Do you have summer Rawhide Masses?

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Bibbit

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***Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’

Keep movin’, movin’, movin’,
Though they’re disapprovin’,
Keep them doggies movin’ Rawhide!
Don’t try to understand 'em,
Just rope and throw and grab 'em,
…

Move 'em on, head 'em up,
Head 'em up, move 'em out,
Move 'em on, head 'em out Rawhide!
Set 'em out, ride 'em in
Ride 'em in, let 'em out,
Cut 'em out, ride 'em in Rawhide.***

Those are some of the lyrics, and they fit pretty well with what happens at my parish every summer. For some reason, my pastor takes the Mass really serious during the other three seasons, but summer is different. It suddenly becomes move 'em in and move ‘em out time. I know my parish is in a coastal state and the beaches are less than an hour away, but come on! The Mass suddenly get 10 minutes shorter, and the feasts do not get celebrated with the same vigor as they are during the other months. Incense? Forget about it during summer. Normal length homilies? They’re gone too, quick and not so to the point they are. Hymns? No, we have what I call hymnettes as we sing very few songs more than half way through. Of course folks dress like they just got out of bed and are going to put the garbage out for the morning collection (income has no direct correlation as the doctors and professionals do it as much as the non-professionals). Attendance goes way down, yet we still have extraordinary ministers giving out communion, this despite the fact that the 11:30am Mass generally has three priests for a Mass that is not at all heavily attended. Anybody have any idea why this wonderful parish in the northeast corner of RI suddenly changes when the winds turn warm? I go to this parish because I grew up in it and for three seasons it’s wonderful. But every summer I seriously consider movin’ on myself, to a place where the Mass is celebrated with the same love and vigor all year long. This simply makes no sense to me. Heaven never takes time off, and we should never take time off from our love for the Mass.
 
Maybe the 3 priests at the last mass want to get out on the boat before all the fish have been caught by the non-churchgoers.😃
 
All things considered, I think your church has it pretty good. We only use incense at the Easter Vigil. Three priests at a mass? We have three priests on staff and one turns 91 this month. When I was in school we had a local parish that we called St. Dominos. Mass in 30 minutes or less or your salvation is free. The priest that married my wife and I could say a daily mass in under 20 minutes - though our wedding mass was pretty long (we kneeled through pretty much the whole thing).

A mass with lower attendance will end much faster because the collection and communion are both faster.

I suppose that if you hit all of the “important parts” the mass is valid.
 
dconklin said:
All things considered, I think your church has it pretty good. We only use incense at the Easter Vigil. Three priests at a mass? We have three priests on staff and one turns 91 this month. When I was in school we had a local parish that we called St. Dominos. Mass in 30 minutes or less or your salvation is free. The priest that married my wife and I could say a daily mass in under 20 minutes - though our wedding mass was pretty long (we kneeled through pretty much the whole thing).

A mass with lower attendance will end much faster because the collection and communion are both faster.

I suppose that if you hit all of the “important parts” the mass is valid.
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I had a similar parish near me. The poor priest meant well but he was alone in a large parish with no help. He got sick toward the end of his life and Masses there were also exactly 30 minutes. I think if the man could have put a drive-through on the church, he would have. Again, he was a very generous and kind priest who did a lot for the youth, but he was just burnt-out at the end.

In my parish, however, not too much changes in the summer except the choir takes a hiatus. We only have one priest and he makes sure the mass is always celebrated properly and reverently. 2 weeks ago, I played the first Mass of a newly ordained priest and that lasted over 1 1/2 hours.

To the OP, your parish is not unlike many others out there. I’m familiar with many churches in RI as my wife is from there and we don’t live too far away. We went to another parish 3 weeks ago to visit a priest-friend of ours and we appalled with the attire, espicially some of the collectors and EMHC’s. Picture older men wearing Hawaiian Shirts.

If you like your parish and feel confortable with the pastor- speak to him privately on your issues in a polite way. If reverence and respect become a issue in your church and no one listens to you, then maybe its time to “head em out.”
There’s a nice parish in the southeast corner of Massachusetts that would welcome you. 😃
 
Right now, our poor pastor is recovering from surgery as a result of a blood clot to the brain. He is the ONLY priest we have!!! If he was not a part of an order, we would have to go to other places for Mass, unless the bishop scrounged us up a priest from the retired pool.

That said: We have 3 Masses per weekend. The Saturday anticipated and the Sunday 9:30 “Main Event” are well attended, and have music, etc. The 7:30 AM on Sunday is always a Mass without music, and lasts a half-hour to fourty-five minutes. There’s no race, but there’s no frills, either.

Frankly, it’s the Mass I attend. I have two school-age children I didn’t expect to raise, and they still fidgit. I like the quiet. My DH likes the quiet.
 
No, but I did have to laugh when I compared 2 visiting priests during daily Mass last week.

The priest from India loves to sing, so he makes everyone sing at daily Mass. Five minutes into the 9am Mass, we’re still singing!

A priest from a neighboring parish is usually into the gospel by five minutes after 9!
 
I felt the presence of Rowdy Yates (Clint Eastwood’s role in Rawhide 😉 ) this weekend, for sure. Holiday weekend, and we, too, are an east coast tourist location. 7:00 a.m. Mass. In and out in 40 minutes.

Some of it was due to numbers being low at the early bird Mass on a holiday weekend; and the early Mass does not have a choir. But, really? 40 minutes? I came early and stayed a bit just to feel I had given my “hour a week” to the Lord.
 
While Heaven does not take time off, volunteers and staff DO need vacations. Mass is shorter? Fewer humns? Is perhaps your choir given a vacation during the summer?
 
There’s a daily mass at the church near my job at 5:15pm…and it’s always over by 5:45pm…and that’s with the homily. I remember the first time I went and it just boggled my mind.

The only reasoning I can come up with is that it’s a daily mass after work, and they’re keeping the tiredness of the congregation in mind. 🤷

At my home Parish, however, it’s pretty much the same length as the other seasons to my knowledge. Daily mass is shorter by about five minutes but that’s still fifty minutes.
 
Our NO Mass actually gets LONGER in the summer! 😃

After every Mass we always have exposition and benediction of the Eucharist, but in the summer our priest will also do a procession outside, through the parish cemetery, and to the grotto with Jesus in the monstrance. We will kneel, sing and pray for a few moments, then process back into the Church, kneel back down in our places, and wait until Jesus is returned to the tabernacle.

In winter months or when it is cold or wet outside, this all takes place inside and is much faster. So for us, Mass in the summer is always longer, and we love it that way!!! 👍

~Liza
 
Thunderbird said:
There’s a daily mass at the church near my job at 5:15pm…and it’s always over by 5:45pm…and that’s with the homily. I remember the first time I went and it just boggled my mind.

The only reasoning I can come up with is that it’s a daily mass after work, and they’re keeping the tiredness of the congregation in mind. 🤷

At my home Parish, however, it’s pretty much the same length as the other seasons to my knowledge. Daily mass is shorter by about five minutes but that’s still fifty minutes.
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Well our daily Mass doesn’t usually include the Gloria or the Creed singing so it’s about 20 minutes with a short homily.
 
Phemie said:
Well our daily Mass doesn’t usually include the Gloria or the Creed singing so it’s about 20 minutes with a short homily.
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Maybe that’s what makes it so short. I don’t think we sing the Gloria but we do say the Credo.
 
I’ve enjoyed the responses here, especially the one where the summer Mass is longer. How wonderful that must be. Oh, for those who aren’t sure, I am not saying the Mass needs to be XX miniutes long or something is wrong. I understand quick weekday Masses (at my parish they often have no homily so folks can get to work), but I don’t understand shortening the Mass just because it’s warmer out. Think about it, it’s warmer out, but the days are longer, so you have more time to be outside, so if anything you have more time for Mass. Another oh, we do not have the choir most summer Masses, but we do still have the music and singing, it’s usually one or two people in the choir loft along with the organist. We also have A/C, but that’s another story, related to this, but I have already complained beyond my quota. I still don’t understand why we have the move 'em in and ride 'em out attitude in summer though. Maybe somebody knows a priest who’s given them a good explanation?
 
we have lived in resort communities in 3 states and notice the same thing during the tourist season, but for a good reason, to handle attendance 2 or 3 x normal. so glad those on vacation have not forgotten Mass obligation we put up with it.
 
Nope, our Masses are the same (more or less) throughout the year. Incense is used pretty much every week, though not in the one week per year that we have an associate pastor from the next parish, because he’s got asthma and can’t handle the heavy incense. Other than that though, it’s consistent. Thankfully, there are no Rawhide Masses here!
 
Ours gets shorter. Father always blames it on the summer heat… I think he just gets tired of hearing all the bulletins-turned-into-fans flapping through the whole Mass!

Except when we attend at the military hospital chapel… we always seem to have “field” Masses that last about 45 minutes (got to get out before the Protestants get there to start hymn practice!) but we never leave out any hymns and Father always gives excellent homilies. Of course, my son, the altar server, has to be on his toes so that the Liturgy of the Eucharist goes off without a hitch! No delays!
 
bluerose said:
Ours gets shorter. Father always blames it on the summer heat… I think he just gets tired of hearing all the bulletins-turned-into-fans flapping through the whole Mass!
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We solved that one, we don’t publish a bulletin in July and August. There’s nothing going on in the parish in the summer months that requires it. 😃
 
Our masses may be a few minutes shorter but there is no reverence lost. If you notice, the readings in the summer tend to be shorter.

I often go to a chapel where the masses are 30 minutes. They have no Sunday masses. The priests are Carmelites and the masses are very reverent and the homilies are very good. It’s not the amount of minutes, it’s how the mass is celebrated.
 
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