Liturgy Committee Notes
July 20 , 2009

Present: Fr. Gregory, Fr. John, Mary Bruno, Ione Jackman, Betty Ann Marsland, Mike McHugh, Eric Morton (for Joan Doiron), Peter Salesses, MaryAnne Brennan

Fr. Gregory began at 7:30 p.m. with an opening prayer and followed with an invitation for committee members to comment on the changes already made at weekend liturgies. Comments followed regarding:

  • the duties of the LTL
  • the consistency of style from celebrant to celebrant
  • the presence of the presider through most of the recessional song
  • the moving of the sign of peace to the more traditional place within the mass (a change from the practice of the past 25 years at St. Thomas)
  • the need for a somewhat lengthy time for the sign of peace especially at the 10:15
  • the placement of chairs in the Center

There was also a request for written guidelines for the LTLs.

There was a brief discussion of the placement of the musicians/piano, etc. to allow for convenient tuning, etc. given the need to lock the room they formerly used for those activities. It was agreed that there are a couple of possible places to try before making a final decision.

Fr. Gregory expressed a hope that study of the “General Instruction to the Roman Missal” (familiarly known as GIRM), which he has ordered for each member of the committee, will lead to greater understanding of universal principles for future liturgy planning.

As the meeting neared its ending time, Fr. Gregory asked if all members could meet in the future on the second Thursday of each month. Not all at the meeting found that to be a convenient night. The next meeting is thus tentatively set for Thursday, September 10 in the Center library. Please let Fr. Gregory know one way or the other if this schedule change works for you. At the time of the meeting his email was not yet fully functional so please call the office and let Lisa know.

The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.