The Concluding Rites - Part 3
Part three of a series I'm writing for inclusion in the parish bulletin of St Francis of Assisi Parish, Dungog Gresford
In Part 2 of this series we looked, very briefly, at some of the items that are commonly though inaccurately inserted into the Concluding Rites. Having done so, let us begin to once again look at what the General Instruction of the Roman Missal actually includes in this last major division of the Mass.
The first element mentioned as belonging here is “brief announcements, should they be necessary” (GIRM, n.90).
There are two aspects of this inclusion that are worthy of note and commentary.
Firstly, any such announcements are meant to be brief. This is not the place for long-winded items; the descriptor ‘brief’ should be understood in its usual meaning, referring to something this is short and succinct.
It might be a means of highlighting something from the parish bulletin that is particularly worthy of some attention, or it might be the place to mention something that didn’t make the bulletin but is time sensitive.
Judgement should be exercised by those who are responsible, predominantly the Parish Priest and the Presider (if they are, in fact, different) as to how and what is briefly mentioned here. If something cannot be reasonably mentioned in a brief manner, then this is not the place for it.
The second aspect is the phrase “should they be necessary”, which implies that care should be taken to avoid including anything here that might detract from the overarching nature of this part of the Mass.
This is not the place for reading out every notice that is contained in the parish bulletin (why have a bulletin if it’s read out?), although a brief mention of the general thrust of a bulletin notice might be appropriate. I have sometimes heard this practice referred to as the ‘liturgy of the bulletin’, with the entire Assembly being invited to sit down while the Presider – or someone else – reads aloud every item found in the bulletin.
As a general rule of thumb, I would argue that if something is recorded in the parish bulletin, then it is generally not necessary for it to be mentioned during the Concluding Rites.
Any announcements should not require those who have gathered to take a seat. They are standing because the whole point of the Concluding Rites is to prepare them to be sent out into the world on mission. Anything that gets in the way of that – and that includes unnecessary announcements – must surely be avoided as much as is possible in order to keep the Concluding Rites focussed.
A well-constructed parish bulletin available to everyone, alongside other means more in keeping with modern technology, would surely mitigate against the need for announcements to be made at this point of the Mass. If as a result there are the occasional “brief announcements”, then they will be heard more closely if only because they are rare.
And that is the first of the elements that properly belong to the Concluding Rites. We will continue our exploration next week when Part 4 of the series comes along.
To be continued…