A quiet word to the priest who officiated at Mass today

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pete_bowes

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During his homily he cracked at least half a dozen jokes before getting to his message, which was far too late for me, particularly when the two women sitting either side were laughing so loud …
After Mass, and before he had time to meet and greet his parishioners I walked over and got his attention. I looked him in the eye and said I didn’t come to Mass to be entertained. Then walked away, angry, before he had a chance to respond.
 
You were rude to the priest.

If you don’t care for his homily style, you could have dealt with this in a number of polite ways. You could have found another Mass to attend said by a different priest. You could have offered up your dislike of his homily as a Lenten sacrifice. You could have picked up your missalette and quietly read scripture, or said a rosary silently, or excused yourself to the vestibule and come back in when the priest proceeded with Mass. I have done all those things from time to time when I didn’t care for the speech the priest was making.

Instead you chose to just be rude in public. The priest is likely going to ignore whatever point you thought you were making, because priests know that they can’t please everybody at Mass and it sounds like enough other people were pleased with the priest that he has zero reason to change because one guy didn’t like it.

And then you post about it here like you’re expecting a cheering section?

This story just makes me wonder where you learned etiquette. And makes me feel sorry for our priests who have to put up with this stuff without telling you off.
 
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pete_bowes said:
Jokes are for stage shows … Mass is for sober reflection and spiritual empathy.
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You are a layman. The priest in question is sealed with the eternal mark on his soul of the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

Until he’s preaching heresy from the pulpit, then you should trust him and trust that he knows best.

Telling a few jokes is not akin to a ‘stage show’.
 
@pete_bowes, it seems like you have been many threads in the past where you express dissatisfaction with priests you have met.

Why not just accept that Father probably knows better than you?
 
pete_bowes said:
During his homily he cracked at least half a dozen jokes before getting to his message, which was far too late for me, particularly when the two women sitting either side were laughing so loud …
After Mass, and before he had time to meet and greet his parishioners I walked over and got his attention. I looked him in the eye and said I didn’t come to Mass to be entertained. Then walked away, angry, before he had a chance to respond.
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Not good.

If I were you, I would take a moment to speak to the priest, tell him that you are sorry if your admonition was overly abrupt, but that you prefer a Mass without this sort of thing, and that it interferes with your “sober reflection and spiritual empathy”, as you put it.

Priests spend an enormous amount of their training learning to understand other people, and I’m sure he understood your exasperation and frustration the moment you expressed it. But you might humble yourself a little by taking up the matter with him in a less confrontational manner.
 
I tell the occasional joke in my homily. I use it as a rhetorical device to keep people engaged, or to help draw out my point better. I don’t do it to get attention or anything. And I find it to be an effective way to preach, something I’d probably know a decent amount about, given the fact that I went to seminary and that I preach almost daily. I don’t think it takes away from the Mass at all to be at least a little humorous.

It’s essential to have a decent sense of humor if you’re going to be a parish priest. We go through a lot, we see a lot, and it can be tough to handle it all. Prayer and humor help.

“From sour-faced saints, deliver us, O Lord!”
-St Theresa of Avila
 
pete_bowes said:
Jokes are for stage shows … Mass is for sober reflection and spiritual empathy.
Click to expand...
Humour is entirely compatible with holiness and spiritual edification.

Remember St Peter at the first Pentecost, when the Appstles were accused.of being drunk? His immediate reaponse certainly sounds like a humorous quip - ‘it’s only 9 in the morning, of course we aren’t drunk!’ Folkowed by a passionate, thoughtful and moving testimony as.to.what was really going on, one that converted thousands.
 
pete_bowes said:
I walked over and got his attention. I looked him in the eye and said I didn’t come to Mass to be entertained. Then walked away, angry, before he had a chance to respond.
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This isn’t just a bad way to talk to a priest, it’s a bad way to talk to just about anyone in public. How would you feel if you were on the receiving end of a public call-out like that?
 
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