Who writes what we pray for during the Prayer of the Faithful at Mass?

[OnRoadToEmmaus]

Do these come from the archdiocese? The local priest? Some local church council?

I’m referring to the prayers where things are listed and the congregation responds, “Lord, hear our prayer.”

I ask because I notice increasingly at my church, Sunday after Sunday, this list includes requests that border (or pass the border) on political, and in the direction of so-called progressive politics – subjects like government healthcare, expanded government social welfare, etc. I am politically very conservative, and these almost feel like they are coming out of the Obama Administration.

What’s odd to me is, I don’t catch a similar leftist vein during our priest’s homilies, where you’d think it would show up more prominently.

I’m not here to argue politics. But I’m not at Mass to hear political views I oppose, either – views that in any other setting I would push back against.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

You would need to ask in your parish since it varies from place to place. There may be someone in the parish who has this assignment. The parish may subscribe to a service that provides the prayers. There may be other options. Perhaps you could volunteer to be part of a group that writes the prayers for each Sunday.

 

[Corki]

There are a number of publications that produce sample Prayers of the Faithful for each Sunday. We get an email every month from our diocesan Right to Life office with suggested petitions. I have been charged to create them for some special Liturgies and I generally follow the suggestions in the Magnificat. The GIRM says they should follow a pattern but there is a lot of leeway given as to content.

 

[porthos11]

The given answers are generally correct, and this is what I find to be one of the greatest weaknesses in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Missal.

We could take the Byzantine Rite, the Ordinariate Use, and even the Liturgy of the Hours as great examples on how to do things. Keep the General Intercessions fixed in either the Ordinary of the Mass (as is the case with the Byzantine Rite and the Ordinariate Use), or the Proper/Common (as is the case with the Liturgy of the Hours).

This free-form stuff for an integral part of Mass, is liturgically speaking, a generally bad idea.

 

[rcwitness]

The given answers are generally correct, and this is what I find to be one of the greatest weaknesses in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Missal.

We could take the Byzantine Rite, the Ordinariate Use, and even the Liturgy of the Hours as great examples on how to do things. Keep the General Intercessions fixed in either the Ordinary of the Mass (as is the case with the Byzantine Rite and the Ordinariate Use), or the Proper/Common (as is the case with the Liturgy of the Hours).

This free-form stuff for an integral part of Mass, is liturgically speaking, a generally bad idea.

I think a balance could be made. a few fixed/universal prayers and a few immediate/local prayers. They both have their edifying aspects. Why limit prayer or oppress a Parish?

 

[porthos11]

I think a balance could be made. a few fixed/universal prayers and a few immediate/local prayers. They both have their edifying aspects. Why limit prayer or oppress a Parish?

The main concern is an inexperienced or even apathetic author or, God forbid, pastor, using this part of the Mass to advance agenda, or even worse, heresy.

“For the legalization of same-sex marriage, and that the eyes of priests may be opened to the rights of loving homosexual couples, let us pray to the Lord…”

 

[rcwitness]

The main concern is an inexperienced or even apathetic author or, God forbid, pastor, using this part of the Mass to advance agenda, or even worse, heresy.

“For the legalization of same-sex marriage, and that the eyes of priests may be opened to the rights of loving homosexual couples, let us pray to the Lord…”

I see that as fear based and not faith based. If there are those with these kind of heterodox beliefs, the prayer requests arent going to stop them from doing harm to a parish. It would probably expose their shame!

 

[porthos11]

I see that as fear based and not faith based. If there are those with these kind of heterodox beliefs, the prayer requests arent going to stop them from doing harm to a parish. It would probably expose their shame!

That was an extreme example of course.

The point really is, any liturgical part of the Mass should be covered by a Concordat cum orginali. This is what safeguards the texts and ensures that they sufficiently express the lex credendi.

The Ordinariates did exactly the right thing. They laid out five fixed forms of general intercessions and they cannot depart from them, except to name names. They have been vetted by Rome and are guaranteed safe for use.

We do not have that safeguard in the Ordinary Form. The fact that the original poster has cited concerns is evidence that often, spins are placed on the intercessions.

 

[SonShine135]

But I’m not at Mass to hear political views I oppose, either – views that in any other setting I would push back against.

Yes, one could only imagine the outcry were there a prayer for the end of the sins of homosexuality and adultery.

I have been in many Catholic Parishes like yours. If you have a chapter of Pax Christi in your church, run as fast as you can. Prayers like the ones you mention tend to come out of a liturgical coordinator that belongs to said group. This group is well known for their communist/socialist agenda. They serve to undermine and confuse people by injecting political causes into the faith, and their members are known for breaking the law under the auspices of “social justice” (i.e. breaching security at military bases to protest nuclear weapons, and harboring and working with people here illegally).

 

[Phemie]

They come to us from various sources.

In Canada they are included in the Novalis “Living with Christ” & “Sunday Missal” and many parishes rely on those from week to week. We certainly do.

The CCCB also sent a list of intention that are specific to the military and invited us to regularly include on as we prepare the list. They range from praying specifically for the troops through praying for their families left behind, for the chaplains, for the nurses and doctors who care for the injured soldiers/airmen/sailors, etc.

Our bishop often sends an intention he wants included for that coming Sunday or for an entire month.

An intention specific to a recent local/national/international event may be penned in at the last minute by the person preparing them for the ambo: it could be praying for victims of a plane crash, fire, accident, natural disaster, etc.

 

[utah_rose]

Yes, one could only imagine the outcry were there a prayer for the end of the sins of homosexuality and adultery.

I have been in many Catholic Parishes like yours. If you have a chapter of Pax Christi in your church, run as fast as you can. Prayers like the ones you mention tend to come out of a liturgical coordinator that belongs to said group. This group is well known for their communist/socialist agenda. They serve to undermine and confuse people by injecting political causes into the faith, and their members are known for breaking the law under the auspices of “social justice” (i.e. breaching security at military bases to protest nuclear weapons, and harboring and working with people here illegally).

I’ve found some of these too seem to be politicizing too much. In that case, unless I’m a lector having to read those prayers, I just don’t respond. I don’t feel free though as a lector to omit these prayers. We have two very conservative priests that never refer to these in their homilies. One priest always adds prayers for people with addictions, alcoholics, etc.

I have noticed though when sometimes attending a neighborhood parish they seem to have different ones, so don’t know exactly where they get these. I do hate though the social justice ones too.

In our weekday Masses we are encouraged to add prayers of our own.

 

[Catholic1954]

I think our parish secretary prints them every Friday night from a website and Father adds one or two as he sees fit.

 

[pianistclare]

Someone always complains no matter who writes them. We’ve bought the pre-printed ones, and we’ve had various persons do them. Someone always finds fault. Either they’re too flowery, too political, not enough reference to particular groups, too much reference to the people I other locales, etc. etc. ad nauseum.
I doubt it’s an easy fix. Even the pre-printed ones can be polarizing because everyone, simply EVERYONE has an opinion on the Liturgy.

:coffeeread:

When I planned the Catholic school Masses, I used the following template and permitted the children to write their own in their religion classes:

1. For the Pope, Bishops and clergy
2. For the World (world news, earthquake victims etc.)
3. for the U.S. leadership (whoever it may be, to serve faithfully and with justice)
4. For the local area (news of the town or school)
5. For the sick
6. fro the Deceased
7. For those who have no one to pray for them.

We had a weekly Religious Ed newsletter where people could submit more personal or private intentions.

 

[porthos11]

Someone always complains no matter who writes them. We’ve bought the pre-printed ones, and we’ve had various persons do them. Someone always finds fault. Either they’re too flowery, too political, not enough reference to particular groups, too much reference to the people I other locales, etc. etc. ad nauseum.
I doubt it’s an easy fix. Even the pre-printed ones can be polarizing because everyone, simply EVERYONE has an opinion on the Liturgy.

:coffeeread:

When I planned the Catholic school Masses, I used the following template and permitted the children to write their own in their religion classes:

1. For the Pope, Bishops and clergy
2. For the World (world news, earthquake victims etc.)
3. for the U.S. leadership (whoever it may be, to serve faithfully and with justice)
4. For the local area (news of the town or school)
5. For the sick
6. fro the Deceased
7. For those who have no one to pray for them.

We had a weekly Religious Ed newsletter where people could submit more personal or private intentions.

Even I can spin these perfectly fine intentions:

For the Pope: “That the Pope and Bishops will listen to the voice of the people and allow the divorced and remarried to receive communion.”

For the sick: “That governments will recognize the need for the terminally ill to die with dignity, and so hasten legislation allowing physician-assisted suicide.”

Just as everyone has an opinion, more than a few have agenda.

 

[rcwitness]

Even I can spin these perfectly fine intentions:

For the Pope: “That the Pope and Bishops will listen to the voice of the people and allow the divorced and remarried to receive communion.”

For the sick: “That governments will recognize the need for the terminally ill to die with dignity, and so hasten legislation allowing physician-assisted suicide.”

Just as everyone has an opinion, more than a few have agenda.

Wow! You are one sick puppy, porthos!

 

[porthos11]

Wow! You are one sick puppy, porthos!

Hey don’t blame me! I’m not the one who hires people with agenda in parishes!

But really, to be honest, I sadly have become suspicious and paranoid in typical churches. Like, “gosh, what am I going to hear THIS time?”

 

[pianistclare]

Hey don’t blame me! I’m not the one who hires people with agenda in parishes!

They don’t hire people to write intentions.
Either someone on staff (like a Deacon) does it, or a liturgy chair appointed by the Pastor, or canned intentions from a subscription service.

 

[Phemie]

The ones in the Living with Christ don’t ‘ask’ for anything, in fact, this publication’s motto is that the general intercessions should not tell God what to do. Here are the ones for this coming Sunday:

For the Church, as we reflect and act upon the words of Jesus today, we pray to the Lord:
For governments, responsible for ensuring a life of dignity for all, we pray to the Lord:
For the women, men and children who struggle through each day, we pray to the Lord:
For our community, thirsting for justice and the courage to express our solidarity with the poor this Lent, we pray to the Lord:

 

[OnRoadToEmmaus]

The main concern is an inexperienced or even apathetic author or, God forbid, pastor, using this part of the Mass to advance agenda, or even worse, heresy.

“For the legalization of same-sex marriage, and that the eyes of priests may be opened to the rights of loving homosexual couples, let us pray to the Lord…”

You don’t know just how close that is to what I hear on Sundays. It’s not there yet, but …

 

[OnRoadToEmmaus]

The ones in the Living with Christ don’t ‘ask’ for anything, in fact, this publication’s motto is that the general intercessions should not tell God what to do. Here are the ones for this coming Sunday:

For the Church, as we reflect and act upon the words of Jesus today, we pray to the Lord:
For governments, responsible for ensuring a life of dignity for all, we pray to the Lord:
For the women, men and children who struggle through each day, we pray to the Lord:
For our community, thirsting for justice and the courage to express our solidarity with the poor this Lent, we pray to the Lord:

I like that approach a lot.