Holy Thursday Mass and Dinner

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Psalm_69

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Have just joined the forums although I’ve been reading them for about a year now. Have learned so much through the discussions at these sites.
Have a very perplexing :confused: and disturbing 😦 situation at my local parish which has just come to my notice. A flyer was placed in our bulliten which is an invitation (requesting reservations) to what is called the Holy Thursday Mass and Dinner. As it is described, the participants will gather in our cafeteria at 6:00PM for the Liturgy of the Word (opening prayers, readings, homily, petitions) and then will share a common meal where the parish provides some of the food and parishioners will bring covered dishes. After the meal and fellowship, the participants will then move into the Church to celebrate the Litugy of the Eucharist. It does say that after Mass the Eucharist will be placed in the Parish Hall for Adoration until midnight.
Has anyone ever heard of this being done in their diocese? Can the Mass be split up like that with a meal in between? I wonder about the 1 hour fast prior to the reception of Holy Communiion.

What do you think?
 
Well, I’ve never heard of it, but the first question that comes to mind is the one hour fast that is required before receiving communion. With what you’ve described, can’t imagine that requirement would be met.
 
Why can’t they have the dinner following the mass…the Triduum is one of the holiest times of the year for Catholics…Why don’t you suggest that?
During our mass on Holy Thursday, the celebrant washes the feet of 12 people who act as the disciples. It is a very moving time for all of us. Following the mass, the church is left open for the whole night for adoration. Our side altars are adorned, people sign up to watch and pray as the apostles were asked as Jesus wept blood prior to his arrest and execution.

We even have buses from other congregations who make a pilgrimage of nine churches to pray in the same manner. Our family has been doing this forever. It has become a very sacred tradition in our family to visit churches on Holy Thursday. Our college sons make a special trip to do the pilgrimage with us.
 
I’ve never heard of this. I’m guessing they are trying to do something that resembles a sedar where a meal is eaten in the middle of the service.

But I’d think a better idea would be to have a seperate sedar.
 
This just seems really wrong.

A parish dinner sounds like a great idea. Some other time, maybe, but on Holy Thursday? Wow… it’s always something!
 
Psalm 69:
Have just joined the forums although I’ve been reading them for about a year now. Have learned so much through the discussions at these sites.
Have a very perplexing :confused: and disturbing 😦 situation at my local parish which has just come to my notice. A flyer was placed in our bulliten which is an invitation (requesting reservations) to what is called the Holy Thursday Mass and Dinner. As it is described, the participants will gather in our cafeteria at 6:00PM for the Liturgy of the Word (opening prayers, readings, homily, petitions) and then will share a common meal where the parish provides some of the food and parishioners will bring covered dishes. After the meal and fellowship, the participants will then move into the Church to celebrate the Litugy of the Eucharist. It does say that after Mass the Eucharist will be placed in the Parish Hall for Adoration until midnight.
Has anyone ever heard of this being done in their diocese? Can the Mass be split up like that with a meal in between? I wonder about the 1 hour fast prior to the reception of Holy Communiion.

What do you think?
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That is how the early Mass started. However even St. Paul himself says eat at home first then come to the assembly. No that would not be proper to split the Mass amd move from one place to another, especially with a meal in between.
 
That would be sacriligious, if it caused people to break the Eucharistic fast. What is so hard about sticking to the liturgical books, and not pulling crazy stunts like this? Whoever came up with this needs to stop thinking about ways to entertain the congregation and start thinking about how to save their own souls, their congregations’ souls, and the souls of everybody else in the world.:banghead:
 
Have you spoken to the priest about your concerns? I would try that first. Perhaps the liturgy committee concocted this idea and he just shuffled the paper over his desk? If he is unreceptive to your valid concerns, I would bring the matter to the Bishop. If left unchecked, these things will just keep happening. Before you know it this will be touted as the “first annual” Holy Thursday Mass and Dinner. It is sad that we lay faithful have to become watchdogs of a sort in regards to what happens at our Masses. Very sad indeed. 😦
 
This does not sound like a good idea.

Have a potluck before mass for heavens sake before you enter into the paschal triduum and the fast that goes along with it.

To have a bastardized seder meal as part of the mass of the lord’s supper does dishonor to several religious traditions.
 
I know it’s probably kind of stupid of me to ask this, but we still have to fast for an hour before receiving holy communion don’t we? From reading this post, I don’t really see how that would be possible.
 
I read recently that any recess in the middle of mass is improper.

We are having a Seder Meal on Wednesday of Holy Week. Coincidently Wednesday is the correct night according to the Jewish calendar this year.
 
It seems like more inappropriate symbolism has crept into our observance of holy feasts.

I’m not so sure that I care about innovation for those who want innovation… but what about those of us who actually want the Mass celebrated properly, the way Rome wants it, with NO innovations? Why do our rights get trampled by these Protestants in Catholic garments?

Parish meals are a good thing. Fellowship outside of worship is something that I think we Catholics should do a better job of, but THIS… this is just plain wrong.
 
In my parish on Holy Thursday we have a pot luck dinner in the hall AFTER the Mass in the Church. Many parishioners look forward to this time for fellowship.
 
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Dorothy:
In my parish on Holy Thursday we have a pot luck dinner in the hall AFTER the Mass in the Church. Many parishioners look forward to this time for fellowship.
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There should not be anything going on in the parish that would distract from Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament from the end of The Mass of the Last Supper until midnight when the Blessed Sacrament is secluded until Holy Communion on Good Friday.

I really don’t understand why so many people have no idea what the meaning of the Triduum and all the liturgical actions that are part of it mean? The time after the Mass of the Last Supper is NOT a festive time! It is NOT a time for parties and potluck dinners!

I can’t even believe that this thread is discussing anything like this.
 
Br. Rich SFO:
There should not be anything going on in the parish that would distract from Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament from the end of The Mass of the Last Supper until midnight when the Blessed Sacrament is secluded until Holy Communion on Good Friday.

I really don’t understand why so many people have no idea what the meaning of the Triduum and all the liturgical actions that are part of it mean? The time after the Mass of the Last Supper is NOT a festive time! It is NOT a time for parties and potluck dinners!

I can’t even believe that this thread is discussing anything like this.
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I would tend to agree…

People often don’t realize that the Triduum is really (more or less) one long liturgy that we keep leaving and regathering for. Holy Thursday mass has no ending, Good Friday has no beginning or ending, and the Vigil has no beginning.

This of course, is not helped by churches on Good Friday breaking the silence by saying things like “As we begin our Good Friday services, please kneel”.
 
Br. Rich SFO:
There should not be anything going on in the parish that would distract from Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament from the end of The Mass of the Last Supper until midnight when the Blessed Sacrament is secluded until Holy Communion on Good Friday.

I really don’t understand why so many people have no idea what the meaning of the Triduum and all the liturgical actions that are part of it mean? The time after the Mass of the Last Supper is NOT a festive time! It is NOT a time for parties and potluck dinners!

I can’t even believe that this thread is discussing anything like this.
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I must say that what you have written makes a lot of sense. I accepted the dinners afterwards for many years because it was promoted by our pastor and priests. The Triduum truly is one special time, and it should be taken part in in the proper way.
 
Beyond the outright abuse of the liturgy, it’s the “festivity” of a parish dinner during a solemn time that gets me. I see the symbolism. I do. The disciples shared a meal together and we want to symbolically represent that, but we already do that in the Eucharist, the way Christ MEANT that meal to be represented, by both the celebration of the Last Supper and the Crucifixion in the Holy Liturgy of the Eucharist. What a beautiful thing all by itself. Why must we ruin it with parish dinners or inappropriate notions of symbolism?

Save the festive outside-of-Mass events for a different, more appropriate time of year.

The sad thing is that we’re being so abusive with these innovations that some day the people will be swayed by a new innovation: celebrating the Mass ACCORDING to the rubrics. 😉
 
I do not see a problem with the church dinner, but it should not be part of the Mass. Have it before Mass (with an hour between for the eucharistic fast) or have it after Mass. I would personally prefer having it before Mass, that way it will not cause people to disregard adoration of the blessed sacrament. Mind you, the blessed sacrament is supposed to be adored in its place of reposal. It is not to be displayed in a monstrance. Some churches here in Syracuse do that, there is not supposed to be exposition on Maundy Thursday.
 
The 2004 Instruction “Redemptionis Sacramentum” has:
“[77.] The celebration of Holy Mass is not to be inserted in any way into the setting of a common meal, nor joined with this kind of banquet. Mass is not to be celebrated without grave necessity on a dinner table [Footnote 159: Cf. S. Congregation for Divine Worship, Instruction, Liturgicae instaurationes, n. 9: AAS 62 (1970) p. 702.] nor in a dining room or banquet hall, nor in a room where food is present, nor in a place where the participants during the celebration itself are seated at tables. If out of grave necessity Mass must be celebrated in the same place where eating will later take place, there is to be a clear interval of time between the conclusion of Mass and the beginning of the meal, and ordinary food is not to be set before the faithful during the celebration of Mass.”
 
There should not be anything going on in the parish that would distract from Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament from the end of The Mass of the Last Supper until midnight when the Blessed Sacrament is secluded until Holy Communion on Good Friday.
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There is certainly a sense in which this is true, but–assuming that one is going to eat at all between Holy Thursday evening and the end of the Easter Vigil–what is objectionable to eating in common? I for one, would much prefer to eat a simple meal with others, followed by Adoration, than to just spend some time in Adoration after Mass and then go home and eat a pizza in front of the television. (Now I know that one could just go home and eat something simple and then pray at home, or return to church for Adoration, but that–given that a common meal is a realistic alternative–seems to complicate things unnecessarily. In these days of Catholics trying to participate in the Triduum to the best of their ability amidst an uncaring world, I’d think it behooves us to make things as easy as possible for them to do this.)

Certainly it should not be a festive meal, or have the appearance of a party, but it could be done in a way that helps people to enter into a deeper spirit of Christian community for those three days each year.
 
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