Priest should memorize Missal?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sword_Brethren
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Sword_Brethren

Guest
A friend of mine is a nominal Catholic and is in the process of leaving the Catholic Faith and heading toward protestantism. He told me he doesn’t like the fact that the priest has to read the Missal during Mass. He stated the priest should have zeal and memorize the Missal. How do I respond to this?
 
Sword_Brethren said:
A friend of mine is a nominal Catholic and is in the process of leaving the Catholic Faith and heading toward protestantism. He told me he doesn’t like the fact that the priest has to read the Missal during Mass. He stated the priest should have zeal and memorize the Missal. How do I respond to this?
Click to expand...
Sometimes we just have to realize that we’re not responsible for responding to other people’s silliness.
 
This is almost laughable because, far as I know, the priest is **obligated **to have his eyes fixed on the missal and read it. It’s one of the rubrics. I’m pretty sure.
 
Tell him that if priests could change rent for all the space their duties demand in their minds, they’d be rich.

Ten years in formation, philosophy, theology; endless organizational minutia; counseling duties, etc…

Faulting the priests for not undertaking unneeded rote memorization doesn’t even make sense.

ICXC NIKA
 
DaveBj said:
Sometimes we just have to realize that we’re not responsible for responding to other people’s silliness.
Click to expand...
I was trying to think of some response to the OP…

Then I read what you wrote.

I cannot imagine any better way of putting it.
 
Sword_Brethren said:
A friend of mine is a nominal Catholic and is in the process of leaving the Catholic Faith and heading toward protestantism. He told me he doesn’t like the fact that the priest has to read the Missal during Mass. He stated the priest should have zeal and memorize the Missal. How do I respond to this?
Click to expand...
I think priests have to memorize enough as it is!

Some books are to be used as a reference, sort of like we don´t actually memorize the dictionary, Bible (in its entirety). It’s sort of like that.

It would be using our valuable memory space on something that could, and to me should, go towards something else more practical.

Memorization isn´t a priest’s most important function, in my opinion. He has other, far more important, responsibilities.

He needs to learn how to counsel and more. I would prefer that if he can read out of book, not memorize that, he shouldn´t have additional, unnecessary, demands placed on him.
 
Sounds like an excuse to me. After one has offered (or attended) hundreds of Masses, I dare say that many can recite the Mass from memory. The book is there to enforce that the proper words are used each time.

As a lector, we are specifically instructed, that even if we do have the readings memorized, we are to still have the Lectionary on the ambo and to read from the words, as written on the page, therein - not to rely on memory.

Also from the GIRM:
Things to Be Prepared
118. Likewise these should be prepared:
a) next to the Priest’s chair: the **Missal **and, if appropriate, a hymnal;
b) at the ambo: the Lectionary;

The Liturgy of the Eucharist
139. When the Universal Prayer is over, all sit, and the Offertory Chant begins (cf. no. 74).
An acolyte or other lay minister places the corporal, the purificator, the chalice, the pall, and** the Missal **on the altar.

The Introductory Rites
189. Through the entire celebration, it is for the acolyte to approach the Priest or the Deacon, whenever necessary,** in order to present the book to them **and to assist them in any other way required. Thus it is appropriate that, in so far as possible, the acolyte should occupy a place from which he can easily carry out his ministry either at the chair or at the altar.

these I take to mean that even if the Celebrant has the passages memorized, he is to use the book and read directly from it.

sorry, I have all of these references because a dear friend of mine, who is a retired deacon, is trying to get me to consider the vocation. It’s a hard discernment, four young kids and I’m a tad long in the tooth…
 
Sword_Brethren said:
He told me he doesn’t like the fact that the priest has to read the Missal during Mass. He stated the priest should have zeal and memorize the Missal. How do I respond to this?
Click to expand...
Tell your friend that his own lack of Zeal towards the One True Faith,
actually cancels him out of judging the zealousness of others.

and throw in a couple of quotes like,
Least you be judged, and,
before removing a splinter from thy brothers eye.

If he wants an excuse to leave his faith, tell him to be honest
and admit that it is because he hasn’t got the zeal for it.
 
As another poster already stated most likely the priests already have memorized what they are supposed to say, but they are still required to use the Missal. What a silly point to criticize.
 
Sword_Brethren said:
He told me he doesn’t like the fact that the priest has to read the Missal during Mass. He stated the priest should have zeal and memorize the Missal. How do I respond to this?
Click to expand...
I guarantee you that practically every Catholic priest (and layperson, for that matter) has the Missal memorized for all Masses in “Ordinary Time.”

But the Church requires that the priest follow the prescribed form of the Mass (it is one of the vows that a priest takes upon his Ordination). He is not allowed to “make it up as he goes along” or to introduce his own “artistic license.” He is expected to “say the black and do the red” (referring to the traditional Missal’s rubrics (ie, red text) which instruct the priest on his expected actions).

Suppose that a priest has the Missal for the Mass memorized (as most of them do), so he did not open the Missal or look at it. Suppose a non-Catholic (or a poorly-catechized Catholic) happened to visit at this Mass. Would he know that the priest “got it right,” or would he suspect that the priest was speaking extemporaneously? But, if the priest opened the Missal and looked at it, even if he did not actually read the words (because he had already faithfully memorized them) then there could be no occasion for such doubt.
 
Purgatory_Pete said:
Tell your friend that his own lack of Zeal towards the One True Faith,
actually cancels him out of judging the zealousness of others.

and throw in a couple of quotes like,
Least you be judged, and,
before removing a splinter from thy brothers eye.

If he wants an excuse to leave his faith, tell him to be honest
and admit that it is because he hasn’t got the zeal for it.
Click to expand...
I like this…👍

Perhaps a tad blunt for my style…but it has definitely got the right gist.

I also agree with David Filmer above…I suspect that most priests DO have these things memorized for all practical purposes. After all, they do it every day.

Peace
James
 
JRKH said:
I like this…👍
Perhaps a tad blunt for my style…but it has definitely got the right gist.
Peace
James
Click to expand...
Thanks James, :tiphat:
I’m an Aussie, I tend to be very much to the point on things that matter,
I don’t mean to sound rude or harsh,
I just cut through the fogginess in some heads to grab their attention.
but it can sound blunt or frank to some.

and like you, I also agree with David Filmer above…

Dominus vobiscum
James:)
 
Aren´t there people who strive to memorize the Qur’an?

Some seem to place emphasis on memorization, believing (I think, mistakenly), that memorization is somehow “better”.

Why don’t doctors memorize their medical texts? They don´t need to. They can refer to them, as needed, are better off spending that time with patients, using these books to learn from, and as a reference.

When we go to the library, there are some books which we use, read from cover to cover. Others, we just refer to the sections we need. In either case, though, even wonderful books, even the Bible, we memorize, at best, sections…not it, it its entirety.

In college, I had some teachers who would insist we memorize certain things, sometimes placing memorization above understanding! I remember wanting to tell them I thought understanding was more important than memorization. After the test, I also forgot all those things we had to memorize, verbatim, etc., anyway. So, I saw it as a waste of everybody’s time.
 
Sword_Brethren said:
A friend of mine is a nominal Catholic and is in the process of leaving the Catholic Faith and heading toward protestantism. He told me he doesn’t like the fact that the priest has to read the Missal during Mass. He stated the priest should have zeal and memorize the Missal. How do I respond to this?
Click to expand...
As a practical matter (being a priest myself), I think it is not a good idea for the priest to memorize the Missal, although neither the rubrics nor the General Instruction forbid it (speaking of the Ordinary Form here). Otherwise, it becomes much too easy to go through the Mass without thinking.

It is not a problem to memorize particular prayers, because it can be awkward to read from the Missal and perform the appropriate gestures at the same time.

For example, if the altar happens to be against the wall, and the priest is facing the liturgical East, as often happens here in Rome, the priest is supposed to turn around to say Pray brethren… and Behold the Lamb of God…. It is awkward to do this while reading the Missal (which at these moments must be placed on the altar) at the same time.

However, the Eucharistic Prayers in general should be read very carefully, word-for-word, and so reading from the Missal is highly recommended.
 
Purgatory_Pete said:
Thanks James, :tiphat:
I’m an Aussie, I tend to be very much to the point on things that matter,
I don’t mean to sound rude or harsh,
I just cut through the fogginess in some heads to grab their attention.
but it can sound blunt or frank to some.

and like you, I also agree with David Filmer above…

Dominus vobiscum
James:)
Click to expand...
👍

Great thing about putting things like this out there is each person can take the meat of the matter and present it with their own approach or style depending on the specific people and situation.

Peace
James
 
lmelahn said:
… although neither the rubrics nor the General Instruction forbid it (speaking of the Ordinary Form here).
Click to expand...
As other posters have pointed out, the Instruction does for all intents and purposes mandate that the Missal be used at Mass. Whether the priest actually follows it closely with his eyes is another matter; it is certainly highly, highly recommended that he do so, except in the cases I mentioned.
 
Sword_Brethren said:
A friend of mine is a nominal Catholic and is in the process of leaving the Catholic Faith and heading toward protestantism. He told me he doesn’t like the fact that the priest has to read the Missal during Mass. He stated the priest should have zeal and memorize the Missal. How do I respond to this?
Click to expand...
If that’s the best he can do for a reason for leaving the Church… :eek:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top