Length of Mass/Divine Liturgy

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andrewdodd

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I am considering conversion to Catholicism. My mom is from a catholic background and she has taken an increased interest in religion as well. We attended Mass yesterday, and I enjoyed it but found it to be too short. I heard that Eastern Catholic churches have longer DL. Is this true? Also, my mother never received the sacrament of confirmation, but did receive first communion. How would she be confirmed?

BTW I’m 15.
 
The Extraordinary From, the Traditional Latin Mass, can be 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes.
The Ordinary Form of the Mass can vary from 30 minutes to and hour. The Divine Liturgy can also take from 40 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes.

For all three, it depends on the length of the homily, whether it is a feast day or not, or if it is a special celebration.
Here are some videos

Here is a Traditional Latin Mass …video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1872714663680800365#docid=7583090662971128459

Here is the Vernacular:themass.com/default1024.htm

The Divine Liturgy:onlineliturgy.com/Site/Divine_Liturgy.html
The Divine Litugy above, is from an Orthodox church, but they are practically identical, except for a few prayers for the Pope which are included in the Catholic Divine Liturgy.

I am praying for you on you and your Mother’s journey back home!

God Bless!
 
Divine Liturgy at my church is consistently 1h45 or 1h50. Afterwards the choir comes down from the loft and sings with the congregation for another few minutes. Once a month we have a an extra liturgy for the departed. That lasts 15 or 20 minutes.
 
LoyalViews said:
The Extraordinary From, the Traditional Latin Mass, can be 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes.
The Ordinary Form of the Mass can vary from 30 minutes to and hour. The Divine Liturgy can also take from 40 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes.

For all three, it depends on the length of the homily, whether it is a feast day or not, or if it is a special celebration.
Here are some videos

Here is a Traditional Latin Mass …video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1872714663680800365#docid=7583090662971128459

Here is the Vernacular:themass.com/default1024.htm

The Divine Liturgy:onlineliturgy.com/Site/Divine_Liturgy.html
The Divine Litugy above, is from an Orthodox church, but they are practically identical, except for a few prayers for the Pope which are included in the Catholic Divine Liturgy.

I am praying for you on you and your Mother’s journey back home!

God Bless!
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Where are you going for a 40 min Divine Liturgy? In all my (extensive) travels I have NEVER come across a Divine Liturgy lasting less the 90 min. 40 min WOW!!
 
ciero said:
Where are you going for a 40 min Divine Liturgy? In all my (extensive) travels I have NEVER come across a Divine Liturgy lasting less the 90 min. 40 min WOW!!
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I’ve never actually attended one that short, but I have heard of it. It was Slav Byzantine (I don’t recall if UGCC or Pittsburgh Metropolia), but as it was told to me, there was nary a chant in the church, and it was a Sunday DL. Everything vernacular and everything recited. Kind of like the garden variety weekday (or very early Sunday morning) Novus Ordo. 😦

Now, I have been to Sunday Maronite liturgies nearly that short (actually shorter if one strips out the absurdly long half-hour blithering sermon), with minimal chant. Even more Novus Ordo-esque than the above. 😦
 
ciero said:
Where are you going for a 40 min Divine Liturgy? In all my (extensive) travels I have NEVER come across a Divine Liturgy lasting less the 90 min. 40 min WOW!!
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WOW! Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa! Thank you for correcting me! I did mean 60 minutes (slip of the finger), but even then I would be very wrong. Oh my, silly me!😛
 
The Roman Rite Mass, in normal sunday use, in the Ordinary form runs 45 minutes to 90 minutes, depending upon a number of factors, including preacher, amount of song used, and numbers of communicants. Typically, it runs 60 minutes in most places.

The Roman EF in sunday use, again, similar issues, runs 30-90 minutes, strongly centered around the 60 minute mark

Daily Roman Masses in either form can be as short as 15 minutes to about 60 minutes, typically 30 to 45 minutes.

The Byzantine Divine Liturgy runs 50 to 120 minutes depending upon propers for the day, how many of the overlapping propers the celebrant wants used, celebrant and congregational singing speeds, whether it’s the DL of St John (the shorter) or St Basil (which adds 5-20 minutes), and whether the celebrant says certain prayers during or after the ektenie (litanies), and whether certain optional ektenie are used. Normal sunday praxis, however, starts with either matins or third hour before the DL, adding anywhere from 20 to 90 minutes to the “full experience”, and a seamless transition to a paraliturgical service following the DL is also not terribly uncommon, adding another 5 to 30 minutes on some occasions.

Roman Easter Vigil liturgies can run to 4 hours; Easter Sunday services tend to be 1-2 hours.

Byzantine Resurrection (Easter Morning) services can total 6 hours or more, including Resurrection Matins and the Divine Liturgy. Two years ago, I arrived at 07:00, services started at 08:00, and ended at 13:30, followed by blessing of baskets at 14:00, and people heading for elsewhere at about 15:50… Last year was a bit shorter; Liturgy ended about 13:00…
 
andrewdodd said:
I am considering conversion to Catholicism. My mom is from a catholic background and she has taken an increased interest in religion as well. We attended Mass yesterday, and I enjoyed it but found it to be too short. I heard that Eastern Catholic churches have longer DL. Is this true? Also, my mother never received the sacrament of confirmation, but did receive first communion. **How would she be confirmed? **

BTW I’m 15.
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Other posters are responding to your main question.

In the Latin Church the bishop reserves the right to confirm Catholics. There is usually an annual Mass prior to Easter when the Bishop will confirm all the adult Catholics from his diocese. The local parish, in our case the local Deanery (a group of neighboring parishes), holds a series of classes to provide teaching to these baptized, unconfirmed Catholic adults.

Your mom can talk with the parish priest in a Latin (“Roman”) Catholic parish about these classes, since her baptism was in that Church . Usually the Director of Religious Education for the parish would meet with her and explain the process in their parish. We have a number of unconfirmed Catholic adults in the Latin parish where I assist in catechesis, who have chosen to come to our ongoing RCIA classes and will soon switch over to the series of classes, about to begin, specific to preparation for their Confirmation. These classes are really a wonderful opportunity to share one’s faith journey with others. Your mom can sit in on a few to see what she thinks. Quite likely you could both attend together to see what you think.

The Sacraments/Mysteries of Initiation (baptism, chrismation/confirmation, and Eucharist) are all three done at once for unbaptized adults seeking Christian baptism in the Latin Church. In the Eastern Churches normally all three Sacraments/Mysteries are done at one time for persons of any age, infancy to adult.

She could seek chrismation/confirmation in an Eastern/Oriental Catholic Church but that would entail a formal change in her Church status from Latin to that EC/OC and would only come after some considerable time practicing her faith in that EC/OC parish. Becoming confirmed in the Latin Church would entail only the preparation for the annual confirming of that sacrament as mentioned above.

Also, I didn’t see anyone provide the link to find-a-parish in your other thread “Catholicism vs. Eastern Orthodoxy”, in terms of looking for an Eastern or Oriental Catholic parish to visit. Websites are included there. Parish websites usually indicate the language used for Liturgy.

It’s great you and your mom are making these explorations together.
 
ciero said:
Where are you going for a 40 min Divine Liturgy? In all my (extensive) travels I have NEVER come across a Divine Liturgy lasting less the 90 min. 40 min WOW!!
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The Divine Liturgy at my Grandmother’s church was never longer than 25 minutes before they changed priests. Now it’s usually around 45 minutes.
 
5Loaves said:
Other posters are responding to your main question.

In the Latin Church the bishop reserves the right to confirm Catholics. There is usually an annual Mass prior to Easter when the Bishop will confirm all the adult Catholics from his diocese. The local parish, in our case the local Deanery (a group of neighboring parishes), holds a series of classes to provide teaching to these baptized, unconfirmed Catholic adults.

Your mom can talk with the parish priest in a Latin (“Roman”) Catholic parish about these classes, since her baptism was in that Church . Usually the Director of Religious Education for the parish would meet with her and explain the process in their parish. We have a number of unconfirmed Catholic adults in the Latin parish where I assist in catechesis, who have chosen to come to our ongoing RCIA classes and will soon switch over to the series of classes, about to begin, specific to preparation for their Confirmation. These classes are really a wonderful opportunity to share one’s faith journey with others. Your mom can sit in on a few to see what she thinks. Quite likely you could both attend together to see what you think.

The Sacraments/Mysteries of Initiation (baptism, chrismation/confirmation, and Eucharist) are all three done at once for unbaptized adults seeking Christian baptism in the Latin Church. In the Eastern Churches normally all three Sacraments/Mysteries are done at one time for persons of any age, infancy to adult.

She could seek chrismation/confirmation in an Eastern/Oriental Catholic Church but that would entail a formal change in her Church status from Latin to that EC/OC and would only come after some considerable time practicing her faith in that EC/OC parish. Becoming confirmed in the Latin Church would entail only the preparation for the annual confirming of that sacrament as mentioned above.

Also, I didn’t see anyone provide the link to find-a-parish in your other thread “Catholicism vs. Eastern Orthodoxy”, in terms of looking for an Eastern or Oriental Catholic parish to visit. Websites are included there. Parish websites usually indicate the language used for Liturgy.

It’s great you and your mom are making these explorations together.
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Thanks! This directory is really helpful, and I’m surprised at the number in my state of New Jersey. I think my mother would just as soon be in the Latin Church, but I have to find out for myself.
 
andrewdodd said:
I am considering conversion to Catholicism. My mom is from a catholic background and she has taken an increased interest in religion as well. We attended Mass yesterday, and I enjoyed it but found it to be too short. I heard that Eastern Catholic churches have longer DL. Is this true? Also, my mother never received the sacrament of confirmation, but did receive first communion. How would she be confirmed?

BTW I’m 15.
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You are going to see a lot of different answers to these questions because each Diocese does things a little different, and even the parishes do things differently. For instance, in my Diocese, the Bishop does adult confirmations after a period of instruction (held at the parishes), but also a person who was baptized and received Communion but had no other instruction may be put in the RCIA classes and be Confirmed at the Easter Vigil. RCIA is meant for the unbaptized, but many parishes don’t have the resources to have different classes. In my parish, at your age, you would not go to the adult RCIA if you are not baptized, they have a program for children and also teenagers, but other parishes do it differently. After you are confirmed you would be enrolled in the regular PSR classes.

So what you need to do is call up the parish where you would normally belong to and make arrangements to talk with whoever is in charge of this, it may be a Deacon or a Priest or the Religious Ed. coordinator, and they will inform you of what needs to be done and make arrangements to meet and discuss this.

As for the length of Mass, that varies, even within the same parish. For instance, we have 4 Masses on Sunday and 2 on Sat., but the early AM Mass in my parish tends to run about 45 minutes because there is only a Cantor, and less people attend that Mass, but the “big” Mass may run an hour or longer because the full choir sings and the church is packed. Also, Father X’s homilies may be twice the length of Father Y’s.
The only Eastern DL I have attended was about an hour, there was no chant except for what the priest did, and I think it ran an hour because it was a special feast day and there were extra prayers. I’m not Eastern, so I am not familiar with all the terms or how long their liturgies normally run. I think, however, that your mother would have to go through a formal process to switch Rites and become an Eastern Catholic since she was baptized in the Latin Rite, but you can attend an Eastern Rite Church at any time or all the time without switching Rites.

So your best bet is to call up the parish and talk to someone.
 
Aramis said:
The Roman Rite Mass, in normal sunday use, in the Ordinary form runs 45 minutes to 90 minutes, depending upon a number of factors, including preacher, amount of song used, and numbers of communicants. Typically, it runs 60 minutes in most places.

The Roman EF in sunday use, again, similar issues, runs 30-90 minutes, strongly centered around the 60 minute mark

Daily Roman Masses in either form can be as short as 15 minutes to about 60 minutes, typically 30 to 45 minutes.

The Byzantine Divine Liturgy runs 50 to 120 minutes depending upon propers for the day, how many of the overlapping propers the celebrant wants used, celebrant and congregational singing speeds, whether it’s the DL of St John (the shorter) or St Basil (which adds 5-20 minutes), and whether the celebrant says certain prayers during or after the ektenie (litanies), and whether certain optional ektenie are used. Normal sunday praxis, however, starts with either matins or third hour before the DL, adding anywhere from 20 to 90 minutes to the “full experience”, and a seamless transition to a paraliturgical service following the DL is also not terribly uncommon, adding another 5 to 30 minutes on some occasions.

Roman Easter Vigil liturgies can run to 4 hours; Easter Sunday services tend to be 1-2 hours.

Byzantine Resurrection (Easter Morning) services can total 6 hours or more, including Resurrection Matins and the Divine Liturgy. Two years ago, I arrived at 07:00, services started at 08:00, and ended at 13:30, followed by blessing of baskets at 14:00, and people heading for elsewhere at about 15:50… Last year was a bit shorter; Liturgy ended about 13:00…
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What is an optional ektenie? I dont know of any such animal. Where I attend the liturgy is taken in full. I didnt know some of the prayers were optional.
 
ciero said:
What is an optional ektenie? I dont know of any such animal. Where I attend the liturgy is taken in full. I didnt know some of the prayers were optional.
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Different particular churches may not use all of the litanies that are recorded in various archaic texts; for the Ruthenians, one of the litanies (The preparation for communion litany) has 8 optional petitions (6 of which are responded with “Grant this, O Lord”), the Litany for the Deceased is not always used, nor is the litany for the Catechumens. Further, The litany of fervent supplication has space for optional petitions, and so does the litany of peace.

The Melkite DL of St John also has optional petitions in the Litany of the Gifts, the litany of preparation for communion. They also make optional two strains that are required by the Ruthenians in the prayers of thanksgiving.

Most versions have at least a few options, and almost all have conditional rubrics (“If celebrated by a bishop…” or “If there are catechumens…”).

And to get the Ruthenian DL down to 40 minutes, it’s a small crowd, no optional petitions, and only singular propers (either festal only or tone of the day only), and the most familiar melody for all the hymns, and only one server…
 
ciero said:
All I can say is WOW!!
nbtrap;7153658:
The Divine Liturgy at my Grandmother’s church was never longer than 25 minutes before they changed priests. Now it’s usually around 45 minutes.
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All I can say is thanks be to God for my parish! At 45 minutes we’re probably not yet to that wonderfully deceptive phrase the deacon chants: “Let us complete our prayer to the Lord” LOL 😃

Our Fr Deacon can say prayers before vesting at auctioneer speed but truly how could one even just chant like that the entire DL in only 25 mins? We had a priest who subbed in my Latin Church for a time and he barely took a breath, sometimes he talked so fast I couldn’t understand what he said, except for knowing the Mass by heart, and it took him 20 mins to race through the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite which has WAY less text than the DL.

I love my parish! Some of these stories really reinforce how blest we are with a priest who celebrates the DL so beautifully and is a wonderful, brief and deep, homilist… 👍
 
5loaves: it speeds up a good bit if the priest continues with the priest’s prayers while the deacon leads the litanies; especially doable if there happen to be two deacons, so that the priest gets his proper prompts from the deacon as well…
 
How long are weekday DLs?

I might start attending weekday DLs from time to time
 
In my parish, which is Antiochian Orthodox, the Divine Liturgy is about 1:15. Orthros is about 1:00, so if you attend both (which the priest recommends but very few people do), it’s 2:15 all together.
 
dcointin said:
In my parish, which is Antiochian Orthodox, the Divine Liturgy is about 1:15. Orthros is about 1:00, so if you attend both (which the priest recommends but very few people do), it’s 2:15 all together.
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Weekdays?

I want to know if weekdays are similar to the Roman OF which is only about 30 mins.
 
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