Have you ever walked out of Mass?

[gmcbroom]

I remember reading a story somewhere of the the desert fathers or monks. It went something like this.

Once an Abott at a monastery listened to his choir during Divine Liturgy and cringed for the monks were horribly off key. It was more a discordant maelstrum of voices then angelic singing.
So after enduring this for a few weeks the Abott had had enough and hired a professional choir to sing at the next Divine Liturgy. He gave the monks the night off and it was a true symphony to his ears to hear the new choir singing at that Divine Liturgy. That night as he slept God came to him and asked why there was silence at the Divine Liturgy that night? He hadn’t heard the singing. The abott understood the message and when he woke prayed for forgiveness. Afterward when he had the monks return to continue their singing someone asked him why the change and he said," If God wants to hear bad music let him have it!" then he smiled.

As for me, I once was driven out of Church for years after witnessing the minister behaving badly. I didn’t go back for years. If it wasn’t for my twin brother’s constant prayers I might never have returned.

Don’t let the actions of one man or group drive you from God’s house.

 

[Dogmatic]

For the record, I was joking.

 

[maltmom]

I remember reading a story somewhere of the the desert fathers or monks. It went something like this.

Once an Abott at a monastery listened to his choir during Divine Liturgy and cringed for the monks were horribly off key. It was more a discordant maelstrum of voices then angelic singing.
So after enduring this for a few weeks the Abott had had enough and hired a professional choir to sing at the next Divine Liturgy. He gave the monks the night off and it was a true symphony to his ears to hear the new choir singing at that Divine Liturgy. That night as he slept God came to him and asked why there was silence at the Divine Liturgy that night? He hadn’t heard the singing. The abott understood the message and when he woke prayed for forgiveness. Afterward when he had the monks return to continue their singing someone asked him why the change and he said," If God wants to hear bad music let him have it!" then he smiled.

As for me, I once was driven out of Church for years after witnessing the minister behaving badly. I didn’t go back for years. If it wasn’t for my twin brother’s constant prayers I might never have returned.

Don’t let the actions of one man or group drive you from God’s house.

That’s a good story. I always tell people who don’t sing b/c they don’t sing well that we are to make a joyful noise to the Lord…he never said it had to be on key.

 

[Slaney]

Wonder if Christ Himself would stay in Church if He saw the following? The second is in a private home, but if it were to occur in a Catholic Church, I wonder if He would stay?

Is the first Halloween ? now sure about the rainbow sashes, (stole) or what they are being worn for here for…

Well I don’t think the first picture is respectful, I can’t imagine St Pio wearing them, Jesus is present, whether He would approve or not.

Would Jesus react like He did in the Temple in today’s Catholic Church ? I can’t say, just that it don’t look right to me…

 

[dconklin]

Well Jesus overturned the tables of the money-changers, so there are many reasons why someone these days would get up and leave.

I love this analogy - but it is not sitting right with me. Jesus got upset because it was His Father’s house. The Mass/church is not our father’s house, so it is not ours to show displeasure with. I almost want to believe you would get “extra points” for attending a horribly disruptive Mass. It is still the Eucharist either way. I’d also be afraid of putting conditions on God.

 

[SwizzleStick]

Is the first Halloween ? now sure about the rainbow sashes, (stole) or what they are being worn for here for…

Yes, I think it was Halloween, so I guess someone thought the witch hat and purple hair and the angel wings were a good idea. How and why anyone would think that, I have no idea.

Homosexuals have taken the rainbow as one of their symbols and women cannot be clergy in the Catholic Church, so the second picture has a couple of issues going on.

For the record, the parish involved is no longer a Catholic Church and the priest has been dismissed from the clerical state by Pope Benedict.

 

[Julia_Mae]

Have you ever walked out of Mass?

Yes. For reasons of health and once because the celebrant ordered us to sign a political petition on the way out. Luckily, it was at the end, anyway.

 

[Julia_Mae]

Wonder if Christ Himself would stay in Church if He saw the following? The second is in a private home, but if it were to occur in a Catholic Church, I wonder if He would stay?

View attachment 13809View attachment 13810

Pictures without provenance are meaningless. The stoles in the picture are not necessarily “rainbow” and are commonly seen in the Southwest. There is also no reason to believe this is a Catholic event.

BTW, Jesus sought out sinners, ate with them, and loved them. I think it might be presumptuous to think we know where He would be sitting these days and with whom.

 

[Prodigal_40s]

The only times I was tempted was at the most important masses of the year; Christmas and Easter. The former involved a mother allowing her child to wander up to the front of the church, just next to the altar and she decided to go and play with her child. She was wearing a micro skirt and long black boots so I’m not sure what she considered the best attire for the day. The latter involved a mother bringing her child a oy car to play with just beyond the gates leading to the altar, again at the front of the church, and talked to her child loudly during the Eucharistic prayer.

People come to mass at these times and stay away all year which I suppose you would appreciate although what they’re there for is unclear!

 

[littlenothing]

Just sharing here. I’ve never walked out. Even with enduring bongos, flutes, drums, kazoos and Dan Schulte clown car music. I’m made of sterner stuff. Bullet proof.

Couldn’t have said it better!

 

[Slaney]

I love this analogy - but it is not sitting right with me. Jesus got upset because it was His Father’s house. The Mass/church is not our father’s house, so it is not ours to show displeasure with. I almost want to believe you would get “extra points” for attending a horribly disruptive Mass. It is still the Eucharist either way. I’d also be afraid of putting conditions on God.

Jesus says to her, Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.

Well we could get upset because He is our brother,

Our Father who art in Heaven ?

 

[bpcblake]

I have walked out before. here in las vegas, at guardian angel,
I figured, I love the formal ritual of the roman rites, but got nothing like that here. everytime the priest finished a section of the mass, people would stand up and clap and cheer. I left when the “music” started. even tryed emailing the diocese to ask them about it. never got a reply back. they do a nice sunday tv service thou that is much more traditional.

 

[Georgia]

I walked out before Mass one time. It was Christmas Eve, we were having Mass in a high school facility before our parish was built, and we got there an hour early with children in tow. An usher greeted us in the entry hallway to the auditorium and told us there were no more seats. People sent their teenagers ahead to put coats over every seat to reserve them, so there really was no place to sit.

The usher told us we could stand there and television sets would be brought out. That simply didn’t work with a three-year old and a five-year old, not to mention how standing in a hallway with a concrete floor would work over the hours up to and including Mass.

I guess there were complaints because that blocking of seats was never allowed again.

 

[pnewton]

Satan is real. Black Masses are real and they have happened. They are not make believe.
They are sacrilege and irreverence to the extreme.

None of this has anything to do with the topic. Thus, it is a strawman.

 

[pnewton]

Pictures without provenance are meaningless. The stoles in the picture are not necessarily “rainbow” and are commonly seen in the Southwest.

Pictures are often used to imply logical fallacies that would not fly if stated verbally, as in:

1. Homosexuals use rainbows as symbols.
2. The stole is colorful like a rainbow.
3. The priest is symbolizing homosexuality.

 

[Veronica97]

Only once! I was in an old Gothic church and a bat started flying around the congregation–around everyone’s heads! I am terrified of bats and ran out. I’m pretty sure I went to another Mass the next day (this was several years back and I’ve slept since then!) If it happened now, I’d like to think I’d stay because I am trying to grow stronger in my Faith.

 

[domesticated]

I have but I was about to pass out in the pew. Hypoglycemia is fun! Honestly though, I really felt terrible about leaving, like I was being disrespectful. I figured quietly removing myself was better than an EMT disruption.

 

[Gordon_Sims]

Not counting health or kid issues (and those have been rare) I don’t believe I’ve ever walked out on Mass. I’ve seen people walk out a couple times. We have a local priest who’s very traditional & conservative and he doesn’t pull any punches in his homilies. I’ve been at a couple Masses where one or two people walked out because he was speaking out against abortion & contraception, but I’ve heard from other people who have seen as many as a couple dozen people leave in the middle of one of his homilies. To be clear, he’s preaching valid, traditional Catholic dogma, yet the people in his parish get so upset at hearing it that they leave.

 

[JoyIsLikeRain]

I once made a thread before asking advice on this topic.

Over the years, I’ve walked out on masses once or twice, but I’ve always gone elsewhere in the same day. I’m not excused of my Sunday obligation.

Some people say “Offer it up” when I’ve been to masses that are clearly off-track in music and speech, or other abuses (case in point: I went to a Mass listed as being in English, but the priest told us it was going to be all in Tagalog. I was ok with that until he took the mic and began to sing like Celine Dion; I and some others left). But if there’s an alternative, I believe it’s advantageous to pursue it if you’re at a mass that has some awful abuses occurring.

Confronting pastors and firing off emails doesn’t get far these days, even if they provide documentation (like the time I emailed my cardinal’s office about a local parish having a mass set to all U2 songs, and I got a very passive reply). Just don’t lend support to strange occurrences at mass anymore, and eventually their organizers will get the idea.

P.S- Although these http://forums.catholic-questions.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=13810&thumb=1&d=1335887472 look like rainbows, and they are rather gaudy, these are Southwestern designs. Very common, especially in New Mexico. The land is alive with color out there, and many houses of worship there try to incorporate the natural beauty.

 

[Cavaille-Coll]

Only once did I ever walk out of a Mass. The priest had changed the words of institution so I wasn’t certain that the Consecration was valid. They were burning patchouli in the thurible and the priest often referred to God as “mother.” After about five minutes of the sign of peace, I couldn’t stand it anymore and left.