Priest sitting with congregation

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Love_the_Lorax

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I have attended the Life Teen Mass a few times. Not my thing, but I know that Life Teen Masses have been discussed many a time here. My specific question is this:

At all other Masses at this church, there is a chair up near the altar for the priest to sit in when others are doing readings, etc. But at the Teen Life Mass, the chair is down with the teen section of the congregation. When I asked about this practice, I was told that the priests choose to do this because it brings them closer to the teens, makes them feel more a part of the Mass, etc.

Is this a practice common to most Teen Life Masses? It really bothers me, but perhaps I am being too critical and there is nothing wrong with it.

Any thoughts?
 
Just a quick comment.

When people say TLM, they mean Traditional Latin Mass.And, let me tell you, the Priest does NOT sit with the congregation during a TLM.
 
Ok, I switched it. I thought I had read in other threads people using TLM for Teen Life Mass when it was the subject of the thread.
 
Wilhelm_Stoever said:
Just a quick comment.

When people say TLM, they mean Traditional Latin Mass.And, let me tell you, the Priest does NOT sit with the congregation during a TLM.
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The Priest does not or at least should not sit with the congregation during ANY Mass.
 
It is called Lifeteen , not teen life.

I have been to many many different lifeteen masses and never have seen it, yet I have seen it at a regular parish mass when I was traveling.

This is not a practice put forth by lifeteen.
 
At our 4:15PM Sunday Life Teen Mass, Father does not sit with the congregation. He sits in the sanctuary facing the congregation.
 
This is not a Lifeteen problem. It is a problem with that particular priest who is choosing to do something odd during mass. A LT mass is still a mass and all of the normal seating, gestures, prayers, etc should still be in use. LT does not promote the priest sitting with the teens during mass. It does not even make any sense unless a priest is at mass who cannot concelebrate for some reason such as a recent surgery or something.
 
If it is a Mass all rubrics should be observed regardless.
 
Mike_Dye said:
If it is a Mass all rubrics should be observed regardless.
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To add to this post I would not recommend any priest try to be “Joe Cool”, simply present our wonderful faith in a straight forward, truthful manner and the kids will get it, If you think not just revisit John Paul II’s reception from Catholic young people during the Catholic Youth Day’s celebration. Learn from the Master!
 
Love_the_Lorax said:
I have attended the Life Teen Mass a few times. Not my thing, but I know that Life Teen Masses have been discussed many a time here. My specific question is this:

At all other Masses at this church, there is a chair up near the altar for the priest to sit in when others are doing readings, etc. But at the Teen Life Mass, the chair is down with the teen section of the congregation. When I asked about this practice, I was told that the priests choose to do this because it brings them closer to the teens, makes them feel more a part of the Mass, etc.

Is this a practice common to most Teen Life Masses? It really bothers me, but perhaps I am being too critical and there is nothing wrong with it.

Any thoughts?
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Your not being too critical and there is lots wrong with the practice.
 
The only time priests sit in the nave rather than the thrones is when there are too many concelebrants for the thrones, or they are not concelebrating for some good reason*. The celebrant is supposed to be seated in the presidential throne.**

In that case, the extra priests sit in the front, in the normal seating, but usually segregated by reserving of the rows. (Having seen upwards of 50 concelebrants at some masses… lose the first two rows to those sitting “in choir” as it’s called.)
  • The good reasons include 3rd+ mass attended that day, not trained in the Rite in use, 4th priest or later at an EF mass, not well, suspended, visiting without faculties, don’t speak the language the mass is being offered in.
** At least, in the Roman church. It’s different in the other Churches united to Rome. VERY different.
 
jc-servant said:
This is not a Lifeteen problem. It is a problem with that particular priest who is choosing to do something odd during mass. A LT mass is still a mass and all of the normal seating, gestures, prayers, etc should still be in use. LT does not promote the priest sitting with the teens during mass. It does not even make any sense unless a priest is at mass who cannot concelebrate for some reason such as a recent surgery or something.
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We hear that all the time about life teen Masses. “Life Teen doesn’t advocate this…BUT it happens.” At some point that argument doesn’t hold water anymore. It’s just too much of a coincidence that lifeteen masses are so infused with liturgical abuses, yet supporters of the program say that this isn’t what lifeteen is all about.

It’s a lot like the trial of a mafia boss when the defendant claims that he had no idea what was happening all around him for years. It might be difficult to prove, but everyone knows he’s guilty.

The argument that lifeteen itself doesn’t support these abuses simply defies common sense. People have merely found some creative ways of insulating themselves.
 
FrDavid96 said:
We hear that all the time about life teen Masses. “Life Teen doesn’t advocate this…BUT it happens.” At some point that argument doesn’t hold water anymore. It’s just too much of a coincidence that lifeteen masses are so infused with liturgical abuses, yet supporters of the program say that this isn’t what lifeteen is all about.

It’s a lot like the trial of a mafia boss when the defendant claims that he had no idea what was happening all around him for years. It might be difficult to prove, but everyone knows he’s guilty.

The argument that lifeteen itself doesn’t support these abuses simply defies common sense. People have merely found some creative ways of insulating themselves.
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Actually, it does fly, because you can find abuses ANYWHERE>…not just lifeteen masses. So this would not be a lifeteen problem, but a bigger church problem.
 
Digitonomy said:
Can you give us a little more on this subject? Thanks.
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Byzantine praxis: The presidential throne is reserved exclusively for the bishop; the secondary thrones are used by the primary celebrant and concelebrant except when the celebrant is the bishop. During the hierarchical form of the Divine liturgy, the Bishop enters, is vested, then is seated in the nave, facing the altar, for the Liturgy of the Word. He finally enters the altar (which is everything behind the iconostas, equivalent to the Roman Sanctuary, and not the table itself) for the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Still, excess concelebrants who won’t fit in the altar are in the front of the nave. Also, it should be noted, that chairs/pews for the congregation are a latinization, but one that isn’t being done away with as readily…
 
agapewolf said:
Actually, it does fly, because you can find abuses ANYWHERE>…not just lifeteen masses. So this would not be a lifeteen problem, but a bigger church problem.
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Just because there might be multiple sources of the abuses that does not excuse lifeteen for being one of those sources.
 
Digitonomy said:
Can you give us a little more on this subject? Thanks.
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I have assisted at a Maronite Quorbono, and at that liturgy the priest/celebrant, 2 deacons, and a sub-deacon sat in the first pew (which did not have a “front”) unless they were active at the altar - for example, during the readings and homily.
 
Simply because “we” keep hearing about the abuses at any particular mass or among any particular group of people, priests for example, does not mean that the majority are a problem. We are not going to hear about all of the people who are doing the right thing because they ARE doing the right thing. If the priest that the OP saw sitting in the congregation would do something like that at any mass, then HE is “a source” of problems regardless of where he is or which mass he celebrates. I would not extrapolate the issues that one priest has to the entire priesthood, so I don’t extrapolate the problems of some parishes who have LT to all LT programs. I worked with a very successful LT program where we didn’t have the abuses and still don’t. I’ve seen 1 out of many in the area that was doing something inappropriate at one mass and that practice was corrected.
 
Why is this a problem? When I look at who Christ is, to me he’d sit with the teens. Is it so bad that a priest sits with the teens?

The funny thing is when people talk about abuses, it propels me to seek and understand the heart of Christ more. Someone who loves, touches, gathers those close to him, sits with them, teaches them, shepards them, becomes one with them.
 
The issue is the priest’s obedience to the Bishop and through the bishop to his Church Sui Iuris, and through that church, united to the whole of the Catholic church and to Christ.

A vow priests take before being ordained a deacon. And part of that obedience is to obey the rubrics of the liturgies.

The rubrics are there because the church put them there for edifying reasons or for reasons of doctrinal and/or dogmatic requirements for validity. In the case of edification, the entrances with the book and with the gifts are symbolic and teach about the origin of the segment of the liturgy.

Everything about liturgy should be educational or divinely required, and in the rubrics, that’s about 99%…

Why does it matter that the priest sit in the presidential chair during the Roman Mass? becuase he represents Christ and the Church overseeing the word of the prophets and apostles. Likewise, the deacon receives blessing from the Priest in Persona Christos; Christ overseeing the Gospel Writers, and the deacon reads the Gospels, blessed by the Priest, but getting Christ’s Blessing, and repeating the words of the Gospel Authors, whose ministry was likewise blessed by Christ.

Symbolism is rife within the rubrics. And the mass.
 
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