Who is the Boss of the parish?

[ChrisC]

In my local parish, it is very obvious that the Pastor and his assistant priest - who is not a young man - do things very differently while offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. For example, the pastor genuflects at the foot of the altar before and after Mass. His assistant bows (more like a nod of his head) though he is physically able to genuflect. The pastor meticulously purifies the sacred vessels at the altar after the distribution of Communion. The assistant priest does not perform any purification, though he might purify the vessels when they are brought into the sacristy after mass.

My question is, how much say does the pastor have over how his assistant comports himself during mass?? Can the pastor require his assistant priest to purify the sacred vessels immediately after Communion or to genuflect as he ought when processing in or recessing out before and after the mass? These are just two issues the immediately come to my mind but there are many others.

Thanks for any responses that are offered.

 

[chicago]

It may be difficult for a younger man (even if he is “in charge”) to tell an older priest “what to do.”

 

[Andreas_Hofer]

Depending on your perspective, the endless flexibility of the Novus Ordo rubrics is either a great strength or a horrible weakness. Whether you like it or not, though, a pastor (and, for that matter, in many if not most cases a bishop) can’t constrain his assistants in their choice of licit Mass parts or options.

That said, a rather meritorious Christian response to spiritual authority is to obey even those wishes that do not strictly bind. So it would normally be good of the assistant to heed any requests of the pastor to conform to a certain style or choice of Mass, even though he doesn’t have to.

 

[Sir_Knight]

Based on this lawsuit (which is happening at a parish that I use to attend when I lived in that area but the events described happened after I was no longer there so I do not know any of the individuals involved), it would appear that a bishop and even a pastor have a great deal of authority over those that they supervise.

 

[Brendan]

Purifying the Vessels after Mass is a valid option that is left to the celebrant, so I’m not too sure how much authority the pastor would have in this regard.