Starting Mass Without a Priest
And More on the Sign of Peace
 

ROME, JULY 25, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.

Q: I am a priest working in an area of primary evangelization where people are still trying to grasp the meaning of the Gospel. I have several questions about the liturgy: 1) When is a priest considered to be concelebrating? Is it when he is vested or just a mere presence in the people, or both? 2) Sometimes when we arrive late in the outstations, we find that the catechist has already started the Liturgy of the Word. Is it right to continue with the Mass from where the catechist had reached? For example, if the catechist has read the Gospel, can the priest vest himself and go on with the homily? -- C.N., Kontagora, Nigeria

A: In order to concelebrate a priest must be present from the beginning of Mass, vested at least in alb and stole and preferably also with chasuble.

During Mass he should normally sit and stand within the sanctuary. If a deacon is not present a concelebrating priest should usually help the main celebrant in such functions as reading the Gospel, preparing the chalice and raising the chalice for the final doxology.

He must pronounce along with the main celebrant, albeit in a lower voice, the words that correspond to all concelebrants according to the structure of each Eucharistic Prayer (usually the epiclesis, the consecration, the anamnesis and the final doxology), and may say one or more of the parts assigned to a single concelebrant.

He also extends his hands during the recitation of the Our Father. He must take the Eucharist under both species and if necessary assist the other priest in distributing Communion and purifying the sacred vessels.

Under no circumstances should a priest attempt to concelebrate from among the people in the pews by simply pronouncing the words of consecration along with the celebrant. There are serious reasons to even doubt the validity of such a procedure, which in all cases is a serious abuse and lack of respect toward the holy sacrifice of the Mass.

Regarding the other question: The Mass is a single action comprehending the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The priest's presence is required throughout the sacred rite in order to maintain its intrinsic unity. It is through his ministry that the faithful are constituted as a liturgical assembly in communion with the bishop and the universal Church.

Likewise, although the priest presides over the assembly, he is also a member of the assembly and must participate in the entire celebration.

He, like everybody else and indeed even more so, is bound to acknowledge his sinfulness at the beginning of the celebration. Likewise, the liturgical reading of God's Word is also for his benefit and God speaks to him through the Scripture with a more intense presence than that found while reflecting on the texts to prepare the homily.

Although there are few official texts regarding this subject, the instruction "Redemptionis Sacramentum" touched upon the importance of the unity of the celebration when it stated in No. 60:

"In the celebration of Mass, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist are intimately connected to one another, and form one single act of worship. For this reason it is not licit to separate one of these parts from the other and celebrate them at different times or places. Nor is it licit to carry out the individual parts of Holy Mass at different times of the same day."

In order to handle the real practical difficulty of a priest's being unable to be sure of arriving on time, one possibility is for the priests, together with the catechists, to develop a fallback plan in which the catechist has a series of resources that combine prayers, hymns, devotions, as well as brief talks that prepare the people for Mass, for example by explaining the different parts of the Mass, of the Creed, common prayers, etc.

This solution might not always be practical and it really depends on such factors as location, town size and local custom.

In some Latin American countries, for example, isolated villages with no resident priest have no set time for Mass. The priest announces his arrival by ringing the church bells or even by megaphone. Those assisting at Mass go to the church and start the rosary or other prayers until the celebration begins.

What is important is to find a solution that responds to the demands of evangelization while respecting the integrity of the liturgy.

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Follow-up: Sign of Peace

Our column on the sign of peace (July 11) brings to mind a question from a priest in the Marshall Islands regarding this sign at funeral Masses.

He writes: "There was a time in the past that in funeral Masses, the 'Exchange of Peace' (before the Lamb of God) is omitted. The reason for it is that the exchange of peace is a joyful expression of greeting one another but somehow discordant in the time of death, the loss of someone so dear to the family."

This rule no longer applies, indeed as quoted in the earlier column, the U.S. adaptations of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal specifically cite funerals as being among the rare occasions when the priest is permitted to leave the sanctuary for the exchange of peace.

I believe that the omission at funerals may have stemmed from reducing the rite to a mere joyful exchange of greetings and forgetting that it is the peace of Christ, flowing from the holy sacrifice upon the altar and the source of our mutual peace and charity.

If understood in this way, not only will the rite of peace be habitually carried out with proper moderation, but its inclusion at funerals adds a note of spiritual solidarity and comfort that pales mere human sentiments.

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