A very odd Christmas Mass Experience

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SalesianSDB

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I went with my family to the Christmas Vigil Mass. Usually in this parish, if the main sanctuary is full you go to the chapel where the Mass is broadcasted on a projector. Well, for the Christmas Vigil we showed up just before Mass. Not only was the main santuary full but so was the chapel. We had to go to a building next door to a packed room where the Mass was projected on a screen for us. That room was also full and I had to stand.

My main problem with it was the irreverence. It was very hard to get into a prayerful mindset. As soon as the choir started playing for the priest to prepare the altar or for any pause in the Mass the noise level will rise. Not to mention the parents who didn’t care of the noise their kids made or the fact that people were walking around. I had to go outside for a minute. During communion a few Eucharistic ministers walked in to give us the Eucharist. At one point I turned to my dad and said, “Can we please go back to the Latin Mass?” Mind you, I thought I’d be the last to say that!

(Did I mention the liturgical dance to the Magnificat before the first reading or the play put on by kids as the priest read the Gospel?)

Does anyone have experiences like this?? I left Mass in a not so good mood.
 
SalesianSDB said:
I went with my family to the Christmas Vigil Mass. Usually in this parish, if the main sanctuary is full you go to the chapel where the Mass is broadcasted on a projector. Well, for the Christmas Vigil we showed up just before Mass. Not only was the main santuary full but so was the chapel. We had to go to a building next door to a packed room where the Mass was projected on a screen for us. That room was also full and I had to stand.

My main problem with it was the irreverence. It was very hard to get into a prayerful mindset. As soon as the choir started playing for the priest to prepare the altar or for any pause in the Mass the noise level will rise. Not to mention the parents who didn’t care of the noise their kids made or the fact that people were walking around. I had to go outside for a minute. During communion a few Eucharistic ministers walked in to give us the Eucharist. At one point I turned to my dad and said, “Can we please go back to the Latin Mass?” Mind you, I thought I’d be the last to say that!

(Did I mention the liturgical dance to the Magnificat before the first reading or the play put on by kids as the priest read the Gospel?)

Does anyone have experiences like this?? I left Mass in a not so good mood.
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Well at Christmas and Easter a lot of folks do try to attend mass. Our church has many masses all day 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, an day was 8 10 and 12 but most try to go at 3pm as it’s more convenient. I find it great but yes 3000 trying to fill a church that seats 1000 makes you want to tell 2000 people like yourself to come later. I assure you there are plenty of masses that are not full. Go then!
 
I don’t know what parish you attended. It sounds like you had a negative experience, I know the parishes up here as well as mainline protestant churches would love to be in that position. Imagine having your church so full that you needed to project it into two separate areas sounds like an experience.

I’ve never experienced that despite attending some sort of Christmas eve service in a bunch of denominations over the years. I hope that it doesn’t prevent you from attending a future mass because it sounds like an interesting experience.
 
SalesianSDB said:
I went with my family to the Christmas Vigil Mass. Usually in this parish, if the main sanctuary is full you go to the chapel where the Mass is broadcasted on a projector. Well, for the Christmas Vigil we showed up just before Mass. Not only was the main santuary full but so was the chapel. We had to go to a building next door to a packed room where the Mass was projected on a screen for us. That room was also full and I had to stand.

My main problem with it was the irreverence. It was very hard to get into a prayerful mindset. As soon as the choir started playing for the priest to prepare the altar or for any pause in the Mass the noise level will rise. Not to mention the parents who didn’t care of the noise their kids made or the fact that people were walking around. I had to go outside for a minute. During communion a few Eucharistic ministers walked in to give us the Eucharist. At one point I turned to my dad and said, “Can we please go back to the Latin Mass?” Mind you, I thought I’d be the last to say that!

(Did I mention the liturgical dance to the Magnificat before the first reading or the play put on by kids as the priest read the Gospel?)

Does anyone have experiences like this?? I left Mass in a not so good mood.
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Midnight Mass at our Church was great. It was not crowded although there was good attendance, and it was very reverent.

DGB
 
SalesianSDB said:
I went with my family to the Christmas Vigil Mass. Usually in this parish, if the main sanctuary is full you go to the chapel where the Mass is broadcasted on a projector. Well, for the Christmas Vigil we showed up just before Mass. Not only was the main santuary full but so was the chapel. We had to go to a building next door to a packed room where the Mass was projected on a screen for us. That room was also full and I had to stand.

My main problem with it was the irreverence. It was very hard to get into a prayerful mindset. As soon as the choir started playing for the priest to prepare the altar or for any pause in the Mass the noise level will rise. Not to mention the parents who didn’t care of the noise their kids made or the fact that people were walking around. I had to go outside for a minute. During communion a few Eucharistic ministers walked in to give us the Eucharist. At one point I turned to my dad and said, “Can we please go back to the Latin Mass?” Mind you, I thought I’d be the last to say that!

(Did I mention the liturgical dance to the Magnificat before the first reading or the play put on by kids as the priest read the Gospel?)

Does anyone have experiences like this?? I left Mass in a not so good mood.
Click to expand...
I’m not even sure that watching mass on a screen in a separate room counts as attending.🤷
 
Our pastor insists on a 2pm Christmas Eve Mass. Yes, 2pm. Even after the Archbishop asked that Masses not be held before 4pm.

Anyway, this 2pm Mass is the “Childrens Mass” - complete with the lady from Children’s Liturgy of the Word reading a dumbed down Gospel story and her husband and kids acting it out. The children’s and youth choirs also perform at this Mass. Our Church holds 800. We annually get about 2000 who come for the “convenience” of this service as they mistakenly think it counts for their Christmas obligation (despite it being held too early in the day to be a vigil Mass). People come as early as 12 noon to start reserving seats. The parish also sets up a community room and the parish hall with big screen tv’s to hold the extra people that come. It is an absolute madhouse. I’m often surprised the fire marshall doesn’t come and kick people out of the buildings or ticket all the cars that are blocking fire lanes.

But long time parishoners know this Mass is the crazy one and work hard to avoid it. There are other Masses that are far more tame - like 6pm on Christmas Eve and 8 am on Christmas morning.
 
SalesianSDB said:
… we showed up just before Mass. Not only was the main santuary full but so was the chapel.
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Next year, show up early! You know it is going to be more full than usual, so plan accordingly. (this will also be true at Easter, so again, plan accordingly!)
 
SalesianSDB said:
I went with my family to the Christmas Vigil Mass. Usually in this parish, if the main sanctuary is full you go to the chapel where the Mass is broadcasted on a projector. Well, for the Christmas Vigil we showed up just before Mass. Not only was the main santuary full but so was the chapel. We had to go to a building next door to a packed room where the Mass was projected on a screen for us. That room was also full and I had to stand.

My main problem with it was the irreverence. It was very hard to get into a prayerful mindset. As soon as the choir started playing for the priest to prepare the altar or for any pause in the Mass the noise level will rise. Not to mention the parents who didn’t care of the noise their kids made or the fact that people were walking around. I had to go outside for a minute. During communion a few Eucharistic ministers walked in to give us the Eucharist. At one point I turned to my dad and said, “Can we please go back to the Latin Mass?” Mind you, I thought I’d be the last to say that!

(Did I mention the liturgical dance to the Magnificat before the first reading or the play put on by kids as the priest read the Gospel?)

Does anyone have experiences like this?? I left Mass in a not so good mood.
Click to expand...
Yuck…liturgical dance? Plays? Good grief. :doh2:
 
I had a similar experience when I went to a Christmas Mass in Texas. They were adding on to the church so the mass was said in an auditorium and from the time we went in, and we went early, there were people chattering among themselves. I kept shushing my brother and his family and was laughed at for doing so. But you should be silent and have your heart ready to hear mass. Technically it would be nice to say some prayers before mass. I remember trying to say the rosary but it didn’t work I couldn’t concentrate. I personally think it is ignorance and arrogance that causes people to do this. I think people should be instructed on how to hear mass.
 
SalesianSDB said:
I went with my family to the Christmas Vigil Mass. Usually in this parish, if the main sanctuary is full you go to the chapel where the Mass is broadcasted on a projector. Well, for the Christmas Vigil we showed up just before Mass. Not only was the main santuary full but so was the chapel. We had to go to a building next door to a packed room where the Mass was projected on a screen for us. That room was also full and I had to stand.

My main problem with it was the irreverence. It was very hard to get into a prayerful mindset. As soon as the choir started playing for the priest to prepare the altar or for any pause in the Mass the noise level will rise. Not to mention the parents who didn’t care of the noise their kids made or the fact that people were walking around. I had to go outside for a minute. During communion a few Eucharistic ministers walked in to give us the Eucharist. At one point I turned to my dad and said, “Can we please go back to the Latin Mass?” Mind you, I thought I’d be the last to say that!

(Did I mention the liturgical dance to the Magnificat before the first reading or the play put on by kids as the priest read the Gospel?)

Does anyone have experiences like this?? I left Mass in a not so good mood.
Click to expand...
It’s Christmas. Visitors galore. Of course it is going to be standing room only and noisy. Get there early next time if you want a seat.

And if you’re looking for reverence and quiet at a mass then you are not going to find it during one of the two busiest days of the year for the Church (Christmas and Easter) when half of the people attending mass on those days probably aren’t even Catholic.

Have more realistic expectations for mass on those days and I bet that you won’t leave in such a foul mood next time.
 
My former parish was and remains much like yours. I got too tired with irreverence especially because i’m raising 8 children. I shopped around and found a small inner city parish with a very holy priest who celebrated Mass with the reverence and mystery it deserves. The parishoners follow his lead and my children prefer that experience. Even on the major feast days the church is packed but quiet and solemn. Keep looking and good luck.
 
couponfit said:
Well at Christmas and Easter a lot of folks do try to attend mass. Our church has many masses all day 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, an day was 8 10 and 12 but most try to go at 3pm as it’s more convenient. I find it great but yes 3000 trying to fill a church that seats 1000 makes you want to tell 2000 people like yourself to come later. I assure you there are plenty of masses that are not full. Go then!
Click to expand...
Yep, Christmas Masses are generally very, very well attended. Usually the earlier Mass on Christmas Day (not eve) are more like ordinary Sunday Masses.

When there are lots of visiting people, lots of children, and you are not in the main sanctuary, but an overflow room, it is very hard to maintain a prayerful attitude. That is true even special Masses where you would think the congregation would be very devout.

So the only solution to that is to find out which Masses are less crowded and attend then.

As for the other things, the kids acting out the homily during a Children’s (or Family) Mass is pretty common. The liturgical dancing is not so much, but exactly when was it? Was it actually before Mass began (before the confetior?), which is was probably just a way to keep the crowd ‘busy’ (exactly like a choir singing during that time). If it was after Mass began, then it is an issue. However! If your parish doesn’t do this sort of thing regularly, I’d let it slide.
 
Suslar said:
Our pastor insists on a 2pm Christmas Eve Mass. Yes, 2pm. Even after the Archbishop asked that Masses not be held before 4pm.

Anyway, this 2pm Mass is the “Childrens Mass” - complete with the lady from Children’s Liturgy of the Word reading a dumbed down Gospel story and her husband and kids acting it out. The children’s and youth choirs also perform at this Mass. Our Church holds 800. We annually get about 2000 who come for the “convenience” of this service as they mistakenly think it counts for their Christmas obligation (despite it being held too early in the day to be a vigil Mass). People come as early as 12 noon to start reserving seats. The parish also sets up a community room and the parish hall with big screen tv’s to hold the extra people that come. It is an absolute madhouse. I’m often surprised the fire marshall doesn’t come and kick people out of the buildings or ticket all the cars that are blocking fire lanes.

But long time parishoners know this Mass is the crazy one and work hard to avoid it. There are other Masses that are far more tame - like 6pm on Christmas Eve and 8 am on Christmas morning.
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Folks also come to see their children ‘perform’. And if they are singing before Mass to keep people ‘entertained’ (and hopefully not so rowdy) than it is a sort of performance. Seems like a good compromise at your church would be to have a concert and the nativity play start at 3pm and then Mass itself start at 4pm. Of course, then there would be tons of people trying to rush the exits after the play because they don’t really want to go to Mass.🤷 Or, hopefully not!
 
On Christmas, if you attend the earliest Mass on Christmas Day you will miss that sort of shenanigans (all the C & E Catholics are home celebrating the birth of Santa instead of going to Mass).

Same on Easter, go to the Vigil.

For me, it is very important that I NOT sin against Charity by attending those masses on Christmas Eve or Easter Morning.
 
Castello said:
On Christmas, if you attend the earliest Mass on Christmas Day you will miss that sort of shenanigans (all the C & E Catholics are home celebrating the birth of Santa instead of going to Mass).

Same on Easter, go to the Vigil.

For me, it is very important that I NOT sin against Charity by attending those masses on Christmas Eve or Easter Morning.
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I’m not sure that I understand you. Are you suggesting that the E Catholics will not be home on E Sunday morning hunting eggs?
 
Castello said:
On Christmas, if you attend the earliest Mass on Christmas Day you will miss that sort of shenanigans (all the C & E Catholics are home celebrating the birth of Santa instead of going to Mass).

Same on Easter, go to the Vigil.

For me, it is very important that I NOT sin against Charity by attending those masses on Christmas Eve or Easter Morning.
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That is true for Christmas, as long as you go to the first Mass. The later Masses, at least at our parish, not so much. The earlier the better, if you can find it.

I agree on Easter as well. The vigil is the one to attend if you can.

Your bolded quote really resonated with me, thank you for putting it that way.
 
My recommendation is to ask around on the phone next year and find a parish that will have a reverent mass.

My hope is that this coming generation of young priests will start the gargantuan task of rectifying all these aberrations. Perhaps I’ll be part of that. 🙂
 
zab said:
I’m not sure that I understand you. Are you suggesting that the E Catholics will not be home on E Sunday morning hunting eggs?
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No. they do that in the afternoon, in the morning they want to wear new clothes to Mass.
 
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