Appropriate time to set up Latin Mass?

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thunderballs75

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Now, we are trying to set up a Latin Mass at my parish. What is a better time? 6:30 AM or 2:30 PM??

We fear that 6:30 AM may be too early, but it would help weed out those who are determined and really want to be there from those just “curious”.

We fear that the 2:30 PM Mass would allow a later time for people to come, but some may think it is too late and it would probably last at least until 4:00 PM, which is way into the afternoon.

What is better?
 
Why do you want to weed out the curious? Perhaps, as many have posted here in the forums, some will fall in love with the old liturgy.

But, back to the original question… What does your group of EF Mass “fans” look like? Are they all local or do some travel a distance to attend a Latin Mass?

The only Sunday EF Mass in my diocese is early in the morning and an hour away. I can’t roust my kids up that early. 😉 But I used to attend the afternoon EF Mass which was about the same distance.

What about the availabiliity of musicians, organist, etc? Alter servers? These are the things that would be more important IMHO.
 
What’s wrong with people being curious about the Mass? I assume you are talking about a public Mass in a parish church and not some secret society meeting. Why wouldn’t you welcome any Catholic who shows up?

I would choose the later tine anyway, because we know some people drive long distances to attend EF Masses. It would be more charitable to not expect them to get up and leave the house at 4:30 am.
 
Oops, sorry if I said that wrong. I do NOT want to weed out the curious. I hope the curious will stay and come every week, and love it just as I did when I was curious!!

I meant to say, hopefully it will help weed out those who are not serious, and will eventually get bored with it. The curious are always welcome! 😃
 
Corki said:
Why do you want to weed out the curious? Perhaps, as many have posted here in the forums, some will fall in love with the old liturgy.

But, back to the original question… What does your group of EF Mass “fans” look like? Are they all local or do some travel a distance to attend a Latin Mass?

The only Sunday EF Mass in my diocese is early in the morning and an hour away. I can’t roust my kids up that early. 😉 But I used to attend the afternoon EF Mass which was about the same distance.

What about the availabiliity of musicians, organist, etc? Alter servers? These are the things that would be more important IMHO.
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But anyways, the EF Mass fans at our parish so far is 5 that know all about it. What we are planning on, is that through catechesis, announcements, and getting involved, the Latin Mass will grow at the parish. I think that the people who are not from my parish would probably be coming from the furthest distance of about 20-30 miles.

Altar servers are going to be trained soon also. But I may have to do this myself until we get more.

We don’t have an organ so that isn’t really a problem. They managed to rip it out after Vatican 2 I believe. LOL! I do play organ though if we ever got one, and I know plenty about music so I plan on being involved with this. Besides, Gregorian chant and renaissance polyphony, unaccompanied, are even more beautiful in my opinion.

But we’ll probably be more busy trying to getting it going at first, so I’m assuming the first few Masses will be Low Masses.
 
Those are both terrible times and it does not seem fair that you have to choose between them. Why not 10 a.m. on Sundays?
 
The bishop is pretty sneaky. 😛

He said we cannot replace any OF Mass with an EF Mass. So that’s all that is left in the schedule.
 
I agree that those are terrible times! Personally, I’d go at 6:30 , but I’m an early riser and don’t have little ones to get ready. I think you may need to go with 2:30 just for that reason, however that’s such a late time. Right smack in the middle of the day. Hmm… Good luck and good for you for your efforts!
 
excelsus said:
Dear Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei…
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LOL! I’m scared to do that! I do like the bishop, honestly! I like the parish priest too! They are both such kind and loving people! I’d feel kind of like an evil person betraying them if I did that.

Besides:
It wouldn’t be right to make them replace one. That is the reasoning of the priest. The English and Spanish Masses are relatively well-attended on Sundays. How could we take one away, and replace it with this weird elaborate form, where nobody knows the language? In fact, the pastor is thinking we might even need a second Saturday evening OF Mass to accommodate.
 
😃 I was just joking. That’s not an unreasonable requirement that it doesn’t take away from anything already established 😛
 
If a 2:30 mass lasts “way into the afternoon,” why does a 6:30 am mass not last “way into the morning”?
 
Though I am a non-Catholic, I think that the afternoon time would be better if for no other reason than it seems as though (from what I’ve read on the forum) that EF Mass are few and far between, so people from various parishes in the area may want to come, you’d be making some people get up really early to get there.
 
thunderballs75 said:
We fear that 6:30 AM may be too early, but it would help weed out those who are determined and really want to be there from those just “curious”.

?
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don’t quite follow your thinking here because this seems like exactly the group you would want to attract so the merely curious can experience the Latin Mass and become devotees. This line of thinking makes it sound as if the Mass is being added to serve only a small group of people who wish to separate themselves from the rest of the parish, and I doubt that is the real intent.

the diocese has rules on how Mass times can be added or changed, specifically the Latin Mass, or a new vernacular language, and those generally include a provision for making the new offering widely available to those who need or request it, for instance to serve a geographic area larger than the individual parish. What does the bishop suggest?

also I am not up on this but I am sure others know, I thought the timing of TLM was traditionally early, but maybe that had to do with fasting rules at the time. The places I attend the Latin Mass (not here, unfortunately) always have it early, like 7 or 8 am. I don’t know if the older disciplines that attend TLM apply also in the EF, as in distinctions between high and low, for instance, music etc.

If you can get permission the afternoon time will probably make it more likely that you build a following of folks who come to know and love the Latin Mass, as well as of course those who can assist such as choir members etc., from around your area of the diocese. It seems sadly that one parish, adding the TLM or OF as another scheduled time (or adding, say, a Spanish or Vietnmese Mass) often does not have enough regular attendees to convince the pastor or bishop to continue with the offering, so you would want to attract those beyond your boundaries. In fact, I would suggest possibly later, 5 or 6 pm, if the bishop allows (and pastor is willing to so extend his own day).
 
6.30 am is too early, but it could be a good way to get a real hard-core congregation in; it would require a bit of effort just to get there, then you could go home, have a nap, then still do something with the rest of the day.

I attend a late Latin Mass and it means you can’t really go for an outing on a Sunday, as I have to get back in time for it.
 
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