Applause at Mass

[CB_Catholic]

In defense to many who do applaud for many things during or after mass — many times the leaders (priests) promote this or don’t say anything to stop it. Also, in this day and age, people seem to applaud everything. So it seems ok and natural to applaud when they feel joy for something. I’m not saying it’s wrong or right. For myself, I believe it is inappropriate, but I cannot judge those who do it. In many ways, I believe if the priests or the musicians or lectors, etc. don’t want applause, they need to have the pastor or the priest discuss this or make an announcement in the bulletin - in a gentle and nice way, of course.

This is how my Pastor stopped the applause–via the bulletin. He politely explained the reasons for not applauding, and then reinforced this by repeating it in the next few weeks’ bulletins. if someone started to applaud, most of the people did not join in, and in a few weeks it stopped.

 

[Depressed]

My parish applause for recognition of guests and great accomplishments of member. I think it is wonderful.

My pastor is very loving and wants to encourage people to succeed in the Church. Applause is one way of doing this.

The rest of you can just sit on your hands if you don’t like it.

 

[grandfather]

In our culture we applaud a great performance. It tells performers, musicians, singers, actors, “we apprecaited and liked the entertainment you provided us”. Appluase is a communication between an “audience” and a “performer”. It is an expression of appreciation and a way to say thank you.

Why do we go to Mass? Do we go to be entertained or to worship God, or both? When we go to Mass it is God who does something for us. We go to thank (applaud) God. Liturgy, the work of the people, is done for God. We thank God in our worship and prayer and not a singer. Is the singer there to entertain us? If so, applaud. If the singer is there to be part of directing our common prayer to God and we applaud the we are applauding ourselves.

The fact that applause has crept into worship and has now become common in many places indicates that the attitude and understanding of what the Mass is in its very essence has changed. We think of it as entertainment. We are there to be entertained. Worship directed to God has become entertainment directed torward us. We congradulate one another for great performances and most people don’t have a problem with it. They think it is proper to applaud a great performance, because they think the songs or hymns are directed to them, not God.
I remember a leader of the folk group, the parish strummers, telling the parish what would be sung, referring to the next hymn, and said “for our next number we will sing…” The altar has become a stage. How did this happen? Why did it happen? When did it happen?

 

[PaulJason]

After the recessional hymn our organist will play a flourish of music as if he’s trying to get people to say “hey look at that him, wow he’s great” and people will always begin to clap. There could be 50 people remaining in the sanctuary to pray or say the Rosary but neither he nor the people clapping seem to care. I try to attend the Masses that do not have a choir or an organist. Do not get me wrong I think our choir does a beautiful job, especially when they do not try to focus on themselves.

 

[Jennifer_G]

After the recessional hymn our organist will play a flourish of music as if he’s trying to get people to say “hey look at that him, wow he’s great” and people will always begin to clap. There could be 50 people remaining in the sanctuary to pray or say the Rosary but neither he nor the people clapping seem to care. I try to attend the Masses that do not have a choir or an organist. Do not get me wrong I think our choir does a beautiful job, especially when they do not try to focus on themselves.

Our organist will start playing louder at the closing lines of the recessional hymn, too. I wonder if he’s related to the other organist at my old Lutheran church who played the organ as if he were at a rock concert. (That one was worse, considering it was a smaller church, and the organist was practically right on top of you)

We usually don’t clap, but occasionally (maybe during a daily mass), you might get one person out of the crowd who starts clapping. Then everyone looks at them.

 

[Sarabande]

After the recessional hymn our organist will play a flourish of music as if he’s trying to get people to say “hey look at that him, wow he’s great” and people will always begin to clap.

As a musician and knowing devout, humble AND very talented organists, I do know that this is not the case at all. I can’t say for the organist in question as I do not know him, but I do know that these organists are not doing it for themselves. They are playing classical repertoire as dictated by the composer and have been passed down through the centuries of organ repertoire for after mass. They definitely don’t do it for applause. If you go to Europe and you hear the same repertoire (at least in the churches I’ve visited over there), you don’t hear people applauding. They appreciate the musician who has helped add musical prayer for after mass and don’t look at it as a performance. So, although there are most certainly musicians out there who might be doing it for their own glory, many times that is not the case.

I think the problem lies within the attitude of people in the congregation. In the US we tend to clap for everything. Many works that were always used for mass and before/after mass are also performed in secular venues. Now, you don’t get many churches that do Palestrina, de Machaut, Victoria, Monteverdi, Tallis, Byrd. Nor do you hear as many talented organists, at least in Catholic churches, who play pieces by Couperin, Lebegue, Charpentier, Clerambault, Bach, Buxtehude, Praetorius, etc. Most of time you hear this sacred and organ repertoire in concerts nowadays, either in halls or in church concerts or in Protestant services such as in an Anglican or Episocopal service.

So… I believe when many of these Catholics hear this music actually being performed in the setting in which is was meant to be, they are taken off-guard and react to it as if they are in a concert hall. Honestly, even though I knew it was first and foremost meant to be music for mass, some of the first places where I heard chant and polyphony were in the concert halls and singing in concert choir in college. Not until I traveled in the UK and Europe, attending mass there and also visited Protestant churches in the US when I experienced it as a true oneness in musical prayer.

(continue below so post isn’t too long)

 

[Sarabande]

(Just a continuation of though from previous post)

None of this music was originally meant to be performed for concerts. The composers who wrote this music didn’t do it for the applause. Many of the musicians who perform this kind of music for mass also don’t do it for the applause and do NOT want the applause. I know enough of these classically trained church musicians to say it’s true.

But take it away and have the experience of only hearing it being performed by the likes of the Tallis Scholars or the Oxford Camerata in concert usually for an afternoon evening church concert, it’s not surprising that people applaud when hearing it during mass. Hear it consistantly in mass/service and concert, people do understand and know the difference. (Then you get those who are religious and spiritual discuss the performance with those who aren’t about how cold and unspiritual the interpretation in the secular performance of it was and vice versa. It’s actually quite interesting to see how it affects early music lovers - both of the spiritual and atheistic kind.)

 

[JimR-OCDS]

I have never seen the priest receive applause at Mass, except for the time our former Pastor, was transferred, and it was his last Mass with us. We loved him very much, and showed our love and thanks for his service to us, by applauding.

Music groups, have received applause, as a show of thanks, for the sacrifice they make, in presenting music that is beautiful.

However, the Mass I attend now, nobody receives applause. Quiet frankly, the music stinks and people don’t stay past the second verse of the recessional hymn. The music director chooses old traditional hymns, but worse, she sets the organ one step above A440 tuning. As a result, most males and some females, couldn’t sing the hymns even if we knew them. The choir in general, does a lousy job.

I have no problem with applause, for appropriate reasons.

Jim

 

[krazykatlady]

I sing in the choir and we are often applauded. I don’t know how the other choir members feel about it but I think it is totally inappropriate. After all our songs are prayers and are part of the Mass. This is not a performance in a concert hall.

 

[Joe_5859]

There are two types of applause that I have come across:

1. Applause at the end of Mass as if it were a play that had just finished. Some parishes have got in the habit of doing this every week.

and

1. Applause for certain special occassions, often initiated by the priest. For example, there is a guest con-celebrant we are welcoming, or a baby is getting baptized, or a couple is celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary, etc.

I have not run across #1 nearly as often as #2. I would say that #1 is inappropriate for Mass. #2 can be appropriate if done in a reverent manner. Of course, it too can be over done.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

I sing in the choir and we are often applauded. I don’t know how the other choir members feel about it but I think it is totally inappropriate. After all our songs are prayers and are part of the Mass. This is not a performance in a concert hall.

I’m curious. Is your choir located in a choir loft, behind the people, or up front?

Various parishes I’ve attended, when the choir is in the front, they tend to get applause after Mass. When up in the choir loft behind the people, they tend not to get applause.

Personally, I prefer the choir to be located up behind the people, in the choir loft. I met much resistance to this, when I was in a folk group, and they insisted, that we be located in the front, where of course, we always received applause at the end of Mass.

Jim

 

[marleelynn]

I thought St Ursula’s organist (Carl) during the last line of any hymn played a little higher. at least the organist at my parish plays the last line a little higher to signify the last line of the hymn.

 

[drafdog]

We recently had occasion to replace our music minister. It took a long time to find someone and we went through three possible hires that were finally no-shows before we got the fellow we have now. I realize that he is paid to do this job, but it is one thing to be thanked each week with a pay check and another entirely to have the boss pat you on the back and tell you he’s glad you’re here. As a result, when the pastor asks us at the end of Mass (befere the final blessing) for a round of applause to thank the music minister and the choir, I applaud. Thanks for a job well done is never inappropriate. I’m unclear as to why anyone would think it inappropriate to thank another for helping them pray better.

Matthew

 

[SMHW]

I’m unclear as to why anyone would think it inappropriate to thank another for helping them pray better.

I don’t think anyone here thinks it’s inappropriate to thank another.

But some of us think that for something to be appropriate we must ask several questions, including, “Who?” “When?” Where?" and “Why?”

The times that the answers to all these questions combine to make applause at Mass appropriate are very few.

 

[grandfather]

We recently had occasion to replace our music minister. It took a long time to find someone and we went through three possible hires that were finally no-shows before we got the fellow we have now. I realize that he is paid to do this job, but it is one thing to be thanked each week with a pay check and another entirely to have the boss pat you on the back and tell you he’s glad you’re here. As a result, when the pastor asks us at the end of Mass (befere the final blessing) for a round of applause to thank the music minister and the choir, I applaud. Thanks for a job well done is never inappropriate. I’m unclear as to why anyone would think it inappropriate to thank another for helping them pray better.

Matthew

It is a matter of understanding the Mass. You applaud for a performance. The musicicians and choir are part of the congregation worshipping God. They are not entertainers their for your entertainment. It is not a show. The understanding of the Mass changed with the new Mass, the priest facing the people, the new archetecture, the abandonment of Catholic culture. It is a new religion. What we need to live well is grace. What we need for spouses to be faithful and priests to be pure and all of us to be sober, honest and life holy lives is grace. Grace comes from God and we get it by worshipping God. All of the problems we have faced, the epidemic of divorce, the priestly scandals, sexual poerversion, the rise of various addictions can be attributed to one thing, a lack of grace. There were always problems, but today we suffer a tsunami of evil. The reason is a lack of grace. Worship is broken. The sanctuary of the holy sacrifice has become a concert hall for performances. You are right. No one understands what has gone wrong or what is wrong.

 

[StBenMom]

how bout we start yelling “bravo” after a good homily or “you go girl” when the soloist really rocks.

What a picture you just created.

However, we do applaud a guest speaker at the end of mass, for instance. We also applaud when Father asks us to welcome a newly baptized baby to our church family or when he presents First Communicants, Catechumens, etc. but NEVER during Mass, after a homily, after a nice musical piece, etc.

 

[grandfather]

What a picture you just created.

However, we do applaud a guest speaker at the end of mass, for instance. We also applaud when Father asks us to welcome a newly baptized baby to our church family or when he presents First Communicants, Catechumens, etc. but NEVER during Mass, after a homily, after a nice musical piece, etc.

Let me try once more.

We believe that the Mass is the same sacrifice that took place on Calvary. Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man is offered for our sins. The priest acting in persona Christi brings us to Calvary where we are present and the Lamb of God is slain, His holy blood poured out in atonement for our sins.

So tell me where, during or after watching Him tortured to death for your sins, do you think it appropriate to break out in applause? If you were on Calvary standing next to His holy mother and witnessed this event tell me the appropriate time to burst into applauser and start clapping. There just might be one or two Catholics left who understand what the Mass is and would like to silently pray, but it is party time.

Over half of Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence. It is no wonder.

The organist blazing away the last few bars to show off and generate applause is sacreligious.

 

[Donna_Mc]

Last Sunday our priest gave an excellent homily and when he
finished people started to applaud. This is the first time I have
ever witnessed a homily being applauded. I did not applaud but
did tell him how great it was when I saw him a few days later,

I feel in general it is not the appropriate thing to do but at times
on very special occasions it may be the right thing to do.
As it has been stated, the holy Mass is not entertainment.

 

[Sarabande]

The organist blazing away the last few bars to show off and generate applause is sacreligious.

We’re assuming that the organist is showing off. Again, any properly trained organist is playing what is dictated in the music and how it would have been played throughout the centuries. Many musicians who play at mass are humble. (There are dynamics in music, usually dictated by the composer or through tradition such as when playing or singing early music.) I’m not saying that there aren’t musicians out there who work in churches and “show off”, but many musicians that I know and work with are doing the talent correctly in how they were trained and what is dictated in the music - music performed in mass for centuries or at least for many, many years.

In another post, I noted that because much of our sacred music and organ music (this includes polyphony and chant) are mostly played in concert halls nowadays or in movies and not equally heard in mass, people tend to not differentiate when it is a performance and when it is for mass. Also, people just tend to clap for everything. It is a little strange, in a way, when you think about it.

I think that musicians shouldn’t be automatically blamed for people applauding, just because of their abilities and playing the music correctly either dictated in the sheet music or by tradition. Believe me we’ve had people applaud Palestrina and Monteverdi - certainly nothing that would be considered “showing off”, but I do know that sometimes just because a choir can sing that, there are people who assume that they’re showing off when it is absolutely not the case. It much more than that. It has to do with what is going on in the culture, itself, and the “leadership”. I’ve been to plenty of churches in Europe and they don’t applaud after mass - I think because they understand the difference between sacred music when played in church and sacred music when played in concert. It’s something that needs to be re-learned here in the States. Somewhere along the line that understanding and protocol has been blurred.

 

[Guitar]

I think that musicians shouldn’t be automatically blamed for people applauding, just because of their abilities and playing the music correctly either dictated in the sheet music or by tradition. Believe me we’ve had people applaud Palestrina and Monteverdi - certainly nothing that would be considered “showing off”, but I do know that sometimes just because a choir can sing that, there are people who assume that they’re showing off when it is absolutely not the case. It much more than that. It has to do with what is going on in the culture, itself, and the “leadership”.

I led an ensemble for a special Mass for an ad hoc congregation yesterday and got a rousing round of applause at the end of Mass which we were NOT seeking and which put me in the awkward position of being gracious about well-meant thanks delivered in a way that I would have preferred it wasn’t and that I don’t want to encourage.

But it WASN’T MY FAULT. :crying: