Clapping in Church

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Which of the 10 commandments would that be breaking? What would make you think clapping is a sin?
 
During Holy Mass? I don’t see it in the Decalogue, but would you clap in Calvary, before Christ crucified, alongside with the Blessed Virgin? Would you clap during or after the Last Supper?

Someone once said:
Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment.
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Later on in his life, he became Holy Father Benedict XVI.

St. Pius X, Pope:
It is not fitting to applaud the servant in the house of his Master
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Yet we must understand that he was referring to something that was very solemn. Hardly will clapping appear as irreverent, today.
 
only if one were clapping intentionally at inappropriate times like

in the middle of the lectors reading the word’

during the collection basket

while reciting the Nicene creed

while in line to receive the Eucharist

during the Our Father

😛

sometime at Mass we clap if the Priest/deacon delivers a touching homily - and I think its good when appropriate
 
During Holy Mass? I don’t see it in the Decalogue, but would you clap in Calvary, before Christ crucified, alongside with the Blessed Virgin? Would you clap during or after the Last Supper?

Someone once said:
Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment.
Click to expand...
Later on in his life, he became Holy Father Benedict XVI.

St. Pius X, Pope, said:
It is not fitting to applaud the servant in the house of his Master
Click to expand...
Yet we must understand that he was referring to something that was very solemn. Hardly will clapping appear as irreverent, today.
 
It’s generally considered inappropriate.

But it’s highly unlikely that it could be sinful. Sin requires deliberate informed intent, and it’s highly unlikely that anyone who is clapping is deliberately trying to commit a sin. You can’t sin by accident or ignorance (ignorance itself can be a sin if you are negligent in making any reasonable effort to dispel it, but the effects of ignorance cannot be sinful).
 
Is ringing bells during mass sinful?

Some cultures clap during the elevation of the host and the chalice.

If that was sinful, then so would ringing bells be.
 
Well you clap when some alley-cat belts out a tune on stage…why not clap for the most Holy of Holies. :p:D

Jesus Christ is in the House!

:clapping:
 
I’ve never been to a Mass that had clapping. The only time in church is after Mass. Just don’t seem right to clap at such a holy event. That’s my opinion
 
R_C said:
During Holy Mass? I don’t see it in the Decalogue, but would you clap in Calvary, before Christ crucified, alongside with the Blessed Virgin? Would you clap during or after the Last Supper?

Someone once said:

Later on in his life, he became Holy Father Benedict XVI.

St. Pius X, Pope, said:

Yet we must understand that he was referring to something that was very solemn. Hardly will clapping appear as irreverent, today.
Click to expand...
👍 Good one…
 
If the clapping occurs during Mass and is due to something somebody is doing or has done during Mass it indeed is a clear sign that the focus has moved from being on God (the proper focus) to being on the congregation (not traditionally the focus of Mass). I think that’s what the Holy Father (as quoted somewhere above) was getting at.

It’s irreverent IMHO. This is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the highest form of prayer, not some stage show.

mda
 
missadeangelis said:
If the clapping occurs during Mass and is due to something somebody is doing or has done during Mass it indeed is a clear sign that the focus has moved from being on God (the proper focus) to being on the congregation (not traditionally the focus of Mass). I think that’s what the Holy Father (as quoted somewhere above) was getting at.

It’s irreverent IMHO. This is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the highest form of prayer, not some stage show.

mda
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Unless your culture claps out of respect.
 
triumphguy said:
Lots of very devout Catholics in very devout countries clap during the elevation.
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That does not make it right, appropriate, or reverent.

Ringing bells is a tradition that took centuries to come into place. Since, of course, there is no way to understand the Ordinary Form (Novus Ordo Missae) without first understanding where it came from, namely the Usus Antiquor Missae and its 20 centuries of history, I’d like to quote the book “Hierurgia, or the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass”, by Daniel Rock D.D. (1833) which explains this concisely and beautifully:
Instead of distracting, the ringing of the bell fixes the religious attention of the people ; and if we may, without presumption, reason on the will of the all-wise Deity, it would seem that the observance of a similar practice was enjoined in the service of the Jewish Sanctuary for the like intent ; since we read that the Lord thus commanded Moses : Thou shalt make the Tunic of the ephod all of violet… …and beneath, at the feet of the same tunic, thou shalt make as it were pomegranates, of violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, with little bells set between: so that there shall be a golden bell and a pomegranate, and again another golden bell and a pomegranate ; and Aaron shall be vested with it in the office of his ministry, that the sound may be heard when he goeth in and cometh out of the Sanctuary. The author of the book of Ecclesiasticus also notices, the ephod with many little bells of gold all round about, that as Aaron went in there might be a sound and a noise made, that might be heard in the temple, for a memorial to the children of the people.
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While one should not judge before knowing the customs of a certain culture, we can safely say that to clap during the elevation is greatly irreverent, given that at that moment the Sacrifice of Christ, that is, His mystical death, is taking place, at the presence of the angels, of the Blessed Virgin, and of God Himself, who offers, is offered, and receives the offering. The gift of awe of the Lord should be at its peak before the elevated Host, at the moment in which heaven meets earth for an instant that trascends time itself.
 
R_C said:
That does not make it right, appropriate, or reverent.

Ringing bells is a tradition that took centuries to come into place. Since, of course, there is no way to understand the Ordinary Form (Novus Ordo Missae) without first understanding where it came from, namely the Usus Antiquor Missae and its 20 centuries of history, I’d like to quote the book “Hierurgia, or the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass”, by Daniel Rock D.D. (1833) which explains this concisely and beautifully:

While one should not judge before knowing the customs of a certain culture, we can safely say that to clap during the elevation is greatly irreverent, given that at that moment the Sacrifice of Christ, that is, His mystical death, is taking place, at the presence of the angels, of the Blessed Virgin, and of God Himself, who offers, is offered, and receives the offering. The gift of awe of the Lord should be at its peak before the elevated Host, at the moment in which heaven meets earth for an instant that trascends time itself.
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It does in a culture which claps out of reverence or respect.
 
JuantheTuba said:
What countries or cultures are those?
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Watch Fr. Barron’s Catholicism series and you will see many cultures do. Especially Africa.

My point is much of what we think is appropriate is due to our culture.

Silence is not necessarily more reverent than clapping and clashing symbols and tambourines - read the psalms!
 
Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment. Such attraction fades quickly - it cannot compete in the market of leisure pursuits, incorporating as it increasingly does various forms of religious titillation (Ratzinger, Spirit of the Liturgy).
 
triumphguy said:
It does in a culture which claps out of reverence or respect.
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Nope.The liturgy cannot bow down to cultural issues: what is good in one culture may be wrong in another.

This would not lead to diversity: it would lead to chaos. Remember the biblical tower? As soon as each starts doing things their own way, the unity breaks down. “A house divided shall not stand”.

Regardless of my personal opinion, it is understandable, to a certain extent, that the liturgy may employ the vernacular rather than the official language of the Church, which is Latin. However, to take this even further is to disrupt the liturgy, which, within the context of each Rite, must be one and the same from east to west. We have a wonderful diversity of rites…however, within one same rite (ex. Ordinary Form of Roman Rite) one cannot change things according to the place where the Rite is being celebrated, to the will of the people, or to the will of the celebrant. This is even canonically forbidden, as far as I know.

It is not intentionally irreverent or disrespectful to clap in a culture where this is a sign of respect. One may even argue that if a Rite had developed throughout the centuries in that culture, it would include the clapping, just like the Roman Rite includes bowing. But it becomes irreverent when we go beyond the established forms of the Rite and add our own elements, doing our own will. This is one of the major issues that the Novus Ordo Missae has faced for the last 40 years or so: way too open to “customization” beyond the established norms.

The essential element of Holy Mass is the sense of the sacred, the “awe of the Lord”, that feeling that encompasses the soul and engulfs it in a sacred silence in which she can hear those mystical words: “Be still, and know that I am God.”
 
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