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

[L_Marshall]

I recently went to a Mass celebrated by the Chancellor of my diocese, and it was over in ~25 (including a 10 minute homily). I questioned a friend of the family, who was a priest before Norvus Ordo was instituted, and he said that quite a few priests who were in seminary between Vatican II and the 90’s do it, because they were never taught to see the Mass as “personal”. I know that many priests from before Vatican II and many recently ordained priests seem to treat the mass much more personally. I even did some digging and found out the several documents from Vatican I said that in celebrating the Mass in under 20 minutes, the priest was “Scarcely exempt from the pain of mortal sin”.

 

[zalzankavol]

In knowing many priests who had been around for the switch from latin to english, I have heard them comment that the latin was just simply rote and monotone for them, so they just went at a pace that was comfortable. I myself have studied six languages, including latin, hebrew, greek, spanish, aramaic, italian, and a bit of gaelic.

Learning a language is more than learning vocabulary. To really have a “feel” for a language you have to almost have a certain mind set, and start “thinking” in that language, to be able to effect idiomatic expression, accents, and flow. This is the problem with latin mass. not only do people not understand or speak latin, but to learn it takes time. I found myself that it takes either an immersive experience or several years to be able to use and interact with a language effectively, and feel a personal connection to it.
Imagine if starting today you had to put all your verbs at the end of a sentence or at the end of each clause. Does Yoda ring a bell? This is how Latin works. “To the store I am going.” or “at the store after the game I am having been.”

One thing I do know is that priests were told to carefully pronounce the words of consecration…one old Pastor I had would say the prayer like this

(said very fast with no breathing in monotone) "onthenighthewasbetrayedhetookthecupintohissacredhandsandsaid (pause) this…is…my… (im leaving the last word out, out of respect)…thebloodofthenewandeveralstingcovenantwhichwillbeshedfor…and off to the races again. He would finish a Mass in about 30 minutes, homily included.
The first latin mass I ever attended was said by him, by special permission, and I was happy to go because I had two years of Latin under my belt (was an A student) at that time. he was even faster than he was in English and I did not understand a thing he was saying, It was monotone all the way.

 

[Barbkw]

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.

I was wondering the same. At times my back “acts up” and standing for even short periods of time is painful. Mentally, my thoughts become consumed with wanting to just sit down.

 

[zab]

laszlo;7497742**:

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.

I was wondering the same. At times my back “acts up” and standing for even short periods of time is painful. Mentally, my thoughts become consumed with wanting to just sit down.

I , too, wondered if health issues could be part of the problem. And I agree with laszlo, that no one should “battle with the priest” . I think it is rude and distracting for some folks to shout out the responses. We have a similar battle that goes on from time to time with the people praying the rosary after Mass. We have one older woman that prays fast (although not particularly loud). Then there are one or two that drag so slow and are loud as if trying to control the speed. I find the latter to be the most distracting and controlling. There are times when people pray at their own speed, some slower and some faster and it all works out fine because no one is really trying to control the speed of others. Anyway, I think it is rude to shout out. If they have a problem they should address it to the priest and in the mean time they should try to follow his lead.

 

[Catherine_k]

The retired priest is very frail and does appear to have serious health issues. He does clearly enunciate each syllable… And he does not do a homily. So 15 minutes at break neck speed with a deacon to help him is probably all he CAN do.
I don’t want anyone to think I don’t appreciate his service: I do. What bothers me about this situation is twofold: given the priests’ health, while I am gratefulthe parish is expressing a need for more masses, etc there is obviously a shortage of priests. This man has served (just guessing) for decades… And ithink it appropriate for him to have a retirement.
The second aspect that really bothers me is the response of the confrontational laity.
The combination of the two strikes me as disrepectful and angry. Inappropriate seems inadequate .
Given the entire situation, I’m grateful there are other parishes nearby.

 

[charlespinoy]

The retired priest is very frail and does appear to have serious health issues. He does clearly enunciate each syllable… And he does not do a homily. So 15 minutes at break neck speed with a deacon to help him is probably all he CAN do.
I don’t want anyone to think I don’t appreciate his service: I do. What bothers me about this situation is twofold: given the priests’ health, while I am gratefulthe parish is expressing a need for more masses, etc there is obviously a shortage of priests. This man has served (just guessing) for decades… And ithink it appropriate for him to have a retirement.
The second aspect that really bothers me is the response of the confrontational laity.
The combination of the two strikes me as disrepectful and angry. Inappropriate seems inadequate .
Given the entire situation, I’m grateful there are other parishes nearby.

We all know how one catholic should act in the celebration of the mass. And we also know how a mass is celebrated by a priest. So if we encounter something unusual it might be good to get the attention the attention of the authority before taking the option of going to other parishes. After all you got two priest in your parish, better to ask the other priest his opinion, In this way you may get a fast response with your problem

 

[laszlo]

I recently went to a Mass celebrated by the Chancellor of my diocese, and it was over in ~25 (including a 10 minute homily). I questioned a friend of the family, who was a priest before Norvus Ordo was instituted, and he said that quite a few priests who were in seminary between Vatican II and the 90’s do it, because they were never taught to see the Mass as “personal”. I know that many priests from before Vatican II and many recently ordained priests seem to treat the mass much more personally. I even did some digging and found out the several documents from Vatican I said that in celebrating the Mass in under 20 minutes, the priest was “Scarcely exempt from the pain of mortal sin”.

I agree with that, the daily Mass was daily chore and the given time frame (w/o homily) was 30 minutes from amice (starting the vestment) to amice (take off the vestment). God is timeless anyway, and the Liturgy is not the most important thing.

 

[Batfink]

I know one priest who is a retired missionary, his Masses are always super fast. He is used to decades of saying Mass abroad in countries where barely anyone spoke English (or Latin before that) so no one knew the responses. I figure it’s a price I’m willing to pay to have sermons from someone with that wealth of life experience across the world.

Having said that, it wouldn’t be conducive to a prayerful atmosphere for me every day (I don’t mind it once in a while). If I needed a Mass to be short e.g. because I was on a break from work, I would prefer it to be said at normal speed with the optional bits (Creed, Gloria etc) left out. I regularly attend a sub-20 minute Mass at lunchtimes and it doesn’t seem as if the celebrant is rushing or has left anything out, but there are things like it being held in a small chapel so all the processions/moving about (entrance, offertory, lining up for commuion) etc are super short, there are usually 2 priests to distribute communion and there is no music only an unacompanied sung Alleluia and Doxology.

To the OP - if it really disrupts your ability to concentrate on the Mass, speak to the parishioners/priest. Or there’s no sin in going to a different Mass, particularly if you stay at your own parish on Sundays and support it in other ways.