What's the climate like surrounding visible liturgical ministires at your parish?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Duesenberg
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

Duesenberg

Guest
Which of the following best describes the climate surrounding visible liturgical ministries at your parish?
  • Family-like and functional
  • Family-like and dysfunctional
  • Somewhat professional
  • Professional
  • Very professional
  • Political but fair
  • Political and unfair
  • Hideous
0 voters
 
I’m not part of the club, but they seem to get along fine with each other and the gals don’t make major faux pas. The permanent deacon acts as altar server every week, the young ladies are only needed for reader and EHMC duty and are limited in number to 2 EHMC’s.

Thankfully, the parish has benefited from the permanent deacon position, especially for mass serving as the parish high school closed 30 years ago and was just razed this past summer.
 
Augustinian said:
I’m not part of the club, but they seem to get along fine with each other and the gals don’t make major faux pas. The permanent deacon acts as altar server every week, the young ladies are only needed for reader and EHMC duty and are limited in number to 2 EHMC’s.
Click to expand...
Interesting…
 
A group of volunteers, we do not have enough of them and we thank God for the ones we have!!
 
Would that be the very best a parish could give God, or the best the current liturgical ministers in a parish could give God?

In another thread someone said that everyone has a “right” to serve as a liturgical minister. That’s simply not true. That leaves me to wonder though – those that serve in such critical ministries, should they truly be the best ministers (in terms of their performance as liturgical ministers) the parish can muster, or should there be an ongoing rotation, or should whether or not one serves be based on seniority, or something else?
 
Last edited:
Mass is not a performance, so we should not be looking for perfection.

I think that anyone should be encouraged to serve in liturgical ministry.
We are all children of God and each of us have talents and gifts that we want to share.
So long as people are properly trained, do their best and follow the rules for their respective ministry, who am I to deny them the chance because I don’t like how they read or sing or…
 
CilladeRoma said:
Mass is not a performance, so we should not be looking for perfection.
Click to expand...
We should be “looking” for the very best we can offer God and His Son. The Mass is definitely not about participation trophies.
 
Nope your premise is simply false. No one has a “right” to serve. I think the sort of “participation trophy” mindset is one of many things that negatively impacts the celebration of the Mass in parishes.

Sadly you’re right. Qualifications and competence are often not considered in many parishes when it comes to selecting liturgical ministers. Thank goodness papal Masses still seem to be about doing the Church’s best to worship God (and thus nourish its faithful), rather than create an atmosphere of “participation trophies first.”
 
Last edited:
No, your premise is false.
Liturgy means “work of the people”, all of the people.

You complain about the “clique command” that has taken over your parish ministries, yet you are proposing the very thing that you rail against. I don’t understand.
 
You formerly used the term “right.” We are born with neither the “right” nor “permission” to serve in the context we are discussing.

It’s ALWAYS the pastor’s choice (and hence “the Church”) in a parish setting.
 
Neither of our opinions matter. It’s the facts that count and NO ONE has a “right” to be a liturgical minister within the Catholic Church.
 
I can’t answer your question. My parish’s liturgical ministry runs very professional and they are good people.

However, some things they do (typically around music selection) drives me nuts, and they seem to make mistakes when a priest or bishop change things up a little.
For example: on the first Sunday of Advent (during Confession), the Music Director was playing (organ only) was playing “Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel” which is one of my favorite hymns of all time. I was really excited. But then during the Mass, they only sang “modern” music which I don’t like. Also, for whatever reason, Father always uses Penitential Prayer 2 or 3 during English Masses, though Penitential Prayer 1 during Spanish mass. Every time he uses Penitential Prayer 1 during an English Mass, the musicians screw up.

What I’m not sure of is whether they select the music choices 100% on their own, or if they have (name removed by moderator)ut from the Pastor.

Anyway, they do a fairly good job, my only issue is the music selection sees to always been things written in the 1990s or 2000s. But from my point of view, very little good music (church or secular) was written in the 20th or 21st entries. From my point of view, the end of 19th century was the end of mainstream classical music.
 
OK, in a strict sense you are correct, no one has a “right” to serve.
However no one, no matter how well meaning, has the right to denigrate liturgical ministers that they do not like, or that they feel “should not be”.
 
To answer the title: very low humidity in the winter, and moderate in the hot days of summer.

Our liturgical ministers are reverent, but I don’t recall that being listed as one of the options. As to readers, some are better skilled than others. None are so poor at delivery as to be painful (although one, who spent several years in formation as a deacon, and is a friend of mine, comes close…).
 
Are you serious?
What kind of dialogue do you expect with a nebulous poll like that?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top