Speech during Mass

[Liguori]

I just found out that I am the Salutatorian of my class. It is customary that the Salutatorian write, then recite a speech at a graduation ceremony. This year, due to the pandemic, the speech is supposed to be read during mass. I do not feel entirely comfortable with reading the speech during mass. Usually when the priest has a homily that does not correlate to the Gospel I get upset so what am I supposed to do? Any advice would be appreciated(preferably with reasoning)

 

[phil19034]

I just found out that I am the Salutatorian of my class. It is customary that the Salutatorian write, then recite a speech at a graduation ceremony. This year, due to the pandemic, the speech is supposed to be read during mass. I do not feel entirely comfortable with reading the speech during mass. Usually when the priest has a homily that does not correlate to the Gospel I get upset so what am I supposed to do? Any advice would be appreciated(preferably with reasoning)

First congrats on being Salutatorian!

In regards to your issue, if this is how you feel, you still have time to express your views to your school. Simply ask them if the speeches could be read after the Mass is over, so you can focus on prayer & then focus on your speech after the Eucharist.

I wouldn’t try preaching canon law, theology, etc. Simply express how you feel & that it would be best for you to give the speech after you have received the Eucharist.

Good luck and God Bless

 

[Tis_Bearself]

The typical time for speeches is during the announcement time before the final blessing. For example, I have seen funeral Masses where they had someone from the family give some remarks about the deceased during the announcements. I have also seen people in one of the church ministries give a speech at that point about their ministry program. Etc.

If your speech is to be read at that point, I would not be concerned about it.

 

[InThePew]

Usually when the priest has a homily that does not correlate to the Gospel I get upset

While the homily should be about the readings of the day, this is not an absolute requirement - it may instead be about the life of the saint who’s being celebrated that day or on some other important aspect of faith (e.g. a homily about vocations on Good Shepherd Sunday).

If your speech is to be read at that point, I would not be concerned about it.

This. I’m guessing nobody is asking you do give the homily!

 

[dochawk]

This. I’m guessing nobody is asking you do give the homily!

That happened to me once . . .

One day as I walked into the sacristy to serve (adult men serving is th byzantine norm [well, sort of–we’re filling in for subdeacons who are so hard to find . . ]), Father asked If I could give the homily.

Now, I generally react well to pressure, even the life-threatening kind like an out of control car. Time slows down and my mind speeds up, which is exactly what happen here. My mind launching simultaneously on multiple tracks, like “wait, can I do that”, “wait, that isn’t kosher”, wondering what the Gospel and epistle would be today, and a couple more strains of possible generic ideas I could talk about . . . (As both a professor and lawyer, it’s second nature to think on my feet; once I taught the first day of class cold when a school forgot to tell me that they’d scheduled me to teach it until after it was supposed to start . . .)

Anyway, time elapsed in the real world, probably less than a second. Maybe tow, but I doubt it.

And then he started laughing at my expression, and told me he was joking.