Applauding the Choir or others during Mass

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I have a huge pet peeve: applause during or immediately preceeding the liturgy. I think it is disrespectful to God.

I believe the Church building is the ONE place where God should be the focus at ALL TIMES. Of course He should the the main focus of our lives, but this is one place where our attention should be soley on Him as we come and leave the Church building.

We have other places to applaud or give thanks for people around us. We have ALL WEEK in fact to do this. Why can’t we for just one hour, give all attention to God and set aside a special place for him alone?

So many times I see someone give an announcement and then the congregation will start clapping for him/her or even the Priest will say, “Let us give a big round of applause for so and so!”. This also happens at first communions and baptisms and confirmations. Isn’t that what the parish hall is for? For gatherings and social events?

It is no wonder Islam is capturing so many people these days. If you just do a search on google and type in, “Muslim converts to Catholicism” you are hard pressed to find any. In fact when you put in those words you get the exact opposite… Everyone is converting to Islam. The numbers of Hispanics converting to Islam is alarming.

I think this is because since VII we have lost the sense of the sacred, both in our Church buildings and in our attitudes within. People are longing for the sense of the sacred. Christian Mysticism has been tucked away in monasteries nowadays. Islam still seems mystical and has LOTS of reverence. Buddhism as well… I believe Catholic Answers some years ago did an article about the attraction of Islam and Buddhism.

One Orthodox friend told me that he feels we [Catholics, Latin Rite] have lost the reverence and the sense of deep spirituality/sacredness… He believes that this is the cause of the rise of the Charismatic movement within the Catholic Church… it is an attempt to fill the void of the lost mysticism/spiritiuality/sacredness of the Church. But nothing can replace the deep reverence and devotion that we have lost in the Mass…

sorry, i’m rambling… any thoughts?
 
James_2:24:
I have a huge pet peeve: applause during or immediately preceeding the liturgy. I think it is disrespectful to God.
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We have an EXTREMELY conservative parish.
Applause is held until just before the final blessing.

Last week, Our Dear Pastor, honored the moms.
He had lady who was the oldest mom (104 was our record).
The newest mom (there was a week old baby there, and he announced that our choir director’s wife gave birth hours before)
And the mom with the most children (14 was the winner).
Each lady got a carnation and we applauded.
 
I have to laugh at this one…

I have been to a particular parish on quite a few occasions where the pastor would sing a Communion meditation song (complete with recorded accompaniment) and the congregation just goes wild with applause.

I work so hard at being charitable at times like that, especially after having received Jesus.

Joe
 
I find applause at Mass disturbing, too. It’s sort of like saying, “Wow, great show - thanks for the entertainment”!!!
 
I think applause during Mass sounds strange and out of place (the one exception being when a baby is baptized during Mass, and the congregation applauds when the Baptism is completed, to welcome the newest member of the congregation).

I sing in my church’s choir, and I don’t want people applauding me – that’s not why I sing in the choir. If you want to applaud my singing, then come to my community chorus and concert band concerts; you can applaud all you want there. That’s a performance; singing in the church choir is not.

Fortunately, there are only two times during the year that the choir gets applause – one is near the end of Spring, when we stop singing for the summer, and the priest thanks us for our service (and this is at the end of the Mass, during the announcements). The other is at the end of the Easter Vigil Mass, where we sing The Hallelujah Chorus as a recessional hymn. Those two times are more than enough.
 
At the Christmas Mass I went to last year, our Monsignor gave an unbelievably excellent homily. At the end, with the Church packed (probably 60% of whm go twice a year :D), the group broke out in applause. The Priest looked very embarrassed. I had never seen that happen (I had seen applause for parishoners), so I asked my uncle about it, who is a Deacon - he explained they were applauding the Priest but it was not him giving the homily it was Jesus…
 
I agree that applause during and after Mass is generally not appropriate. As Carol Ann mentioned, the choir sings for the glory of God, not for our entertainment or applause. Yet in my old parish which does in fact have a great choir and organist, they are routinely applauded after finishing the final hymn or recessional. And they are back in the choir loft, so people turn around to applaud!

I haven’t been to a First Communion or a Confirmation for awhile, but it seems that applause at those events would seem to signify that these were some kind of ‘accomplishment’ by the children rather than the receiving from God of a great sacrament.
 
netmil(name removed by moderator):
We have an EXTREMELY conservative parish.
Applause is held until just before the final blessing.

Last week, Our Dear Pastor, honored the moms.
He had lady who was the oldest mom (104 was our record).
The newest mom (there was a week old baby there, and he announced that our choir director’s wife gave birth hours before)
And the mom with the most children (14 was the winner).
Each lady got a carnation and we applauded.
Click to expand...
Why not pray a prayer of thanks aloud?
 
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CarolAnnSFO:
I think applause during Mass sounds strange and out of place (the one exception being when a baby is baptized during Mass, and the congregation applauds when the Baptism is completed, to welcome the newest member of the congregation).

.
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You could pray a welcoming prayer.
 
James_2:24:
I have a huge pet peeve: applause during or immediately preceeding the liturgy.
Click to expand...
I generally am not for it. But there did seem to be alot of it in the televised liturgies in Rome recently.
 
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katherine2:
I generally am not for it. But there did seem to be alot of it in the televised liturgies in Rome recently.
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From what I heard, applause and cheers are a way of expressing respect in Italian tradition, and can be used to used to express pain, as well as pleasure.

Different from the US, where applause is usually appreciation for a performance of some type.
 
Our church choir at the folksy 10 am Mass always gets a rousing round of applause at the as the last hymn is completed.

To be honest, though, I do not know if they are applauding because they did a good job, or they are applauding because they are glad that their singing is over!

oohhhhhh, mozier, shame on you! :tsktsk:

Sorry, everyone! :o
 
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CarolAnnSFO:
From what I heard, applause and cheers are a way of expressing respect in Italian tradition, and can be used to used to express pain, as well as pleasure.

Different from the US, where applause is usually appreciation for a performance of some type.
Click to expand...
I have “heard” the same too. However, I am not too quick to jump to conclusions. I heard during the telecast of JPIIs funeral, that the applause was “respectful” in the Italian tradition.

I have a hard time fully believing that. I mean, it is easy for a news anchor to just throw that out there. Imagine if an Italian news anchor saw Americans clapping at Mass. He would be inclined to say, “This is the way Americans show approval and respect…” No?

So in Italy all that clapping may just be a sign of more modernism or of a secular culture. Which we already know Italy is…
 
You are all correct. Applause is wrong during the Mass. Mass is for the devotion and worship of Our Lord Jesus Christ and He should be our entire focus. Not anything else. Luckily, it doesn’t happen very often.
 
I thought I was the only one…I have always thought it inappropriate. Although when I watched the Papal funeral the other day The homily, indeed, the entire Mass, was interrupted many times by applause. Not often heard in American churches, applause commonly punctuates the ceremonies in St. Peter’s Square. Again During communion, more than 300 priests fanned out to offer the Eucharist to the masses in the square. As the mass closed, the crowd erupted in applause again for nearly five minutes. Apparently this is common in Italy and other European countries it is considered a sign of respect…so I dont know what to think now.
 
I think at times it is okay.

Apparently our BISHOP agrees! I was at a confirmation mass earlier this week, and after the mass was over during announcements, he asked that we congraluate the newly confirmed (all 170 of them!) :clapping: by applauding them. Then he went on to thank all those who had assisted with the confirmation program, the mass, the music, etc, and asked that we show our appreciation for all those with applause. It was all done very respectfully. (this was a very reverent mass in all ways, btw).
 
I have never been a fan of this type of acclaimation. I was raised as Baptist ans a hearty “Amen!” would occasionally suffice. When I have nee an object of the applause I have always been uncomfortable.

However, this past Mother’s Day a local college student (music voice major) prepared a special tribute of “Ave Maria” in honor of all the mothers. For the first time in eight year I, too, clapped because I thought the cause sufficient (the priest lead the way)

I can’t help but thinking how much more meaningful dead silence would have been. Then all that could be heard would be the sound of tears being dried.
 
In my opinion:

An applause is alright if:
  1. an ackowledgement of God’s glory
  2. an appreciation of God’s blessings
  3. an expression of joy focused in God
If for example a choir did well in singing, i think that an applause is alright if the congregation through their applause:
  1. acknowledges that God is glorified through the unity of the choir members that they produced something that is beautiful through their God given talents.
  2. acknowledges that God is glorified through the sharing of the talents of the individual members of the choir.
  3. they appreciate and thank God for the talents and blessings God has given them
  4. as an expression of joy focused in God.
I believe that if this is the mindset of the congregation during the applause, there is nothing wrong with it, but if during the applause the congregation thinks that they have witnessed and experienced is just a show, then we have a problem with that.
 
Applause is something that our culture does to express appreciation or congratulation, etc. I have no problem with applause as long as the priest directs the congregation to applaud a newly baptized infant, honor a couple on their anniversary (at the end of mass), etc. I have a problem with it when it is done spontaneously because of the fact that it is so mundane and can be done so casually, the way we clap and cheer for athletes, for instance.
 
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