Taking notes during Homily? Bible?

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So long as it’s during the readings or the homily and not done in a distracting way, I doubt there is any problem. I can’t imagine not taking notes on a Papal homily if I was ever so blessed to attend his Mass. I have often thought it would be nice to have the parish post homily notes on its website but so far no luck there. The Pope’s homilies are. (Homilies of Pope Francis, 2013 ) Might be a cool idea for a priest’s blog too.
 
Why can’t a small voice activated micro tape recorder be used? I almost did this but I wanted to ask the Father first.
 
UpUpAndAway said:
This is sad for me, too. I have many of my prayers on my basic Kindle (in other words, not the Fire), including those I pray after Communion (there are seven, and my memory is not what it used to be). At weekday Mass, I use my Kindle without any problems. Everyone knows what it is and why I have it. The parish secretary, however, has banned me from using it at Sunday Mass, on the grounds that people think I’m texting. Pointing out that a Kindle is not a phone did not help—I am the sacristan, and thus I’m highly visible. This puts added responsibility on me to set the example. So on Sundays I drag the missal from which these prayers were extracted to Mass with me. Book okay, Kindle not okay. This means I have to carry two missals (the one for Mass and the one with my prayers in it), which is manageable but less elegant of a solution.

OTOH, I use my phone at every Mass to record the entire homily. This drives the parish secretary bananas, but I have the permission of our pastor so she cannot stop me, no matter how much she wishes she could. http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/Pascal_S/smileys/aetsch.gif Fr. B allows me to do this because I am a foreigner and the local language is not my native tongue nor do I speak or understand it all that well. Without the ability to review the homilies at a later time in quieter circumstances, this key part of the Mass would always be a wash for me.

Father has even gone so far as to allow me to use my phone to pray the LOTH during Adoration, but I bought an actual breviary for that.

When attending Mass in my own language, I have been known to take notes. I’ve never taken any measures to conceal my paper and pen, and no one has ever spoken to me about it so I guess it’s okay! 👍
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I have one question. Why does the parish secretary wield such power?
 
Cat said:
I am also interested in the answer to this question.
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That is true in many fields, not just churches. I have seen it in schools, doctor’s offices, human resources departments, etc.
 
ccmcmg said:
Sometimes there are things I want to remember that come to me or inspire me during the Homily or readings. I’d also like to read the Bible during the Readings, although I do have a missalette of my own to use.

I’m going to start taking a notebook and pen; I obviously don’t want it to look like I’m texting during Mass! It’s also hard to take notes on the Bulletin, and I don’t always take one before the Mass.

Does anyone else take notes or use their own Bible?

Christina
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Yes, I used to do this. This is how I learned. I cannot memorize names well, and often after mass, when I was back home, I was thinking to myself “What was the name of that guy again…?” And so I started to take notes. If you bother what the others might think you can write on the pew, where you place your prayer book, then everyone can see that you’re not texting but taking notes.
 
One other option, if taking notes makes you feel too conspicuous, is to ask Father for a copy of his sermon notes. I have little ones that can be quite a distraction to me during mass, so I have been known to do this from time to time.
 
Joannm said:
I have one question. Why does the parish secretary wield such power?
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In my case, the secretary is the immediate boss of the sacristans. As the principal sacristan, I answer to her. When we cannot resolve our differences, we go to the pastor and I let the two of them fight it out. 🍿
 
My wife and I went to Mass at our local seminary. Our bishop, Archbishop Vigneron was celebrating Mass, and of course, gave the homily.

Now +Vigneron is a man a LOT like Pope-Emeritus Benedict, quiet, humble and with an incredible theological mind.

He, like Benedict, ‘tones it down’ for public Masses, but this was in his seminary, and the homily was incredibly deep theologically

My wife whispered over to our seminarian friend to ask him to explain a term that the bishop just used, and the seminarian whispered back “We all just take notes and look it up afterwards” - and showed that his smartphone was set to voice record :cool:
 
Church_Militant said:
Matthew Kelly offers the following or free and I take mine to Mass all the time and will joy quick notes on anything that strikes me for later review and prayer.
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http://cart.dynamiccatholic.com/v/vspfiles/templates/210/images/clear1x1.gif [%between%](http://cart.dynamiccatholic.com/product_p/1cd-eliotxmas.htm)[%between%](http://cart.dynamiccatholic.com/product_p/1ihs.htm)
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Thank you for providing this link. There is a 5 dollar shipping fee but worth it.

Is it small enough to fit in your bag or do you have to carry it in?

Our Protestant bretheren will be so proud of us - carrying a book into church and all. I had to laugh a few weeks ago, my Protestant cousin came to Mass with us, and brought his Bible. He was so surprised that we hear all those “Scripture” readings and that we could actually follow along in the missalette! Pray for his families conversion back into the Catholic faith!
 
UpUpAndAway said:
OTOH, I use my phone at every Mass to record the entire homily.

Fr. B allows me to do this because I am a foreigner and the local language is not my native tongue nor do I speak or understand it all that well. Without the ability to review the homilies at a later time in quieter circumstances, this key part of the Mass would always be a wash for me.
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Not a bad idea for homilies to be recorded and then put on the parish website even for just a week so people could go back and reflect.

Or maybe homilies could be written and posted in the bulletin. Sometimes its difficult to understand a visiting priest with an accent so a written copy of his homily would be helpful.
 
peace2u2 said:
Not a bad idea for homilies to be recorded and then put on the parish website even for just a week so people could go back and reflect.

Or maybe homilies could be written and posted in the bulletin. Sometimes its difficult to understand a visiting priest with an accent so a written copy of his homily would be helpful.
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I would gladly put my phone away and embrace either of these options. My requests have thus far fallen on deaf ears.
 
Years ago, a Protestant friend of mine would take notes of his pastor’s homilies, but in a very condensed manner. He had a small notebook and in it he would usually just list single words, perhaps five or six of them. They would, according to him, trigger his brain to recall the homily. He could replay the main points of the homily using this “shorthand”. I told him that such shorthand would have been really easy at my parish back then, as it would either have been a $ sign, or a symbol of a flame, for money and fire and brimstone were the two most frequent topics.

I am aware of several Catholic parishes that publish the pastor’s homilies on their website, or a condensed version in the bulletin. That would assume they are totally written out; it appears from my experience that they are usually not. I suspect that what appears on the website is the prepared written text, but may not be the exact order of words (or the exact words themselves) said in the spoken homily.

There are also a few that record them and put the audio on their website. If the homilist is an engaging speaker, that is fine. Otherwise, you can use them to put the baby to sleep.

Regarding Papal homilies, they are posted on the Vatican website. I recommend that people read those, as they give you the full flavor of what the Pope said, not just what is reported by the media. So far, the homilies of Pope Francis have generally been superb.
 
Notetaker here. We have an awesome homilist and I can’t remember anything these days. So I pull out a small notebook and pen during the homily and take notes as un-obviously as possible. I wish he would video or put a written copy on the parish website, but, no.

On the whole iPad thing…there was once a time when I thought I would never take my iPad to confession, in spite of the Confession App thing. Now, I take it on a regular basis…I often journal on my iPad, and i will write out what I am bringing to confession. My by-the-book priest doesn’t seem to mind. I have used it at Daily Mass, on occasion, and at Adoration often, but I don’t think I’ve ever used it at Sunday Mass…I don’t want to be a distraction. I think in a few years, they will probably be common place.
 
Church_Militant said:
Matthew Kelly offers the following or free and I take mine to Mass all the time and will joy quick notes on anything that strikes me for later review and prayer.
Code: 
[ http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-cdn.volusion.com/vbtyo.foxkg/v/vspfiles/photos/1MJ-HC-1.jpg?1336986454](http://cart.dynamiccatholic.com/product_p/1mj-hc.htm)    

http://cart.dynamiccatholic.com/v/vspfiles/templates/210/images/clear1x1.gif [%between%](http://cart.dynamiccatholic.com/product_p/1cd-eliotxmas.htm)[%between%](http://cart.dynamiccatholic.com/product_p/1ihs.htm)
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I think this Mass Journal is a great idea. I had done that years ago, I think as long as you are just discreetly taking notes no one will notice or care…this is a way for you to learn more.
 
Digitonomy said:
I rarely take notes at mass, but I do try to have a pen handy just in case.

Several years ago, I used to attend mass with an excellent homilist, and I would always take a piece of copier paper and fold it into quarters. Folded that way, it was just small enough to fit in my pants pocket, just stiff enough to write on, and gave me two full pages of blank space to write on.

The other interesting thing was that at this parish the pews all had New American Bibles in them. The congregation was encouraged to follow along with the reading in the Bible itself. During the homily, the priest would tell us to look at the verses before or after the day’s reading to better understand the context of what was happening. The one problem with this approach was that the prescribed readings often omit certain verses, but the censored verses would inevitably be read at this parish.
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Using the folded up paer is a GREAT idea. Also, the good thing about taking the Bible to church is that a person would learn how to find things in the Bible. Maybe you can even date the papers and establish a footnote system to be able to refer to your notes.

When in Bible Study I write (a LOT) in my Bible, but I have dear Catholic friends who would never ever ever write in their Bible…I do though because then my notes are right with the section. I use an asterisk and make a footnote in the margins, etc., when I need to also. This helps me find things in the future.
 
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