It’s not just the priest! Pastoral collaboration between priest and people in preparing liturgy

As a child, I was always highly amused by cartoons which featured the one-man band – you know the one: a bass drum on his back, guitar in hand, harmonica around his neck, and cymbals between the knees… one person playing all those instruments together. I didn’t know much about music at the time, but I did wonder how one person could make all those components work. Not surprisingly, when I heard the sound generated by the one-man band, it was noise and not music.

Sadly, when it comes to preparing liturgy, the priest as something of a one-man band has become a reality in many Australian parishes. We regularly lose the pastoral collaboration between priest and people when it comes to liturgy preparation. There are many reasons for this.

Recent years have seen a huge increase in the number of priests ministering in our parishes who come from cultures which elevate the position of the priest in the community, often at the cost of the involvement of lay people. Some of these priests are simply not used to working collaboratively with lay people. There has also been a rise in the number of newly-ordained local clergy who resist the opportunity to work collaboratively with lay people.

But every coin has two sides. Another factor is the increasing number of parishioners who are time poor. They often do not have the ‘spare’ time to contribute to working for their parish community.

Some parishes find that their lay ministers are an aging workforce. When they started volunteering in the 1970s, little did they think they would still be doing the same work in their parish 50 years later because the next generation of volunteers simply did not materialise. They have continued to minister and contribute, but they are tired and sometimes give up.

The pandemic restrictions and lockdowns have added to the woes, not only making ministry more difficult but also affecting the life of the Church and diminishing our parish communities.

Some parish ministers also find the ongoing compliance requirements of safeguarding children a burden and even a bar to their continued participation in the liturgical life of their parish.

In addition, we have an increasing number of parishioners who see the liturgical life of the parish as the job of the priest. It is not uncommon when a parishioner is asked to consider becoming a member of the liturgy committee to be told that they could not possibly do that – I’m not worthy / holy enough or more bluntly Liturgy is your job, Father. Some see themselves as consumers not participants.

Another reality of the modern Australian parish is that more and more communities are being cared for by fewer and fewer priests. The pastors find it simpler to have one liturgy across all the places of their ministry. Rather than coordinate various community representatives, it becomes easier for them to prepare what they need themselves. The parish office looks after the rosters… so it’s just more efficient, isn’t it? No. Preparing the liturgy is not about an efficient use of time. It is about letting go and entering another dimension of time, the kairos. This is clear when we participate in an eastern liturgy and western notions of efficiency are radically readjusted.

Understanding Liturgy and Ecclesiology

The various liturgical rites which communities celebrate in their worship and the ways in which they prepare these rites will always reflect the self-understanding of a particular community. There is a very real dynamic between worship and ecclesiology. The way we prepare and celebrate our liturgies will give expression to our understanding of ourselves as Church. So, if the one-man band approach has become the way things are done in a parish community – especially in regard to the liturgy – then the message which the priest or community displays is that the Church is synonymous with the priest. This is not an authentic Catholic understanding of Church.

The Fathers of the Vatican Council II spent many sessions debating the nature of the Church, which resulted in a number of descriptions or models of the Church, for example, Body of Christ and Bride of Christ. Perhaps the most fundamental description was to identify the Church as the People of God (Lumen Gentium, 9-17). By defining the Church in this way, Vatican II was restoring the balance. Whereas in the past the hierarchical and institutional aspect of the Church was emphasised, now these elements are placed within a renewed understanding of the communal nature of the Church. All the baptised make up the Body of Christ. It is only after this global affirmation that Lumen Gentium goes on to discuss the various ‘parts’ of the People of God, namely the hierarchy (bishops, priests and deacons) and the laity. If this is who we are as the Church, then the way in which we prepare and celebrate our liturgies should reflect that reality.

Collaboration between the priest and people is therefore more than just easing the burden for the priest. It is nothing more and nothing less than the baptised faithful taking their rightful place in the Church. For at Baptism we are anointed with the oil of sacred chrism: As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet and King, so may you live as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life (RB 144, also RCIA 434). All the baptised members of the Church share in the priestly, prophetic and royal dignity of Christ. The primary sacrament in the Church is Baptism, not Holy Orders! Surely, this must lead us to see that collaboration between priests and people is not an optional extra but an essential expression of the nature of the Church.

There are also very practical reasons for establishing or re-establishing collaboration between priest and people. Take a moment to think about some of the elements which contribute to good liturgy in a parish:

♦ effective and well-trained liturgical ministers,

♦ vibrant and dynamic music ministry,

♦ engaging art and environment,

♦ prudent and sensitive child safety.

No one person can manage all of this on their own. As gifted and hard-working as they may be, no one person (priest or lay) can be an expert in every field of liturgical ministry.

Increasingly, our parishes are blessed with parishioners who have qualifications in theology, scripture, liturgy and music. These are the very people who should be empowered for preparing the liturgy in collaboration with the pastor for the good of the whole community. Indeed, they could well be entrusted with coordinating roles for their particular ministry; they are the ones who empower their sisters and brothers for the work of liturgical ministry. It is good to recognise these ministry leaders formally and liturgically to indicate that their work is not for themselves but for the good of all. (See Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Celebrations of Installation and Recognition).

Parishes are also blessed with parishioners who have faithfully been a part of their local community for many years. They will remain part of the community long after the current pastor moves on. Priests are sometimes heard to speak of ‘my parish’ but pastors make a mistake when they overlook the people who constitute the parish. It is their place; they know the story – let the Church honour what they have to contribute.

Some Strategies

How might a priest and the people of his community begin to work collaboratively together to prepare liturgy? Both liturgical ministers and the priest are time poor; there are increasing demands on all of us. But we also know that anything which is good and worthwhile takes time and effort and liturgy is no different. Time, effort and good will are required to make this collaboration work.

Thankfully, the Catholic Church has already put most of the effort into preparing our liturgies: prayers, readings and the outlines of each season have been already chosen in the Missal, Lectionary and Ritual Books. The task for people and priest is to take all this and situate these elements in the context of the local worshipping community. This process takes account of local needs, so that the liturgies which are prepared and celebrated may speak to the situation of the community and the lives of its people.

♦ Sessions to prepare liturgy collaboratively should have an agenda which is not too crowded. Aim to prepare just one liturgical season such as Lent (the Sacred Paschal Triduum requires its own preparation session).

♦ These preparation sessions should be minuted so that action items are clearly recorded. It is frustrating not to know who is responsible for what by the end of the meeting: collaboration implies accountability. Agendas and minutes lend a degree of professionalism which many of our lay colleagues expect these days.

♦ The pastor, any assistant priests, and the co-ordinators of the readers, musicians, sacristans, and art and environment ministers should meet to prepare well ahead of time. It is almost pointless preparing for Lent the week before Ash Wednesday.

​♦ A useful starting point for a preparation session could be to look at the readings for a particular season. What themes emerge? What images are repeated? What aspects of the scriptural journey does our community want to emphasise? What challenge is there for our community during this season?

♦ When the answers to these questions are teased out a little further, a plan of action for each ministry begins to take shape. Perhaps the music ministers want to learn a new setting of a common responsorial psalm. Perhaps the readers will want to do some background work on a forthcoming series of readings from Isaiah in Advent. Masses of white flowers at Easter to emphasise the abundance of new life (in contrast to Good Friday austerity) will need the specific attention of ministers of art and environment.

♦ This sort of preparation might work best over a couple of hours, almost like a morning of retreat, rather than a more perfunctory one-hour meeting. Because they take more time, you might have fewer of these meetings a year but they will be more effective. We need to work smarter, not harder.

What is suggested above is simply one way of proceeding. It has the extra benefit of fostering a liturgical spirituality in liturgical ministers. Ultimately, each community needs to find its own rhythm and way of working.

Conclusion

The benefits of a priest and people working collaboratively to prepare the liturgy should not be under estimated. A previous parish in which I was pastor initiated a program of scripture study. While it was not the original intention, I ended up becoming part of each discussion group. So I was meeting four times each week with different groups of parishioners to discuss the Sunday Gospel. I never failed to come away with fresh insights into these texts which I have been reading all my life; I thought I knew all there was to know. Other people can enable us to see and understand something very familiar in new and fresh ways. This is certainly true for collaboration on liturgical preparation.

Some priests fear that the involvement of lay people will diminish the authority of their leadership in the parish. The opposite is true. The pastor who can effectively collaborate with others and empower them for ministry exercises true leadership. He is able to build a community where all the baptised can be part of Christ’s work. By exercising liturgical ministry together, they help build up the Kingdom of God and enable other parishioners to experience the Risen Christ in their lives. In this way, we avoid the ‘noise’ generated by a one-man band and instead sing together a new song of praise for the Lord.

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This article was originally published in Liturgy News ​Vol 51(3) September 2021 . Reprinted with permission.