Uncomprehendable priests

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:)If it is the Homily you are struggling with either

ask him for a copy and he may well give you a copy of it (as my priest occaisionally says he will send me a copy when I can’t hear - but hasn’t done so yet…:))

or try working on him to have some kind of website and put the sermons/homilies there.

I am also trying to work that one on the priest, even offering to learn to do so myself for him. The very first time I made the suggested he said he might if not too busy. I have no idea if that was just posh for"no" because six month down the line I am learning he really does not like or want to say “no”. But knows I have genuine hearing problems at times.🙂

I do hang onto the bits I have heard and remembered though there was one service I simply didn’t hear a word and as I said, he did say he would send me it - but hadn’t done so.

Speak to him personally and be friendly about it and just say that you are finding it difficult to hear what he is saying. Do not refer to others in the congregation. Just you. He might try to adapt a little if he knew. If he doesn’t know there is a problem he wont know to try and address the problem. But its how you tell him of the problem that counts. My priest knows I have times I cannot hear.
 
Anna_Claire said:
I wouldn’t put it in those exact terms because the Word of God IS one of the main reasons we are there. Christ is present in The Word as well as in his special way in the Eucharistic species.
*
By means of the homily the mysteries of the faith and the guiding principles of the Christian life are expounded from the sacred text, during the course of the liturgical year; the homily, therefore, is to be highly esteemed as part of the liturgy itself; in fact, at those Masses which are celebrated with the assistance of the people on Sundays and feasts of obligation, it should not be omitted except for a serious reason. (CSL52)*
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I agree with your quotation about the homily; however, we must make sure that we do not confuse people by mixing the Word with the homily.
 
forunately, the ability to understand that mass is not a requirement for it to be valid. If it were, the Latin form would never have been acceptable. Not only do most people not understand Latin, but during the TLM, much of what the Priest says is barely audible to the congregation.

Now, as for the Homily…as already noted, it isn’t required for daily mass, so perhaps the Priest could consider filling this in with reflection, or some other prayer? Publishing in the bulletin, or the church website, is also a good idea.

But…another thought: There was a time where the church experimented with allowing lay people to deliver the homily during mass. This isn’t currently in practice, but perhaps your church could obtain some sort of dispensation from the Bishop to allow a regular lay worshiper to read the text that the Priest has previously prepared?
 
gigi4747 said:
I don’t find anything uncharitable about Dex’s idea.

This issue kind of underscores the fact that our faith is about the Eucharist. The homily may be “highly esteemed,” but it’s not the centerpiece of our worship. Even when the priest is a native speaker of the local language, imo the homily should be short and to the point, precisely to emphasize that the Mass is not primarily about anything the priest says. Making preaching the centerpiece of worship is wrong in and of itself, but also leads to some of the silliness we see among non-Catholic Christian churches, eg, a pastor bringing a bed and a stripper pole onto the pulpit to talk about sex. You don’t need gimmicks when you have the Eucharist.

If you simply cannot understand what the priest is saying, even after making an honest effort, I’m not sure what solution there is, other than to try a different parish. If you want to stay in your present parish, you can reflect on the readings and say some prayers on your own during the homily! Good luck ~
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Are you serious? How is this helpful?!..not to mention how you misunderstand the mass.
You say our faith is about the Eucharist…if by that you mean that the Eucharist is the Source and Summit of our faith by which we are transformed, you are right. If you are objectifying the Eucharist as only the Body and Blood of Christ provided for us to adore…you are wrong.

The Homily means more than just a sermon or a talk about how we are to live or what we are to believe. It is an act of worship rooted in the texts of the Mass and especially in the readings from Scripture which have just been proclaimed. The homily takes that word and brings it to our life situation today. Just as bread is blessed,broken and shared to feed individual persons, the word of God must be broken open so it can be received and digested by the congregation.
 
gigi4747 said:
I don’t find anything uncharitable about Dex’s idea.

This issue kind of underscores the fact that our faith is about the Eucharist. The homily may be “highly esteemed,” but it’s not the centerpiece of our worship. Even when the priest is a native speaker of the local language, imo the homily should be short and to the point, precisely to emphasize that the Mass is not primarily about anything the priest says. Making preaching the centerpiece of worship is wrong in and of itself, but also leads to some of the silliness we see among non-Catholic Christian churches, eg, a pastor bringing a bed and a stripper pole onto the pulpit to talk about sex.** You don’t need gimmicks when you have the Eucharist.**

If you simply cannot understand what the priest is saying, even after making an honest effort, I’m not sure what solution there is, other than to try a different parish. If you want to stay in your present parish, you can reflect on the readings and say some prayers on your own during the homily! Good luck ~
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I think that you are a bit confused about the focus of the liturgy. Here I quote Prof. Laszlo Dobszay when he says the following about Taft comments:
As Robert Taft showed: the liturgy cannot, as a whole, be simply Trinitarian, Christological, Mariological, Eucharistical, penitential, or latreic, – since all these (and the other elements of the Christian doctrine) appears in the liturgy in a proportionate unity.
 
If the people in the parish will just be patient, the priest will improve over time. When they first arrive, many foreign priest are quite difficult to understand, it’s true, and especially for elderly people who often can’t hear that well and who can’t catch onto the particular rhythm of the priest’s speech pattern.

But give them a year or so and they will lose at least a bit of their accents and start altering their speech pattern so that they can be more understood. It happens naturally, no specific effort necessary except exposure to English.
 
Give it time.

At first they are difficult to understand but if you concentrate and really work hard at it you will find it easier and easier to understand this accent you are unfamiliar with. It just takes a lot of effort.

I suggest you focus harder and give it time.
 
gigi4747 said:
I don’t find anything uncharitable about Dex’s idea.

This issue kind of underscores the fact that our faith is about the Eucharist. The homily may be “highly esteemed,” but it’s not the centerpiece of our worship. Even when the priest is a native speaker of the local language, imo the homily should be short and to the point, precisely to emphasize that the Mass is not primarily about anything the priest says. Making preaching the centerpiece of worship is wrong in and of itself, but also leads to some of the silliness we see among non-Catholic Christian churches, eg, a pastor bringing a bed and a stripper pole onto the pulpit to talk about sex. You don’t need gimmicks when you have the Eucharist.

If you simply cannot understand what the priest is saying, even after making an honest effort, I’m not sure what solution there is, other than to try a different parish. If you want to stay in your present parish, you can reflect on the readings and say some prayers on your own during the homily! Good luck ~
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Funny… I just sat in on a Lector training session where the priest stressed that the Liturgy of the Word is JUST as important as the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

I would say the homily IS important. We would have no faith if not for holy men who sent letters and preached the Word wherever they went. How can we understand the Eucharist if there is no homily to explain God’s will to us?
 
nickybr38 said:
Funny… I just sat in on a Lector training session where the priest stressed that the Liturgy of the Word is JUST as important as the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

I would say the homily IS important. We would have no faith if not for holy men who sent letters and preached the Word wherever they went. How can we understand the Eucharist if there is no homily to explain God’s will to us?
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No one is saying that the homily isn’t important. However, the OP is talking about daily Mass where the homily is optional. With a daily Mass, the LOTW is fulfilled by listening to (or even just reading along with) the readings being proclaimed.

Although the Liturgy of the Word is just as important as the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the latter is also essential. You can have a valid (though highy illicit) Mass without the LOTW but without the LOTE, you have no Mass at all.
 
In our previous parish, we had a priest from Nigeria and another from India. Where we are at now, we have one from India, one from Mexico, and one from Vietnam. They are all wonderful priests and, while it took some getting used to in terms of their accents, once you attend Mass for a few months with them, it isn’t much of a problem.

Thank God for these men!

My wife is from Brasil and talks about how they hardly ever got to have Mass because of not having enough priests. There were so few priests in rural areas that they had to have deacons traveling around leading communion services. Once every few months a priest would come through so that people could go to confession, etc.

We are very lucky to have these priests, foreign or otherwise.

Peace of Christ,
 
I"f you are objectifying the Eucharist as only the Body and Blood of Christ provided for us to adore…you are wrong."

What in the world does this even mean?

Anne Claire, your earlier posts mention charity, which is ironic - maybe you should try practicing some yourself. I’ll keep you in my prayers.
 
jwinch2 said:
In our previous parish, we had a priest from Nigeria and another from India. Where we are at now, we have one from India, one from Mexico, and one from Vietnam. They are all wonderful priests and, while it took some getting used to in terms of their accents, once you attend Mass for a few months with them, it isn’t much of a problem.

Thank God for these men!

My wife is from Brasil and talks about how they hardly ever got to have Mass because of not having enough priests. There were so few priests in rural areas that they had to have deacons traveling around leading communion services. Once every few months a priest would come through so that people could go to confession, etc.
**
We are very lucky to have these priests, foreign or otherwise. **

Peace of Christ,
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yes we are! I watched a documentary where a town in Central America (don’t remember what country) only got a priest once a YEAR!!! Some years, he wouldn’t even come!!! Can you even imagine that??

:eek:😦
 
TheRealJuliane said:
yes we are! I watched a documentary where a town in Central America (don’t remember what country) only got a priest once a YEAR!!! Some years, he wouldn’t even come!!! Can you even imagine that??

:eek:😦
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No, I can’t.

I need to pray more often for vocations.
 
I cannot imagine anyone leaving a nasty note of insult to a priiest no matter what language he speaks , how horrible is that? I ha ve travelled all over this world except Asia . I have heard Mass in many different languages I have never heard criticism at anytime .I have a very Scottish accent I have lived in Canada for forty five years and there are many immigrants here the only people with a problem are those who think they are the only ones with the" right " accent…,for some reason lots of people think it’s funny to try to immitate my accent right to my face in mockery .They sound ridiculous and I do not pay attention to ignorance .Recently on a ship to Australia we had over forty countries represented .Mass was held every morning inthe theatre The priest was retired from Georgia and everyone enjoyed the occassion Of hearing Mass with so many people from all over the world .We communicated with smliles and we had awonderful experience Just Listen
 
I grew up in a parish with a pastor who mumbled his way through the homily. It generally sounded to me as a teenager something like, “mumble mumble mumble mumble … DEATH !!! … mumble mumble mumble mumble … HELL !!! … mumble mumble mumble …”

… and English was his first language.

But the thing is, this priest had a good heart and was doing his best. I basically simply accepted him as part of my Catholic family. 🙂

Love your priests, “uncomprehendable” or otherwise.

:blessyou:
 
gigi4747 said:
I"f you are objectifying the Eucharist as only the Body and Blood of Christ provided for us to adore…you are wrong."

What in the world does this even mean?

Anne Claire, your earlier posts mention charity, which is ironic - maybe you should try practicing some yourself. I’ll keep you in my prayers.
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Catholics who are more interested in how the bread and wine are transformed into Christ’s Body and Blood than in how we are transformed into the Body of Christ, make communion an object. They are more concerned with adoring the consecrated species than what we are meant to become because of the Eucharist.
 
nickybr38 said:
Give it time.

At first they are difficult to understand but if you concentrate and really work hard at it you will find it easier and easier to understand this accent you are unfamiliar with. It just takes a lot of effort.

I suggest you focus harder and give it time.
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then you have no idea what it is like to be half deaf then :(its not as simple as listen more though I truelly wish it was. Fortunately for me our priest is a little more positive towards me about it and ok he is English and for me its simply about the ability to be able to hear him sometimes. I have asked him for a copy and so far its not materialised when I have asked but he is approachable enough to ask and he knows why I am asking. Though if I am Serving the weeks I cannot hear well (because it does vary for me) I get to indicate to him in before the service anyway and nothing to do with his sermon but through if he speaks to me, I cannot hear unless he or anyone looks at me and its very quiet. It not simply that all I have to do is concentrate and listen more.🤷

I missed a sermon by one of the Bishops through straining to hear and heard each word - granted but was so busy hearing each word that I failed to put it into context. The sentences didn’t make sense etc. Its not through not being focused enough I can promise anyone that who don’t know what its like to be able to follow.

Dont be affraid to tell the priest you simply finding it difficult to hear/follow. He can’t help you if he don’t know. Then he won’t say to you later about something he has said and you won’t have to necessarily explain you couldn’t follow him
 
englishredrose said:
then you have no idea what it is like to be half deaf then :(its not as simple as listen more though I truelly wish it was. Fortunately for me our priest is a little more positive and ok he is English and for me its simply about the ability to be able to hear him sometimes.

Dont be affraid to tell the priest you simply finding it difficult to hear/follow. He can’t help you if he don’t know.
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Actually, I have difficulty hearing. I sit in the front pew. I listen very carefully. I focus. I take notes and ‘fill in the holes’ as best I can. 🤷 If you’re half deaf the problem isn’t his accent anyway, you’d have difficulty even if he had perfectly clear speech but a soft voice.

I think the idea of having the homilies printed up or on a website is good too, for those who ARE hearing impaired… but for most people the issue is they just aren’t paying enough attention and I’m not sure a written homily would help them. They just aren’t trying hard enough to get used to a foreign accent and having a printed homily would just encourage a kind of mental laziness.

Anyway… I’m pretty harsh, I know, but I grew up around difficult accents and over the years I’ve learned there’s only one solution: Focus.
 
Cristiano said:
My suggestion is that people should stop using birth control and give more priests to the Church. I often hear people that are never grateful for what they have but they feel that they deserve more. Catholics want so much and I have the impression that most of them are not willing to make sacrifices for that to happen. The bottom line is that we harvest what we sow. If we are selfish, cheap, and neglectful of the needs of others then we have communities that are in bad shape.
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👍
 
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