Jokes during Mass?

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Almost on a weekly basis, the ordinary form of Sunday Mass at my local Church includes jokes from the Priest that have absolutely nothing to do with the Mass, the sermon, readings etc. I couldn’t find that in the rubrics… though I do find it rather inappropriate. Is this commonplace elsewhere?

Deo Gratias
 
I think anything that takes away from the beauty and solemnity of the mass is inappropriate.
 
I think there is nothing wrong with a bit of humor to get the attention or keep the attention of the listeners.
 
I have found that it is quite common and usually depends on the priest. Our pastor does this quite frequently while our parochial vicar does not. It is usually tied to the scripture or main message somehow. Sometimes it is REALLY a stretch. They are never crude or distasteful. I also find that a priest who likes to pace about may be more likely to start this way than one who stays behind the ambo. It might even be nerves. While they seem so confident, public speaking never loses its scariness for some people and getting a laugh at the beginning can be a real confidence booster.

As to what you mention, no it is not in the rubric of the mass haha. There is no joke requirement.
 
In general, I find jokes either a distraction (if they are good), or tiresome (if they aren’t good). Once in a while they can add to a homily.

This topic reminds me though of a genuinely funny moment during a homily.

We had a priest who fancied himself as quite a humorist. He told one joke, and the congregation giggled politely. A few minutes later he told a second, and there was some laughter, but less than previously. Then, a few minutes later he told his third “joke”, and this time, nobody laughed. He explained “That was a joke”, and somebody from the congregation spoke back in a flash: “Ya reckon?”.
 
A starter joke during the homily is not inappropriate, and can lead into the topic which the priest wishes to teach about, or not. The whole public ministry of Christ elicited a collection of emotions from laughter and joy to grief and dejection and awe.

The Pharisees were also big on looking for inappropriate conduct, accusing Him of undue mirth with sinners, working inappropriately to do miracles on the Sabbath, etc.

I believe that there are very few sour-faced saints; their joy just naturally bubbles up and cannot be contained. Not that tittering over a harmless joke is a sign of sanctity, but hardly is being dour, discontented, hyper-critical and judgmental either.
 
At our wedding, the very sweet little Vietnamese Deacon told a joke that I don’t know if he really understood. There was no polite laughter, only uncomfortable laughter and some really wild faces from me that the photographer did indeed capture.

“A man is like a fire, if you don’t tend to him…he spread.” This was his advice to me.

Jokes can definitely be tiresome and ill advised, but I will agree with zab citing Archbishop Fulton Sheen as an example of humor well done.
 
Chiltepin said:
At our wedding, the very sweet little Vietnamese Deacon told a joke that I don’t know if he really understood. There was no polite laughter, only uncomfortable laughter and some really wild faces from me that the photographer did indeed capture.

“A man is like a fire, if you don’t tend to him…he spread.” This was his advice to me.

Jokes can definitely be tiresome and ill advised, but I will agree with zab citing Archbishop Fulton Sheen as an example of humor well done.
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I don’t recall ever seeing Archbishop Fulton Sheen celebrating Mass and giving a sermon. It was usually lectures outside of Mass where humour is certainly appropriate.

The worst case of inappropriate joking in my experience was the half-cut Pastor we had more than a decade ago who used the Washing of the Feet on Holy Thursday as a background for jokes. I was not amused.
 
Edmundus1581 said:
In general, I find jokes either a distraction (if they are good), or tiresome (if they aren’t good). Once in a while they can add to a homily.

This topic reminds me though of a genuinely funny moment during a homily.

We had a priest who fancied himself as quite a humorist. He told one joke, and the congregation giggled politely. A few minutes later he told a second, and there was some laughter, but less than previously. Then, a few minutes later he told his third “joke”, and this time, nobody laughed. He explained “That was a joke”, and somebody from the congregation spoke back in a flash: “Ya reckon?”.
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It sounds like he over did it. But there is nothing wrong with a little humor.
 
Phemie said:
I don’t recall ever seeing Archbishop Fulton Sheen celebrating Mass and giving a sermon. It was usually lectures outside of Mass where humour is certainly appropriate.

The worst case of inappropriate joking in my experience was the half-cut Pastor we had more than a decade ago who used the Washing of the Feet on Holy Thursday as a background for jokes. I was not amused.
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The link that I posted above is from his last Good Friday sermon.
 
our priest does not tell jokes in the sermon using the typical formula of jokes but he will include things that we laugh at. Its good when I am in the choir as we all laugh away at the same things seemingly. But when I’m serving on the Altar I laugh (thankfully not out loud but enough to show I found that funny) but none of the others are, but the choir are laughing as I can see their movements. 🙂
 
If a priest is doing a stand-up comedy routine in place of his homily, that would be problematic. If he somehow finds himself being funny a time or two during the homily, I can’t say that I object. It’s a pretty standard part of the repertoire of a public speaker. If you can get people to laugh, it gets them to pay attention and also endears you to them a bit.

It’s like pepper. When used sparingly, it can enhance things. But you don’t want to overdo it.
 
There’s nothing wrong with mixing in some humor to a Homilyi.
 
Stylites said:
A starter joke during the homily is not inappropriate, and can lead into the topic which the priest wishes to teach about, or not. The whole public ministry of Christ elicited a collection of emotions from laughter and joy to grief and dejection and awe.

The Pharisees were also big on looking for inappropriate conduct, accusing Him of undue mirth with sinners, working inappropriately to do miracles on the Sabbath, etc.

I believe that there are very few sour-faced saints; their joy just naturally bubbles up and cannot be contained. Not that tittering over a harmless joke is a sign of sanctity, but hardly is being dour, discontented, hyper-critical and judgmental either.
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I remember a priest on Gaudette Sunday (the third Sunday of Advent) who was a big husky guy and when he appeared in his vestments that day he was quick to point out that his vestments were “rose,NOT pink!”😃 (That was funny, if you knew this particular priest!)
 
And just where, exactly, during the Mass is the priest joking?
And what exactly is he “joking” about?

Sometimes, I think that if a priest does anything that is not laid out specifically in the rubrics, there are people just ready to pounce on him. 😦

Without details, I don’t think anyone here can tell you what is appropriate or not.
Fan_of_Trent said:
Almost on a weekly basis, the ordinary form of Sunday Mass at my local Church includes jokes from the Priest that have absolutely nothing to do with the Mass, the sermon, readings etc. I couldn’t find that in the rubrics… though I do find it rather inappropriate. Is this commonplace elsewhere?

Deo Gratias
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If you find things that are not to your liking to bother you to the point of distraction during the holy Mass, I would it is not the joke in the homily (in this case)raising your ire, it the evil one knowing he can get to you.

The same holds true for those who get all worked up over what other people are wearing to Mass, what time they arrive or depart from Mass, whether they are following the new order of the Mass months after it took effect, etc.

Resist and stay holy, even if just for that one brief period of extreme holiness we call the Mass.

Peace
 
Fan_of_Trent said:
Almost on a weekly basis, the ordinary form of Sunday Mass at my local Church includes jokes from the Priest that have absolutely nothing to do with the Mass, the sermon, readings etc. I couldn’t find that in the rubrics… though I do find it rather inappropriate. Is this commonplace elsewhere?

Deo Gratias
Click to expand...
Are you speaking about a humorous anecdote in his homily or are you speaking about a “knock-knock” or “these 3 guys walk into a …” type of a joke? I’ve heard plenty of humorous anecdotes used to get a point across, and even some clean types of “3 whatevers walk into…” type of jokes when our pastor was illustrating something, but never one that just popped up randomly, as if he was nervous and trying to break the ice or something.
 
I think it’s very typical for *some *priests to *sometimes *interject a joke or humorous anecdote to some part of the Mass.

But it would seem to me that there would be a lot of pressure on the priest if he felt like he had to maintain his reputation as the comedic priest. 🤷

I know there are sources out there (both Catholic and non-Catholic) that preachers can use for their homilies/sermons. No doubt many of those sources include jokes.
 
During the homily, a joke could be appropriate, but other than that, no, there should not be jokes during Mass. completely ill-fitting for the solemnity of what is happening.
 
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