Have you ever gotten so upset at a real or perceived liturgical abuse that you got up and left in the middle of Mass?

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What happened?

Or if not a bona fide abuse, something that you just couldn’t stand any longer.
 
I left when they started playing a video instead of having a homily. Sorry, but I left the Protestant church. Mass is not the place for videos. Nothing happened because we were in the very back.
 
Lepanto said:
What happened?

Or if not a bona fide abuse, something that you just couldn’t stand any longer.
Click to expand...
I doubt I’d ever leave durning the Mass. I used to attend a parish out in the country and the priest would let his big dog come roamng in, once the dog actually got sick right up near the altar right as the priest was giving commuion to the altar severs before people started getting up to recieve. :eek: Priest felt really bad and realized he should be letting his dog in. Other animals from the farm were known to wander around 😃 he is a good priest, just very St. Francis. He has a ton of animals. In fact his donkey was was in the move Nativity 🙂

That’s the only story I have.
 
yes twice, once in the 80s when visiting relatives, attended an outdoor Mass at a parish who was having their picnic that day, so the casualness we took in stride until they broke out loaves of wonder bread when they were preparing the gifts. we left.

the second was first time at a new parish (which became our home for many years) also first day of with new pastor, and Mass welcoming him. liturgical dancers, and I use the term “dancing” lossely. I would have been embarrassed to be watching young girls dressed as they were, doing those moves, at a party or dance recital, at Mass it was beyond tolerance. We left before the readings.

the next week neighbor persuaded us to return, father apologized and said he did not know anything about it, since he technically was not “in charge” until Monday, and that those responsible had been fired (DRE and cohorts) and it would never happen again.
 
I’m sorry to say that I, too, have walked out of Mass. The first was a borderline invalid Mass. The Host was consecrated, but the wine remained wine, as the words “this is my blood” were definitely NOT part of the priest’s improvised consecration. Sketchy indeed. As I recall, I went to a later Mass which was quite valid.

The second time I’ve walked out of a Mass was in Juneau, Alaska. I didn’t go to the Cathedral, but rather to the parish just outside of town. It was the UGLIEST church I have ever seen, and it was perhaps one of the most affluent parishes I’ve ever seen which made it all the worse (there were floor-to-ceiling icons. Of single subjects. Handwritten). I cried just thinking about the poor parishioners of nearby St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, who have struggled for many years to keep their tiny but beautiful church standing against the elements, and who offer the Holy Sacrifice so reverently. If I could have fulfilled my Sunday obligation by attending Divine Liturgy there, I would have done so.

Anyway, the priest had asked everyone to write their sins on giant construction paper feet and to place them in the collection baskets in lieu of money. It was so dreadfully strange. The Eucharistic Prayer was completely ad libbed, though the consecration was valid. When I refused to hold someone’s hand during the Our Father, she seemed incredibly angry. I snapped and walked out without so much as another thought.

You can imagine how relieved I was to spend the next week of that vacation in Sitka. Saint Michael’s Cathedral is truly beautiful. I visited every day, and had the pleasure of singing an Akathist to Saint Herman of Alaska. I very nearly approached the priest to beg him to accept me into communion with the Orthodox Church. After my experience in Juneau I didn’t even bother to check out the Catholic parish. It looked so hideous. I’m glad I wasn’t in Sitka on Sunday.
 
I came close twice.

First when I was confirmed as an adult. We had this HORRID liturgical dancer it a tight leotard spinning around the sanctuary dumping water from a ewer into the baptismal font. I had never heard of “liturgical dance” before that moment but it was universally offensive. Had it not been for the considerations of my sponsor and my parents, I would have simply left. I caught the dancer’s eyes once or twice and it was clear by her expression that things were not going well for her.

The second while serving Mass as an adult. A horribly abusive visiting Franciscan priest turned around while breaking the large host(directly over the floor) to offer me a hunk just before he took communion. I took a step back and instinctively crossed my arms over my chest which visibly irritated him. Once communion began it took all I had to get in line and not simply leave.
 
No. I use the situation to remind me of my own sinfulness and pray for the one perpetrating the abuse.
 
Well, I walked out on mass only once. The priest had just returned from a pilgramage to Israel and Rome. He used his homily to tell about the trip (some of the parishioners went with him). At one point he said that the only way to get close to God was by going on that same kind of trip. Yeah, right! That just slams the gate to heaven on at least 95% of christians.
 
No, I’ve never walked out, but once I was so angry that I couldn’t go to Communion. One man cried out anger at that same Mass.

It was at a time when we had ‘family Mass’ once a month, this in a parish that has an anticipated Mass on Saturday and ONE Mass on Sunday. Anyway, ‘family’ Mass always meant that families who never came to Mass any other time showed up because their little darling was singing or attempting to be a reader. Little was done to prepare the kids for the ministries they were expected to perform.

This particular Sunday one of the two kids who’d been picked to read couldn’t read. When that became obvious as he struggled to read the simplest 4 letter words, one of the adult proponents of this Mass went to stand by him at the ambo and whispered the words he couldn’t read. You can just imagine what the readings sounded like that day.

We made enemies when we told them that reading at Sunday Mass is not something you get a kid to do to ‘train him to be a reader’. They couldn’t get through their heads that the minister is at the service of the Liturgy, not the other way around.

It was a relief when the new pastor said that Mass, a family affair by definition, isn’t there to provide ‘performance opportunity’ so only properly prepared ministers were allowed. That didn’t rule out the children since we had some who proclaimed beautifully, one who still does when she comes home from university.
 
I walked out on a Good Friday service once. It took place in a large suburban church. The lights in the church were off and there was “mood lighting” in the sanctuary. The priest processed up the center aisle and then sat in the front pew where he remained for all the time I was there. Lay people did all the readings, which were puntuated with birdcalls, bells and more mood lighting. It was more like a bad high school play than a Good Friday service. When the liturgical dancer swooned up the center aisle I left. I haven’t been back.
 
Lepanto said:
What happened?

Or if not a bona fide abuse, something that you just couldn’t stand any longer.
Click to expand...
Once, in Bothell, WA when a Lay person (don’t remember if it was a man or woman) started preaching the Homily about tolerance and Homosexual life style as a personal choice.

I returned to another parish Sunday morning for Mass.
 
no, but i have cried and prayed about perceived abuses, mostly the lack of respect/reverence of others toward the liturgy…who am i to judge? i like to think that the Lord gives me these trials to strengthen my own appreciation and respect for the liturgy. i also have to remind myself, sometimes when i’m upset, that i’m there to worship God, -NOT to be entertained by the “performance” of the liturgy --and then be upset because MY entertainment was spoiled.
of course, i’ve never been subjected to most of the things written about here :eek: not sure if i wouldn’t have done the same.
 
There were dancers at my Church, and I was sitting in about the second row. When I noticed I gathered my kids and walked out with my head down.
The dancers were “blessing the space with incense”, you know how they dance with bowls. This is how it was described in the announcement right before they started dancing down the aisles.

Since I really didn’t need to be blessed in some pagan looking ritual, it was safer for my soul to gather closer to Father who was getting ready to process in. As I walked by him, he gave me a thumbs up for walking out. Once Father processed in and the dancers were done, then we walked back to our places and participated in the Mass.
(he has no say in the Mass since we are run by a parish coordinator who hires out the Priests and does what she wants)

I went to Mass again in another town and gave my money to them. I will never give money when there is gross liturgical abuse, I give it to parishes which are faithful.

God Bless
Scylla

(it is better not to get angry, but to react in a visible way to demonstrate the inappropriateness of the abuse)
 
(he has no say in the Mass since we are run by a parish coordinator who hires out the Priests and does what she wants)
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Sounds like a letter to your bishop is in order.
 
Never have, and thinking about it, I doubt if I ever will. Probably the only scenario I can think of is if I realize that the Priest is not validly ordained. It is not a case of being better than anyone who posted above (God knows I am not) or being more tolerant (God knows that I am not) but I look at it this way:

If it is a Mass said by a validly ordained priest who’s intention is to offer Mass (even if their methods are cloudy), then I am there with my brothers and sisters to be part of the universal prayer of the Church and worship God. Since God has not left the Church, how can I walk away from him?

I guess the analogy I think of it is this: I have been graced to be at the table of the Lord and even if I don’t agree with the dinner conversation or number of servers or the way the food is prepared, it is rude to leave before the Host.
 
I have never left, nor have I come close.

Walking out in the middle of Mass is a not something to be taken lightly. It can have very grave consequences.

But I have thought about under what circumstances I might do this. Many here have described some very serious abuses. Abuses so bad that they actually invalidate the Mass, such as using the wrong matter for Holy Communion.

Short of something that serious, I think it would take a good deal for me to actually leave Mass. A homily which advocates things that are clearly against Church teachings on serious matters may get em to leave, but that is about it.

But unless there were grave violations of liturgical practices, such as a “dance”, I would do my best swallow my pride and bitterness and stay.

But none of this means that I would come back. Or contribute to the collection.

Were I to ever walk out of Mass, even for solid and good reasons, like a priest who used regular (leavened) bread and/or not real wine for Holy Communion, I would feel that I would need to go to Confession before receiving Holy Communion. I think walking out on a Mass is that serious.
 
TheDoctor said:
Never have, and thinking about it, I doubt if I ever will. Probably the only scenario I can think of is if I realize that the Priest is not validly ordained. It is not a case of being better than anyone who posted above (God knows I am not) or being more tolerant (God knows that I am not) but I look at it this way:

If it is a Mass said by a validly ordained priest who’s intention is to offer Mass (even if their methods are cloudy), then I am there with my brothers and sisters to be part of the universal prayer of the Church and worship God. Since God has not left the Church, how can I walk away from him?
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These are very good points. However, I do think there are instances in which it is wise to leave. Even more I think in some cases we are required, as Catholics, to do just that. As I understand it we are to do all we can to avoid the near occasion of sin, and some of these abuses can actually lead people to that. The anger and bitterness themselves can be like a cancer in the spirit. I know as I have experienced that and it was a very deep and troubling state to find myself in. There are situations when during Mass things can be so bad that very quietly leaving is the best and only proper thing we can do.

I think we must also remember that the liturgy is the work of the people and our presence in the Mass, saying the prayers and engaging in the actions, is more than the presence of an audience sitting inactively in a show. We are actively participating in that work, and are called to do just that by the Church. This means that a public sacrelige at the altar is not just the sin of the priest, or whoever does it, but of us if we give our Amen to it. Can we just do that and say it wasn’t our fault? I have doubts that this is really possible if we are engaged liturgically as the Chuch calls us to be.
I guess the analogy I think of it is this: I have been graced to be at the table of the Lord and even if I don’t agree with the dinner conversation or number of servers or the way the food is prepared, it is rude to leave before the Host.
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I like your analogy, but I think it begins to fail if taken too far. If I am at a dinner and the host prepares the food in a distasteful way I would be rude to leave. But, that food cannot be desecrated as the Lord can be. If the servers spit in it then I am offended individually. If the servers at Mass spit on the food it doesn’t just soil it, but is a grave and serious sin against our Lord.

I would say I agree with you in many normal abuses, such as dancing or the like. That is until it begins to lead the person into sin, in which case we are still compelled to guard our own souls. But, when things begin to be sacreligious I think we must leave. We cannot continue as Catholics to participate in that which defiles the Body and Blood of our Lord.

Patrick
 
Ok what is up with this liturgical dance thing? I have never in my life heard of this before? How is this even allowed? It does seem like a pagan practice…I mean granted, I know David in the bible danced naked/half naked b/c of his love for God but really…I just don’t think mass is the place for dancing.
 
During my years at a small “Catholic” college in the Bay Area, the campus mass was so bad (in nearly every way) that I decided to go to the local parish to attend mass. It was also wrought with abuse every Sunday. Because it was valid, though, I just had to bear it given my lack of transportation and time. Then, one Sunday, right after the Sex Abuse scandal broke, the priest (who unexpectedly gave the sermon himself instead of having one of the parishioners give it) started on a rant about how ignorant JPII and many in the Curia were of the real-life issues that faced Catholics in the pews. He laid out his desire for a “peasant uprising” against the “oppressive” hierarchy. It was a real “Us vs. Them” type of thing… like listening to Chairman Mao, himself! He blamed the Pope and the hierarchy for the abuse and went off on how it was time that more democracy was instituted in the process of how our leaders were decided - mostly lay democracy of course. There were even applauds from the congregation!!!

After months of listening to the pro-homosexual, pro-married clergy, pro-women priests, anti-papal rants; witnessing liturgical dance, and female acolytes [sic], I simply had enough. My brother and I got up right in the middle of his SPEACH and started to walk out. And here is the kicker: the priest started calling us out from the pulpit!!! We were not making a scene or anything; we just got up from our seats and started to leave. INCREDIBLE, YES!!!:eek:

As we were exiting, this crusty old usher started trying to give us a piece of his mind, too! Another K of C usher kind of apologized to us as we left and asked if we would ever come back. We politely replied that we simply couldn’t continue to attend the masses when we were leaving angry every Sunday (so irritated that it was often impossible for me to present myself for communion). Evidently, we were not the only ones who were leaving as there were a few other cars warming up with children piling in.

It was, by far, the craziest experience I have ever had at a church. Had I been leaving early after communion, they probably would have congratulated me!

We ended up at a very traditional parish in Oakland. Although it was a drive, it was better… a little sedevacantis-ish, but at least the mass was legit.
 
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