Irreverant Speed mass

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I’m having a big issue with the way the pastor (only priest at this particular parish) does masses. I have been at this parish for my entire life, and the pastor is a nice guy in general. I do think he suffers a bit from having to be in control of everything, but that can be overlooked.

A number of years ago, the pastor in question had issues with his hip and knees, and the mass seemed to really pick up the pace. I don’t know if this was because he was in discomfort during mass, but the length of his masses were about 35 minutes long on a Sunday or Saturday vigil. I normally follow along with my roman missal and I noticed that he would lop off lines from various prayers and always go for the shortest versions of everything.

Sometimes he would just skip the homily too. I asked him about this once and never really answered my question.

Recently though, he will walk past people in the entrance procession to get to the altar so as not to go into a second verse with the entrance hymn, he will skip the Gloria, he will skip the creed, he will lop off paragraphs of the Eucharistic prayer, and will sometimes just start singing whatever verse he wants for the hymn (he did this yesterday and I felt so bad for the choir director).

I know the easiest thing for me would just be to go to a different parish and not let it bother me. A friend had asked him about some of these things in the past and was told that he packs the pews at each mass, collections are up, so what is he doing wrong? Yes, maybe he packs the pews and the collections are up, BUT AT WHAT COST?

Should I be letting this bother me this much, or should I just be a good person and go to a different parish? I don’t want to see anything bad happen to the pastor with the Bishop, but I do expect the mass to be what is GIRM. I don’t believe it says that the Gloria is optional right now? I don’t believe it says that the creed is optional. I don’t think it says to modify the Eucharistic prayer to what you feel would be best. I know the priest has some leeway with some things, but this is just getting out of hand. Yesterday’s Sunday vigil mass was done in less than 30 minutes.

Thanks,

Flint
 
If you do not want to contact the bishop with your concerns and there is another church you can attend mass, I would go there instead.
 
My guess is that this priest is having physical health issues and does not have the help he needs, such as a deacon to preach the homily.

Although I can see it being annoying if he rushes to the sanctuary or just launches into whatever verse of the hymn, these things don’t harm the Mass. My guess is the choir director is aware of Father maybe doing this for whatever reason (pain, confusion ) and doesn’t take it to heart.

I would further guess that a lot of people are happy to get Sunday Mass done in 35 minutes so yes, he will get a good crowd. Some of them maybe even coming from churches where the priest takes twice as long.

The only things that would concern me is the omission of Gloria and Creed and lopping off the prayers. You might gently mention this to him. If you don’t want to do that, just go elsewhere for Mass and pray for this priest.
 
flintlock said:
A number of years ago, the pastor in question had issues with his hip and knees
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I pray that you never have to know the pain that comes from standing when one has “problems” such as arthritis, stenosis, nerve pain, nephropathy, sports injuries, etc.

Yesterday I over did it, when I walked to the kitchen this morning I could not take a deep breath as the pain was so intense in my hip and back. The pain is so all consuming it is as if it actually colors my vision. Cannot fathom standing for 35 minutes in that sort of pain without passing out!

Have compassion for those who are in pain, offer up your irritation for those who are suffering.
 
I agree with @Tis_Bearself Of all the things you’ve listed, only a couple a liturgically egregious. The rest may be in poor taste or imprudent, but not necessarily wrong, per se.

Remember, too, that reverence/irreverence, while it can be manifested outwardly, is really a matter of the heart. Please don’t be too quick to judge anyone’s disposition in this regard. Living in chronic pain is a particular cross to bear that few handle with grace and elegance on a daily basis - even those that do have their bad moments. For that matter, I’m not sure someone living in pain should be expected to act gracefully. 🤷‍♂️
 
Thanks all… as far as the pain goes, he had the surgeries some years ago and has commented that he feels great now, so I don’t think it is pain currently. Yes, in the past I’m sure it was and can accept that.

I did voice my concerns to him, and he never addressed them. He basically said they were not valid concerns and to just concentrate on Jesus (he said this yesterday with reference to the Martha and Mary gospel reading).
 
I am so sorry, LittleLady, about your problems with the intense pain. We breeze through posts, a lot of them being from familiar names that we are getting to feel that we know somewhat, but we really don’t know what is going on in the life of the poster. He or she could be sitting there, typing away in severe pain and, of course, we don’t realize it. I will add you on to my list of people I am praying for and will hope your pain will be lessened.
 
He may feel great now in comparison with how he felt before. That does not mean he is painfree.
People with chronic pain live a reality noone else can know.
Our deacon last night stood leaning on the altar with both hands, a sign that his back was very painful. I may have been the only one who caught that. He was in the narthex greeting people after mass like nothing was wrong.
Skipping the Creed and the Gloria are things you might ask him about and maybe take to the Bishop but the mass was still valid. There may have been a reason he skipped them.
 
flintlock said:
A number of years ago, the pastor in question had issues with his hip and knees, and the mass seemed to really pick up the pace. I don’t know if this was because he was in discomfort during mass, but the length of his masses were about 35 minutes long on a Sunday or Saturday vigil. I normally follow along with my roman missal and I noticed that he would lop off lines from various prayers and always go for the shortest versions of everything.

Sometimes he would just skip the homily too. I asked him about this once and never really answered my question.

Recently though, he will walk past people in the entrance procession to get to the altar so as not to go into a second verse with the entrance hymn, he will skip the Gloria, he will skip the creed, he will lop off paragraphs of the Eucharistic prayer, and will sometimes just start singing whatever verse he wants for the hymn (he did this yesterday and I felt so bad for the choir director).
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The OF mass can be said, with sufficient reverence and with a short sermon, skipping nothing required by the GIRM, in roughly 40 minutes. While I can’t condone (and the Church does not condone) omission of anything strictly required by the GIRM, many people of good will prefer shorter Masses for perfectly legitimate reasons — health, easily irritated young children to care for, having work or other temporal obligations to attend to, and so on. That is the demographic, if you will, that this priest’s Masses attract. And sad to say, many other people are just “fulfilling the obligation” and are not necessarily in search of elaborated sermons, lengthy announcements and special presentations, and so on.

When I was growing up, a priest in a nearby parish celebrated a “last chance” 7 pm Sunday Mass, celebrated so quickly as to push the boundaries of reverence (I can tell you from having been blessed to know him personally, that his interior reverence was beyond question, requiescat in pace), and with a short, punchy, utterly politically incorrect sermon. The church was always packed and was popular among people from neighboring parishes.
 
Isn’t the Gloria required to be sung or said in the Mass? You should probably notify your ordinary about this part, but the rest is up to the pastor of your church, who I can imagine is in unbearable pain. Pray for his recovery!
 
flintlock said:
Recently though, he will walk past people in the entrance procession to get to the altar so as not to go into a second verse with the entrance hymn,
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I’ve been in many parishes where cutting off the band before they get to the second verse of their “gathering song” qualifies as a corporeal act of mercy! 😱:crazy_face:🤣 . . . (and those where the priest has to talk over them just to get them to stop, because they’ll keep performing as long as they get the chance . . .)

That aside, your choice may well be between a priest bearing what he can to have a Mass at all, and there not being a Mass . . . I’d be very cautions in criticizing a priest who suffered to do what he can . . .
 
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If our pastor who sit through most of mass and never processes in because of health issues retires, we will be combined with another parish. He has also skipped parts of prayers because he lost his place due to his vision problems.
Do not assume your priest has told you all his health issues.
 
I will just go elsewhere. This priest has said many times that he is just doing his “job”. He see’s mass as part of a job and not part of his priestly duty. That may be part of the issue. The presbyteral council has offered him a second priest, but yet he refuses each time because he can’t work with anyone else (part of his OCD).
 
When I was a small altar server in the 1950s, I sometimes used to assist a visiting priest from the Redemptorist Mission who managed the whole Tridentine Low Mass in 12 minutes (with me desperately trying to keep up with the responses). I’ve never known anyone else in quite such a hurry although a weekday Mass at Vigo Cathedral was over in less than 20 minutes and that was with about a dozen of us taking Holy Communion.

Your priest is clearly unwell and you should make allowances for him. If his undue haste is preventing you from appreciating the Mass, I suggest you visit a neighbouring parish.
 
jimXroberts said:
When I was a small altar server in the 1950s, I sometimes used to assist a visiting priest from the Redemptorist Mission who managed the whole Tridentine Low Mass in 12 minutes (with me desperately trying to keep up with the responses).
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I don’t doubt what you are saying, but it boggles my mind as to how a priest could celebrate Low Mass that quickly. I will grant that the Latin Mass can go more quickly, in that the priest is simply reciting words without any expectation of having to show inflection, emphasis on words, and so on, keeping in mind as well that the canon of the Mass (eucharistic prayers) is recited so softly as to be virtually silent.

The modern expectation that the Mass will be celebrated in the vernacular, with giving the congregation the chance to follow along, respond, and “get something out of it”, is by necessity going to make Mass longer. I have also noticed that sermons in the OF (Novus Ordo) tend to be longer and more elaborated. I have heard many sermons where you would think the priest has finished speaking, then it goes on for another five minutes or more. That said, I have also heard some pretty lengthy sermons in traditionalist parishes and chapels as well, but it’s not as common.
 
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