Priest inviting the Faithful from the pews to state their intentions

[Inquiringperson]

In a Lifeteen retreat I went to, there was mass. During the Prayers of the Faithful, the priest celebrant invited the faithful from the pews to state their intentions out loud. Is this a liturgical abuse? If it is, how grave is it?

 

[DianaCC]

In a Lifeteen retreat I went to, there was mass. During the Prayers of the Faithful, the priest celebrant invited the faithful from the pews to state their intentions out loud. Is this a liturgical abuse? If it is, how grave is it?

GIRM 47 leaves it ambiguous as to whether intentions can be ad-libbed by the congregation, so I would say technically it’s not an abuse. But in practice it often works out badly, with people proposing inappropriate intentions and so on.

 

[Pfaffenhoffen]

GIRM 47 leaves it ambiguous as to whether intentions can be ad-libbed by the congregation, so I would say technically it’s not an abuse. But in practice it often works out badly, with people proposing inappropriate intentions and so on.

Long time ago, it was used to be like that. At last, it disappeared.
Sincerely, for me, it makes no sense. “My” intentions, it is a bit selfish. The intention was stated by Jesus Christ: “Do it in Memory of Me!”.
But … people want to pray for their dear one, for the departed, for the problems of life, for situations of despair. As people are afflicted and we see in the Gospel that Jesus was moved by people in despair, I accept it.

 

[sedonaman]

Our pastor does this during weekday masses, but he suggests that instead of “For my Aunt Tillie who has the shingles” or “For my Uncle Zeke who has the St. Vitus Dance” that you say “For all those with serious medical problems.” This is more inclusive and reduces the need for repetition.

 

[FatHead]

GIRM 47 leaves it ambiguous as to whether intentions can be ad-libbed by the congregation, so I would say technically it’s not an abuse. But in practice it often works out badly, with people proposing inappropriate intentions and so on.

actually, the girm is quite clear:

Theyareannouncedfromtheamboorfromanothersuitableplace,*
bytheDeaconorbyacantor,areader,oroneofthelayfaithful.

Thepeople, fortheirpart,standandgiveexpressiontotheirprayer
eitherbyaninvocationsaidincommonaftereachintentionorbypraying*
in*silence

There are only 4 people that are possibly allowed to read the intercessions:

the deacon
a cantor
a reader
one of the faithful

it does not say: the lay faithful. it says one of the lay faithful.

it is quite clear. this is not allowed.

 

[PatriceA]

actually, the girm is quite clear:

Theyareannouncedfromtheamboorfromanothersuitableplace,*
bytheDeaconorbyacantor,areader,oroneofthelayfaithful.

Thepeople, fortheirpart,standandgiveexpressiontotheirprayer
eitherbyaninvocationsaidincommonaftereachintentionorbypraying*
in*silence

There are only 4 people that are possibly allowed to read the intercessions:

the deacon
a cantor
a reader
one of the faithful

it does not say: the lay faithful. it says one of the lay faithful.

it is quite clear. this is not allowed.

That’s not the way I would interpret it. Its says one of the lay faithful, which could mean one person sitting in the pews could offer an intention. Its done quite regularly at daily masses.

 

[FatHead]

GIRM 47 leaves it ambiguous as to whether intentions can be ad-libbed by the congregation, so I would say technically it’s not an abuse. But in practice it often works out badly, with people proposing inappropriate intentions and so on.

actually, the girm is quite clear:

They are announced from the ambo or from another suitable place,
by the Deacon or by a cantor, a reader, or one of the lay faithful.

The people, for their part, stand and give expression to their prayer
either by an invocation said in common after each intention or by praying
in silence

There are only 4 people that are possibly allowed to read the intercessions:

the deacon
a cantor
a reader
one of the faithful

it does not say: the lay faithful. it says one of the lay faithful.

it is quite clear. this is not allowed.

 

[FatHead]

That’s not the way I would interpret it. Its says one of the lay faithful, which could mean one person sitting in the pews could offer an intention. Its done quite regularly at daily masses.

yes, one of the faithful could offer an intention, but only one person. It is quite clear:

They are announced from the ambo or from another suitable place,
by the Deacon or by a cantor, a reader, or one of the lay faithful.

After “deacon” it says “or”. That means only one of the following are allowed, not all at once

theres really no interpretation to do here, the meaning is quite clear

 

[ConstantineTG]

actually, the girm is quite clear:

They are announced from the ambo or from another suitable place,
by the Deacon or by a cantor, a reader, or one of the lay faithful.

The people, for their part, stand and give expression to their prayer
either by an invocation said in common after each intention or by praying
in silence

There are only 4 people that are possibly allowed to read the intercessions:

the deacon
a cantor
a reader
one of the faithful

it does not say: the lay faithful. it says one of the lay faithful.

it is quite clear. this is not allowed.

“one” doesn’t always equate to a number. If I am a teaching in a classroom with 50 students and someone asks, “can we have lunch?” and I respond, “one may eat when one is hungry.” Does that mean only one of the students can go have lunch?

 

[JM3]

What I would like to know is how PatriceA quoted FatHead’s post 13 minutes before he posted it. nice trick.

 

[Inquiringperson]

I’m an idiot. I should have consulted GIRM first.GIRM 69-71 deals with Prayers of the Faithful.

The Prayer of the Faithful
69. In the Prayer of the Faithful, the people respond in a certain way to the word of God which they have welcomed in faith and, exercising the office of their baptismal priesthood, offer prayers to God for the salvation of all. It is fitting that such a prayer be included, as a rule, in Masses celebrated with a congregation, so that petitions will be offered for the holy Church, for civil authorities, for those weighed down by various needs, for all men and women, and for the salvation of the whole world.67

1. As a rule, the series of intentions is to be

For the needs of the Church;
For public authorities and the salvation of the whole world;
For those burdened by any kind of difficulty;
For the local community.
Nevertheless, in a particular celebration, such as Confirmation, Marriage, or a Funeral, the series of intentions may reflect more closely the particular occasion.

1. It is for the priest celebrant to direct this prayer from the chair. He himself begins it with a brief introduction, by which he invites the faithful to pray, and likewise he concludes it with a prayer. The intentions announced should be sober, be composed freely but prudently, and be succinct, and they should express the prayer of the entire community.

The intentions are announced from the ambo or from another suitable place, by the deacon or by a cantor, a lector, or one of the lay faithful.68

The people, however, stand and give expression to their prayer either by an invocation said together after each intention or by praying in silence.

It appears to me that people from the pews can’t state their intentions out loud and the pew isn’t a suitable place, as it isn’t as prominent as an ambo or altar would be.

 

[sedonaman]

…GIRM 69-71 deals with Prayers of the Faithful.
…

Thanks for the info.

 

[jmcrae]

In a Lifeteen retreat I went to, there was mass. During the Prayers of the Faithful, the priest celebrant invited the faithful from the pews to state their intentions out loud. Is this a liturgical abuse? If it is, how grave is it?

I have seen it done from time to time. I consider it risky, in that someone might pray for something that is clearly against God’s will. Not that it matters, since half the time you can’t hear what people are praying for, anyway.

It’s also clearly against the rules, but it’s not a hill I’d want to die on. There are more important things I have that I need to discuss with my priest.

 

[FatHead]

What I would like to know is how PatriceA quoted FatHead’s post 13 minutes before he posted it. nice trick.

heres what happened

• i posted it
• PatriceA replied to my post
• i deleted my post because it had some weird formatting issues
• i reposted the same post with the fixed formatting issues

 

[FatHead]

“one” doesn’t always equate to a number. If I am a teaching in a classroom with 50 students and someone asks, “can we have lunch?” and I respond, “one may eat when one is hungry.” Does that mean only one of the students can go have lunch?

even if you could explain it away like that, it still is quite clear that the girm envisions that one person read the intercessions. lets go with both the spirit of the law, and the letter

 

[JM3]

heres what happened

• i posted it
• PatriceA replied to my post
• i deleted my post because it had some weird formatting issues
• i reposted the same post with the fixed formatting issues

ssshhhhh…life is more interesting with a little mystery.

(I did notice it a few minutes after I posted.)

 

[Inquiringperson]

I have seen it done from time to time. I consider it risky, in that someone might pray for something that is clearly against God’s will. Not that it matters, since half the time you can’t hear what people are praying for, anyway.

It’s also clearly against the rules, but it’s not a hill I’d want to die on. There are more important things I have that I need to discuss with my priest.

This priest was a visiting priest from Boston. I kinda wish my former pastor went, but he’s a busy man. He’s going to be a Vatican official now!

 

[Mrs_Sally]

The prayers of the faithful are written in each parish every week. It is not all that abusive to have the congregation state them at the time instead of writing them out ahead. It is often impractical for many reasons as people have mentioned – repetitive or inappropriate prayers, the whole thing dragging on, or someone getting left out and having their feelings hurt. If the priest wants to include the intentions of the teens, he should ask a few of the teen group to write up intentions each week.

 

[Mrs_Sally]

even if you could explain it away like that, it still is quite clear that the girm envisions that one person read the intercessions. lets go with both the spirit of the law, and the letter

And in Masses televised from the Vatican we regularly see 5 or 10 people queued up to read one prayer each, and each in a different language! As another poster said, I don’t think this is a hill worth dying on.

 

[Catholic90]

heres what happened

• i posted it
• PatriceA replied to my post
• i deleted my post because it had some weird formatting issues
• i reposted the same post with the fixed formatting issues

Oh…I thought you guys had discovered time travel! I was so hopeful…now all my hopes are dashed…like waves upon the sand…so sad…I was so excited, too……sigh…