Policy for Announcements at Mass
September 15, 2007

The purpose of the Sacred Liturgy is to worship God and be nourished in the Holy Eucharist. The rubrics provide that brief announcements may be made after the prayer after Communion. Therefore, it is this parish's policy to provide for announcements to be made at that time, but also to take care that those announcements are both relevant and, as the rubrics instruct, brief. This policy will govern the making of announcements from this date forward, and exceptions will not be made.

I. General Announcements

• General announcements are made after the prayer after Communion, and are made by the commentator. The commentator makes the announcements as given without any additional improvisation.
• General announcements are limited generally to twice per event. The week prior to the event, an announcement of an explanatory nature (the event is coming up) may be made. On the week of the event, an announcement indicating that action is currently required with regard to the event (i.e., register now, buy your ticket now, etc.) may be made.
• Announcements should be kept to one or two short sentences and given to the Parish staff member corresponding to the group. They are then forwarded to the Liturgy Director. They must be submitted no later than noon on the Wednesday of the week prior to the announcement. Announcements submitted later will not be accepted. If the announcement is too long, it will be revised and returned to the author for approval. The approval for the revised announcement must be returned to the Liturgy Office no later than the end of the day on the Wednesday of the week prior to the announcement.
• If the announcement corresponds to a need for which the parish has a pastoral responsibility (e.g., a need for catechists), the parish staff may elect to announce this more often or may elect to have a more personal appeal by the celebrant. This policy, however, is not meant to become the only means of recruitment for these pastoral needs.
• If a group is selling or distributing items or conducting sign-ups in the welcome center, they still may only announce the event twice, as mentioned in policy number 2, above.
• The use of the welcome center must be scheduled with the parish business office and is subject to availability. Under no circumstances can sign-up, selling or distribution activities take place in the narthex. The only authorized exceptions to this are Souper Bowl Sunday, Tootsie Roll Drive , Wings marketing, and the distribution of seasonal prayer cards.

II. “Infomercial” Style Announcements

• “Infomercial” style announcements are announcements of a slightly longer nature, where a more personal appeal is desired. These usually consist of a representative from the group coming forward to make the announcement.
• Infomercials are limited to one per group per year.
• A request for an infomercial is first made with the appropriate parish staff member for your ministry.
• The request is forwarded to the Liturgy office who will schedule the infomercial.
• The infomercial must be no more than two minutes in length, and must be completely scripted (no ad libs) and must be screened by the parish staff member responsible. This review must be made two weeks prior to the assigned announcement date.
• Infomercials will be done after the prayer after Communion, and before all other announcements.

III. Use of Parish Bulletin Boards and Posting of Signs

• Absolutely nothing is to be posted on the doors or windows of the parish plant.
• All information will be posted on the kiosks in the narthex.
• Information posted on kiosks must be reviewed, approved and initialed by the appropriate parish staff member for your ministry. They will also write an “expiration date” on it after which the sign will be removed.

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