not on a spiritual high after communion? Should we not go forth with spiritual zeal from that mountaintop rather than be so quickly pulled back down? Why not have announcements first, before mass and have them be interrupted by the late stragglers rather than the introductory rites? Let us go forth together focusing on a higher plane.

How about because that’s when the Church says they ought to be, if they are necessary?

 

[Arandur]

How about because that’s when the Church says they ought to be, if they are necessary?

And the reason for that recommendation: it is precisely that “spiritual high” and “sending forth” that the announcements are about–the life of the parish, and the invitation and exhortation to bring Christ into the world and participate in the life and activities of the parish. Rather than something at the beginning to be missed or forgotten during Mass, something instead at the end to keep in mind as we go forth and start our week. To me, reception of the Word and the Body and Blood are of little avail if just internalized and not lived out in community. Let’s join together and DO something with what we just received!

 

[YoungTradCath]

Yes, unfortunately, announcements can be done there.

 

[AloysiusBologna]

Quote:

How about because that’s when the Church says they ought to be, if they are necessary?

**Please clarify- What does the Church say about when?
**

So many times the announcements deal more with Money, Sports, Schedules, and Entertainment than Church Life. I understand wanting to acknowledge Birthdays and Anniversaries, but should we also give so much time in this spiritual venue to athletic performances?:snowing::snowing:

 

[Phemie]

Phemie said

How about because that’s when the Church says they ought to be, if they are necessary?

This is what the GIRM says:

D) The Concluding Rites
90. To the Concluding Rites belong the following:
a) brief announcements, should they be necessary;
b) the Priest’s Greeting and Blessing, which on certain days and occasions is expanded and expressed by the Prayer over the People or another more solemn formula;
c) the Dismissal of the people by the Deacon or the Priest, so that each may go
back to doing good works, praising and blessing God;
d) the kissing of the altar by the Priest and the Deacon, followed by a profound
bow to the altar by the Priest, the Deacon, and the other ministers.

So it goes:
Communion
Reposition of Blessed Sacrament & purification of sacred vessels
Prayer after Communion
Brief announcements
Greeting & Blessing
Dismissal
Departure of the priest and ministers

 

[AloysiusBologna]

THX! I am becoming more informed. Okay, now back to the non objective…Which announcements are “Necessary” ? Especially if most “normal” announcements are included in a bulletin? Does “necessary” imply limited? Limited Parish Life or limited to ? If a large parish announced everything that some might deem as being necessary, I am sure many more people would find reason to miss the blessing and dismissal and just leave after communion.

 

[Arandur]

Quote:

How about because that’s when the Church says they ought to be, if they are necessary?

**Please clarify- What does the Church say about when?
**

So many times the announcements deal more with Money, Sports, Schedules, and Entertainment than Church Life. I understand wanting to acknowledge Birthdays and Anniversaries, but should we also give so much time in this spiritual venue to athletic performances?:snowing::snowing:

Ah, I see. It sounds like your experience may be with unnecessary or even inappropriate announcements, some of which maybe have no place in the Sanctuary at all.

If the announcements were more necessary and appropriate (directly pertaining to parish life and mission, for instance), would they be so onerous or out of place?

 

[AloysiusBologna]

Ah, I see. It sounds like your experience may be with unnecessary or even inappropriate announcements, some of which maybe have no place in the Sanctuary at all.

If the announcements were more necessary and appropriate (directly pertaining to parish life and mission, for instance), would they be so onerous or out of place?

Onerous, perhaps only disappointing…Where does the “social” and the “religious” become one? I have always questioned the use of general intercessions during Mass to ask for prayers of consolation for the fans of defeated sports teams either after or before a sporting event while at the same time minimizing the request for prayers from the congregation, “lest we go too long” …Cancer patients, the poor, the hungry, the needed vocations, the troubled marriages, infanticide all put on the same level with who wins a ball game…Why?
Is the Catholic Church to be filled with Jokes during its liturgy? Why can’t those be limited to the homilies…or after Mass? Do children understand the difference? I am not sure I do.

 

[Cat]

I don’t think people should assume that everyone receives a bulletin and actually READS that bulletin.

Some people read and don’t absorb what they read. And even in the U.S., there are a lot of people who don’t read well.

People learn different ways. Some are auditory learners and do better with the spoken rather than the written word.

Frankly, I think bulletins should be done away with to save paper and expense, and all parish announcements done online instead. But I recognize that many people aren’t online, and I also still think that the announcements that Father deems “important” should be announced at the appropriate time during Mass, which, like it or not, according to Holy Mother Church, is at the end of Mass before the closing prayers.

What I’m hearing people say in this thread is that they don’t respect the priest. He decides which announcements will be voiced during Mass, and we need to respect that, even if we don’t consider the “Women’s Guild Salad Luncheon” or the collection of cardboard oatmeal containers by the Pre-School important. We need to respect our Father and pay attention when he talks. It’s not right for children to say, “I wish Dad would just leave me a note instead of going on and on about nothing.”

 

[Fairwinds]

At my home parish, the lector reads any announcements right before the collection.

I find it a distraction at any point during the Mass, and rather they stop doing it, or do it before Mass starts. Bulletins are for announcements.

That’s at the OF. The EF I attend on most Sundays seldom has that nonsense. If it does, it’s before the sermon.

if the Pastor of your parish thinks they’re important enough to say, they’re not “nonsense”.

 

[Martin15]

From the England and Wales GIRM:

1. When the Prayer after Communion is concluded, brief announcements should be made to the people, if there are any.

This seems very explicit - after the Prayer after Communion but before the dismissal.

All the best

Martin

 

[maryjk]

We need to respect our Father and pay attention when he talks. It’s not right for children to say, “I wish Dad would just leave me a note instead of going on and on about nothing.”

What a great way to put it.

 

[AloysiusBologna]

I don’t think people should assume that everyone receives a bulletin and actually READS that bulletin…

What I’m hearing people say in this thread is that they don’t respect the priest. He decides which announcements will be voiced during Mass, and we need to respect that, …"

#1 - Yes, but the bulletin does provide a source for information, a reminder for activities, a list of people to pray for, contact information, and of course one of the more important - something to use in scrap booking vacations!

#2 - Only a nonbeliever would not respect the priesthood! Certainly we should acknowledge the indelible sacramental character serving us (It’s the human charter we are sometimes challenged by.) Were we not given the light of faith as we were baptized priests, prophets and kings? Are we not encouraged to grow in Faith? Does that Faith require us to blindly follow or does it encourage us to learn and grow and share that faith? Are we not obliged to speak out and humbly question those that do not seem to be obedient to the Church? Are we not to help each other? Should we just be silent and trust? Should we not expect more fom each other? Whom does Love demand we follow? :knight1: