Changing the ‘tempo’ before and after Mass

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Lifeisbeautiful3

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I live in the Bible Belt and the topic of religion and spirituality sometimes come up. Occasionally, a neighbor or coworker will invite me to their church and I have offered to attend if they, in turn would accompany me to a Catholic mass. They have always declined, sine Protestants often eschew the Catholic faith.

Recently, however, a friend accepted the opportunity. I attended his ‘non-denominational’ mega church (which feels very much like a demnomination unto itself). The music and lighting was unlike anything I’ve ever seen and pastor/preacher had a very witty and engaging sermon. As promised, my friend attended mass with me and enjoyed much of it!

The salient question he posed was, whether there are alternatives to the music and tempo of the sermon. I then took him to a ‘Life Teen’ mass, which has a livelier musical style (e.g. a praise band. While more contemporary, it doesn’t begin to feel modern relative to his ‘worship experience’, and the priest had a fairy dry/dull sermon.

The follow-up question he posed (and I think it’s a valid question) is whether a mass could be true to our roots, but with the accoutrements offered in his mega church (different lighting, smoke machines, loud repetitive music, and a charismatic and engaging priest/deacon). While this wouldn’t likely appeal to me, or many traditional Catholics, I do think it would appeal to some who have fallen away from the Church and some younger people. For what it’s worth, his church has annual contributions of $30MM across many ‘campus locations’.

Why couldn’t a homily be livelier? Why couldn’t the tempo of the opening before the priest arrives and egress include more modern ‘rock music’?
 
Song and dance theology. That seems to be what some churches, especially those big mega churches are about. In my humble opinion.
I attend Mass each week to pray, to meditate, and to receive communion, not to watch people perform.
It is not about lighting, smoke machines, etc., it’s about God.
 
It doesn’t matter the bells and whistles. ’
it’s the CONTENT and the Eucharist that matters.
We wouldn’t even care if there were NO music because Christ is present after all. At daily Mass the homily is less that 3 minutes.
The Word stands on it’s own. Without a production crew.
 
I have had the same conversation with some younger relatives. In the end, it comes down to the difference of going to church to be entertained, or going to worship God. And it’s not that some, or even many, do not go to worship in some sense. It is that the entertainment aspect is first and foremost.
There is, however, a great deal of room for improvement in the homilies given at many parishes, and I know that a good many seminaries and deacon formation programs are working to improve this aspect of the Mass.
 
Tulitas said:
It doesn’t matter the bells and whistles. ’
it’s the CONTENT and the Eucharist that matters.
We wouldn’t even care if there were NO music because Christ is present after all. At daily Mass the homily is less that 3 minutes.
The Word stands on it’s own. Without a production crew.
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I agree.
However, there’s no reason why there shouldn’t be other services with loud music etc. but not a Mass, I mean.
 
“loud” is not a good qualifier though.
The organist at our parish plays loud.
It’s solemn and regal. But loud.
Loud is not always bad. I think of Ordinations and such. Loud processional music is a given.
 
I was outraged by smoke machines. Then I remembered our low tech version the censer.
There could be more contemporary music at mass. That is always true.
 
What should be lively is our interior life, our running and trusting conversation with God.

It must begin inside us, and we may or may not “exhude” tempo externally.

The important thing is liveliness interiorly…our contrition, our trust, our filial affection, and from that closeness with God, then there will be more acts of charity, perhaps even quieter and more refined and humble acts of charity.

We will “see more”…what needs to be done…how we can help make life more pleasant for others.

As a saint said “those who love, see”.

He must increase; we must decrease.
 
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I totally agree. I believe that the Mass should always be solemn, (and yes, I have extremely traditional tastes and a great preference for Latin chant) but I see no reason why non-Eucharistic prayer services, bible studies, etc. could not be supplemented with more “upbeat” music and instrumentation. These services could even be held in a church building, with proper permission, during the week or on Friday evenings (other than Good Friday of course).
 
I used to attend a mega church like that, with the smoke machine and the loud rock band. There is a huge difference between the Catholic use of incense and a smoke machine, lol. After years of attending that church and only hearing grace preached, and not being able to worship because the music was so loud, I am so glad I’ve come to the Catholic church. My old church was like attending a rock concert. The peace and silence in my local Catholic church is life-giving. It’s so rare to find serenity nowadays, especially as a parent. I can pray and worship and I feel so much closer to God because I can quiet myself in the mass or at adoration and actually hear what He’s saying. I’m blessed that my church is open all day, every day, so I can go whenever I need to and visit with Jesus.

I think that the loud, contemporary worship music, while not wrong, is inappropriate at the mass. It’s distracting and takes the focus off of Jesus. It “might” not bother me as much at a mass for a teen youth group, but certainly not at normal mass. Mass should be holy and reverent, not entertainment.
 
The question is not about removing the mass which works for so many. But, rather, whether a diocese could supplement with additional mass that might appeal to lapsed Catholics (or others) who might contemplate joining the church by changing the ‘tempo’ of the music and homily while remaining true to Jesus’ teaching?
 
If lapsed Catholics are returning for “something” other than worshiping God, then they would be coming back for the wrong reason.
 
You’re pursuing the question as an “or“, not an “and“.

While I agree that I (and many) Catholics enjoy the solemnity of mass, I suspect some others might enjoy this approach. The question I’m posing is whether it could be done by a diocese while remaining true to the Catholic faith

Presumably, someone can come to mass to worship in a “lively, extroverted” environment that might otherwise be attending a Protestant church for that purpose.
 
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About the homilies, I’m sure we wish that every priest could give an engaging and lively homily every day of the week. However, that’s not going to happen since that ability is not given to every priest. I really enjoy the homilies I’ve heard in my parish, while my father’s parish has a young, brand-new priest who seems to be lacking in self-confidence and literally stands at the podium and reads a sermon printed off the internet in a monotone voice.

However, the point of going to Mass is not about what we can get from the Mass, but what we can give as we participate. Surrender the desire to have a “good” homily and listen to what God gives you that day. If we truly listened without judging then I think we would find nuggets of truth or a bit of wisdom to take with us. Many, many people attend church expecting to be entertained, but it’s about giving our worship to God, not demanding a foot-tapping worship band or a witty priest.

Let’s pray for our priests instead of harping on their “short-comings”. They represent Christ for us and many of them have loving, compassionate gifts that might not include an ability to preach well. Protestant pastors are expected to preach well since that is their main task. Catholic priests have many other functions, not least of which is being able to give us the Eucharist and Reconciliation…no preaching required. 😊
 
And what I am saying is that Mass is about substance and not about style.
In his day, many people came to see Jesus to see what he would do. Maybe to see a miracle performed. Maybe to be fed.
Some of what Jesus said turned off a lot of people. But he said what needed to be said, not always what they wanted to hear.
My point being is that Mass is for us to worship God. We are giving to God what God deserves from us, our praise.
We are not going to Mass to be entertained by a priest or deacon.
 
I go to mass for the Eucharist. I want reverence but most of ehat people argue about as far as music goes is a matter of taste.
 
The Mass is a sacrifice. It is primarily about uniting ourselves in sacrifice to Christ’s sacrifice on the altar. It is joyful but it is also solemn.
The Church teaches that sacred music must be distinct from profane music. We must be able to perceive that we are in a holy place participating in something holy.
 
And how different people come to appreciation of the holy is different.
 
Lifeisbeautiful3 said:
different lighting, smoke machines, loud repetitive music, and a charismatic and engaging priest/deacon
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We don’t view the Mass as entertainment, so it’s not going to have lighting changes, smoke machines, or “loud repetitive music”.

We do have charismatic and engaging priests who can do great homilies, even if such priests don’t happen to be present in your parish. Some of the homilies I’ve seen (for example by Rev. James Blount) are about on the same level of a Protestant revival meeting, with call-and-response and invitations to “feel God’s love” and people in the congregation yelling “Amen” and so forth. Obviously this type of homily is not for every Catholic and some people would be very turned off by it because it would seem too “Protestant” to them.

However, I think the overarching issue is that the Catholic Mass is focused on the Eucharistic sacrifice of Our Lord. The homily is secondary and the music is like, way way down the list of what is important. We are not trying to lure people to our church by putting on an entertaining Mass. By contrast, many Protestant denominations see the preaching and the choir as the main reasons to go to their service; they do not have a Real Presence in their Holy Communion.
 
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