Welcome, williamjm! It's good to hear from one more young organist.

Events like this are not unusual. Many parishes with Catholic high schools offer a "baccalaureate Mass" for graduating students. And many dioceses have annual Masses for special groups: e.g., a "blue Mass" for policemen, a "red Mass" for lawyers and judges, Masses for health-care workers, etc. Similarly, at Vatican City, the Holy See has events for special groups, often including a Mass.

Of course, when any such Mass is celebrated, it should be conducted according to the liturgical norms. It is not unusual for lay people to be present in the entrance procession. They may include servers, readers, choir members, persons to be confirmed, etc., so adding graduates is not a big stretch. The priest celebrating the Mass enters last.

The point about having the graduates sing raises some questions. If they are going to function as a choir for the Mass, to sing one or more pieces, then whatever they sing should be suitable for the Mass: not an entertainment song, or a song about the school.

Have you been offered the option to play for the Mass?

Hi William.... welcome! I was just wondering... do you often have "school" Masses? What are they like if you do? This may be a good indication if you should be concerned in advance...

we don't celebrate feast days on Sundays.

That is not entirely true, as certain feasts can replace Sundays in Ordinary Time, especially if there is a genuine pastoral need. I believe even in the EF the Immaculate Conception, for example, can replace the Sunday of Advent.

Without getting into a very long explanation (and probably a debate,) the mass is not ONLY vertical but horizontal too. Much ink and keystrokes have been spent talking about bringing back the vertical in the mass; and that is a laudable goal. But the pendulum can swing too far in the other direction too.

Mass is both the unbloody sacrifice AND a communal meal, and the Church has long recognized that it's proper to celebrate certain monumental moments in the lives of people at mass.

In short: stop worrying about it. The focus of the mass will not be the graduation. The graduation will simply be celebrated at the mass. Major Catholic universities have graduation masses all the time. Highlighting it a bit at the Sunday mass will allow people to take part in it since they are not likely to attend a separate mass during the week. This isn't a big deal. Just do the best job YOU can making the music befitting of the mass.

Major Catholic universities have graduation masses all the time.

And, quite often, these are on Sunday, along with commencement.

I am home-schooled, so I have no experience with high school Masses.

Hug your mother. :)

William,

Welcome to the Forum.

Just a few points:

1) in the Extraordinary Form, weddings, confirmations and such take place outside of Mass, but in the Ordinary Form, the rule seems to be that everything takes place within Mass, so Baptisms, Confirmations, Christmas Pageants, Quincineras, celebrations of Black History Month...... all take place there, without distinction as to which might be appropriate and which might not.

2) The fact that this difference exists seems to be intended by the crafters of the Ordinary Form: the continued existence of a commentator, the expressions "these or other, similar, words" and the now famous "alius cantus aptus" provide plenty of grounds for "flexibility" in the Mass, so that it is hard to oppose a graduation ceremony taking place within the Mass and -- at least to the untrained eye -- overwhelming the Holy Sacrifice.

3) PGA, with whom I nearly always disagree, has two nuances in the recent posting with which I must agree, in part. It is true that there are both horizontal and vertical aspects to the Mass, just as there are horizontal and vertical aspects to a Crucifix. How many people, seriously speaking, in your parish, are in doubt as to the existence of horizontal aspects of the Mass? Compare that to how many are in doubt as to the existence of vertical aspects of the Mass and their equal or greater importance? You may not be committing a mortal sin by participating in a graduation ceremony within Mass, but that's not the only reason to avoid it. PGA is also correct that the Mass is both a sacrifice and a meal -- but I would use the word "banquet", since it is the wedding banquet of the Lamb. Furthermore, the meal, at which we are fed spiritual food, is only possible because of the sacrifice.

Just to be clear, we're not talking about a different Mass with different readings or antiphons. We're talking about a Sunday Mass that incidentally has some acknowledgement of the graduation in (for example) the homily, in the prayers of the faithful, and in the choral singing by the graduates.

Incidentally, any Mass offered by a Catholic priest on a Sunday (including a wedding or a confirmation or whatever) fulfills the Sunday mass attendance obligation.

I've been somewhat confused by this thread.
Are we speaking about a Baccalaureate Mass, or a Mass that includes an actual commencement and graduation?

Generally William, that is simply known as a Baccalaureate Mass, even at the 8th or 12th grade levels in secondary schools.

It's an informal matter and there's no rule about it.

Probably the most correct way to handle it would be to treat the graduation recognition as a parish announcement, after the post-communion prayer. However, some priests might recognize the graduates in the homily instead, or in introductory remarks at the start of the Mass.

No, William, the proper lessons are normative. But the celebrant may opt to change those under his provision, as I understand it.

I really don't have a problem with the fact of having a graduation Mass per se. I attended my brother's college graduation Mass, and that was very appropriate. The regular Sunday Mass, however, is "set apart," from other Masses. Am I not correct?

PGA,

Can you truly not see the difference between a Wedding Anniversary or Episcopal Consecration on the one hand and a high-school graduation on the other?