"Hurry-Up" Mass

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BlyssfulDreamer

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This afternoon I attended Mass at my parish. The priest was about 10 minutes late starting…no big deal…i would wait and wait…but then he seemed to rush through it. No, in fact…he DID rush through it. He was moving it along to fast he was stepping on our responses. He was still washing his hands when he said “Brethren…pray…” and that was the way it was and Mass finished in 15 minutes…with about 12 people coming forward to receive Communion.

This is not like Father…he is usually much more reverent…and I left feeling a little taken aback.

Any comments? Should I just let it go and shrug it off and see what happens in the future?

Thanks…

:heart:Blyss
 
See if it happens again. It could be that he was running late on his way to some crisis; could be that he had an illness of his own (that was the first thought that came to my mind as I have what my dear father used to refer to as a ‘glass stomach’ --every stress, good or bad, goes directly to my stomach and turns it inside out!) My former priest has leukemia and when he had some of his chemo treatments he would sometimes ‘rush’, and sometimes be slow as he tried to master his nausea, or was moving more slowly because of pain or balance difficulty.
 
Thank you…I will wait. It was just so out of the norm and I never stopped to take into account what might have been going on in his life. thank you for your insight. It is greatly appreciated.🙂

God Bless

:heart:Blyss
 
My first thought was also that he was feeling sick. (stomach type sick)
 
boppaid said:
My first thought was also that he was feeling sick. (stomach type sick)
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That could have been why he was late starting to say Mass. He could have been in the restroom due to being sick and then hurried in case he got sick again.
 
BlyssfulDreamer said:
Read my message #3. I stated that I had not thought of the fact he might have been ill. I know I wasn’t being charitable…and neither were you.😦

:heart:Blyss
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I apologize. I should have put the 🙂 after my post and not put it in that tone. To be honest though, I tire of this section of the forum as it has really become the all encompassing “Let’s complain about everything” section and often these criticism are less than charitable as well. yes there are things wrong in some churches and with some priests and with parents and their ill-behaved kids and with everything, but so many in this forum often seem to focus on the negative that whenever I come here to want to learn more about “Liturgy and Sacraments” all i see is people criticizing each other.😦

I think I will just have to stop coming here and just read some books about the Liturgy.
 
Priests are human. Sometimes they have off days. Others will have a stylistic which suits them personally just fine but offends others. I think that we’d all do well to remember that Father isn’t perfect and has some of the same difficulties and weaknesses that we do.

In fact, it would be curious and humouros to turn it all around and see threads here written by priests about, “Those terrible people in the pews - can you believe what I saw HER do today?”
 
chicago said:
Priests are human. Sometimes they have off days. Others will have a stylistic which suits them personally just fine but offends others. I think that we’d all do well to remember that Father isn’t perfect and has some of the same difficulties and weaknesses that we do.

In fact, it would be curious and humouros to turn it all around and see threads here written by priests about, “Those terrible people in the pews - can you believe what I saw HER do today?”
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Oh there are plenty of those kinds of threads here too :rolleyes:
 
Amateur_Soul said:
Oh there are plenty of those kinds of threads here too :rolleyes:
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LOL. Fair enough. But, then, it is usually neighbor looking at neighbor. Considering how much finger pointing priests take here, it still would be kind of a wake up call to hear their side of things (which probably DOES come out among fellow priests) and see the finger pointing back at us all.
 
There’s a church that offers mass during the lunch hour of a heavily corporate area…the priest always rushes so people have time to attend mass and eat before going back to work.

I think everyone that attends is very grateful for the oppurtunity.
 
Carthusianish said:
I apologize. I should have put the 🙂 after my post and not put it in that tone. To be honest though, I tire of this section of the forum as it has really become the all encompassing “Let’s complain about everything” section and often these criticism are less than charitable as well. yes there are things wrong in some churches and with some priests and with parents and their ill-behaved kids and with everything, but so many in this forum often seem to focus on the negative that whenever I come here to want to learn more about “Liturgy and Sacraments” all i see is people criticizing each other.😦

I think I will just have to stop coming here and just read some books about the Liturgy.
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IMHO a legitimate statement. I have to say it is interesting to kind of see what is going down in our Church, but I can’t say that a lot of good stuff is learned. There are some wonderful books other than the GIRM on the Mass and the Eucharist.
 
Initially this would bother me too but if this is not normal for
him I would agree that maybe he wasn’t well.
 
I agree with the other comments.

I was once travelling, and went to a mass very similar to the one you describe (very, VERY rushed). And, at first, I was shocked. But after mass, as I was leaving the church, I saw the priest (who was quite elderly) slumped in the back seat of a car, obviously ill, being shuttled 30 miles away to saw mass at one of his other parishes (I checked my bulletin, and discovered that he had 4 parishes…spread over a very large geographical area).

And then I felt very bad about my doubts. 😊
 
We have an older priest in our city who is famous for his “ten minute Mass.”

When I heard this, I thought, “How irreverent!” But then they explained that he was a hospital chaplain, and often says Mass at the hospital (OSF). Many of the people attending don’t like to be away from their loved ones, especially if they are children or patients in critical condition, for a long time. Also, hospital workers attend, and they can’t be gone from their work for too long.

So that’s why the priest makes an effort to get things finished quickly.

I thought that sounded pretty thoughtful of him! I wish MY hospital would bring him in to say Mass on Sundays when I have to work! And if I had a loved one in the hospital, I would love to be able to attend a “fast Mass” without having to leave the hospital and drive somewhere far away.

I’ve never actually heard this priest offer Mass, but the people who have say it’s amazing!
 
As an altar boy back in the late 50’s I served Mass for a variety of priests at my home parish. I recall one who would routinely say the entire Mass in fifteen minutes or less. In Latin, last Gospel (John chapter 1), and all.

Matthew
 
Carthusianish said:
I apologize. I should have put the 🙂 after my post and not put it in that tone. To be honest though, I tire of this section of the forum as it has really become the all encompassing “Let’s complain about everything” section and often these criticism are less than charitable as well. yes there are things wrong in some churches and with some priests and with parents and their ill-behaved kids and with everything, but so many in this forum often seem to focus on the negative that whenever I come here to want to learn more about “Liturgy and Sacraments” all i see is people criticizing each other.😦

I think I will just have to stop coming here and just read some books about the Liturgy.
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I see your point, but I think that this forum is used very well for us melancholics who tend to be critical. It’s a good way to work through our critical nature–both receiving sympathy for our real struggles, perspective, and sometimes much need rebukes.

I find that by posting here, I am better disposed to be more charitable at my parish.

But, yes, we shouldn’t reinforce our bad impulses that aren’t charitable.

This thread reminds me of the story in which my dad was speeding to the hospital in order to get my mom to the delivery room. He was actually driving a driver’s ed car (he was an instructor). And, a sports car started racing him. He dropped off my mom at the door, parked the car, walked into the hospital to meet his new son!

But, the car “racing” him assumed it was a joy ride and not a mad rush. It’s very easy to make assumptions when we don’t know the motivations. God bless, Dreamer!
 
After reading these responses…which I thnak you all for…I feel quite ashamed of myself for being so judgmental. I guess I should try to put myself in Father’s shoes and maybe there were a myriad of things going on behind the scenes that I of course, knew nothing of. I guess that is what happens when one jumps to conclusions and I will make every effort to not do that in the future.

Thanks for shaking me up a bit and in a nice way…👍

God Bless…

:heart:Blyss
 
BlyssfulDreamer said:
After reading these responses…which I thnak you all for…I feel quite ashamed of myself for being so judgmental. I guess I should try to put myself in Father’s shoes and maybe there were a myriad of things going on behind the scenes that I of course, knew nothing of. I guess that is what happens when one jumps to conclusions and I will make every effort to not do that in the future.

Thanks for shaking me up a bit and in a nice way…👍

God Bless…

You are a wonderful example of goodness to all of us, especially me. Thank you.

:heart:Blyss
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