At the end of Mass...

[Jennifer_G]

What does your church do?

I went to a Saturday Mass at my local parish, and at the end of Mass, everyone started leaving during the middle of the final hymn. I didn’t even hear a “Mass has Ended”, or “Go in Peace, Serve the Lord”.

I haven’t been to a Sunday Mass there yet, so I don’t know if it was different, but it was odd to see a whole bunch of people just start leaving before the final hymn was even over.

 

[MrS]

I suppose you should be grateful they did not leave at Communion time.

Place a sign over the back door to be read as you leave …

“The First One To Leave The Church Early was Judas”

 

[aurora77]

“The First One To Leave The Church Early was Judas”

We used to have those signs at every exit!

Our church has issues with people leaving right after Communion or during the closing hymn. Father actually made an announcement about it and talked about why we need to stay until Mass is over. So far, I think it’s helped!

 

[Lorrie]

At my parish there are a few that usually leave during the last hymn, but, from what I can see, the majority stick around until the end.

 

[Catholig]

Does your parish have “announcements”? Why can’t they give the final blessing & then say the announcements.

Catholig

 

[acadian]

At our parish, the “cue” to leave is when the priest has exitted.

 

[VAC]

Does your parish have “announcements”? Why can’t they give the final blessing & then say the announcements.
Catholig

Because nobody would stick around to listen to them. They do those announcements before the final blessing. Today there was also a guest speaker promoting the Knights of Columbus so mass ran almost 1 hr and 15 min.
Mass is over after the final blessing.I’ve never heard of the final blessing NOT being given.

I always thought the last song was called the recessional hymn because the people are processing out. I agree it’s bad manners to leave before the priest. I don’t think it’s offensive to leave duringl the last song.

 

[IrishAm]

Announcements
Final Blessing
Prayer of St. Michael
Recessional Hymn

Most people exit after Father, who usually leaves after the first verse of the hymn. (Unless he’s in a hurry to get outside and shake hands )

 

[jmcrae]

What does your church do?

I went to a Saturday Mass at my local parish, and at the end of Mass, everyone started leaving during the middle of the final hymn. I didn’t even hear a “Mass has Ended”, or “Go in Peace, Serve the Lord”.

I haven’t been to a Sunday Mass there yet, so I don’t know if it was different, but it was odd to see a whole bunch of people just start leaving before the final hymn was even over.

Usually the blessing comes before the last hymn, directly after Holy Communion. It’s okay to leave during the last hymn, after Father leaves. (I did that today because I was desperate to use the washroom.)

It’s odd that you didn’t hear it, though. Although I do remember one time when our pastor forgot it because he had so many announcements to give, one time.

 

[Melo]

My Church is pretty good about waiting until the end of the song to leave…although I’ve been to other Churches where people leave while the song is still playing.

 

[robert_ambrose]

it is quite common ,what really annoys me are the people who stand in the foyer and leave straight after communion, in the 50s we had an irish priest who would yell out to people leaving early."Where do you think you’r going. " and back they would come and stay till the end. "Oh those were the days.’

 

[Jerry-Jet]

My wife always wants to leave before the last hymn but I feel like if I don’t stay until the singing is over that I’m walking out on Jesus.

I used to not feel that way until I saw some people who remain in prayer a few minutes after nearly everyone has left.

Maybe they’re trying to tell maybe some of us something at least some of the time.

 

[scottm]

Our church has issues with people leaving right after Communion or during the closing hymn. Father actually made an announcement about it and talked about why we need to stay until Mass is over. So far, I think it’s helped!

Over here one-third of the people leave as soon as they receive their communion wafers.

**EXTREMELY RUDE !!! **

At the start of the Eucharist the priest always says something to the effect that, “We have a tradition at this church of not leaving until Mass has ended. Please do not leave until the end.” His words ain’t working.

Catholics are rude. That’s the truth. Protestants don’t walk out early. I’ve never seen an early exodus at Baptist, Lutheran, or Methodist churches, and I’ve attended a whole lot of them. Lots of them. They don’t leave early.

 

[scottm]

VAC:

Today there was also a guest speaker promoting the Knights of Columbus so mass ran almost 1 hr and 15 min.

You say that like it’s a bad thing. My friend attends Fred Price’s church. Every Sunday their services start at 9:30 and end no earlier than 12 noon. Who has more reverence for God: those Pentecostals, or the Catholics who can’t last one hour?
And no one walks out early at Fred Price’s church.

The Baptist churches where I grew up have 90-minute services, and it’s a rare day when anyone leaves early. And we’re supposed to tell them that Catholics have the truth of God. Ppffftttt. Ya, whatever. The Lutheran and Methodist churches I attended went longer than an hour too.

 

[drafdog]

In case you hadn’t noticed, the “final hymn” is called a “recessional” hymn. You’re supposed to follow the priest out the door while singing the hymn.

Matthew

 

[VAC]

You say that like it’s a bad thing

No, I was responding to a previous poster’s comments about announcements. Actually, I don’t think mass should be rushed at all, but I felt a little bad for the folks who now had 15 minutes to prepare for the next mass, which included a 20 minute rosary before the mass.
I’m not a fan of guest speakers at mass, but I realize that announcements must be made when people are likely to listen.

I agree that the Catholic mass run much shorter than any other service out there. When we attended a friends bar mitzvah… the service was 3 hours long 90% in Hebrew. My friends kids attended Hebrew school 3 times a week. I gave my kids a hard time about complaining about the length of mass and CCD after that.

 

[Sr_Sally]

You are certainly allowed to leave during the recessional. You should wait until the priest has recessed first though. My family loves to sing, so we always sing through to the end of the recessional hymn, but it isn’t required.