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turtle18
Guest
Every service I have been to this lent has been run by a lay person. When I was little, I remember the priests took this obligation very seriously. Does your priest still do this in your parish?
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Kielbasi
Guest
There are a lot fewer priests available than there were in the past.
Some duties , such as confession, mass and last rites, are duties that only a priest can do.
Other duties such as the stations devotion can be led by priests or lay people. Its in these areas that you are most likely to see lay folk helping out the fewer number of priests.
Some duties , such as confession, mass and last rites, are duties that only a priest can do.
Other duties such as the stations devotion can be led by priests or lay people. Its in these areas that you are most likely to see lay folk helping out the fewer number of priests.
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maklavan
Guest
We have the Stations in both our parishes every week. In the one parish last week, the service lasted one and half hours and was based on Pope Benedict’s devotional exercise. Benediction concluded the proceedings.
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Cathryn
Guest
My pastor led the Stations last night. I believe it should be led by a priest if at all possible.
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katy
Guest
We have Stations of the Cross after both masses on the Fridays of Lent. They are led by the priest.
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chewchoo
Guest
for years it was mainly the deacon that did the stations, with the priest there once in awhile. then one year we didn’t have any stations service at all. since then it has been run by the lay people. i’d much rather have it run by lay people then not at all.
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masscup
Guest
At my church the priest leads the stations.
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Sr_Sally
Guest
We are blessed to have 3 priests at our parish with one more in-residence priest and a permenant deacon. We have stations every Friday during Lent, once for the school and in the evening for the parish. A priest (or the deacon) leads the stations each time.
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mtoon
Guest
My pastor led the Stations last night for the second Friday night in a row. Did the previous two pastors prior to him? No way, they were out perpetuating the myth of too few priests. Our current pastor is committed to tending to his flock.
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dessert
Guest
Ours does but I have only been once, will go next friday. 
We have soup and bread after that brings more out. And it is cold here. No desserts which I don’t need anyways.
We have soup and bread after that brings more out. And it is cold here. No desserts which I don’t need anyways.
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mtoon
Guest
Is soup and bread after stations after Lent sort of a tradition? I think I have seen that in some other parishes…Ours does but I have only been once, will go next friday.
We have soup and bread after that brings more out. And it is cold here. No desserts which I don’t need anyways.
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cecilia97
Guest
Our pastor still does the stations, God bless him. I don’t know how he makes the time for many things like that…we have 2500 families, one priest and one deacon, more than two languages spoken in the parish, and a school.
Pray for vocations!
Soup suppers or fish frys are not uncommon during Lent. I guess you could call that a kind of tradition. But they are traditions in the same way that coffee and donuts after Sunday mass are sort of traditional. It will vary from parish to parish whether the meal is before or after Stations of the Cross.
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lak611
Guest
At my parish, laypersons lead the Stations of the Cross on all Fridays of Lent except the pastor leads the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday. My pastor is also the pastor of another parish that has no priest in residence. The associate we used to have was assigned to be the pastor of another parish whose pastor retired. We have no associate or deacon. The retired priest in residence has bad arthritis and would not be able to stand and walk for the entire Stations of the Cross.
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puzzleannie
Guest
when I was a child we went to church with our Catholic school class on Friday afternoons for stations of the Cross, led by one of the sisters, or sometimes the high school students under direction of their teachers. We also had stations on Friday evenings, led by members of the Holy Name Society, a men’s club. So if the custom has always been for a priest to lead this, I just have not experienced it in any parish I belonged to for over 50 years.
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acadian
Guest
Until I asked, our priest was not planning to have Stations of the Cross at all this Lent in our parish. He has another full time job with the diocesean tribunal, and he said his schedule just didn’t permit it. Fortunately for us, he reconsidered and said that he would lead them until he found someone else who would lead them.
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PaixGioiaAmor
Guest
For all I know, your assumption of the previous two pastors could be accurate - or perhaps not. If there was only one priest to the parish, I will ALWAYS give him the benefit of the doubt.
Let’s see - in many places, there is an early mass on Friday mornings with the school kids. More than likely, he has meetings and hospital visits and the like the rest of the day. Perhaps he goes into the school for visits as well. Then of course, the next day there may be a funeral in the morning, confessions, and a vigil mass at night … Forgive the man if on Friday night, after working all day and knowing he will be working the next day he gives away a non Eucharistic service that the Church says may be led by a lay person to a lay person to lead.
Yes, being a priest is a vocation. Signing on does NOT mean, however, that you are expected to work 12 hour days with no rest and no chance to go to dinner with friends, see a movie, or do any other things that most normal human beings do.
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Phemie
Guest
For the past several years we have had the Way of the Cross during Lent. It was led by the pastor on the first Friday of Lent and on Good Friday, then a different parish group (K of C, Youth Group, Liturgy Committee, Choir) led it on the other Fridays. This was always planned well in advance. This year the pastor said “If it’s important to them, they’ll organize it.”
Now I see a few parishioners do a private way of the cross during the day. Nobody had organized the Friday ones.
Now I see a few parishioners do a private way of the cross during the day. Nobody had organized the Friday ones.
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BennyBoy89
Guest
My parish does the Stations every Friday during Lent. I went last night, and our pastor led us. Children from the parish did the scripture readings, but it was a solemn experience nonetheless. For each Station there was a break for meditation, during which our organist played selections from The Passion of the Christ and other songs. Afterward our parish has free cheese pizza.
It was a beautiful evening. I’m going to try to get my family to go next week.
It was a beautiful evening. I’m going to try to get my family to go next week.
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mtoon
Guest
I didn’t assume anything.
The first one could rarely be found outside of Mass. Maybe at our yearly $100.00/plate BBQ or maybe if you actually booked an appointment during his scheduled 4 office hours/week. Sometimes when the bishop was around as well. You could see him at the local Irish pub or the gym, but he treated all parishioners like pariah in those settings. Now he pastors a tiny parish (1 Mass daily, except on Thursday and Friday his days off) with the same complaints.
The second one already had the skids greased for him by his predecessor. He was even less available than the first. In his case he was verbally abusive to others so the bishop removed him after a little over two years. He is sort of in limbo now. He celebrates the Mass as a fill-in priest. Neither pastor had any ailments or outside demands that prevented them from taking part in the parish life.
Our bishop held a “town hall meeting” and asked what we expected in our pastor. One person said we expect one who doesn’t treat being the pastor as a part time job. Someone who lives their vocation and is involved in parish life. A huge roar of approval erupted.
Since our new pastor began, he’s made himself accessible in many different ways. We now have things like vespers, rosaries, chaplets and stations where he is not only present, he often leads them. He is the chaplain for the local KofC (we didn’t have one for over 5 years) and other Catholic organizations. He demands this of his associates too. They show-up and take part in the social life of the parish as well.
Our stations is at 7pm on Friday nights. I don’t really know how many pastors really couldn’t make that at least through Lent. If they are in charge of multiple parishes, maybe they could make one or two each season?
When it comes to my personal parish, I too used to believe that my pastor and his associates were just “too busy” to be around much. My new pastor and his associates laid that fallacy to rest – at least here locally. They also laid that fallacy to rest in a far more circumspect and perhaps even cynical parish that had been hardened by their predecessors.
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