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Online Edition - Vol. VIII, No. 6: September 2002

About Letters to the EditorREADERS' FORUM

Readers' Forum -- the lively "Letters to the Editor" of the Adoremus Bulletin provides a forum for exchange of ideas, comment and information on the sacred liturgy -- but the letters column is not published online. (See below for a sample letter from the current issue).

If you are reading the Adoremus Bulletin in the "online edition" only, you are missing one of the most popular and useful features of the journal. To become a member of Adoremus -- and receive the "hard-copy" edition, including the "Readers Forum", see Membership page.

We are grateful for your letters. While we read every letter, we get so many that it is impossible to answer or publish all of them. In selecting those to appear in "Readers Forum", preference will be given to subjects of widest interest. Letters should be 250 words or fewer, preferably typed. They may be e-mailed. Please include your name, address, city and state (which may be withheld on request). If a letter refers to a previous issue of AB, please include the date of that issue and name of article. All letters may be edited for publication. Be sure to indicate clearly if your letter is NOT intended for publication.

Readers' Forum for September 2002 --"Personalizing" Communion -- Heartbroken over new "standing norm" -- Don't use names -- ICEL translators inept -- NAB translators inept -- New translation loses its soul -- Divine Mercy -- Tabernacle Placement -- No "Hail Mary" after Intercessions? -- Scandalized by FDLC -- Is Self-Communicating an abuse? -- "On a lesser note..."

No "Hail Mary" after Intercessions?
Letter:
I wonder whether a celebrant may licitly use the "Hail Mary" as the concluding prayer of the General Intercessions, or after it.

It seems that it can't substitute for the concluding prayer, as it makes no reference to the petitions; and that it can't be added, because nobody, not even if he is a priest, may on his own authority add anything to the Mass.

I seem to remember seeing something on the subject on your website, but if ever it were there it's not there now. Can you offer some direction on this?

Kevin Johnson
via e-mail

Response:
IGMR §71, which describes the General Intercessions, mentions only that the "priest concludes them with a prayer".

The Missal offers no set text that the priest must use for the concluding prayer for the Intercessions. Thus, there is no rule that forbids saying the "Hail Mary" as a concluding prayer. It is a classic Catholic prayer, and may promote legitimate piety among the faithful.

Some liturgists object, saying that the "Hail Mary", as part of the Rosary, is a "private devotion" inappropriate at Mass; further, that as the prayer is addressed to Mary, is especially incompatible with the General Intercessions that are addressed to God. (See John Huels, More Disputed Questions in the Liturgy, 1996. Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, p. 24).

But the "Hail Mary" prayer is not a prayer to Mary. It asks the Mother of God to "pray for us sinners". Asking for her intercession does not seem incompatible with the General Intercessions.

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