Midnight Mass

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dorrbell

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This year my rain my parish is no longer having a midnight mass just two Christmas vigils on Saturday and one Christmas day mass.

Whatever happened to the every parish having a midnight mass, even the pope stopped having midnight mass. 🤷

Its sad.
 
My question to someone was, “When did the day before (vigil Mass) become more important than the actual day?” We seem to have a lot of vigil Masses on holydays of obligation.
We are having a midnight Mass on Christmas with the Bishop. But that does occur on Christmas day.

Every Mass is an expense for the church. With donations down due to a lack of attending Catholics at Mass, perhaps it is for this reason, also, most of our priests are stretched to the limit. I didn’t know the Pope doesn’t say a midnight Mass.
 
GKCT said:
My question to someone was, “When did the day before (vigil Mass) become more important than the actual day?” We seem to have a lot of vigil Masses on holydays of obligation.
We are having a midnight Mass on Christmas with the Bishop. But that does occur on Christmas day.

Every Mass is an expense for the church. With donations down due to a lack of attending Catholics at Mass, perhaps it is for this reason, also,** most of our priests are stretched to the limit**. I didn’t know the Pope doesn’t say a midnight Mass.
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Yep, many Priests around here cover multiple Parishes. How to decide who gets a Midnight Mass and who doesn’t? Not to mention, concerns with the weather this time of year. Two years ago, a major blizzard hit the Midwest on Christmas Eve.
 
GKCT said:
I didn’t know the Pope doesn’t say a midnight Mass.
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He celebrates the Mass in the Night (the more proper name for the Midnight Mass) at 10:00. Remember, people, he’s 84.
 
Most of the parishes here stopped midnight masses, but have them at either 10 or 11 pm.
I assume it is because more people attend the earlier masses.
 
JGMENDES

I was going to say something about his age! 🙂 I have a hard time staying up that late. I had never heard of the Mass of the Night. Sounds beautiful, perhaps we should use that verbiage as well. Sounds more reverent than midnight Mass.
 
dorrbell said:
This year my rain my parish is no longer having a midnight mass just two Christmas vigils on Saturday and one Christmas day mass.

Whatever happened to the every parish having a midnight mass, even the pope stopped having midnight mass. 🤷

Its sad.
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  1. Fewer priests means fewer Masses. Especially if there’s only 1 priest in the parish and after the Midnight Mass is an early morning Mass. There’s only so much a person can do.
  2. More parishioners attend the earlier Mass(es).
  3. As someone else pointed out, the Pope is in his mid 80’s! Its not exactly easy for him to be up that late and then up early again the next day.
 
I’m certain I saw the Pope celebrate midnight mass a number of times at midnight which was broadcast at 3 p.m. my time (pacific) and they’re nine hours ahead in Rome, and it said “Live” on the broadcast (EWTN):confused: Wasn’t that just in 2009 that he moved it up to 10 pm?
 
RosalieM said:
I’m certain I saw the Pope celebrate midnight mass a number of times at midnight which was broadcast at 3 p.m. my time (pacific) and they’re nine hours ahead in Rome, and it said “Live” on the broadcast (EWTN):confused: Wasn’t that just in 2009 that he moved it up to 10 pm?
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He celebrates Mass at 10PM Christmas Eve.
 
My priest has 2 parishes and he also serves mass at the nursing home. He normally alternates midnight mass every year to be fair to his parishes.

The priests in my area are stretched kind of thin.

We need to pray for and inspire our youth to pursue the priestly vocation.
 
kmuestwin said:
My priest has 2 parishes and he also serves mass at the nursing home. He normally alternates midnight mass every year to be fair to his parishes.

The priests in my area are stretched kind of thin.

We need to pray for and inspire our youth to pursue the priestly vocation.
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My diocese only has to do that with two parishes but they have so many retired priest that the rector doesnt have to alternate.
 
  1. Fewer priests means fewer Masses. Especially if there’s only 1 priest in the parish and after the Midnight Mass is an early morning Mass. There’s only so much a person can do.
Fewer Priests because people do not pray for vocations. Yes, I am a Father of two boys and I pray daily that God will give them a hunger for him so strong that they will one day serve him as Priests. Yes, I pray that God would choose both of my sons. I have no fear of being the last in my bloodline because I believe what we say weekly in the Creed.
“I believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”
If more people prayed for vocations there would not be a Priest shortage.
 
My understanding also is that the tradition of Midnight Mass started when midnight was the earliest that a Christmas Mass could be celebrated.

Now that the Vigil masses on Christmas Eve “count” as Christmas masses, there is no reason, other than tradition with a small “t”, to wait until midnight for a Christmas mass at night.

Having said that, I love the tradition and our family always attends our parish’s Midnight Mass that still is actually at midnight.

I would be disappointed (but perhaps also mildly relieved) if that was discontinued in favor of a 10pm mass but I certainly understand why it might be done.

Our children are age 9 and 11 and we have always taken them to Midnight Mass. We put them to bed at their usual bedtime, and then wake them up to come to Church. Then they go back to bed so Santa can come 🙂 This makes them wake up later on Christmas morning than they would otherwise.
 
RosalieM said:
So this 10 p.m. Papal Christmas midnight Mass started in 2009 then?
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Correct. Previously the Mass began at Midnight, but the earlier start is a concession to the Holy Father’s age. The missal calls for Mass at night; it does not have to be midnight.
 
dorrbell said:
Whatever happened to the every parish having a midnight mass, even the pope stopped having midnight mass.

Its sad.
Click to expand...
you would have to ask the parishes that have found it advisible to change the Mass schedule, as most have not. We have 4 Masses Christmas eve, the last at Midnight, and only one, attended mainly by Winter Texans (old folks) on Christmas day. That is because the Mexican custom is about La Nocha Buena, and the traditional celebration here is Christmas eve. Mass on the day is a concession to us Anglos, I think. May have more to do with culture and custom than liturgy. Did you ask?
 
We’ve been doing Christmas Mass at midnight for centuries and it’s become a bit of a tradition. However, it’s not cast in stone. The reasons some Parishes have abandoned Mass at midnight could be:
  • The priest (or Pope) is getting a little elderly to have his sleep patterns disturbed so drastically.
  • Few people attend (perhaps for the same reason)
  • The church is in a residential area and it’s unfair on the neighbours to have a load of Catholics turning out of Church at 1:00 in the morning.
If a vigil Mass or two is more convenient for priest and congregation, why stay up half the night and be grumpy over Christmas lunch?
 
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