Question about visiting a Catholic Mass

[Breanne]

Hello,

My husband and I are considering joining the Catholic church. I don’t have a problem accepting any of the doctrines, even though some of it is very hard to understand and seems overwhelming. My question is do we need to talk to the priest before attending a Mass? Also, how do we know which church to go to? Do we need to go to the one closest or do we just pick one?We have quite a few churches in our city.

Thank you!
Breanne

 

[ElizaMJ]

Hi Breanne,
You don’t have to speak with a priest in order to attend Mass. Just don’t go forward to take communion when the assembly goes forward. You certainly DO want to speak to a priest about RCIA, though. That is, Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. Even if you decide not to join the Catholic Church, there is a long period called Inquiry in which all things Christianity and Catholicism are explained and you work with an RCIA team who will answer all of your questions. This is a “no strings attached” phase in which you decide when you are comfortable in moving forward.

 

[Breanne]

Okay, thanks!

 

[jmcrae]

Also, how do we know which church to go to? Do we need to go to the one closest or do we just pick one?We have quite a few churches in our city.

Thank you!
Breanne

You have a “home parish” which may or may not be the one closest to your home, depending on how the parish boundaries are drawn. For now, don’t worry about it - go to the one you can find, that kind of “looks” Catholic from the outside, and then just take it step by step from there.

 

[Sarah25]

Hello,
Also, how do we know which church to go to? Do we need to go to the one closest or do we just pick one?We have quite a few churches in our city.

I don’t go the to church in my town, I go one town over because that is where my only Catholic family members go and I wanted someone I knew to be my sponsor for RCIA. Really, it doesn’t matter what church you go to, the “bones” of the Mass will be the same. However there will probably be some slight differences that you may or may not prefer. I have been to three Catholic churches so far, and only the one I’m currently attending uses the incense on Sunday. I LOVE the incense Just a personal preference. I’d say go where you feel the most comfortable.

Also, if you feel like you might get lost, there should be a book in the pew with a section called the “Order of the Mass” or some such, that will have the responses, actions and outline in it. I wish I’d’ve known about it the first time I went Good luck!

 

[Texas_Roofer]

FYI - all Catholic churches have the same service. The priest does not select any part of the service except the Homily which is when he teaches the faithful. That is a personalized teaching (thought he has books which offer Homilies). Usually the building and the attitude is the difference. Usually a Missal (small paperback book) is in or near the pew, it contains about 6 months of reading for the service (Mass). The Missals are the same regardless of the church.

Hope that helps

 

[Breanne]

Thanks! I’ll start looking around for one to visit.

 

[Rolltide]

FYI - all Catholic churches have the same service. The priest does not select any part of the service except the Homily which is when he teaches the faithful. That is a personalized teaching (thought he has books which offer Homilies). Usually the building and the attitude is the difference. Usually a Missal (small paperback book) is in or near the pew, it contains about 6 months of reading for the service (Mass). The Missals are the same regardless of the church.

Hope that helps

This is not entirely true, although it is possible to go your whole life without knowing any different. There are different “rites” within the Catholic Church. MOST Catholic Church services are in the Ordinary Form of the Roman (Latin) Rite. Most of the time, this will be the service you will attend. However, a few Catholic Churches may offer the Extraordinary Form, which is the pre-Second Vatican Council Mass, dating from before 1962. This will be much more formal, almost completely in Latin (except the homily), and will have traditional music. The priest will also face toward the altar, WITH the people (instead of facing the people). There are also Eastern Catholic Churches, which are formerly Orthodox churches that have decided to reunite with Rome. They will have a somewhat different service as well, since they were allowed to keep their unique traditions when they returned to the church. The Eastern Catholics are so rare compared to the Roman Rite, however, that even many Catholics have never heard of them.

There are even a few other types of minor differences that you could encounter, but since it would be quite unlikely, and I don’t want to overwhelm you, I’ll leave it at this. That said… you’re free to worship with us in ANY Catholic Church, so long as you do not partake in Communion.

 

[Breanne]

Thank you. I’m sure we will be a little lost the first time we go, but the Missal sounds very helpful.

 

[latin_rite]

Hello,

My husband and I are considering joining the Catholic church. I don’t have a problem accepting any of the doctrines, even though some of it is very hard to understand and seems overwhelming. My question is do we need to talk to the priest before attending a Mass? Also, how do we know which church to go to? Do we need to go to the one closest or do we just pick one?We have quite a few churches in our city.

Thank you!
Breanne

Heres a heads up though. If you pick achurch where they are holding hands and playing guitars…Run, run as fast as you can.

 

[CB_Catholic]

When you go, you will notice that there are frequent changes in posture. Sometimes we stand, sometimes we sit, sometimes we kneel. This is what confuses a lot of people. So you may just sit and observe, or do what others are doing, but we stand to pray and to listen to the Gospel reading, sit for the Psalm and the other readings and during the homily, and kneel during a great deal of the Eucharistic Liturgy, especially at the Consecration. Most visitors of other faith traditions do not kneel, I’ve noticed, and that is ok for them. You can participate in Mass as much as you wish, except for Communion.

But above all, I would listen carefully to the prayers, the Scripture readings, and the Nicene Creed, as these express our faith and not worry too much about the posture, as that is more of a matter of doing what everybody else does. And of course, you can sing with us.

If you are coming from non-Liturgical worship, you will find Mass to be a very different experience from what you are used to, much more formal and structured, and there will not be a long sermon. The homily is shorter and based on the Scripture readings. Also, don’t be afraid to ask one of the ushers or greeters for help as to where to sit or find the Missalette, if that parish uses them. They will be happy to help you. You will also find that there is not usually much socializing before Mass, and the church is (usually) pretty quiet.

Please let us know how it went.

 

[Breanne]

Thanks for the information. I have been to a couple of Lutheran services and they seem to variate widely in style by congregation or even by time of service. Is it the same with the Catholic church? I guess I had thought that all Catholic church services were quite formal and had traditional music. Do Catholic churches use praise bands and such now?

Thanks again!
Breanne

 

[Breanne]

Thanks for the advice. My husband and I are both pretty traditional. We loved the Lutheran liturgy very much, but didn’t agree with some of the doctrine and didn’t feel like there was an emphasis on living the faith. I didn’t realize there were Catholic churches that practiced a more contemporary style.

 

[puzzleannie]

Hello,

My husband and I are considering joining the Catholic church. I don’t have a problem accepting any of the doctrines, even though some of it is very hard to understand and seems overwhelming. My question is do we need to talk to the priest before attending a Mass? Also, how do we know which church to go to? Do we need to go to the one closest or do we just pick one?We have quite a few churches in our city.

Thank you!
Breanne

welcome to the forums and welcome to Mass in any Catholic parish. All CAtholic liturgy is just that, the word means the public prayer of the Church. Every Mass, even on a “private” occasion such as a wedding or funeral, is open to the public if it happens in Church. your diocese has a website, usually with a map, where you can locate parishes, go to usccb.org and click the link for dioceses. or there is the good old fashioned yahoo yellow pages.

No you don’t need anyone’s permission to attend. Reception of communion however is reserved for Catholics who have been prepared and are properly disposed for the sacrament, because it is the ultimate sign of our unity with Christ. No one will think ill of you, or even notice, if you remain in the pew and unite your prayers with those of all Christians during that time. For the first few visits, don’t try to follow along with a worship aid, simply watch and listen. If you don’t want to sit, stand and kneel you don’t have to, do what is most comfortable. Pray as you have been taught and ask for God’s guidance. There is usually a worship aid in the pew called a missalette, which has the scripture readings for the day, the songs, and the order of worship, but it can be confusing at first glance.

When you are ready to ask questions and learn more, ask someone, often an usher (the people who take up the collection) to direct you to the priest, or call the office during business hours and make an appointment. pick up a bulletin on the way out which will have contact information.

Welcome home, no matter how long you linger on the doorstep, we need you.

I hope you experience a welcoming atmosphere in the parish you visit, but even if you don’t, judge them in charity, they may be more focused on their relationship with Jesus at that moment than with others around them, or they may just be tired and distracted. This is a good time of year to get started on a formal program of asking questions and study about the faith. The process is called RCIA, so if you see such an announcement in in the bulletin, that invitation is addressed to you.

keep us posted on your journey

 

[ElizaMJ]

Thanks for the information. I have been to a couple of Lutheran services and they seem to variate widely in style by congregation or even by time of service. Is it the same with the Catholic church? I guess I had thought that all Catholic church services were quite formal and had traditional music. Do Catholic churches use praise bands and such now?

Thanks again!
Breanne

Catholic Mass is very structured and will be performed in the same way all over the world. There is a slight variation between Sunday and weekday Mass in that weekday Mass may not have any singing and there are fewer readings. At my church, weekday Mass is 40 minutes whereas Sunday Mass is 60.

Some congregations may have their own tiny variations (I attend a student parish and we wear street clothes to Mass, for example), but everything should be the same everywhere you go (assuming Latin Western Rite, post-Vatican II Mass which will be the vast majority of what you find in America).

 

[ibkc]

Thanks for the advice. My husband and I are both pretty traditional. We loved the Lutheran liturgy very much, but didn’t agree with some of the doctrine and didn’t feel like there was an emphasis on living the faith. I didn’t realize there were Catholic churches that practiced a more contemporary style.

Yes, there are. In fact, depending on what diocese you live in, you might have to do some research to find a parish that doesn’t put some kind of “contemporary”/evangelical Protestant element into their celebration of the mass. Don’t let that discourage you, though. Many parishes (especially the medium to large sized ones) have multiple Sunday masses which follow different styles. And of course, there are the two “forms” of the mass, which, since you have posted in the Traditional forum and have expressed an interest in the traditional styles, you deserve an explanation.

Around 40 years or so ago, a new mass was promulgated. It’s what you will experience in nearly all Catholic parishes you visit. On these forums you’ll see it called the Ordinary Form (abbreviated OF) or sometimes the unofficial (and by some considered perjorative) term “Novus Ordo” (abbreviated NO). The Ordinary Form is usually celebrated in the local vernacular, sometimes with elements of Latin and much more rarely, sometimes entirely in Latin. This is the mass that runs the gamut in style depending on the parish, from very solemn and traditional to very Protestant megachurch-ish with a projector screen and praise band.

Here’s an example of a reasonably traditional and perhaps somewhat typical Ordinary Form mass:
break.com/usercontent/2009/2/A-complete-Catholic-Mass-St-Columba-Cathedral-670094.html

Before the Ordinary Form was put in place, the mass used for centuries was the what you’d find in most parishes. Today it is called the Extradordinary Form (abbreviated EF), sometimes the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), the Tridentine Mass, etc. This is the mass you see in old movies, with Gregorian chant and Latin and all that. This mass is still available but access to it largely depends on geographical location. Some diocese have several and some have only one or even none. Some diocese have it available only one day out of the month and some have entire parishes built around te EF and the traditional sacraments.

Here’s a long clip of a solemn high mass celebrated Easter Sunday, 1941, narrated by Archbishop Fulton Sheen:
youtube.com/watch?v=R6AOvStZS64

If you decide to check out an Extraordinary Form mass, make sure that it is approved by your diocese.

 

[jmcrae]

Thanks for the information. I have been to a couple of Lutheran services and they seem to variate widely in style by congregation or even by time of service. Is it the same with the Catholic church? I guess I had thought that all Catholic church services were quite formal and had traditional music. Do Catholic churches use praise bands and such now?

Thanks again!
Breanne

You are more likely to encounter this sort of thing at the “Youth Mass” which in my area typically takes place on a Saturday evening. Most parishes around here offer at least three Masses on the weekend - the Youth Mass on Saturday evening featuring “praise and worship” music, the “no music” Mass early on Sunday morning (there might be a cantor to lead the sung prayer responses, but no hymns, as such), and the classical music Mass later on Sunday morning.

Sometimes there is also Mass offered on Sunday evenings that features less formal music, but more sober than the praise and worship music of Saturday evening.

Your mileage will no doubt vary, but just realize that if you don’t happen to like the particular Mass you attend at one parish, it might be simply a matter of trying another Mass at a different time, at the same parish.

 

[jmcrae]

No you don’t need anyone’s permission to attend. Reception of communion however is reserved for Catholics who have been prepared and are properly disposed for the sacrament, because it is the ultimate sign of our unity with Christ. No one will think ill of you, or even notice, if you remain in the pew and unite your prayers with those of all Christians during that time. For the first few visits, don’t try to follow along with a worship aid, simply watch and listen. If you don’t want to sit, stand and kneel you don’t have to, do what is most comfortable. Pray as you have been taught and ask for God’s guidance. There is usually a worship aid in the pew called a missalette, which has the scripture readings for the day, the songs, and the order of worship, but it can be confusing at first glance.

Amen, amen, and amen, to all of this. Read and memorize this, first.

Do not feel as if you have to know everything on your very first visit. Simply be open to the experience, without anxiety of any kind. In fact, forget that you ever knew about the missal, and be determined simply to listen and pray, the first time you go.

Learn the Mass the way you learned your mother tongue - by absorbing it directly through your five senses, unmediated by any book.

(That’s how I learned it, and most people do not even realize that I am a convert, because I don’t have the habit of reading along during Mass.)