How long should mass last?

[BatMack]

Last week it ran 85 minutes, most of the time it is 65-70 minutes. When I was growing up it was 45-50 minutes. What is appropriate? My priest has a thick Polish accent and tends to talk softly. I struggle to understand him and my kids can’t understand him at all. Is it okay to tell the priest to speak more clearly and loudly?
thanks,
Lance

 

[tampasteve]

How long is subjective and can change depending if there are any Rites or if it is a feast, or if there are a lot of people there compared to usually. However, every regular Sunday Mass I have been to has lasted about 60 min, a few were a little over that, but 90% I have been to lasted 60 min. 45 min seems a bit short. The Bishop in our diocese made a statement a few years ago calling for priests to not have speedy in and our Masses.

Steve

 

[jmcrae]

Last week it ran 85 minutes, most of the time it is 65-70 minutes. When I was growing up it was 45-50 minutes. What is appropriate?

It takes as long as it takes. For a Sunday Mass, there should be no place you are going that is more important than being at Mass, because Sunday is a day of rest and worship. You and your children should have no appointments that you need to keep, other than to come to Mass.

My priest has a thick Polish accent and tends to talk softly. I struggle to understand him and my kids can’t understand him at all. Is it okay to tell the priest to speak more clearly and loudly?

If it is mentioned in a kind way, he would not be offended at all.

In our Diocese, there are accent-reduction classes available for priests to take; I don’t know how common these are, but if there is something available, you might mention the possibility. Just say something like, “I so admire your attempts to speak English; I am sure I would never be able to learn to speak Polish. I am told that English is one of the hardest languages in the world to learn how to pronounce. They even have classes in English pronounciation at (agency) - I am sure that so many people benefit from this program in their daily work and to be able to do business when they are going shopping. Have you thought of checking it out?”

 

[FrCorey]

Depends on the daily mass. some are longer and some are shorter.
there is not real fixed time for it. it is done, when it is done.
and it also depends on the local rite celabrated. NO or Latin.

if it seems long to you, good thing you are not in the orthodox church,
some masses start at around 3 1/2 hours or so.

 

[BatMack]

It takes as long as it takes. For a Sunday Mass, there should be no place you are going that is more important than being at Mass, because Sunday is a day of rest and worship. You and your children should have no appointments that you need to keep, other than to come to Mass.

“It takes as long as it takes” is not an answer nor is it even remotely helpful. I was looking for an actual answer which you must not have. You are right about the importance but unfortunately there are many other commitments on Sunday to get to such as sports. Another consideration is having four children under eight sit on a wooden bench quietly for a hour and a half. I will take under advisement addressing the priest but it is the combination of a low monotone compounded with his thick accent.

Lance

 

[LilyM]

“It takes as long as it takes” is not an answer nor is it even remotely helpful. I was looking for an actual answer which you must not have. You are right about the importance but unfortunately there are many other commitments on Sunday to get to such as sports. Another consideration is having four children under eight sit on a wooden bench quietly for a hour and a half. I will take under advisement addressing the priest but it is the combination of a low monotone compounded with his thick accent.

Lance

The answer is that there is no fixed maximum time for Mass. Unhelpful maybe, but it’s the truth.

If other commitments on Sundays are so tightly scheduled that you’re worrying about the length of Mass then something needs to be dropped - and it isn’t the length of Mass. Filling your Sundays with ‘business’ (or busy-ness) isn’t exactly the best way to keep holy the Lord’s Day.

As for the children - of course it’s difficult, but a restless child is unlikely to be able to sit still even for 45 minutes. I say this as the hyperactive youngest of five (all under nine). I do feel for you, but parents have managed and I’m sure you’ll find a way too. Don’t be afraid to take them outside for a little while if need be, or to the cryroom or what have you.

 

[DCD]

“It takes as long as it takes” is not an answer nor is it even remotely helpful. I was looking for an actual answer which you must not have. You are right about the importance but unfortunately there are many other commitments on Sunday to get to such as sports. Another consideration is having four children under eight sit on a wooden bench quietly for a hour and a half. I will take under advisement addressing the priest but it is the combination of a low monotone compounded with his thick accent.

Lance

The answers is “it takes as long as it takes” is the correct one. " No man who put his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." (Lk.9:62)

God Bless,
David

 

[BatMack]

Come on, every mass has a timeframe. Moral theologians gave their opinions on how much time the priest should dedicate to celebrating a Mass.

Wikipedia states “Some say that an hour should not be considered too long. Others that, in order to avoid tedium, Mass should last no more than half an hour; and in order to be said with due reverence, it should last no less than twenty minutes. Another theologian, who gave half an hour as the minimum time, considered that Mass could not be said in less than a quarter of an hour, an opinion supported by others, including Saint Alphonsus Liguori, who said that any priest who finished Mass in less than that time could scarcely be excused from mortal sin.”

Since I am really no getting a tangable answer, maybe I should rephrase this as not to get the same result. How long does your average mass last on a Saturday or Sunday?
thank you,
Lance

 

[japhy]

Most Sunday Masses I have attended last just about an hour. Most weekday Masses I attend last just about half an hour.

 

[Brendan]

Come on, every mass has a timeframe. Moral theologians gave their opinions on how much time the priest should dedicate to celebrating a Mass. Since I am really no getting a tangable answer, maybe I should rephrase this as not to get the same result. How long does your average mass last on a Saturday or Sunday?
thank you,
Lance

Our parish’s typical Sunday Mass lasts a little over 1 hour, perhaps 65-70 minutes. So the timeframes that you mentioned are pretty realistic.

And yes, we have a priest that speaks perfect English.

 

[MickeyUK]

Our Sunday Mass lasts typically 55-60 minutes,weekday Mass 30 minutes.

 

[nodito]

When we lived in the northeast, the typical mass lasted between 45-50 minutes. Down south, the masses are usually longer, typically 65-75 minutes.

 

[zab]

When I was growing up, I recall the Mass was longer. It was in Latin and we did not have Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. I was a child but it seemed like an hour and a half to two hours. Today, Our Sunday Mass usually lasts 60-65 minutes and sometimes around 75 minutes if we have First Communion or some other event out of the ordinary including a speaker after Mass for things like the Annual Catholic Appeal. Most people stay in the pews until all verses of the final hymn has been sung. But there are always those that leave right after Communion no matter if it is 60 minutes or 75.

 

[Cluny]

Depends on the daily mass. some are longer and some are shorter.
there is not real fixed time for it. it is done, when it is done.
and it also depends on the local rite celabrated. NO or Latin.

if it seems long to you, good thing you are not in the orthodox church,
some masses start at around 3 1/2 hours or so.

We use the term Divine Liturgy, not mass.

When the Patriarch of Moscow liturgized at the new Cathedral in Anchorage, it took 7 hours.

BTW–there are no pews. Everyone stood.

 

[bilop]

Come on, every mass has a timeframe. Moral theologians gave their opinions on how much time the priest should dedicate to celebrating a Mass. Since I am really no getting a tangable answer, maybe I should rephrase this as not to get the same result. How long does your average mass last on a Saturday or Sunday?
thank you,
Lance

Just about an hour is typical for Sunday Mass (both OF and EF). I’ve seen as short as 30 min, as long as 1 hour 45 min, but thats usually a major feast (Palm Sunday, Easter Vigil) with added readings.

A daily Mass is almost never more than 30 min.

God Bless

 

[Lisa44]

I’ve noticed that Priests sometimes feel pressured to make their Mass one hour or shorter. When it goes beyond one hour some people start to get irritated, and even visibly so.

This perplexes me somewhat as a convert. I used to be a Buddhist and we would meditate sometimes all day or all weekend.

Its beyond me how people have so little time for God.

If I can do a pagan ritual all day, surely we can give a few hours to God?

If we can watch tv for hours, how come we can’t give hours to God?

 

[SMHW]

Come on, every mass has a timeframe. Moral theologians gave their opinions on how much time the priest should dedicate to celebrating a Mass. Since I am really no getting a tangable answer, maybe I should rephrase this as not to get the same result. How long does your average mass last on a Saturday or Sunday?
thank you,
Lance

Most “ordinary” Sunday (or Saturday evening) Masses I have attended last somewhere between 50 minutes and 75 minutes. (Obviously “out-of-the-ordinary” Masses are likely to be longer.)

The variables usually are the amount of singing (which will likely have to do with the presence or absence of a choir), the length of the homily, and the number of people receiving communion versus the number of clergy/EMHCs helping to distribute. Masses which regularly have baptisms scheduled will probably be on the longer end of the spectrum.

The various Masses at my parish tend to have different lengths within the range I’ve mentioned but the length of a Mass at a particular time is fairly standard.

 

[EasterJoy]

“It takes as long as it takes” is not an answer nor is it even remotely helpful. I was looking for an actual answer which you must not have. You are right about the importance but unfortunately there are many other commitments on Sunday to get to such as sports. Another consideration is having four children under eight sit on a wooden bench quietly for a hour and a half. I will take under advisement addressing the priest but it is the combination of a low monotone compounded with his thick accent.

Lance

Well, excepting when a second Mass follows and there are practical issues in getting the parking lot emptied in time for those attending the second Mass to find parking themselves, or the priest having to travel to another parish for that second Mass of his day, the actual answer is that it takes as long as it takes.

Small children are allowed to do quiet activities during Mass. They do not have to sit on a wooden bench the entire time.

This is not to say that you might not prefer a parish where the Masses are shorter, having found them to not suffer in liturgical quality. Important things being equal, you may legitimately prefer one priest’s Masses over another for any number of personal reasons, including whether it takes place within a time frame that matches your children’s attention span better.

I’d caution you, though, about teaching your children the habit of fitting Mass around your other interests, rather than the other way around. I would go so far as to make it a point to have no commitments for the time immediately after Mass, with rather rare exceptions, on the blunt assertion that Mass gets as much time as it needs and that you cannot make promises which you are not certain of being able to keep. If that means going regularly to an earlier Mass than you’d like, well, so be it.

Do not get me started on the insatiable time demands of youth sports. I’ll just say that if our worship and religious education programs made demands of even a fraction of what coaches routinely do, and at the ages they do, the howls would reach Rome without artificial amplification. I think we can guess what St. Paul would have to say about that. (1 Cor. 9:24-27)

 

[pickguard1]

In general, Latin Rite masses (either ordinary or extraordinary form) last approximately an hour, in my experience. Much depends on the circumstances. Often, growing up when I attended what is now called the ordinary form, the daily masses wouldn’t have a homily, and there were fewer in attendance, so communion was shorter - the mass might have lasted 30-45 minutes. Like others have said, if something special is going on, (Palm Sunday, First Holy Communion, etc.) the liturgy itself is extended, so one can expect it to last longer. Of course, the more people, the longer communion can take.

I now attend an FSSP parish and the mass is still typically about an hour, though circumstances can still chagne this. For example, a Low Mass doesn’t have chanting throughout, no incensing of the altar and associated processions, and special events like First Holy Communion are usually celebrated within the context of a Solemn High Mass. In a High Mass, there is chanting throughout, which is much slower that simply speaking, incensing occurs, which adds minutes at the beginning, at the Gospel reading, and during the communion prayers), so sometimes it might be upwards of 1.5 to 2 hours. It just depends. There isn’t any formal “time frame” that I’m aware of, it is as others have said “done when it’s done.” If the priest wants to spend a particularly short or longer period of time on his homily, he has good reason, and this is really the only constant variable (I know-a strange but appropriate oxymoron) that affects the length of mass.

 

[jmcrae]

“It takes as long as it takes” is not an answer nor is it even remotely helpful. I was looking for an actual answer which you must not have. You are right about the importance but unfortunately there are many other commitments on Sunday to get to such as sports.

Again - the precept of Sunday Obligation tells us that we are to have no scheduled commitments on Sundays other than to be sharing time with our families, and to be attending Holy Mass. Everything else can be done on the weekdays or else on Saturdays.

With regard to the priest speaking with a thick accent, all I can suggest is what I have already suggested - mention it to him in a kind way, and suggest that he take an accent-reduction class.