A quick question for German or possibly European Catholics

[chessnerd321]

I studied in Germany last summer, and this question, however silly in some sense, has been marinating since then.

I was at masses all over: Berlin, Hannover, Munich, Trier, Dresden. After Mass in the US it’s customary for the priest to greet the parishioners and chat for a few minutes after processing out. Not once did a German priest do this. Why is this? Do German parishes not expect to have a relationship with their priest? Is it unique to being in bigger towns?

In confession for example, I found German priests to be great, even if they did have a different approach generally than I’m used to from American priests. They often didn’t even make me confess in my decent, but far from perfect German. So they aren’t bad guys of course. But why so reclusive?

Also, to what extent is this a German custom, or is it EU wide? I spent almost all of my time in Europe in Germany.

 

[UpUpAndAway]

I’ve lived in France for more than seventeen years. My experience runs about 80-20 in favor of the post-Mass meet and greet. In my experience, there are priests who always do this and priests who sometimes do not. A priest who never speaks with the departing assembly is rare (but they do exist).

I’ve never been to a Mass in Germany, but I have visited churches and cathedrals there. I didn’t find German priests to be unapproachable or standoffish.

 

[chessnerd321]

I’m sure they are plenty personable, I just had no interaction with, or any opportunities to interact with them outside confession, so unfortunately I can’t speak from that first hand.

Part of the issue may just be that parishes slow down activities in the summer. I wasn’t able to get nearly as involved as I would’ve liked during my time because of that. I did live in a traditionally Lutheran part of Germany. That may have played a role as well. Another compounding factor is I often attended the extraordinary form there. But not always.

Anyway, thanks for the insight!

 

[UpUpAndAway]

I missed that part about it being summer. Gotcha.

Parishes where I live are ghost towns during July and, especially, August because everyone is on vacation. Each year, I tend to be out of town for three to four weeks during this eight-week period (6-10 days on retreat by myself and 14-18 days on vacation with The Husband).

So in the summer there are fewer people present, some of those in attendance are visitors on vacation, and even some of the priests are substitutes brought in so the parish priests can also go on vacation. Around here, however, these factors tend to make the priests more likely to mingle afterwards, not less.