Who Needs A Sacramentary When You Have A Notebook

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maherite1977

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Hello everyone.

Have to get this one of my chest. Our pastor was in Poland for a couple weeks, so we had visiting priests celebrate Mass with us. This one particular priest on Sunday did something that I thought was not in good taste at all.

I was an altar server at 8:30 A.M. mass and was going to be the server holding the sacramentary for the priest. He came in and told me, “You won’t need to hold the book for me today…I have my own” as he revealed a 1" binder entitled on the front cover “Fr [name redacted]'s Liturgy Book”. Father is an older priest who serves as a chaplain at one of our hospitals in town. I can possibly understand the absence of a Sacramentary at a hospital (not too sure considering I haven’t attended a Mass in a hospital chapel), but in a church setting, I think this is ridiculous.

He used the “Liturgy Book” for everything - his opening comments, his introduction to the Prayers of the Faithful, even during the consecration (which he thought was necessary to add extra words during the Eucharistic Prayer). He even had his own set of readings in there along with his own set of Prayers of the Faithful - which he “forced” us to use instead of the prayers we had ready for the Mass.

Am I making a mountain out of a molehill or is this something that I really be concerned about?

Sean Lyons
Toledo, Ohio
 
maherite1977 said:
Hello everyone.

Have to get this one of my chest. Our pastor was in Poland for a couple weeks, so we had visiting priests celebrate Mass with us. This one particular priest on Sunday did something that I thought was not in good taste at all.

I was an altar server at 8:30 A.M. mass and was going to be the server holding the sacramentary for the priest. He came in and told me, “You won’t need to hold the book for me today…I have my own” as he revealed a 1" binder entitled on the front cover “Fr [name redacted]'s Liturgy Book”. Father is an older priest who serves as a chaplain at one of our hospitals in town. I can possibly understand the absence of a Sacramentary at a hospital (not too sure considering I haven’t attended a Mass in a hospital chapel), but in a church setting, I think this is ridiculous.

He used the “Liturgy Book” for everything - his opening comments, his introduction to the Prayers of the Faithful, even during the consecration (which he thought was necessary to add extra words during the Eucharistic Prayer). He even had his own set of readings in there along with his own set of Prayers of the Faithful - which he “forced” us to use instead of the prayers we had ready for the Mass.

Am I making a mountain out of a molehill or is this something that I really be concerned about?

Sean Lyons
Toledo, Ohio
Click to expand...
I don’t know why anyone still attends the Novus Ordo mess. The only reason I can think of is that there is no Traditional Mass within a reasonable driving distance ( 45 minutes). Why accept sacrilege, watered down prayers, and /or heresy from the pulpit when the Traditional Mass (which has none of these problems) is available?
 
We have a Priest who brings his own binder. He also has many liturgical abuses during his Mass.
 
Very often I’ve put together ceremonial binders for celebrants, presiders, etc.

There is nothing wrong with this. Granted, I prefer to use the binders from liturgical supply companies and not something from OfficeMax. But as long as the prayers are in there, what’s the big deal?
 
It looked very tacky when you have a book used for this purpose - a Sacramentary. Our Sacramentary is in great shape, almost brand new. If it’s there, use it. Granted, if you want to use a binder, fine. Use it, however, for just the petitions or for the homily.
 
A Priest uses the Sacramentary because it is the official liturgical book. It insures uniformity, etc…
 
Sean, it sounds like a poor choice in my opinion, but I would try not to overreact. Although using his notes for the prayers of the faithful & comments should be OK, it would be much better to use the official liturgical books for the rest. But if he is not a regular and often presides in hospital chapel (which is usually shared with non-catholic groups) and or other temporary or traveling settings I can understand the practicality of having everything he needs all together in a small binder he can carry with him wherever.

If this happens multiple times you could mention it privately to your pastor.
 
That does sound like a good option. This was more of a get-it-off-your-chest posts. Thank goodness our pastor is now back this week.
 
I know sometimes special notebook binders with all the sacramentary prayers are put together for certain feasts, etc., when there might be a lot of page-turning or other indications necessary (ie: right before you do the annointing of the sick during mass, make sure that a certain set of lights are on up front). Also this is particularly helpful when you are using a certain music setting for the mass and the presider needs to sing particular parts (maybe a melody needs to be written into the preface to the eucharistic prayer and it’s easier to keep it all in one place for continuity…)

You also mentioned that it’s an older priest. It could be that he had everything in really large print for his eyes or that he has other difficulty using the sacramentary.
 
You said he was an older Priest? Could it have been that the print was larger in the book he brought?

Just a thought…
 
Hi, Sean,
Yes, you ahould be concerned. A celebrant has “wiggle room” at certain times in the Liturgy. However, it is usually a choice of readings or Eucharistic Prayers, or something like that. He absolutely cannot add/change words in the Eucharistic Prayer. It can invalidate the Liturgy. I would bring up your concerns with your pastor. He would have arranged for this priest to cover for him, and he may not be aware of the irregularities.

Peace,
Linda
 
maherite1977 said:
Hello everyone.

Have to get this one of my chest. Our pastor was in Poland for a couple weeks, so we had visiting priests celebrate Mass with us. This one particular priest on Sunday did something that I thought was not in good taste at all.

I was an altar server at 8:30 A.M. mass and was going to be the server holding the sacramentary for the priest. He came in and told me, “You won’t need to hold the book for me today…I have my own” as he revealed a 1" binder entitled on the front cover “Fr [name redacted]'s Liturgy Book”. Father is an older priest who serves as a chaplain at one of our hospitals in town. I can possibly understand the absence of a Sacramentary at a hospital (not too sure considering I haven’t attended a Mass in a hospital chapel), but in a church setting, I think this is ridiculous.

He used the “Liturgy Book” for everything - his opening comments, his introduction to the Prayers of the Faithful, even during the consecration (which he thought was necessary to add extra words during the Eucharistic Prayer). He even had his own set of readings in there along with his own set of Prayers of the Faithful - which he “forced” us to use instead of the prayers we had ready for the Mass.

Am I making a mountain out of a molehill or is this something that I really be concerned about?

Sean Lyons
Toledo, Ohio
Click to expand...
He is wrong.
The sacramentary still needs to be on the altar.
I have weak eyes and I also have a notebook with all the rites and stuff in it. but the sac. is a holy book and needs to still be on the altar anyways. Even if I knew all the rites and everything by heart, you still need the sacramentary on the altar. whats next? oh, we know all the gospels by heart, no need for that book in the rites now.
 
USMC,

Great answer. I would feel fortunate if a Tridentine Mass was only 45 minutes away. I consider an hour and a half “reasonable” (thats each way).

And gas is now a “bargin” at $2.79 a gallon.

Oh, yah, better watch out for the snipers. They’ll pick on your comments.

Semper Fi
 
Don’t forget that the use of the liturgical books is also for the visual impact. That’s why sacramentaries, lectionaries, and breviaries, and even hymnals are magnificently printed and bound, so that just by looking at them, people will know that these are sacred texts, and the visual beauty diginifies the texts of the liturgy.

A notebook doesn’t cut it.
 
USMC said:
I don’t know why anyone still attends the Novus Ordo mess. The only reason I can think of is that there is no Traditional Mass within a reasonable driving distance ( 45 minutes). Why accept sacrilege, watered down prayers, and /or heresy from the pulpit when the Traditional Mass (which has none of these problems) is available?
Click to expand...
It’s impossible for a priest to preach heresy during a TLM homily?
 
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