Applauding the cantor after Mass

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allhers said:
Right here, on this site, this same question was asked of Fr. Vincent Serpa O.P. .
He said this:

The church is not a concert hall and the liturgy is not a performance. We are there to direct our attention to God—not to each other. There is a time and place for everything. The church is for prayer—not performances. If you want to convey your appreciation for the music, compliment the director after Mass.

source:
catholic.com/quickquestions/why-shouldnt-we-applaud-the-choir-at-the-end-of-mass
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Good advice!
 
Filii_Dei said:
Even if it does not occur within the liturgy, it draws attention away from God whose presence is the perpetual, central focus of the church, and directs it at a human being. I would say that it is certainly disruptive to the solemn atmosphere of sanctity. It happening during a liturgy only makes it all the more inappropriate. 🙂
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This is true, and I can say the same about the folks who chit-chat right before and right after Mass when other folks are trying to pray.
 
allhers said:
Right here, on this site, this same question was asked of Fr. Vincent Serpa O.P. .
He said this:

The church is not a concert hall and the liturgy is not a performance. We are there to direct our attention to God—not to each other. There is a time and place for everything. The church is for prayer—not performances. If you want to convey your appreciation for the music, compliment the director after Mass.

source:
catholic.com/quickquestions/why-shouldnt-we-applaud-the-choir-at-the-end-of-mass
Click to expand...
That makes no sense. If you’re going to compliment the director after Mass, why not compliment him through applause?

I am not holier than these men: youtube.com/watch?v=ySeDc9vMH6Q
 
Bklynguy said:
This is true, and I can say the same about the folks who chit-chat right before and right after Mass when other folks are trying to pray.
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a lot of things happen after the priests says, “the Mass is ended, go in peace”. there’s a recessional that ends and the celebrant and deacon are outside greeting people, ushers are roaming the pews straightening things up for the next Mass. most of 800 or so people are moving towards the exists and behind them, people for the next Mass are coming in… the sacristan is at work. even the glass doors are getting a cleaning. and, yes, there’s some applause for the cantor/organist team. I’m just hard pressed to see how this detracts, in any way, from the **concluded **liturgy.

F/
 
cheezey said:
All I can say is that God is present every week and this week, the Holy Spirit moved us to tears and temptation to applaud for seeing His reflection, that which we called to see, even more so in this week’s service. We hear His voice each week. This week, His voice was booming…I don’t know; when the Holy Spirit moves me that much, the typical reaction seems insufficient.
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Filii_Dei said:
I thank you for your testimony and I applaud you for it, pun not intended. Certainly we must give God the glory that is due to Him. I do not fault people for applauding, but they must know that it can only be directed toward God and not man. In practice, it can be hard to distinguish. That is why Pope Benedict XVI (as Cardinal Ratzinger) appealed directly to us to decide when is appropriate to applaud and gave us moral guidelines on its use (namely, refraining from applause for human achievements and keeping God the focus of worship), but otherwise does not impose any laws on its use. 🙂
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I understand; it’s just that I strongly feel that if we had indeed applauded, it would have been directed to the Holy Spirit within the medium of the message, thus keeping the focus of this astonishing service on God. That was my heart’s reaction and thought. The Holy Spirit inspired the message, so…
I’m new, so I refrained in case there was indeed a protocol to be followed. Seems I was right, so thank you for the information!
 
Bklynguy said:
This is true, and I can say the same about the folks who chit-chat right before and right after Mass when other folks are trying to pray.
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or start with the coats and rush at the start of the last hymn to be sung. Hate this.
How irreverent.
 
Archangelic said:
If you truly want to thank God, there’s no greater applause you can give him after a mass than to kneel back down and give him several moments of prayer.
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I think going in peace to love and serve the Lord is greater. but YMMV.
 
Fairwinds said:
a lot of things happen after the priests says, “the Mass is ended, go in peace”. there’s a recessional that ends and the celebrant and deacon are outside greeting people, ushers are roaming the pews straightening things up for the next Mass. most of 800 or so people are moving towards the exists and behind them, people for the next Mass are coming in… the sacristan is at work. even the glass doors are getting a cleaning. and, yes, there’s some applause for the cantor/organist team. I’m just hard pressed to see how this detracts, in any way, from the **concluded **liturgy.

F/
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I can’t believe I’m about to do this, but…

I agree! After Mass is over, applauding a job well done is not really offending the Lord or the sacred space.
 
Bklynguy said:
Does this every occur at your parish? This frequently happens at mine, where some–usually a smaller group of people toward the front–applaud the cantor after Mass (this is after the last hymn). I never really thought it was appropriate, so I don’t personally participate. Has anyone else experienced this and is it appropriate to do?

Today, I sat toward the front and saw the lector shaking her head and saying, “no, no, no” at the people when they were applauding.
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I am glad to say that I have never see this happen - the only time we had applause in respect of the music is when we had a visiting choir and the priest asked us to show our appreciation before the dismissal.

We have a choir at our main mass and we used to have cantors at the other Sunday masses, but our new priest has got rid of them and now the whole congregation actually sing much better. There is nothing worse than someone singing into an amplified mike to put people off singing. The organist now leads the Responsorial Psalm and the Alleluia and the congregation have no trouble singing the hymns and mass parts together.
 
I left out the question that Father answered earlier, so I will post it in full.

Full Question
One of my friends suggests that we should not applaud the choir after the closing hymn. He says that the song should direct souls to the Lord. I find it unnatural if we don’t applaud.

Answer
The church is not a concert hall and the liturgy is not a performance. We are there to direct our attention to God—not to each other. There is a time and place for everything. The church is for prayer—not performances. If you want to convey your appreciation for the music, compliment the director after Mass.

catholic.com/quickquestions/why-shouldnt-we-applaud-the-choir-at-the-end-of-mass
 
allhers said:
I left out the question that Father answered earlier, so I will post it in full.

Full Question
One of my friends suggests that we should not applaud the choir after the closing hymn. He says that the song should direct souls to the Lord. I find it unnatural if we don’t applaud.

Answer
The church is not a concert hall and the liturgy is not a performance. We are there to direct our attention to God—not to each other. There is a time and place for everything. The church is for prayer—not performances. If you want to convey your appreciation for the music, compliment the director after Mass.
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What does Father think applause is?
 
It is not appropriate to applaud the choir because it is NOT a performance; the music’s purpose is to serve the mass and uplift the minds and hearts of the people to prayer. As soon as clapping begins, you know that the people are not praying, but simply enjoying a performance.
 
dshix said:
It is not appropriate to applaud the choir because it is NOT a performance; the music’s purpose is to serve the mass and uplift the minds and hearts of the people to prayer. As soon as clapping begins, you know that the people are not praying, but simply enjoying a performance.
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some of us can multitask. its possible to pray and enjoy their vocal skills at the same time. calling this a performance is misleading and a strawman.

regardless, at some point the Mass ends. the presider himself says, “the Mass is ended”.
 
dshix said:
It is not appropriate to applaud the choir because it is NOT a performance; the music’s purpose is to serve the mass and uplift the minds and hearts of the people to prayer. As soon as clapping begins, you know that the people are not praying, but simply enjoying a performance.
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👍
 
It’s been referenced several times thus far, but I just wanted to post H.H. Benedict XVI’s (then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger) quote from The Spirit of the Liturgy.
Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment. Such attractiveness fades quickly–it cannot compete in the market of leisure pursuits, incorporating as it increasingly does various forms of religious titilation. I myself have experienced the replacing of the penitential rite by a dance performance, which, needless to say, received a round of applause. Could there be anything farther removed from true penitence? Liturgy can only attract people when it looks, not at itself, but at God, when it allows him to enter and act,
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(Ratzing 198-99)
 
Fairwinds said:
some of us can multitask. its possible to pray and enjoy their vocal skills at the same time. calling this a performance is misleading and a strawman.

regardless, at some point the Mass ends. the presider himself says, “the Mass is ended”.
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You missed the point.
Fairwinds said:
what about after the liturgy is over?
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After the liturgy is over, kneel down do your Thanksgiving for the wonderful graces that have just been poured into your soul.

The choir is not there for the purpose of performing, do not applaud them as such.
 
Fairwinds said:
what about after the liturgy is over?
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Pope Benedict’s final public act as pope was to patiently receive applause during Mass at the usual place (immediately preceding the dismissal).

The GIRM allows for announcements. Hard to see how applause during announcements “distracts” from prayer any more than the announcements do.
 
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