Question Corner: Should a priest do a Mass intention ‘for the people of the parish’ when there are more specific intentions waiting?

Q: I try to have a Mass said for my deceased grandparents every year around the anniversary of their deaths. But this year, my parish said their Mass intention calendar is very full, and people are requesting dates as far as six months out! Then I went to Mass last Sunday, and the priest offered what sounded like a vague intention “for the people of the parish.” I guess it’s nice that he wants to pray for everyone, but should he really be doing that when there are so many parishioners waiting to request specific intentions?

A: The short answer is that your priest isn’t offering Mass for the people of the parish because he personally wanted to or because he thought it was a good idea (although he probably is happy to do this and praying for the people of the parish is indeed a good idea)! Rather, he was offering this specific Mass intention because the Church’s canon law specifically requires him to do so.

As we read in Canon 534 of the Code of Canon Law: “After a pastor has taken possession of his parish, he is obliged to apply a Mass for the people entrusted to him on each Sunday and holy day of obligation.” In more technical canonical contexts, we would refer to this mandatory Mass intention as the “Missa pro populo,” which translates literally into English as “Mass for the people.”

A parish pastor’s requirement to celebrate a weekly “Missa pro populo” closely parallels the similar obligation of a diocesan bishop, noted in the Canon 388 of the Code, to celebrate a Mass for the people of his diocese.

That same canon goes on to state that the “bishop himself must personally celebrate and apply a Mass for the people on the days mentioned,” and it’s clear from the context in the relevant canon that this is likewise a personal obligation for parish pastors.

That is, while parish pastor can potentially delegate the weekly “pro populo” Mass to another priest “If he is legitimately impeded from this celebration” (such as, for example, in the case of a sudden illness), the “pro populo” Mass is an obligation that is entrusted to the particular, individual priest who serves the parish in the specific role as pastor.

Or in other words, prayerfully providing for the spiritual needs of the people is not a service offered by the parish as an institution, but is rather a duty specifically committed to the person of the priest who serves as the primary shepherd and spiritual father of the parish.

This relatively small detail tells us something important about the nature of the priesthood and of the way authority works in the Church more generally. Although priests are often charged with the practical day-to-day administration of a parish, just as a bishop is charged with the prosaic details of running a diocese, diocesan bishops and parish pastors both have roles that are far more profound than that of a chief executive officer of a merely human organization.

Of course, it is to be hoped that parishes and dioceses are run well and that their relevant organizational and material needs are tended to in a sensible and prudent fashion. But at the end of the day, the Church — and the portions of the Church that we call parishes and dioceses — are far closer to a spiritual family than they are to a secular charity or ordinary non-profit.

St. John Paul II alludes to this reality in his 1992 document “Pastores Dabo Vobis” on priestly formation: “In his spiritual life, therefore, (the priest) is called to live out Christ’s spousal love toward the Church, his bride. Therefore, the priest’s life ought to radiate this spousal character, which demands that he be a witness to Christ’s spousal love and thus be capable of loving people with a heart which is new, generous and pure … with full, constant and faithful dedication.”

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