Proclaiming the Gospel Outside of Mass
Date: November 1, 2026
Author: Fr. Edward McNamara, LC
Question: Could you please clarify if the presider should follow the same protocol used during Mass when proclaiming the Gospel in other services, such as group prayers, child baptisms, or funeral home vigils? I do not see a clear instruction as in the Order of the Mass. — N.T., Houston, Texas
Answer: Effectively, there is no clear instruction on this point precisely because the situation vis-à-vis who proclaims the Gospel text outside of the Mass would be subject to a wide variety of circumstances whereas at Mass the minister will always be a deacon or a priest.
Because of this, at Mass the liturgical greeting "The Lord be with you" and its attendant response "And with your spirit" is used. This liturgical greeting and response are reserved exclusively to ordained ministers even when, as is the case of the Gospel proclamation, it is not a presidential salutation.
Thus the "Book of Blessings" contains the following admonition:
"A minister who is a priest or deacon greets those present in the following or other suitable words, taken mainly from Sacred Scripture." Then follows an expanded version of "The Lord be with you."
For a lay minister, however, it indicates that he or she greets those present with the following words: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all, now and forever. Resp. Amen."
The second part of the Mass ritual, however, "A reading from the Holy Gospel according to X," would not necessarily be reserved to clergy if the Gospel is read outside of Mass.
Hence, in the case of a "Sunday celebration in the Absence of a Priest" there are several guidelines available. In the case of a celebration presided over by a deacon, the Holy See published the following guidelines in 1988:
"38. When a deacon presides at the celebration, he acts in accord with his ministry in regard to the greetings, the prayers, the gospel reading and homily, the giving of communion, and the dismissal and blessing. He wears the vestments proper to his ministry, that is, the alb with stole, and, as circumstances suggest, the dalmatic. He uses the presidential chair."
In 1996 the U.S. bishops' conference published further guidelines after which several U.S. dioceses established a ritual for an emergency "Sunday Celebration in the Absence of a Priest" to be guided by an authorized extraordinary minister of Holy Communion. With respect to the Liturgy of the Word the rubrics of these texts usually indicate something like the following:
"The Gospel Acclamation is sung before the proclamation of the Gospel. However, a lay minister omits the greeting (‘The Lord be with you …’) and instead proceeds directly to ‘A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to ….’”
The same rule of thumb would be followed in other contexts where laypeople guide a celebration which implies the reading of the Gospel.
For example, the Rite of Baptism outside of Mass does not mention any liturgical salutation for the reading of the Gospel. A priest or deacon may opt to use it but, in those still relatively rare places in the Church where baptisms are habitually administered by authorized non-ordained ministers, they would follow the basic rules that only an ordained minister may say the liturgical salutation.
With respect to gestures and postures it would not always be required to follow the same ones as at Mass. It would be logical to do so in a Sunday or weekday Celebration of the Word outside of Mass as described above.
It would not be necessarily required in other contexts. For example, the rite of baptism for children outside of Mass specifically allows those present to sit during the reading of the Gospel. If pastorally convenient, this practice could also be extended for other celebrations such as funeral home vigils.
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Follow-up: Holy Water
A reader asked for a clarification on an earlier post: "I read your August 16, 2026, article on baptismal water but was left with a doubt if this also applies to holy water. Can one add less than 50 percent of unblessed water to holy water, and how often can one repeat the operation?”
Although the previous article was on baptismal water, I also briefly addressed the point of holy water. I wrote: "In today's liturgy, blessing holy water, while slightly longer than most blessings, is no great burden for priests and deacons, and they should be able to assure a sufficient supply of freshly blessed water so as to render the need to add unblessed water unnecessary."
Therefore, while in an emergency adding less than half unblessed water to holy water would still be legitimate, the situation should be remedied as soon as possible by blessing more water.
As mentioned in the previous article, citing St. Thomas Aquinas on adding wine or water to the Precious Blood, I do not think the process can be continued ad infinitum. Therefore, should we reach the point when there is more added unblessed water than the original quantity of holy water, the blessing would eventually cease to be and would need to be repeated.
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Readers may send questions to zenit.liturgy@gmail.com. Please put the word "Liturgy" in the subject field. The text should include your initials, your city and your state, province or country. Father McNamara can only answer a small selection of the great number of questions that arrive.