Does this bother anyone else (has anyone else experienced this)?

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Catherine_k

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The closest parish to my home has two priests in residence… One full time and one retired. The retired priest races through mass, not allowing the laity time to respond.

In response there are a few, highly determined parishoners who practically shout the responses. The end result is a weekday mass that takes 15 minutes but is highly unpleasant . It feels like a battle (thankfully verbal) between the priest and the laity.

What can be done about this besides leaving home ten minutes earlier to attend mass at a different parish? I’ve never experienced this before: does this happen often?
 
Yikes! I wonder what he does for a homily. :eek:

If I tried that at my parish, I think some well meaning old parishioner would beat with her cane. And frankly, I’d deserve it.

Good luck on either reforming your priest, or finding another Mass.
Catherine_k said:
The closest parish to my home has two priests in residence… One full time and one retired. The retired priest races through mass, not allowing the laity time to respond.

In response there are a few, highly determined parishoners who practically shout the responses. The end result is a weekday mass that takes 15 minutes but is highly unpleasant . It feels like a battle (thankfully verbal) between the priest and the laity.

What can be done about this besides leaving home ten minutes earlier to attend mass at a different parish? I’ve never experienced this before: does this happen often?
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As a group, with love, explain to your priest that you all would prefer a slower Mass. He may be under the false assuption that he needs to rush so that people can get to work.
 
Barbkw said:
As a group, with love, explain to your priest that you all would prefer a slower Mass. He may be under the false assuption that he needs to rush so that people can get to work.
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In addition to that, I suggest getting a few like-minded people to join you in speaking charitably to the “shouters” and explain that their behavior disrupts Mass and is just not polite. They may be under the false assumption that congregational responses are required for validity of the Mass. 😉
 
Catherine_k said:
The closest parish to my home has two priests in residence… One full time and one retired. The retired priest races through mass, not allowing the laity time to respond.

In response there are a few, highly determined parishoners who practically shout the responses. The end result is a weekday mass that takes 15 minutes but is highly unpleasant . It feels like a battle (thankfully verbal) between the priest and the laity.

What can be done about this besides leaving home ten minutes earlier to attend mass at a different parish? I’ve never experienced this before: does this happen often?
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Retired Priests are generally used to a private Mass, that they celebrate themselves, thereby the response of the laity isn’t required, so he may not wait for it, considering he probably considers these masses similar to his private mass, charitably ask the shouters to quieten down, and ask the Priest if he could slow the Mass down.

God Bless You
 
I have experienced the retired priest who races through the prayers at the speed of light. he makes up for it though at the homily, which seems to go on and on and on. Fortunately, it is not my home parish, and I just attend daily Mass elsewhere - either my parish or a couple of others that have Mass at a convenient time.
 
Just a little bit of perspective… And information.
The other priest is a very good man… And quite frankly has a lot on his “plate”. I am amazed at all that the parish does, and all that he does… So I believe the retired priest covers certain functions just because there are only 24 hours in the day.
The retired priest appears to be very frail, and does deserve a lot of credit for helping out given his appearent physical condition. At this point, I wonder if he serves this much out if a sense of obligation because the parish doesn’t have another priest, and which it so desperately needs.
The shouters (the verbal equivalence of a cane) are trying to take control over the mass and slow it down… It strikes me as confrontational in the extreme, and the opposite of peaceful.
As someone relatively new to the area I would never presume to confront either “side”… I guess I interpret the whole situation (besides ugly and unnecessary) as a product of a priest shortage. The diocese went through a lot of turmoil for years before Bishop olmstead took over, and it will take time for the numbers of men going through discernment for the priesthood to increase. This is just another piece of the puzzle Bishop Olmstead is working on…
 
Skeptic92 said:
Retired Priests are generally used to a private Mass, that they celebrate themselves, thereby the response of the laity isn’t required, so he may not wait for it, considering he probably considers these masses similar to his private mass, charitably ask the shouters to quieten down, and ask the Priest if he could slow the Mass down.

God Bless You
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👍
 
Am I wrong to see it this way?

My gut reaction is to just drive elsewhere… It just seems more reasonable
 
Catherine_k said:
Am I wrong to see it this way?

My gut reaction is to just drive elsewhere… It just seems more reasonable
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We have the responsibility to support our Church, which includes supporting our own parish. If you think there’s something wrong then you should address your concerns to the pastor (or in other cases, to the bishop if necessary). If you think you’re the only one bothered and everyone else is happy with it, they you may have to move on. But if everyone has a problem with it, then you all should do something about it.
 
I havent seen something like this since i was little…I noticed the older priests rushed through everything, while the younger ones were more deliberate. I also notice, in listening to recordings of the latin mass, that they speak the latin very rapidly, and even sing it very rapidly.
 
Corki said:
In addition to that, I suggest getting a few like-minded people to join you in speaking charitably to the “shouters” and explain that their behavior disrupts Mass and is just not polite. They may be under the false assumption that congregational responses are required for validity of the Mass. 😉
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I agree. Priests are not all the same, and sometimes you just have to accept what you get. It is still the same Mass, whether rushed or slowed. I knew one priest who was literally incapable of stretching out even a Sunday Mass to a full hour. 40 to 45 minutes was a good long Mass for him, and on weekdays it would be less than 30 minutes. I’ve known others who seemed quite reverent, yet stretched the Mass out so long that the incoming traffic collided with the outgoing traffic.

Parishioners have to be flexible. No need to shout.
 
zalzankavol said:
I havent seen something like this since i was little…I noticed the older priests rushed through everything, while the younger ones were more deliberate. I also notice, in listening to recordings of the latin mass, that they speak the latin very rapidly, and even sing it very rapidly.
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One of the great benefits of the vernacular mass is that it slowed the priests down as they became more aware of what they were saying.

The Latin mass was always very fast pre-VII. I recall one Easter Vigil hearing the celebrant do the entire Exsultet in a single breath. Our pastor once asked us to play the tape of his Jubilee mass. He couldn’t believe that he was actually doing it that fast. We assured him that it was one of his slower masses.
 
That’s why I love “THE WORD OF GOD”, and not man’s. Crisp and clear each and every time.
 
The mass should be a time of prayer; not a battleground for resolving liturgical problems. I wonder if one who engages in battle rather than prayer has fulfilled his obligation to attend mass.

That said, it may well be that the pastor and bishop have bigger problems and are doing their best to provide a mass. On the other hand you deserve a time of peace in which to focus on prayer. It would be ideal if one could focus so fully on prayer as to ignore any distractions, but most of us can’t. It’s hard to remain focused even without a battle raging. I would go to a different mass, different church if necessary, in order to get some proper prayer time.

Just my :twocents:.
 
I experienced just the opposite 2-3wks ago during Sunday mass. We had a visiting Priest filling in and he was way slow. Even during things like the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer, the congregation was an entire phrase ahead of the Priest and it was very confusing when you are listening to him for guidance and tempo, and yet he was totally off beat with the normal routine of the Parish.

In the past, we did have 1 Priest who I just couldn’t stand. Mass was like 1 long run on sentence. I don’t think he even took a breath. A normal 1 hour mass with music was an easy 45min for him while our Pastor was a easy Hour+ 10min. I hate the “rush” but I also hate the “long draged out” mass also.

I would speak to him privately after mass and tell him your concerns. I am sure he will adjust if he knows that the congregation is not happy with his speedy masses. If he doesn’t, then I would have to start trying on other parishes. I lost my job recently and I have started to attend daily mass - 8:15am - at a different parish as my home parishes morning mass is not until 9am. I drop the kids off at school at 8 and the 8:15 mass just fits my morning schedule better then the 9am.
 
20 minutes seems like a doable Mass when stripped down to the minimum.
 
I experienced mass celebrated very slow, that it takes the time of the next mass. (probably because the priest already old) but I haven’t experienced attending the mass celebrated on the speed of light. Most probably I’ll get shock that I just arrived and all of the sudden its over!
 
Catherine_k said:
The closest parish to my home has two priests in residence… One full time and one retired. The retired priest races through mass, not allowing the laity time to respond.

In response there are a few, highly determined parishoners who practically shout the responses. The end result is a weekday mass that takes 15 minutes but is highly unpleasant . It feels like a battle (thankfully verbal) between the priest and the laity.

What can be done about this besides leaving home ten minutes earlier to attend mass at a different parish? I’ve never experienced this before: does this happen often?
Click to expand...
I am old, having problems, so my gut reaction is that may be the retired priest has some health problems, and cannot stand for long time.

The best thing is to ask him why he runs trough the Mass, and that if he has reason let him tell it to the folks. If this not works, and he seems to be unreasonable, the pastor has to be addressed with the problem.

No laity has right to have battle with the priest. The priest, and not the expectations of the laity represents Jesus Christ.
 
Joe_Kelley said:
The Latin mass was always very fast pre-VII.
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This was true, especially in those parishes where daily Masses were scheduled on the half-hour. (Servers were trained to keep up with the priest; it wasn’t an easy task.)

Perhaps that is the case even today when priests are pressed for time either because they have another Mass to say at another parish or they fear many will walk out of church or never come back again because it is too long. (They may only get 20 minutes for lunch or may be late for work.)
 
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