Interruptions in Mass?

[ssa_trad_cath]

This is intended perhaps a little light-heartedly, so I’m hoping nobody gets offended! Does anybody have any examples or stories of when something unusual or out-of-the-ordinary has happened during Mass? I’ve had a few trivial ones over the years. For example, this year at the Easter Vigil, my Pastor was just starting his homily when the Church fire alarm went off (triggered by the incense smoke) and took about 5 minutes to switch off. My pastor re-started his homily with a laugh and"Tonight is a night like no other"!

On a slightly more unfortunate note, a year or two ago in another Church I attended a Mass where someone’s cell phone went off at the start of the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and the person in question answered the phone and stood there having a conversation while the priest was trying to celebrate Mass! The priest was so irritated he stopped what he was doing and said “Does anybody else want to make a 'phone call before I carry on?” A similar thing happened in my parish and my Pastor threatened to throw their phone in the baptismal font if it went off again!

Like I say I hope nobody gets offended by this thread, I was just interested to know if anybody else has experienced things ike thys - or is it just me?

 

[Millie123]

One time I was standing in the back of the church with my 2 year old son when communion was just about to start. At the back of the church right next to the sacristy there is a pedestal that holds the church’s old steeple bell from when the church was built years ago. I had been holding my son when all of a sudden he became wiggley and squirely in my arms to the point where I could not hold him anymore. So, I placed him down next to me and he immediately made an olympic sprint to that old bell (I think he has had his eye on that thing for months). Anyways, he gave that bell a good ring at the start of communion. It wasn’t a little “ding dong” ring either. It was a huge “BONG, BONG, BONG” ring that filled the entire church.

 

[Oneofthewomen]

He made a joyful noise unto the Lord!!
I love it!!

One time I was standing in the back of the church with my 2 year old son when communion was just about to start. At the back of the church right next to the sacristy there is a pedestal that holds the church’s old steeple bell from when the church was built years ago. I had been holding my son when all of a sudden he became wiggley and squirely in my arms to the point where I could not hold him anymore. So, I placed him down next to me and he immediately made an olympic sprint to that old bell (I think he has had his eye on that thing for months). Anyways, he gave that bell a good ring at the start of communion. It wasn’t a little “ding dong” ring either. It was a huge “BONG, BONG, BONG” ring that filled the entire church.

 

[Oneofthewomen]

Two things stand out in my mind, both happened at my childhood parish, which happens to be across the street from a firehouse.

One year, someone forgot to call the firehouse and remind them about the ‘Easter fire’ at the Vigil. The priest lit the fire, we processed in. 5 minutes later the FD showed up after seeing the reflection of the flames in the glass doors, they thought the vestibule was on fire!!

Same church, a couple years later, our parochial vicar was also a volunteer fireman. One Sunday, just as he was elevating the host, his emergency pager went off! Watching him try to get to his pocket through his vestments is something we still joke about today!

 

[Jeanne_S]

A few years ago,a toddler in front of me,standing with his mother as she waited to receive the Eucharist,reached into the chalice,as the EM bent down to bless him. He grabbed a fistful of hosts,clenched his fist:It was pretty touch and go for a few seconds as the EU tried to pry open his fist!

 

[Cor_ad_Cor]

I once attended Easter Vigil at the university parish on a Big Ten campus…the same night that university won a national championship basketball game! At the offertory, the noise outside had so overcome the liturgy inside that the pastor just grinned and called a liturgical half-time.

My other favorite was a few years later at the same parish for daily Mass when an elderly, hard of hearing gentleman sat next to me. When Father introduced the day’s Mass, the man turned to me looking confused, then shouted, “What did he say?” It took me about three attempts to reach the proper shouting volume to relay Father’s words, and the rest of Mass followed that same pattern.

 

[odile53]

Last spring, as Mass on Tuesday of Holy Week was starting, a very intoxicated man made his way down the main aisle at church, repeatedly yelling, “Is the Pope Catholic?” The church is run by a religious order of priests, so one is usually in the congregation (in addition to the one who is celebrating any given Mass.) The “off-duty” priest and a big burly biker from the congregation grabbed the guy and escorted him out, but as they were doing so, the guy did a little tap-dance type maneuver and said, “I’ll be playing here all week, folks!” as he was escorted out. Have to hand it to the priest who was celebrating–he stood there, motionless and expressionless, as the drunk was escorted out.

 

[Delaine75]

One time the microphone that the priest was using began to malfunction as he was giving the homily and we had this high-pitched craziness going on for several minutes until they got it under control, LOL.

Then there was the time Father was giving another homily and he got to the part where he said, “And Jesus said…” and then he sneezed really loud. Everyone sat silent for a moment and then Father said, “That wasn’t what he said!” LOL!

 

[Sebrina]

Just last Sunday at Mass, our Communion minister (who happens to be my RCIA teacher), was putting away the Eucharist back into the tabernacle (do I have that right? The enclosure that holds the communion bread?) Well, he as having a difficult time closing the door, and the hymn had ended. So our cantor, who is of Korean descent, began to sing a Catholic Korean hymn. The whole congregation was moved, all the while our Communion minister were fussing with the door to the tabernacle and trying to get the hinge to work. All the while she is singing this angelic, beautiful beyond words song, we are all still on our knees waiting for the door to be properly closed. It finally closed, she finished her song as we sat back down, and at the end there was actual applause… it was that beautiful. Our Priest asked her what language that was in and she replied “It’s a Korean hymn.” To which he replied, “That’s wonderful, God speaks that, too!” We all laughed, sang the final hymn and it was one of the best Masses I’ve been to. I love the Church. And I love you all for being a part of what brought me to this point in my life. Thank you.

 

[ssa_trad_cath]

Glad that nobody was offended by my choice of topic. I remember a few other things since my first post. A friend of mine was an altar boy in the late 1950’s/early 1960’s, at the EF Mass. He was serving Mass with a friend and they were racing each other with the responses. By the time they got to the Confiteor the Pastor had enough, interrupted them in front of the congregation and said, “Right, you can start again, and this time do it properly!”

My parish is also within walking distance of a large hospital with a psychiatric department. One Sunday morning, just after Communion, a guy walked in wearing nothing except his pyjamas, walked right up the aisle and knelt down at the top of the altar steps right in front of the altar while the priest was finishing Mass. Neither the priest nor the altar boy batted an eyelid, carried on as normal and just worked round him.

Although I didn’t personally experience this, a priest I know told me about a service he had been conducting, wearing a radio microphone. He was due to hear confessions immediately afterwards - and forgot he was wearing a radio microphone! He went into the confessional and the beginning of the first confession was transmitted over the PA system - fortunately one of the parishioners managed to switch it off before the penitent began to confess their sins!

 

[Ruthie_again]

A couple of years ago, my parish had installed a state-of-the-art alarm system. On Christmas, at the midnight Mass, there was a lot of incense. I think this happened during the homily.

The smoke set off the fire alarm. Along with flashing lights and between siren hoots, there was a calm, recorded female voice giving instructions and reassuring us (!) that the Fire Department had been called.

Father leaned into his microphone and said, “Now, let’s all wait for the nice lady to stop speaking.” In the meantime, one of the deacons rushed into the Sacristy (if that’s the right word), and turned off the fire alarm. The nice lady stopped speaking! The deacon, who had paused to make the call, spoke in Father’s ear, and he promptly said, “Don’t worry, the Fire Department’s not coming!”

 

[UpUpAndAway]

One time the microphone that the priest was using began to malfunction as he was giving the homily and we had this high-pitched craziness going on for several minutes until they got it under control, LOL.

That happens to us all the time! We’re long overdue for a new sound system…

Then there was the time Father was giving another homily and he got to the part where he said, “And Jesus said…” and then he sneezed really loud. Everyone sat silent for a moment and then Father said, “That wasn’t what he said!” LOL!

Thanks for the early morning laugh (it’s 7:20am where I am)—I literally http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/Pascal_S/smileys/happy0194.gif

So…

At the last US parish that I belonged to before moving overseas, every Christmas we would have someone disrupt midnight Mass. It was usually someone who wanted to challenge the Church on something in the middle of Mass ; they were escorted out quietly and without incident. One year we had a drunk woman shouting “Hypocrite!” at the celebrant priest, who was from South America. After she had been removed, the priest shrugged, uttered a heavily accented “too much vodka” (he wasn’t mocking her—that’s just the way he speaks) and continued.

Yesterday, my pastor began the Penitential Act while blowing his nose. I was looking elsewhere at the time and didn’t notice him taking out his handkerchief so it really surprised me to hear his normal voice for the Liturgical Greeting and then, two seconds later, a muffled “Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries” combined with the unpleasant noise of nose-blowing. (I have no idea why he didn’t just blow his nose and THEN continue with the Penitential Act, but that’s all part of the mystery that is Fr. B.) I started to laugh, which is not good during any Mass but even less so at a weekday Mass where the smaller number of people in attendance makes such an action difficult to hide. Two days earlier he had stumbled during the Penitential Act (couldn’t remember some of the words and too stubborn to refer to the Roman Missal on the altar five feet away from him) and I audibly said, “Ay yi yi!” before I could stop myself. While such behavior would be frowned upon coming from anyone, it’s rather embarrassing for a priest to have his own sacristan carrying on like this…so I’m a bit in the doghouse this week, I’m afraid. :imsorry:

 

[Oumashta]

There was this one time during a daily Mass that after Father had finished distributing Holy Communion and was already back to the altar and had placed the Eucharist back inside the tabernacle, a lady with her toddler came up and asked for Communion. He hesitated for a bit, but got the ciborium out of the tabernacle and gave her a host. He was quite kind to do that. I assumed the lady was distracted and missed Communion or something…

There was also this one time when a child about 12-13 years old went up to receive the Precious Blood and somehow spilt some of it on the floor. That stopped the Communion line for about 5 minutes while the EMHC’s were try to clean it, but Father continued to distribute Communion, and most people just opted to receive the Host only.

 

[Actaeon]

Like I say I hope nobody gets offended by this thread, I was just interested to know if anybody else has experienced things ike thys - or is it just me?

Sure,

One time at the Cathedral in Spokane, WA (where I used to live), I was attending mass and a rather strange thing occured: during the prayers of the faithful, as always, there was the last prayer for “the intentions that we hold in our hearts”… the cathedral priest rarely included the word silence. In one instance, however, there was a man who I’m guessing was a protestant visiting the mass (or maybe someone used to a small parish that opened up intentions of the faithful to the laity), and during the brief silence before the priest said “Let us pray to the Lord”, the guy starts recanting several intentions… all told speaking for about a minute and a half (or maybe it was just so awkward that it felt that long!). Afterwards, the priest jovially again stated “And also for the intentions that we hold in the silence of our hearts”

Then another time in my current parish, and this isn’t so much an awkward interruption as an awesome fact, the power was cutting in and out on the parish sound system due to a storm rolling through. When it came to hymns, the music which is generally amped was much quieter and I was surprised to hear something: the congregation was singing… and not just singing a little bit, but loudly and well. It turns out that what I had thought was a rather shy congregation was actually just the effect of voices being outdone by amped music. Don’t get me wrong, I positively LOVE the music at our parish, with the talented organist and accompanying violins and flutes… but I now wish they’d turn down the sound of the music and choir so that the congregation could be heard as well.

 

[englishredrose]

not funny and not an interruption but noticeable.

But Sunday was the first time in 25 years I been going to church was the first time I seen an Altar Server go off physically sick.(I wasn’t serving sunday) He got to the vestry door and his mum was instantly there so must have conveyed to her first and got lead to the church hall/loos. I was impressed though because when ‘they’ came back in he went into the pew with her rather than rejoin the Altar or stayed in the hall.

Oh this was kind of funny though because I few month ago when I was starting to do the reading the microphone wasn’t attached to the stand securely so when I moved it so it wasn’t knocking my nose it fell off. We all jumped - including me when it hit the floor because when it landed it naturally sounded a bang. I hadn’t a clue what happened and swung around to the Altar and just looked at the priest a bit sort of “whaaaat” I was serving that time. As I turned I seen the microphone on the floor and picked it up but before I hadn’t a clue what had happend but this almighty bang from nowhere. Everyone in church woke up that night! I often moan about not getting heard but…

 

[robwar]

I’ve seen people pass out or faint.

 

[hilde_the_dog]

Sunday 11am Mass a few years ago, after our in residence priest finished his homily and sat down. A man about 60 stood up and asked the priest why he did not explain the first reading about Moses and the seraph serpents. He loudly repeated his question several times. He then sat down and the Mass went on. Bizarre.

 

[Actaeon]

I’ve seen people pass out or faint.

Oh yes, happens all the time… especially with altar servers around incense! I’ve seen that one, where the altar server carrying the incense more or less passes out (or at least falls to the ground disoriented).

As to altar servers, I need to add another one… I was a server as a child, and for an Easter Vigil, the server next to me bowed while holding the bottle of Chrism… and bowed just enough that rather large glass lid came off and smashed on the brick floor of the sanctuary… right in front of the bishop… and in plain sight of the packed to the walls parish…

 

[YoungTradCath]

Our priest has coughing fits quite often, as he is a heavy smoker.

I think there is something wrong with him.

 

[hannajomar]

It was towards the end of a large prayer service/spiritual talk at our parish. The pastor went to the microphone. He started, “In the name of Father…” and everyone’s right hand immediately went to our foreheads to bless ourselves, and he continued, “Gallagher, Monsenior Jenkins, and myself, we want to thank you all for coming tonight.” When we realized he was not making the sign of the cross, each person tried to act like they were itching their forehead or fixing their hair or something. When the pastor realized what everyone had done, he laughed and yelled, “I’m not praying, I’m talking!” The whole church burst out laughing because we had been found out.

During Mass, I see a lot of comic relief coming from kids:

• At Communion, “I want a cookie, too!”
• Looking at a cricifix, “Jesus is wearing a diaper.”
• When I tried to shake a little girl’s hand during the sign of peace, she screamed, “NOOO!” Her parents looked embarrassed because she screamed so loud, but it was funny.

We have a woman at our parish with some kind of mental illness. She is very faithful, dresses to the nines for Mass, and makes little signs with pictures of saints and sometimes walks around the church holding them up. The priests give her a lot of leeway to express herself, as long as she stays quiet, and doesn’t go up to the alter. Sometimes during the hymns, she sings REALLY loud. Once in a while, if she does something overboard, a priest will need to kindly reprimand her in the middle of Mass. Even though she violates many norms of behavior, I always have to admire her zeal.