A hour is a long OF Mass, 45 to 50 minutes is about average (in the UK anyway). But if you count the nattering after Mass then that would push it to an hour.
The length of the Mass isn’t the issue, in my opinion anyway, but the conversational noise levels before, after (and sometimes even during) the Mass. If someone wants to spend a few minutes in quiet, reflective prayer before or after Mass, it is very difficult. If only people could keep their general conversations until they’re left the church building.
Just to make sure that I’m OT, I will say, YES, our OF liturgy is correct. The bishops are given the authority to determine how their Masses will look, smell, and sound, and in our diocese, the parishes obey the bishop.
I wouldn’t be able to say what Vatican II intended because I wasn’t there. I’ve read the Vatican Council II Constitutions, Decrees, Declarations chapter called “The Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy,” and in my ignorant opinion, it seems to me that most of the parishes that I’ve seen are well in line with what Vatican II seemed to intend, which is contrary to the opinions that many of the posters in this thread hold about these same Masses.
Very few of us, especially me and other converts like me, have the background and education to say for certain what Vatican II intended. There are multiple church documents describing the correct liturgy, and it seems to me that if you want to prove that only Gregorian chant can be used, you can find a church document to support that, but if you want only guitars and folk hymns to be used, you can find a church document to support that, too. I think that picking and choosing documents like this without the proper education and pastoral experience is rather dangerous–it’s easy for us to mislead ourselves and see what we want to see, rather than what is actually there.
That’s why I’m so glad that the BISHOPS are given the authority to run their parishes. They have a lot more time and education background to correctly interpret all these documents and correlate them with “what Vatican II intended” than I do! We need to trust and obey them as we would Jesus.
In response to Brendan 64’s post above, as we’ve said many time over the years on CAF, many of the Catholic church buildings were not designed to have a physical location for conversation. other than the church basement, which is difficult for many elderly people to access. (I have a hard time with steps, and I’m only 56.)
Many of the oldest parishes in our diocese are over a hundred years old. When you enter the church building, there is a tiny “lobby” or narthex, with room for only a dozen people or so. It’s very cold in the winter and hot in the summer. The people proceed from this lobby into the nave. Bathrooms are in the basement, again making it physically difficult for people to meet and chat in the bathrooms (many women tend to do this).
Many of the more modern clamshell church buildings (ours) were built pretty much the same way, with a very small gathering space (lobby) that leads straight into the nave. Again, there is no space to greet friends and hold conversations.
Some people on CAF have insisted that conversations wait until the people are in the parking lot. Besides the obvious danger of standing around in a parking lot, it is simply unthinkable much of the year in many areas of the U.S. Yesterday we had snowfall, and this morning the streets and lots are icy and wet. At other times of the year, the heat and humidity are hard to take for many older folks.
Thankfully many of the newest Catholic church buildings are being built with “fellowship” of the church family in mind. I’ve attended several beautiful churches in the Chicago suburbs that have the usual cold (or hot) lobby that then leads into a spacious narthex or gathering space with plenty of room for various church organizatios (Legion of Mary, Rosary and Altar, Knights, CCD and RCIA, food collection table, etc) to set up and recruit people. From this narthex, people make their way into either a “cry area” from which families can see and hear the Mass (not on a television screen, but for real), but that is still soundproofed for the people in the nave, OR they make their way into a smaller space that houses the holy water font, and from THERE, they proceed into the actual nave.
I have noticed that most of these lovely modern churches have a very quiet nave, as the people have plenty of other comfortable places in the church building to meet and greet each other.
BTW, I resent the use of the word “nattering” above by a poster. There is nothing evil about conversation and fellows with fellow Christians. I agree that holding these conversations in the nave in the Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and while others are trying to pray is certainly not the best option, but as I have pointed out above, what is the alternative in many of the older Catholic church buildings? You would really tell the old ones and the ones with tiny babies and children to “take it out to the parking lot?” Or go to a restaurant, or to each others’ houses? IMO, that kind of attitude WILL lead to resentment and anger on the part of those who have been told to get out of their own churc that they also support with their attendance and monies.
Someone else above posted that there needs to be more “action” on the part of true Christians, and I agree–and what better action can there be than to love our fellow Christians by greeting and hugging each other (if it’s appropriate), and sharing the stories in our lives with each other?
Getting to know other people in a casual way often leads to even more love-actions; e.g., invitations to meals, exchanging visits, getting together for a recreational event, physically helping each other through difficult circumstances, helping out by paying for some expenses or bills, etc.
