Have you ever walked out of church during Mass?

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i have walked out… when the homily was “unCatholic”…

i have walked out becaue the priest seemed overly hypocritical… you know… .that thing about when u point a finger @ someone, 3 fingers are pointing back at yourself… 🤷
 
bethndanny said:
Yes, I have. I was traveling and went to a parish near me for mass. While I was there the priest began to vent about some of the parishioners during his homily. A number of parishioners began to argue back with the priest. I walked out after five minutes of bickering back and forth. I do not regret it. I am not about to expose my two children to that type of nonsense.
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wow… bizarre…

the Mass should never be disrupted like that… that preist ought to be reprimanded by the bishop…

did you contact him?
 
Prague said:
I just about did when they started playing conga drums. I was afraid Desi Arnaz would come out and start singing Babloo and we would form a conga line to recieve the Eucharist.
I stayed put, but had to keep praying for patience.😦
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😃

i would have left… but thats just me…
 
I walked out of Mass once because I had the giggles. Actually it was more like a laughing fit. The priest was proclaiming the Gospel about the apostles seeing Jesus walk to them on the water and they thought he was a ghost…only he didn’t say “ghost” but “goat.” My friend looked at me and said, "did he say goat?’ The two of us started giggling and could not stop. We moved further away from each other to calm down, eventually to either ends of the pew. But we kept turning to look at each other and would crack up again. Finally, after I could not contain myself any longer, I walked out and came back in time for communion, by which time I had calmed down in the vestibule. But wouldn’t you know it, there were no EMHCs and my friend went up to help. I went up to receive and got the giggles again.

After Mass we went to the priest, whom we knew very well and were friends with (still am) and apologized. He understood, but did mention that he corrected himself. We also apologized to the woman sitting behind us but she said it happened to her once. Anyway, it led to some good teasing back and forth with the priest over the next few days, and now and then, when that reading comes up, even though it is YEARS later, I send him an e-mail reminding him the word is “ghost” not “goat.”
 
Distracted _ I would like to have left, but that was the only Mass available…
 
Saint_wannabe said:
A wise man once told me, “No humility, no holiness, no holiness, no heaven.” and those are words that I take to heart dearly and try living by. With that being said, I don’t find any humility whatsoever in what you just posted. What seems to be the problem in the first place? you don’t like the priest? you don’t like the priests homily? You force yourself to stay there and offer it up? what does that mean? There are many spiritual gifts and many things that we need to do, such as love, charity and many others things, but I believe that it all starts with humility.
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i can’t beleive this…

you think it is lack of humility whne someone leaves Mass??? i am sorry but i dont get it and i dont think your post shows the least amount of humilty… You seem to accuse poster of not being humble… i think it is the height of arrogance to assume someone else’s motives…

and again, i fail to see how poster’s comments are lacking in humility…
 
Prague said:
Distracted _ I would like to have left, but that was the only Mass available…
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i will leave during homilies… The homily is not integral to the Mass… not the most important part…

i generally dont like leaving at other times… although i have… i feel i was justified every time…
 
Prague said:
I just about did when they started playing conga drums. I was afraid Desi Arnaz would come out and start singing Babloo and we would form a conga line to recieve the Eucharist.
I stayed put, but had to keep praying for patience.😦
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I’m sorry that happened, but your comment is hilarious!!:rotfl:
 
bethndanny said:
Yes, I have. I was traveling and went to a parish near me for mass. While I was there the priest began to vent about some of the parishioners during his homily. A number of parishioners began to argue back with the priest. I walked out after five minutes of bickering back and forth. I do not regret it. I am not about to expose my two children to that type of nonsense.
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Now, was he mentioning people by name? That might get me to walk out as well. If not that, then at least the exchance which occured afterward.😦

As far as the conga is concerned, maybe I wouldn’t walk out of that (unless they actually did start to dance), but I would consider not going back unless there was no other Catholic church in the vicinity. Now, if a rock band came and played and started singing uncontrollably (and/or the musicians started exposing themselves), well…
 
Distracted, I did not contact the bishop. I ought to have, but at the time I had a lot of issues going on in my life. Beginning that process would have served to distract me from the things that God was leading me to, I believe. For the duration of my visit I drove much further away for mass.

Angelic06, the priest did not mention parishioners by name, but by action. He said that he was displeased with the parishioners who were handing out leaflets complaining about him before mass. Now, as I entered the church I received no such leaflet, but that is not the point. So he directed his comments to those parishioners who were doing this, and they began to argue back. It was by far the strangest thing I have ever encountered in mass.
 
bethndanny said:
Distracted, I did not contact the bishop. I ought to have, but at the time I had a lot of issues going on in my life. Beginning that process would have served to distract me from the things that God was leading me to, I believe. For the duration of my visit I drove much further away for mass.

Angelic06, the priest did not mention parishioners by name, but by action. He said that he was displeased with the parishioners who were handing out leaflets complaining about him before mass. Now, as I entered the church I received no such leaflet, but that is not the point. So he directed his comments to those parishioners who were doing this, and they began to argue back. It was by far the strangest thing I have ever encountered in mass.
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its the strangest thing i have ever heard of happening during Mass, thats for sure…

of course… you never know what may be happening in someone’s MIND during Mass… Yikes… :eek:… and the devil has attacked me soemthign terrible at Mass b4… :mad:but oh well… used to that… :yawn:
 
Quite a long time ago, when one of the priests in a church I used to attend would preach, I would get extremely uncomfortable - I didn’t know why, because it wasn’t anything he said. I would get very anxious and feel that I just couldn’t sit there for another minute. I never actually left while he was speaking, but it was such a trial that eventually, when I saw that he was going to be giving the homily, I would quietly leave while we were standing up for the gospel and come back in afterwards for the creed, so I didn’t have to listen to him.

This lasted for a few months. Some time later he left the Catholic priesthood, married, and became a pastor in a Protestant church!
 
distracted said:
its the strangest thing i have ever heard of happening during Mass, thats for sure…

of course… you never know what may be happening in someone’s MIND during Mass… Yikes… :eek:… and the devil has attacked me soemthign terrible at Mass b4… :mad:but oh well… used to that… :yawn:
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Ah, you get this then! I was being attacked by the enemy something fierce for quite some prior to this, and he was trying to lead me astray for sure. This insanity in mass was something that was in a long list of things that were trying to get me to step away from the Ark. I left the mass, not the protection of Christ’s Church.
 
I often feel like walking out during the homily because there is one priest who is not a native speaker of English, and I can only understand about 1/5 words he says. It’s very frustrating to want to understand him, but to always lose him because of the language barrier. My remedy for this is to bring my missal and read the canned homily in there.
 
Yes, I have walked out once – and almost walked out another time, but sat in stunned silence. And then there is the one that I refuse to attend so I don’t have to walk out on it.

The first time was at a noon Mass on a holy day of obligation. The church was one of those new-fangled modern architecture thingies that look more like one of those protestant mega-churches than a proper Catholic church. What transpired bordered on the Mass becoming a Broadway musical, with a choir singing hymns that no one had music for. They had an small group of musicians on violin, piano and trumpet. I had one hour for lunch. I had a 15 minute drive from my office to the church. Given LOTS of extraneous hymns (like two at offertory) It was already 5 til 1 and communion had just finished. It was then that we all sat back for a 5 minute musical interlude by the ensemble. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The one I almost walked out of was at another parish. After communion, as meditation, they had a young lad of 6 or 7 come out and sing Danny Boy, because it was Father’s Day. And everyone clapped when he done! I was dumbstruck!

The one that I will NOT attend to spare me from walking out, also occurs at the first parish. It is an ‘doo-wop’ Mass on New Years Eve featuring music by a local oldies/ doo-wop group – and is heavily advertised on a local oldies station.

Funny – I compare all of this to a Mass I attended at a French speaking parish in Sudbury Ontario. It was right next to the English parish. I don’t speak much French, but did my best to pray along. Didn’t understand the homily, but felt filled with Christ. And didn’t walk out to go the English parish next door.

God bless

Tony
 
Great point. I was about to make it also when I saw you beat me to it :)…I’ve walked out of Mass before, just once. I was outraged at what was going on so I left. Long story. But I didn’t feel one bit guilty about it. The Lord knows my heart.
DihydrogenOxide said:
It sometimes has nothing to do with Jesus and ourselves. Some things these priests and EMCs do to Jesus are just sacrilegious. Several times I’ve been sick to my stomach at a Mass due to this evil.

It doesn’t mean you can’t go somewhere else and receive, however. I’d say this is bit of an ignorant answer.
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St_Francis said:
I walked out once because the priest was going on about women’s ordination, but that made no impression because I had my children with me and was always having to go outside anyway :o So I gave up on walking out.

Another time the Mass I was headed to… was not happening because I was confused about the time. The next nearest Mass was one I didn’t like because of the things the priest said and some minor abuses, so I didn’t go. My confessor was not happy about that one, so I gave that up too.

So I try to just offer up any sufferings I may have, and kneel during the Consecration no matter what anyone says (unless I legitimately don’t have room to kneel in–which has not yet happened).
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Kneeling is a problem during the consecration? Almost everyone kneels then at my parish. There are few who are old and/or infirm like myself who can’t kneel (last time I tried was last year on Holy Saturday…and two of the choir members had to literally haul me up again), but I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb.

I’ve never gotten upset enough at anything to leave Mass. I don’t know what it would take for that.
 
Things that make me want to walk out: heretical sermons; liturgical dancing; Mass that doesn’t resemble a Mass (yup, I’ve seen that too and wondered where I was). There is more but I don’t want to go on a rant.

As for me not being humble as one poster suggested, I disagree. I love the Lord so much and can’t stand the disrespectful attitudes of those who want to turn Mass into entertainment or a social event.
 
My fear is that we have lost or misunderstood the purpose of Mass.

As practising Catholics when we participate in the Mass we are in the presence of Our Blessed Lord,to walk out on Him because we are unhappy about the homily or way the Mass is being conducted or the priest is abrasive and so forth surely should be insignificant.

I am not trying to belittle upsets and things that appear unauthentic at Mass but it is still Our Lord there at Mass that you would walk away from.Do you not agree?

God bless
 
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