What to call Father?

[IrishAm]

I am often a reader at a very early Sunday Mass – no choir or cantor – so the reader fills in a lot. One of the things is to “welcome” people at the beginning, as in: “Welcome to St. X. Today is the X Sunday of Ordinary Time. Our **(HERE’S THE PROBLEM) **is Father X. Please join me in the entrance antiphon on page X of your Misalette.”

Okay, what do I call Father? I would instinctively say “Our PRESIDER is Father X,” but when I asked one of the priests, he was shocked. “Oh, no, don’t use ‘presider;’ say ‘celebrant’ or something or just give my name!” He seemed so determined, almost shocked, that I wondered if he hadn’t gotten some negative feedback on the word “presider” as in someone leading the worshipers, rather than a kind of “we are all equally marching together to God” type of notion.

Or maybe I was misreading him and was just wrong thinking “Presider” was correct.

Your thoughts, please!

 

[JimR-OCDS]

I am often a reader at a very early Sunday Mass – no choir or cantor – so the reader fills in a lot. One of the things is to “welcome” people at the beginning, as in: “Welcome to St. X. Today is the X Sunday of Ordinary Time. Our **(HERE’S THE PROBLEM) **is Father X. Please join me in the entrance antiphon on page X of your Misalette.”

Okay, what do I call Father? I would instinctively say “Our PRESIDER is Father X,” but when I asked one of the priests, he was shocked. “Oh, no, don’t use ‘presider;’ say ‘celebrant’ or something or just give my name!” He seemed so determined, almost shocked, that I wondered if he hadn’t gotten some negative feedback on the word “presider” as in someone leading the worshipers, rather than a kind of “we are all equally marching together to God” type of notion.

Or maybe I was misreading him and was just wrong thinking “Presider” was correct.

Your thoughts, please!

Celebrant is the correct title, but you can say something like,
Today our Mass is being celebrated by Father X.

Jim

 

[Chatter163]

Presider is a junk term that the new liturgists love because it helps to advance their agenda, part of which is to blur distinctions between clergy and laity. They base it on Vatican II-era documents, which refer to the presidential role of the celebrant at Mass. Naturally, this is true and the priest does preside at the Sacred Liturgy, but his role is much more than that and the Church’s own liturgical books use the terms priest or celebrant, because these are the proper liturgical terms.

Anyone can preside, but only a priest can offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. A celebrant (priest or bishop) celebrates the Sacred Mysteries, i.e., the Eucharist, in a way that no layman can. The “presider crowd” would rather forget this and emphasize more Protestant concepts. :tsktsk:

 

[Leopard]

Both terms are correct. You should refer to Father in the manner that he has indicated he prefers.

 

[chicago]

“Fr. So and So will be leading us in worship this morning!”

 

[Chatter163]

“Fr. So and So will be leading us in worship this morning!”

Yeccch! “Leading us in worship”? Does that ever sound Protestant…I am not even sure why an announcer needs to warm up the audience before Mass, but heaven forfend that we should say that the “Mass will be offered by Father X.”

 

[VAC]

Okay, what do I call Father? I would instinctively say “Our PRESIDER is Father X,” but when I asked one of the priests, he was shocked. “Oh, no, don’t use ‘presider;’ say ‘celebrant’ or something or just give my name!” He seemed so determined, almost shocked, that I wondered if he hadn’t gotten some negative feedback on the word “presider” as in someone leading the worshipers, rather than a kind of “we are all equally marching together to God” type of notion.

Or maybe I was misreading him and was just wrong thinking “Presider” was correct.

Your thoughts, please!

I’ve never heard the term ‘presider’ used. I make a similar announcement at the beginning of mass. When I started leading the music at mass, I was handed a ‘script’ to use.

“Welcome to (insert church name) on this ___ Sunday in ordinary time” our celebrant is Fr. ____. The special intentions for this mass will be for __. There will be a second collection today or the building fund.
Please silence your cellphones, stand and join us in singing our entrance song."

If you had a problem using the term ‘celebrant’ you could simply say instead
"Please stand to greet Fr. ____.and turn to page and join us in ______.

I actually had one priest tell me NOT to introduce him, as he was the only priest at the time, and that he is acting in the persona of Jesus for the mass…
So I agree with the above poster about going along with the priest’s preference.

 

[Chatter163]

I actually had one priest tell me NOT to introduce him, as he was the only priest at the time, and that he is acting in the persona of Jesus for the mass…

Ah, a priest who truly understands Catholic sacramental theology. :extrahappy:

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

I am often a reader at a very early Sunday Mass – no choir or cantor – so the reader fills in a lot. One of the things is to “welcome” people at the beginning, as in: “Welcome to St. X. Today is the X Sunday of Ordinary Time. Our **(HERE’S THE PROBLEM) **is Father X. Please join me in the entrance antiphon on page X of your Misalette.”

Okay, what do I call Father? I would instinctively say “Our PRESIDER is Father X,” but when I asked one of the priests, he was shocked. “Oh, no, don’t use ‘presider;’ say ‘celebrant’ or something or just give my name!” He seemed so determined, almost shocked, that I wondered if he hadn’t gotten some negative feedback on the word “presider” as in someone leading the worshipers, rather than a kind of “we are all equally marching together to God” type of notion.

Or maybe I was misreading him and was just wrong thinking “Presider” was correct.

Your thoughts, please!

Well you could say “Mass is Offered this morning by Father X” , but that might be a bit awkward, even though it is more correct, “Celebrant” seems to be the most common.

 

[baltobetsy]

When I’m the cantor, I say, “Good afternoon and welcome to X. Fr. Z will celebrate the Mass of the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time. Our processional hymn is XYZ, number 328. Please stand.”

Betsy