What is an Echo Mass?

[Quaere_Verum]

We assisted at a Mass where the priest told us we would be echoing some of the Eucharistic prayers. Has anybody heard of this. Is it acceptable? If so, do you have any sources?

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

We assisted at a Mass where the priest told us we would be echoing some of the Eucharistic prayers. Has anybody heard of this. Is it acceptable? If so, do you have any sources?

Things just get stranger and stranger by the day!

Soon we will have the congregation gather around the altar and join in with the Eucharistic paryer!

 

[benedictgal]

Things just get stranger and stranger by the day!

Soon we will have the congregation gather around the altar and join in with the Eucharistic paryer!

That already happened, to some extent, with LifeTeen. Inasmuch as the founder “pulled the plug” on the kids gathering around the altar during the consecration, it was still being done as late as 2006 at a parish in Georgia. Evidently, a parish in Houston is doing the same.

As far as the Echo Mass, I haven’t heard of anything. Furthermore, Redemptionis Sacramentum has this to say regarding the Eucharistic Prayer:

52.] The proclamation of the Eucharistic Prayer, which by its very nature is the climax of the whole celebration, is proper to the Priest by virtue of his Ordination. ***It is therefore an abuse to proffer it in such a way that some parts of the Eucharistic Prayer are recited by a Deacon, a lay minister, or by an individual member of the faithful, or by all members of the faithful together. ***The Eucharistic Prayer, then, is to be recited by the Priest alone in full.131

From what the OP indicated, it looks as though the Echo Mass is in violation of Redemptionis Sacramentum.

 

[palmas85]

Things just get stranger and stranger by the day!

Soon we will have the congregation gather around the altar and join in with the Eucharistic paryer!

Life teen did it openly for years and still does in many places. Other places do it as well. It my catechist training we were told this was an outstanding way to promote lay participation and a deeper understanding of the Mass.

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

I thought it would be a Mass on a mountain.

 

[Hijikata]

Things just get stranger and stranger by the day!

Soon we will have the congregation gather around the altar and join in with the Eucharistic paryer!

Amen to that. I can’t believe a parish would allow things like this to happen, or even more, the priest! I mean, he above anyone should know his role in the important sacrifice that is going on at the altar as well as the lay people who have no business reciting the Eucharistic Prayers. sigh

 

[benedictgal]

Life teen did it openly for years and still does in many places. Other places do it as well. It my catechist training we were told this was an outstanding way to promote lay participation and a deeper understanding of the Mass.

Unforuntately, the whoever did your training was misinformed. Cardinal Arinze said that this was wrong and had ordered LifeTeen to cease and desist. It’s a shame when someone decides that they should incorporate their personal tastes and idiosyncracies into the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

a do-it-yourself attitude is not acceptable in the public worship of the Church. It does damage to the Church’s worship and to the faith of the people. The people of God have the right that the liturgy be celebrated as the Church wants it. (cf RS 12) The mysteries of Christ should not be celebrated as personal taste or whim may indicate. “The ‘treasure’ is too important and precious to risk impoverishment or compromise through forms of experimentation or practices introduced without a careful review on the part of ecclesiastical authorities”. (EE 51)

…it is necessary to bear in mind that the public worship of the Church is something that we receive in faith through the Church. It is not something that we invent. Indeed the essentials of the sacraments are established by Christ Himself. And the detailed rites, including words and actions, have been carefully worked out, guarded and handed down by the Church along the centuries. It would, therefore, not be the proper attitude for an individual or a committee to keep thinking and planning each week how to invent a new way of celebrating Mass.

Moreover, a priority at Mass and other liturgical acts is worship of God. The liturgy is not a field for self-expression, free creation and the demonstration of personal tastes. Idiosyncrasies tend to attract attention to the person rather than to the mysteries of Christ being celebrated. They can also upset, puzzle, annoy, mislead or confuse the congregation.

I just don’t understand why priests and the laity can’t just do the red and read the black. It’s very simple. Why people choose to complicate things is beyond me.

 

[palmas85]

Unforuntately, the whoever did your training was misinformed. Cardinal Arinze said that this was wrong and had ordered LifeTeen to cease and desist. It’s a shame when someone decides that they should incorporate their personal tastes and idiosyncracies into the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

I just don’t understand why priests and the laity can’t just do the red and read the black. It’s very simple. Why people choose to complicate things is beyond me.

I was merely pointing out was is being taught and has been taught for some time. And, I might add, not just by this particular team of Catechist trainers.

They were however extremely active in the Life Teen movement:bigyikes: .

Kind of makes you wonder what else they may have been, hum, , mis-informed, about and presented as fact, doesn’t it?

At least it should.

 

[Cavaille-Coll]

Liturgical abuse!!!
Liturgical abuse!!!
Liturgical abuse!!!
Liturgical abuse!!!
Liturgical abuse!!!
Liturgical abuse!!!
Liturgical abuse!!!



How does that resonate with you?

 

[vinessa]

Hi – I’m in RCIA and I’m appreciating this forum. Thank you Benedictgal for the reference from Redemptionis Sacramentum, it makes a lot of sense. It sounds to me like rather than “abuse”, it’s a combination of ignorance (or forgetfulness) and the influence of the Protestants.

As you know, Protestants pray all kinds of ways, and to a degree, their emphasis on an unencumbered, wide open, personal relationship with Our Lord I think has been a good one. However, as someone who comes from a Protestant background, I can tell you that they don’t have the same emphasis on Christ’s Body - the Church collective community, in unity. It’s more “optional” in their world – as long as the personal relationship with God is in place, they’re set!

It’s hard in the modern world, to say nothing of the US, to shield onesself from the prevalent (Protestant Evangelical) view of God and our ideal relationship to His Body.

It sounds to me like these priests (probably young) don’t have evil intentions – they probably just want to offer or facilitate more intimacy with God in their attendees (not a bad thing). And they’re either ignorant of the Redemptionis Sacramentum, or they forgot (or never fully registered) that part of what it said.

Likely if, instead of being outraged, we could recognize the good thing they are trying to accomplish, then point out why what they are doing is in error, and suggest other, better ways to accomplish their ends, they would be more than happy to accommodate.

 

[pnewton]

I thought it would be a Mass on a mountain.

With yodeling acclaimations!

 

[Quaere_Verum]

Thanks all!