How long should the Mass take?

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Sometimes I feel exhausted after the Divine Liturgy so about 90 minutes seems to be my threshold. Some of the holiday liturgies can be a real drain. A good drain though.
One thing I am becoming more and more certain of. From an operations research standpoint, I think adding a ton of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion during Mass actually extends how long it takes to receive communion.

It’s been a long time since I have studied queuing theory, but I think a parish could offer communion under both kinds with 50-75% fewer EMsHC and still save time…
 
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otm:
As long as necessary.
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Stole my answer! Thief! Thief! 😃

Re: EMs. Not a big fan. I’ve been to Masses with only 15 people in the pews, and two of them go forward to be EMs. Totally unnecessary.
 
I say as long as necessary. One of my favorite lituriges is the Easter Vigil. It’s a long one, but one of the most beautiful.
 
I’ve noticed recently in my parish as well that in the time it takes to give communion under both species to our 10! extraordinary ministers, the priest and one or two others could have been already given communion to maybe 1/2 of the faithful in the pews. I have nothing against EMs when they are necesssary (my dad and brother are both EMs), but the over usage (10!) blurs their purpose. The purpose now seems to lie somewhere between speeding up communion (yikes! we should never rush through this part of the Mass) and giving the laity an opportunity to participate ??more fully?? in the liturgy. I’m all for the Mass taking however long it should take. I love the Easter vigil as well. I’ve attended my share of Masses that were a liturgical mess that I couldn’t wait to get out of, but also some incredible Masses that I didn’t want to see end.
 
:tiphat: Hey, All!Everyone stole my thinder, too. LOL! I was going to say, there is the famous story of Abraham Lincoln, famous for his height, being asked, “Mr. President, how long should a man’s legs be?” Lincoln replied, “Just long enough to reach the ground.”

So, how long should the Mass take? Just long enough for it to be completed. 🙂

– Fr. L.
 
One time in our bulletin there was this little cartoon. There was this little boy asking his mom, something to the effect of, “If you say that we should spend as much time as we can with those who we love, then why do you always get mad, when mass is over an hour.”
😃
It was much more funny then I describe, but it was a while ago and that’s all I remember.
 
As long as necessary
(the same way I voted the [thread=11192]last time this question was polled[/thread], though I didn’t post on that one)
(I won’t vote in this one, due to the implied vulgarity of the last option)

tee
 
As long as necessary.

While it’s a side thread, I just had to respond to comments about EMHCs that I attended a Mass tonight with 4 people in the congregation, one of whom served as an EMHC. UNNECESSARY.
 
Andreas Hofer:
While it’s a side thread, I just had to respond to comments about EMHCs that I attended a Mass tonight with 4 people in the congregation, one of whom served as an EMHC. UNNECESSARY.
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I would think that there was only 1 priest that he would need at least 1 EMC if both species was being served. Unless of course the priest was Octoman. Unless he can set the cup(?) down somewhere(not sure if that is legal).
 
As a child growing up in a fundieX church, Sunday was 7-8 hour ordeal. We even ate lunch there!!

Peace 🙂
Big Jon
 
However long it takes, it takes.

Palm Sunday this year took so long, it almost overlaped the next scheduled Mass. Next Palm Sunday, we’re scheduling the seconed Mss a half hour later to give the parking lot time to clear out, and so the Liturgical Ministers have time to set up for the next Mass.

It’s sad when we expect Mass to just be an hour, and that’s it. And then there are complaints of Mass being too long.

I say, “chill People”. God doesn’t ask much from us, except to spend at least one hour with Him in joyful celebration and come together as a Christian community.
 
When I was growing up our family went to a Pentacostal church on Sunday evenings staring at 7:00. There was no fixed length; the preacher would go as long as the spirit directed… even until the wee hours of the morning. Recently after a Sunday Mass I overheard a couple of men talking about the Mass, one saying; “It was OK, but a little long.”

I LITTLE LONG!?!?!?! It lasted just under an hour!!! For a recovering Protestant like me, a church service only an hour is a refreshing change of pace. I can’t wait until Easter to see a long Catholic service… which will still probably seem short to me. :yup:
 
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OraProNobis:
…It lasted just under an hour!!!..
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The church I attended as a kid had masses upstairs and down stairs, every hour from 6:30AM till 11:30AM – no matter when you went, mass took exactly 45 minutes (in Latin)!

Any wonder I thought the priest was saying: “Dominos n’ Biscuts”
and the alter boys responding with: "And some spirits in your bowl’!
 
I have a problem with the word “necessary” here… necessary implies that a certain time is absolutely required or is needed for a Mass to be Mass. Personally, my answer to how long should the Mass take? – as long as it takes. Each Mass with take a different amount of time and whatever it takes, it takes. As long as all the elements of the Mass are present, and there is no artificial reduction/extending of its duration… when we are at Mass, we are in God’s presence, so concerns of time should ideally be left outside at the entrance.
 
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