Skipping reading the Gospel, is this a licit Mass?

[makamoimoi]

I have been to a nearby college run by Benedictines to their Sunday Mass twice. The first time the Gospel reading was omitted, I honestly thought the priest forgot. This past Sunday, the priest stated “20 years ago when I started campus minstry, I don’t read the Gospel, I incorporate the message into my homily.” He went on to say something to the effect it’s too much for people pay attention to both the Gospel and the homily.This is so unfair to the students and it’s heartbreaking on many levels.
Is this a licit Mass? Not that I am going there again.
Thank you.
Nancy

 

[benedictgal]

The Gospel must always be read during the Mass. This is what Redemptionis Sacramentum has to say on the matter:

[62.] ***It is also illicit to omit or to substitute the prescribed biblical readings on one’s own initiative, and especially “to substitute other, non-biblical texts for the readings and responsorial Psalm, which contain the word of God”.138

[63.] Within the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy, the reading of the Gospel, which is “the high point of the Liturgy of the Word”,139 is reserved by the Church’s tradition to an ordained minister.140 Thus it is not permitted for a layperson, even a religious, to proclaim the Gospel reading in the celebration of Holy Mass, nor in other cases in which the norms do not explicitly permit it.141***

The priest did wrong in omitting the Gospel. While this does not invalidate the Mass, his actions were certainly illicit and should be brought to the attention of both his religious superior and to the diocesan bishop.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

. … This past Sunday, the priest stated “20 years ago when I started campus minstry, I don’t read the Gospel, I incorporate the message into my homily.” He went on to say something to the effect it’s too much for people pay attention to both the Gospel and the homily. . .

And it is his humble opinion that he can expressthe thought better than the Evangelist did.

 

[benedictgal]

And it is his humble opinion that he can expressthe thought better than the Evangelist did.

That is actually what happened when a visiting priest came to fill in at my father’s former parish. The priest decided to skip the Gospel and everyone was stunned. After Mass, I called a priest firend of mine who suggested that I talk to the visting cleric (with the appropriate reference to RS). Needless to say, that incident didn’t repeat itself.