Morning Prayer in a Parish setting: Issues, challenges and options.

Following on from the success of sung Evening Prayer during Lent this year at my Parish, [see Evening Prayer: Reclaiming and living our Liturgical tradition], I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine about the idea of offering Morning Prayer in a parish setting. The conversation raised a number of issues in relation to Lauds [Morning Prayer] that warrant further investigation here.

The first question which is raised is: when to offer Morning Prayer? The second question is: how are you going to offer it?

To answer these two points – I will need to bring into the picture the way the Liturgy of the Hours has been celebrated at my parish in the past. For the most part, Morning and Evening Prayer has been [said] by a devoted handful of parishioners – all elderly – for some time. This group says Morning Prayer at 6:40am before 7am Mass every weekday. It usually lasts about 10 to 15 minutes. There would be a core of about six individuals who would drive it and others may enter into the prayer as they arrive early for Mass.

Similarly, the same group gathered at 5:45pm for Evening Prayer each weekday at the Parish. There were only 5 or 6 elderly parishioners who did this, occasionally supported by one of the priests. Evening Prayer in this setting was spoken and took about 15 minutes. To my memory, both Morning and Evening Prayer have never been advertised in the weekly parish Mass sheet. Not surprisingly, Evening Prayer celebrated in this way has now ceased in our parish.

The only other time Evening Prayer has been celebrated was when I offered it to the parish community in Lent 2005. Knowing the method and format of my predecessors, I was determined that the way I offered it would be very different and that music would feature at every available opportunity. It was advertised as being so – and the turnout throughout Lent was very impressive. It seemed to satisfy a hunger that people were experiencing.

So…with all this floating around in the background…it became very obvious early on in the discussion with my friend that if we were to offer Morning Prayer – it would need to include a number of things. Drawing on the Lenten Henley Evening Prayer experience, we agreed that Morning Prayer must have a strong musical component. The spoken word simply is not enough. While it is powerful and poetic, there can be no denying the power and beauty of sung prayer…so that was just a given.

Secondly, it would need to be advertised…not only that is was happening…but also what Morning Prayer actually is. It became obvious in the build-up to Evening Prayer this Lent, that so many people had no understanding at all of what the Liturgy of the Hours actually is.

And finally…when to actually celebrate Morning Prayer? What a conundrum!

For Morning Prayer to be relevant to parishioners – a relevant and realistic time must also be offered. To hold Morning Prayer at 6:40am is no earthly good to anyone [except a very small minority of parishioners]. Such an early time will exclude many – and this is not desirable – or acceptable – especially if we can offer a better alternative. For the vast majority of parishioners, early morning services [whether they be Morning Prayer or Eucharist] during weekdays are simply an impossible task. Even those who would dearly love to partake in such celebrations, are furiously busy trying to get ready for work, or trying to organise their kids to get ready for kindy, child care or school…to be down at the parish at such an early time is just a nonsense. Young people are getting ready for school or a day at university…buses need to be caught…young adults are setting off early for work and in many of our bigger cities are commuting large distances [and time] to get there. It simply is an impossible expectation for people right across the age spectrum to attend their local parish for Morning Prayer on weekdays.

Let’s get real. So…with weekdays out of the equation, what about weekends? Sunday mornings are usually taken up with Eucharist celebrations…and there may be some scope here to introduce Morning Prayer as a pre-cursor and build up to the celebration of Eucharist. But in discussion with my friend, we felt the format and the tasks involved, the individuals required and the musicians needed to effectively hold a celebration of Morning Prayer would surely compete with those already involved with various ministries connected to the celebration of the Eucharist. So we crossed Sunday off the list too.

Which left us with Saturday mornings. This seemed to us to be the best day of the week to offer Lauds in a parish setting…but even this day had its associated drawbacks. In an increasingly busy world, we acknowledged that Saturdays, for many people, are just another working day of the week. For young people, involvement in Saturday morning sports, either connected to a school or for personal leisure featured high on people’s agenda. Associated with this, were parents running their children around town to this sporting function or that sporting function.

Saturday mornings seem to be an ideal time in the week for families and individuals to go and do shopping, because the rest of the week is so busy.

But of all the days which we thought about as a possible day to have Morning Prayer – Saturday morning seemed like the best possibility. It would also mean, we could perhaps hold Morning Prayer a little later in the morning at a time which was perhaps more agreeable with people. We floated the idea of perhaps 9am or 9:30am…and this seemed like a good step forward. This also raised the liturgical question of whether a celebration at this time would constitute it being the celebration of Terce rather than Morning Prayer…but this was a minor consideration for us.

What about the issue of frequency? Weekly would be a huge undertaking for it to be done with music, and other people involved performing various ministries…so the idea of Morning Prayer being offered at seasonal times [i.e.: Advent, Lent] might be perhaps more attractive [and would also allow plenty of preparation time for advertisement and gathering people to be involved]. Such seasonal celebrations would stand the best chance of attracting maximum participation that would be meaningful and significant for the most amount of people possible.

But what about a more ongoing celebration of Morning Prayer? Would it be reasonable to offer Morning Prayer every Saturday, week after week? Perhaps, after people had been exposed to the formula over an extended period of time, it would become second nature to them – and the idea of having it as a weekly celebration would not be so hard to organise. N.b. [A recent Blog I posted focused on the importance of employing Parish Liturgists – and I would see such workers as fast-tracking the ongoing celebration of Morning Prayer in a parish setting…these things just don’t spontaneously happen! They require thorough planning, organisation and delegation…which can certainly be done by parishioners willing to offer their skills…but I would imagine someone who is being paid to coordinate such liturgical endeavours will allow a much quicker way in getting the job done! I’ll say it again – bring on the paid parish liturgist!!]

But there is another part of me – that dares to ask the question – is this fanciful thinking about parish celebrations of Lauds simply ‘pie-in-the-sky’ kind of thinking? I would like to think that it isn’t – but there is a part of me that questions. And this questioning part of me considers yet other options and possibilities to Morning Prayer which may satisfy the pangs of social intercourse by some parishioners – but may leave the liturgical needs of others wanting.

…Could the compromise be in the form of Parish ‘Prayer Breakfasts’?? Such events could begin with prayer – very simple and brief – followed by a breakfast in the parish Hall. This could be opened up not only to parishioners, but also be organised as a kind of outreach to homeless or the poor who would benefit from a hot breakfast amongst friendly people – that might also be able to provide follow up and assistance where possible and appropriate.

Such ‘Prayer Breakfasts’ would certainly involve an active extension of faith that would be immediate, apostolic and tangible – perhaps in ways that aren’t clearly noticeable for those who partake in Morning Prayer which would occur in the Church building and involve no immediate interaction with the wider community including the poor and needy. These might be people we ‘go out to’ after partaking in Morning Prayer…but usually aren’t there at the actual liturgical celebration.

So, there seems to be merit in such ‘Prayer Breakfasts’…but are they simply a succumbing to laziness because we can’t get our act together to host Morning Prayer?

Perhaps there are still other ways Morning Prayer can be celebrated…in ways that are liturgical, relevant and attractive to people in their business.

The rise of Podcasting throws a new light on issues such as Morning Prayer and opens up many possibilities that are worth exploring. One of the most popular Catholic podcasters is Father Roderick Vonhögen, a priest from the Archdiocese of Utrecht in the Netherlands. On his website CatholicInsider.com he has podcasts of Morning and Evening Prayer. The beauty of such pods is that they can be easily downloaded and put onto such devices as iPods, mp3 players or laptops and listened to at people’s own leisure.

I myself have downloaded pods of Morning and Evening Prayer from CatholicInsider.com and found them to be good to listen to while in the car on the way to and from work in the mornings and afternoons. My criticism of Fr Roderick’s pods is that they are entirely spoken. I am absolutely sold on the idea of integrating music wherever possible for the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, be it Morning or Evening Prayer to enhance its power and beauty. Perhaps we can work towards a more musical adaptation of the Hours and offer them in podcasts…? Perhaps they already exist out there in the land of pods.

There are advantages and disadvantages in podcasting the Liturgy of the Hours.

The advantage is that the Hours become immediately accessible for everyone who is connected and plugged into the net. People who are too busy to attend a parish celebration of Lauds, can download it and listen to it on their journey to work in the mornings whether that be in the car, bus, train, bike…or however! It would appeal to many of the X and Y generation who are so connected to the internet and multi-media savvy – that downloading pods would be a happy extension of their online activities. It would be a highly relevant way to offer the Hours that is for sure!

The disadvantages are that such pods relegate celebrations of the Hours to an individual experience which seems to go against the idea of the Hours being celebrated best when they are celebrated communally. Are such individual pod listenings no more than private quasi-devotional activities? To combat this idea, perhaps it would be good to include in such podcasts a disclaimer at the beginning of each recording which suggests that the Podcast being listened to may be an impetus and movement towards a communal experience of Morning Prayer for the listener. [??]

While not ideal, the rising trend of podcasting is certainly an area worth pursuing as a way of getting the idea and knowledge of the Liturgy of the Hours ‘out there’. The fruits of such exploration may well have a positive flow on effect in our parish communities.