Please STOP Leaving Mass Early Right After Communion!

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OnAJourney said:
Ok, but we’re still called to not judge others. I didn’t say every case is an emergency. What I’m saying is that it’s not my place to pass judgement upon others. I can disagree with it, but disagreement and judgement are different things. And at my parish I don’t think I’ve seen anyone leave after communion. Mostly because I’m not focusing on what others do. I’m trying to improve upon my relationship with God.
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Agreeing with this and the people who said similar things.

I don’t dwell on the people who leave early, or dress inappropriately, or do other things.

I’m the first to admit, I have left early, and I’ll probably leave the vigil Mass early tonight. That extra two minutes might mean I miss my train home.

And I don’t think there’s a problem with that. The important thing, as I see it, is that I made the effort to get there, as another poster suggested, and I gave up some of my time that I could have used to do other things. If once in a while I leave early because of transportation issues I don’t see that as a make-or-break thing. Plenty of Catholics don’t bother to go at all.
 
A lot of Catholics only go for Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Easter and Christmas. If someone bothers to show up to masses aside from those big ones I feel like perhaps they shouldn’t be judged as harshly as the OP has done.
 
I am one of those people who don’t hear the calling to go to church every single Sunday or holy day. However, when I go, it’s because I want to be there so I don’t leave early. Do you know that I am sure there are people who leave early when I am there, and I could not even tell you if they did or not? I am so busy saying my prayers and trying to be holy for the hour that other people’s leaving early is the least of my concerns. I’m jealous that those of you who go all the time are able to spend your attention on people leaving early instead of what’s going on in the celebration of the mass.
 
If the Church desires parishioners to be more reverent, the Church should mandate absolute reverence in the sanctuary; start by returning all tabernacles to the center of our parishes, where Christ the Lord symbolically and spiritually belongs.

When we symbolically undermine Christ’s centrality, how can we expect reverence among the people?
 
Looking at the bright side, sometimes there’s so much hoop-la right after Mass I can’t even hear myself think, let alone focus on after Mass prayers. So if half the folks don’t return to the pews right after Communion, that means less noise after Mass.
 
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CCHcolonel said:
Exactly. I don’t see what people are upset about, unless they’re the ones needing to justify leaving early.
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I agree. The author of the piece (for those of us who read it) was very clearly speaking directly to readers who leave early without any serious reason. He was not telling anybody to go out and grab anyone else by the lapels. He recognized that some people did this because they were taught or honestly believed there was nothing wrong with it. He was upfront: “They’ve never been corrected or told otherwise… so why would they stop?” Well, that’s a good point. If there is a widespread misconception out there, how will it be corrected if no one ever talks about it to those who would actually be interested to know they’re operating under a misconception?

He’s mostly right, although I would quibble with his contention that those who leave early are “simply not” practicing Catholics. No, if they’re doing what they believe to be meeting their obligation in good faith–and that is the audience he says he is speaking to–that is going too far! It would be better to say, “If you really want to be a practicing Catholic, that does imply staying for the entire Mass when nothing serious or unforeseen prevents you from arriving late or leaving early.”

More to the point, this is a matter that does actually impact those who don’t leave early, because the Mass is a communal act of worship, not a private one, even if the people present who don’t have a pastoral office do not have the authority to correct anyone else or question their judgment about what constitutes a “serious enough” reason.
 
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I suspect a great many of those who leave early have no idea it’s wrong to do so. They have never been catechized or they were very poor catechized. They see people they know/trust leave early, so they conclude that it’s OK to do so.

Rather than condemn these people, rather than comment about judas, perhaps ask your pastor to mention it from the ambo and in the weekly bulletin?

If you have proper people skills, perhaps your could carefully educated anyone you personally know that it’s not right to leave early?
 
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I did a lot of things wrong as a new Catholic years ago, my husband was more formed into the faith. I remember one time years ago he was at Mass and there was a great yard sale I didn’t want to miss. I walked right to church, in the middle of Mass, walked all the way to the front with my shoes making noise as Monsignor was reading the Word, and whispered in my husbands ear about the yard sale. He always sat in the front to avoid the inappropriate dresser distractions (not dwelling on it just mentioning) and I just said i’ll wait in the hall. Then I proceeded to clickety-clack all the way to the back of the church waiting for him to get up and leave. I was completely ignorant of my rudeness, which is putting it lightly. So I think back to that and other things when I hear someone having a loud conversation when i’m trying to pray etc…I learned with time in my faith and experience and Gods grace that was wrong. I find this separate from someone leaving for a pressing matter. No one would have known what i whispered in my husbands ear this day but i promise you if one of the ladies in the Church did know and did tell me, in the Timothy way of admonishing then I would be receptive, a bit embarrassed and ultimately grateful.
 
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yourbuddy said:
i almost alwys leave after communion … the mass has two purposes … guess what they are??
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Why do I get the feeling that one of your ‘purposes’ will be “to inconvenience me as little as possible”…? 🤔 😉
 
Some need to just sit up front and ignore others. It’s really worth trying out… 😉
 
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I pray the Leonine prayers after every OF Mass. Sometimes I have to wait a few minutes for the chatty folks to leave, but that’s just a small mortification.
Can’t recall ever seeing someone leave the Tridentine Mass before the Leonine Prayers are completed. I guess those people just don’t have any more important things to do.
 
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That’s very true, @Beryllos Best just to ignore such behavior and leave it to the pastor.
 
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Leaving Mass early - when do you consider it okay? Liturgy and Sacraments
This is a hypothetical question and need to ask it in case the situation arises for me. Due to my work schedule where I must work weekends, I must attend the closest Mass to my office that starts at 8am. Most of the time it lets out right at 9am then I must be to work and set up to start work at 9:30am. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes to get to work, then another 5 to 10 minutes to set up all I need to do my daily work (I work in IT Support, inbound calls and customer email inquiries). If Mas…
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Not judging but think about this.
  1. Those who come late for a mass without a strong reason. How much value do they give to God. Will they be late for an interview? Will they be late to a meeting? Yet they choose to be late for a mass.
  2. Holy Mass is the highest devotion of the Catholic Church. Your complete devotion is required. I keep my phone silent throughout the mass and is not bothered until the mass is over.
  3. There is nothing in this world more important than attending the Holy mass. Our Lord had to suffer excruciating pain to establish this Holy Sacrament. And yet we are more worried about worldly things.
Again I am not judging anyone. I just wanted to point out these things.
 
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