Convert's Experience of Mass

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Euphon

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A question about Mass from a hopeful soon-to-be convert.

I love Mass. As I mentioned in another thread, I’ve started attending daily. I’ve no religious background to speak of in terms of attending Church, and so all of this is new to me - and so far, it’s been wonderful, our parish priest and also the local Bishop both with very different styles but both moving and thought-provoking.

Today, I went to Mass and there was a stand-in priest, who managed to run through the entire weekday Mass in just over seventeen minutes. (That’s 17 minutes total, from the antiphon to “The mass is ended”). No homily, no sign of peace; he was racing through it so fast he sounded like a horse racing commentator, and for large stretches I couldn’t actually understand what he was saying. (I usually follow along in my hand missal, but not during the Eucharistic Prayer, and he gabbled that so quickly I couldn’t even work out which prayer he was saying until about halfway through.)

Anyway, my question is… is this normal? Indeed, is it widespread? Have I just been “lucky” so far having two very good priests doing Mass, or was I “unlucky” today? Or is there no norm for this sort of thing and it’s just the luck of the draw as to which church you happen to attend?

Thanks,

A curious would-be convert.
 
It happens. I once had a Priest finish a full Mass with both the passion reading an a legitimate Homily in under an hour, probably under 50 min
 
Euphon said:
A question about Mass from a hopeful soon-to-be convert.

I love Mass. As I mentioned in another thread, I’ve started attending daily. I’ve no religious background to speak of in terms of attending Church, and so all of this is new to me - and so far, it’s been wonderful, our parish priest and also the local Bishop both with very different styles but both moving and thought-provoking.

Today, I went to Mass and there was a stand-in priest, who managed to run through the entire weekday Mass in just over seventeen minutes. (That’s 17 minutes total, from the antiphon to “The mass is ended”). No homily, no sign of peace; he was racing through it so fast he sounded like a horse racing commentator, and for large stretches I couldn’t actually understand what he was saying. (I usually follow along in my hand missal, but not during the Eucharistic Prayer, and he gabbled that so quickly I couldn’t even work out which prayer he was saying until about halfway through.)

Anyway, my question is… is this normal? Indeed, is it widespread? Have I just been “lucky” so far having two very good priests doing Mass, or was I “unlucky” today? Or is there no norm for this sort of thing and it’s just the luck of the draw as to which church you happen to attend?

Thanks,

A curious would-be convert.
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**This is not normal. Priests normally do not speed through the Mass this way. Perhaps the Priest was in a hurry. I don’t like this either though. **
 
That seems like a record to me. Here the daily mass usually takes around 30 minutes. I have seen them get it down to about 25 minutes. I do know there are parts of the mass that are optional and he must have taken advantage of all of them! In fact, we skipped over the sign of peace for a couple months when flu was really bad, although Father explained that he was doing this because so many had been sick. Perhaps the stand in had somewhere else he needed to go. Sorry you had this experience. Praying the Bishop and priest you are used to will return soon!
 
The sign of peace doesn’t take that long, nor does a weekday homily. It shouldn’t shave off a massive amount of time. 😉

The average weekday Mass everywhere I have gone has been something like 12:15 PM - 12:50 PM. People need to work and live, and so that is taken into consideration. Seventeen minutes is ridiculous and unusual, though.
 
It is not wise to assume anything. Attended a Sunday Mass that was as least as short as the one you refer to, turns out the priest was in terrible pain and was taken to the hospital later that day. His love for The Lord is so great that he put the Mass above his own physical need. Praise be to God!
 
While getting ready to serve as Eucharistic Minister some months ago, the Deacon with me in the sacristy told me a true story. Some time before (perhaps years, can’t remember) a substitute priest said the 9AM Sunday Mass in under 15 minutes. The Pastor was appalled and asked him what he was thinking! The answer: this priest had been a missionary in Africa where he had at least 20 churches every Sunday in which to say Mass, so he had to do it in a hurry. His answer to the Pastor was, “But Father, I did it as fast as I could!”

True story! We don’t know the why’s and wherefor’s, that’s between God and the Priest. We do know that our Lord is present at every Mass and that’s the reason we attend, to receive Him. :o)
 
😃 at Ellzena’s story - I can imagine the face of the exasperated priest wondering how he was ever possibly going to manage it any faster!

And yes, absolutely I understand it’s not particularly important and there might well be good reasons for wanting/needing to do it quickly - I just wasn’t sure whether that was the “norm”, not having anything to compare it to.

The excision of the homily and sign of peace were just two indicators of the condensed nature of what happened today, I didn’t mean to suggest there’s usually a half-hour weekday homily 🙂 I go to weekday Mass at lunchtime too; the advertised start is 12:45, and I’m usually out by 1:30… but the priest was a little late today and the bell rang at 12:49, and I checked my watch at “The mass is ended, go in peace” and it was 13:06.

It was very impressive in a way - once I’d realised he was going to blast through it at speed, it was a bit like watching a skilled auctioneer (or, like I said, a horse racing commentator) - but he was talking so fast I honestly wouldn’t have noticed if he’d done the Eucharistic Prayer in Latin. Maybe he did.

(Especially impressive because today’s responsorial psalm (and response) were actually quite long by weekday standards, and the reader took his time with those - if the priest had had full control of that and the Ecclesiasticus reading, we might have broken that 15-minute barrier!)
 
At my parish, the Daily Mass is about twenty minutes. Even the substitute priests follow this routine. We get a homily too!🙂 Our priest talks fast. As for the Sunday Mass, well let’s say one time I was bicycled home and arrived exactly an hour after it was scheduled to start, and the ride should have taken ten minutes not including the time spent unlocking the bike. One Sunday I needed to be somewhere right after Mass and we had a visiting missionary priest (he was collecting funds) and Mass took an hour and twenty minutes and there was a traffic jam in the parking lot.🤷 Keep in mind some people have jobs they need to get to right after Daily Mass.
 
MSSheBear said:
At my parish, the Daily Mass is about twenty minutes. Even the substitute priests follow this routine. We get a homily too!🙂 Our priest talks fast.
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:eek: That makes my priest today look positively loquacious. How can you possibly understand what’s being said? If the priest today had done a homily at the same speed he did the EP, its value would have been somewhat limited.

Oh, we missed out the “fruit of the earth and work of human hands” / “Blessed be God for ever” bit too, I’ve just remembered.

Anyway, like I said, I’m not complaining, I was just curious - my whole experience of Mass to date has been a slower, more considered affair, people taking time to digest what was being said, whereas this today was more like we were there to receive communion (obviously I didn’t go up for that, calm down 🙂 ) and hear the readings, and the rest was something almost mechanical in its nature to get us there.
Keep in mind some people have jobs they need to get to right after Daily Mass.
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Yes, I’m one of them - I go during my lunch hour as the Cathedral is literally two minutes’ walk from my door - and I’d be crushed if a priest were to overrun and make me late back. But they’ve never come close so far. EP2 and a well-drilled, um… I don’t know the terminology for the people who “help” setting up the table and assisting the priest to get ready to administer communion, but they’re like a Formula One pit crew, everyone knowing exactly where they need to be and what they need to do - amazing to watch. So we usually always end up somewhere around the 40-45 minute mark for a weekday Mass. Today, after Mass I was able to call my wife and go across town for a sandwich from my favourite deli before heading back to the office, so it wasn’t all bad! I was just a bit… surprised and/or amused, I suppose.
 
MSSheBear said:
At my parish, the Daily Mass is about twenty minutes. Even the substitute priests follow this routine. We get a homily too!🙂 Our priest talks fast. As for the Sunday Mass, well let’s say one time I was bicycled home and arrived exactly an hour after it was scheduled to start, and the ride should have taken ten minutes not including the time spent unlocking the bike. One Sunday I needed to be somewhere right after Mass and we had a visiting missionary priest (he was collecting funds) and Mass took an hour and twenty minutes and there was a traffic jam in the parking lot.🤷 Keep in mind some people have jobs they need to get to right after Daily Mass.
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Without knowing the behind the scenes reasons, he might have been a last minute sub in and it might have been rushed because this priest might have had to get back to something else like a funeral or other obligation. Whether quick or slow, it was still Jesus in the Eucharist.
 
Our priest talks fast and is easy to understand. He doesn’t allow much time for pauses during Mass. There is a group of Daily Mass attenders that do the Altar Serving and the EMHC (Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion) thing. They can instantly substitute for one another. So everything goes smoothly. Usually.

Also we usually have 20 to 30 people at Daily Mass. Recently it has gotten a bit crowded at the 6:30 a.m. Mass. The number of people attending affects the length of the Mass too.
 
MSSheBear said:
At my parish, the Daily Mass is about twenty minutes. Even the substitute priests follow this routine. We get a homily too!🙂 Our priest talks fast. As for the Sunday Mass, well let’s say one time I was bicycled home and arrived exactly an hour after it was scheduled to start, and the ride should have taken ten minutes not including the time spent unlocking the bike. One Sunday I needed to be somewhere right after Mass and we had a visiting missionary priest (he was collecting funds) and Mass took an hour and twenty minutes and there was a traffic jam in the parking lot.🤷 Keep in mind some people have jobs they need to get to right after Daily Mass.
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At my parish the morning weekday masses are 30-40 minutes with a good homily of at least 5 mins.

At the parish I first went to though, the weekday mass at 5:30pm was always done just before 6pm. The 6 pm bells would ring as we exited. This also included a 2-3 min homily. Although both are condensed from the Sunday masses, I never encountered any speed reading!
 
I find that weird, I know of a 30minute mass that just cuts out all of the music. To cut the Mass so short is a little disrespectful to Jesus
 
Loving_disciple said:
I find that weird, I know of a 30minute mass that just cuts out all of the music. To cut the Mass so short is a little disrespectful to Jesus
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None of the weekday masses I have gone to in my diocese have music. I will have to see if there is one that does! That is definitely what makes it shorter!
 
What are the chances? I was going to post something to say we never had music at Weekday Mass either, and then today we had a visiting choir from France (which was lovely!).

The stand-in priest was there again, and no slower or easier to understand than yesterday (which was probably a plus today given the choir, otherwise we might all have been late back to work!)… but there was another clergyman with him - in a white gown with a coloured sash - who did the Gospel reading and who otherwise seemed to be acting as a kind of prompter (he actually interjected twice, once for the sign of peace, almost cutting across the fast priest - in fact he seemed to me to be there specifically to “rein in” the priest and slow him down a bit!) Who would this have been?

Do you mind if I keep updating this thread whenever something weird happens at Mass that I’ve not seen before…? I am very new.
 
Euphon said:
What are the chances? I was going to post something to say we never had music at Weekday Mass either, and then today we had a visiting choir from France (which was lovely!).

The stand-in priest was there again, and no slower or easier to understand than yesterday (which was probably a plus today given the choir, otherwise we might all have been late back to work!)… but there was another clergyman with him - in a white gown with a coloured sash - who did the Gospel reading and who otherwise seemed to be acting as a kind of prompter (he actually interjected twice, once for the sign of peace, almost cutting across the fast priest - in fact he seemed to me to be there specifically to “rein in” the priest and slow him down a bit!) Who would this have been?

Do you mind if I keep updating this thread whenever something weird happens at Mass that I’ve not seen before…? I am very new.
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Perhaps something positive? 🤷
 
Loving_disciple said:
I find that weird, I know of a 30minute mass that just cuts out all of the music. To cut the Mass so short is a little disrespectful to Jesus
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Can’t really judge that based on one person’s observation and timing. Without knowing the whole story of why there was a sub, was it last minute and what maybe that priest likewise had to do on that day, there isn’t anyway of stating that this was disrespectful at all. I’ve seen daily Mass go from 20-30 minutes and that depends on music to homily length, which sounds like there was none here.
 
robwar said:
Can’t really judge that based on one person’s observation and timing. Without knowing the whole story of why there was a sub, was it last minute and what maybe that priest likewise had to do on that day, there isn’t anyway of stating that this was disrespectful at all. I’ve seen daily Mass go from 20-30 minutes and that depends on music to homily length, which sounds like there was none here.
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There wasn’t a homily or any music yesterday - and it was much, much faster than the Masses I’ve had in my very limited experience - but I didn’t read anything further into it. That’s kind of the point of this thread, I didn’t know whether that was “rushed” or whether that was the “normal” pace and my usual priest would be considered too slow. I’ve no idea, because I’ve only been going to Mass for less than two months.

The presence of Jesus is obviously the important thing - at the end of the day Mass is still Mass - I’m just curious as to how it’s usually done.

Today, there was lots of music (a first for me!) courtesy of the visiting choir, but no homily, and the resulting Mass was closer to 30-35 minutes.

Also, today there was a new person alongside the priest, dressed in a white gown and green sash, who I’ve never seen before and whose role I don’t understand (he did the Gospel reading and interjected (almost interrupted!) twice, and to my uneducated eye it seemed as if he was specifically trying to rein in the fast-talking priest)… anyone able to enlighten me?
 
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