Really turned off by Roman Catholic mass attended

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kimon said:
Since I’m not Roman Catholic, I don’t think what I say would hold much weight with the Bishop.
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Ran into this in the 80’s; We have a visiting priest come into the Archdiocese more than once & we documented his heresy. He eventually got defrocked but took a couple years & lots of documentation from people.

When you see a no-no:

Write a letter to the priest & give him 2 weeks for his prompt reply.
If not satisfied, send respectful letter to the local Ordinary. The Bishop will have the opportunity to address the matter. the Bishop should acknowledge your letter; however if Bishop fails to resolve situation, send a very respectful cover letter with copy of letter to priest & letter to bishop & copies of their replies or lack of reply to the appropriate Congregation in Rome.

Been there, done that several times. Rome usually does not respond to you personally but I guarantee they will read your every word; they want to know what you have to say & they will assess the situation & go from there.
 
Geist said:
I’m actually embarrassed for you having been there.

Aping (best word for it) the nonsense of megachurches is only going to repulse people seeking an authentic spiritual experience in the Mass.

Our parish is admittedly very 70’s I guess(no kneelers, girl servers, hands held during the Our Father) but it does so gracefully and lovingly. I have a hunch the parish priest is going to be a saint one day, so maybe thats why? 👍

I commend you for not letting a bad experience chase you away. Many parishes do vary from one to another, so, if its feasible try another more suited to you.
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How dare they clap for Jesus. Parishoners aren’t supposed to be excited to be in God’s presence! They’re supposed to be distracted and ready to walk straight out the doors from the communion line, everyone knows that.
 
Geaux_LSU said:
How dare they clap for Jesus. Parishoners aren’t supposed to be excited to be in God’s presence! They’re supposed to be distracted and ready to walk straight out the doors from the communion line, everyone knows that.
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There are plenty of people I am excited to see. My parents, who I love dearly, for one. I certainly don’t applaud them like rockstars whenever I enter their house though!
 
“If you’re Catholic and you know it, clap your hands!
If you’re Catholic and you know it, clap your hands!
If you’re Catholic and you know it, …”

“Oh, wait! We’re Catholics! We don’t clap our hands!”

A little bit of Charismatic Catholic Commotion can shake you to the core if you’ve not been prepared for it. You can ask God to help you prepare for it so you’ll understand it better, or you can ask God to help you find a place that is more suited to the disposition he built into you when he created you. Neither choice is the wrong choice. One will help you grow in a certain way and the other will help you grown in a certain different way. Only HE knows which is which.

But the folks who are finding Joy in that faith community have found something that holds them closer to God. You will find a faith community that helps you find yourself closer to God, and it will probably be a faith community more like that which nurtured your early faith.

Orthodoxy is a wonderful foundation for a rich, deep, and satisfying relationship with the Lord. Only our wise God could find ways to bring together people who love to clap and shout and sing and dance while worshiping, and he can do that with as much Grace and facility as he uses to bring together people who are deeply moved by a more staid spirituality.

God is big enough to be accessible to all kinds of people and all kinds of people’s needs. In the Fourth Eucharistic prayer we hear, “Remember those who have died in the peace of Christ and all the dead whose faith is known to you alone.” God knows your heart, and your heart knows him. He will either find room or make room for a way to get closer to you and to the unity you seek. God bless you for being willing to go out there and look for it! 👍
 
With respect of female-altar servers, that is actually at the discretion of the Bishop and Pastor of a particular Parish. Although the Lord’s Prayer can be sung, the way it is sung should give that prayer homage. It is Christ’s own words. The show tune way as you describe should not have happened and, the applause is even a much bigger no-no.

Though in my parish applause has happened at the end of Mass because our contemporary Choir or our Traditional Choir in particular often does such a good job that those assembled feel the need to applaud. We have clapped to a song’s beat during our Contemporary Mass, but thent again it is mostly to a song at the end of Mass which can be rare since in our CM we sing more traditional music to a Contemporary Rhythm.

I suggest to keep searching for a place you feel most comfortable with and don’t let those other parishes discourage you on your journey
 
Wow, singing the Our Father. Who’d have thunk. Since my return to the Church I’ve noticed a couple of odd things: 1) People holding hands or holding them out and up during the Our Father. That’s something I’d only previously witnessed in Protestant services. 2) The crossing of the arms for a blessing at Communion. This is a fairly small, rural midwestern US parish so maybe that’s the reason. Our music is always traditional organ stuff out of the hymnal and definately no clapping during the liturgy.
 
kimon said:
(this forum seemed the most appropriate; mods, please move if I was wrong)

Since I have been thinking about coming into communion with Rome for a while now, I’ve been going to mass regularly at a Catholic church in my local parish. Being Greek Orthodox, I’m was really surprised with the girl altar servers, choir, modern music (I really can’t stand the “Our Father” sung like a Top 40s hit on the radio), etc. etc. However, I’ve been dealing with it.

Yesterday, I go to a mass at a different parish and boy was that a shocker! Not only did they have all the above (and their own version of the “Our Father” tune) they were even applauding!

The priest said “Let’s give a round of applause for the presence of the Lord”.

I felt like I was in a televangelist’s mega church.

As a Greek Orthodox contemplating communion with Rome, is this the kind of Mass I should expect? Or have I just been exposed to so called “liberal” parishes?
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One thing I have noticed, look for a parish that celebrates the Extraordinar Form Mass in their Mass Schedule. I tend to notice that these parishes are very concerned over Orthodoxy
 
kimon said:
(this forum seemed the most appropriate; mods, please move if I was wrong)

Since I have been thinking about coming into communion with Rome for a while now, I’ve been going to mass regularly at a Catholic church in my local parish. Being Greek Orthodox, I’m was really surprised with the girl altar servers, choir, modern music (I really can’t stand the “Our Father” sung like a Top 40s hit on the radio), etc. etc. However, I’ve been dealing with it.

Yesterday, I go to a mass at a different parish and boy was that a shocker! Not only did they have all the above (and their own version of the “Our Father” tune) they were even applauding!

The priest said “Let’s give a round of applause for the presence of the Lord”.

I felt like I was in a televangelist’s mega church.

As a Greek Orthodox contemplating communion with Rome, is this the kind of Mass I should expect? Or have I just been exposed to so called “liberal” parishes?
Click to expand...
It varies by area. Some are stylistically borderline Protestant. In my experience this is more common in higher-income areas; the older, poorer, and less white a parish is, the less offensive its Masses tend to be.
 
kimon said:
(this forum seemed the most appropriate; mods, please move if I was wrong)

Since I have been thinking about coming into communion with Rome for a while now, I’ve been going to mass regularly at a Catholic church in my local parish. Being Greek Orthodox, I’m was really surprised with the girl altar servers, choir, modern music (I really can’t stand the “Our Father” sung like a Top 40s hit on the radio), etc. etc. However, I’ve been dealing with it.

Yesterday, I go to a mass at a different parish and boy was that a shocker! Not only did they have all the above (and their own version of the “Our Father” tune) they were even applauding!

The priest said “Let’s give a round of applause for the presence of the Lord”.

I felt like I was in a televangelist’s mega church.

As a Greek Orthodox contemplating communion with Rome, is this the kind of Mass I should expect? Or have I just been exposed to so called “liberal” parishes?
Click to expand...
The forums are not designed as places for people to come and complain about the Mass, but honestly there’s nothing wrong in everything you’ve listed, even though we only have our subjective ideas of what it is you are trying to express. Altar servers are a blessing regardless of sex, and there’s nothing wrong with having girls serve. Music tastes can vary, but you didn’t say it was an Elvis Greatest Hits event, and you aren’t Catholic so there’s no way to judge your reaction as to whether it was reasonable or not. Certainly since the priest presided rather than Billy Graham Presents, we have to assume there was nothing improper. Many parishes sing the Our Father and it is very reverently sung, and again we can’t tell from your post whether it was the Our Daddy Rap or whatever. The applause for the Lord sounds like an engaging priest rather than the host of a horror show.

My advice would be to bloom where you’re planted rather than avoid what you might initially be put off about because of unfamiliarity or misconceptions.

Also, the Catholic Church is one, so the use of labels ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’ etc. do not apply.
 
Given the reason for having male altar servers, there is really no justification for having girls at the altar. The problem is that in most parishes, they exist, and the new, young, orthodox pastor can’t just kick them all out without angering half the parish and probably the bishop too. Many priests are simply not inviting more girls, or phasing them out as they get older. Another alternative is to have the girls do something else at the Mass, such as ushering or singing in the choir. Allowing girls at the altar is the pastor’s discretion.
 
Cavaille-Coll said:
Given the reason for having male altar servers, there is really no justification for having girls at the altar. The problem is that in most parishes, they exist, and the new, young, orthodox pastor can’t just kick them all out without angering half the parish and probably the bishop too. .
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This weekend, my family and went to Mass at a different parish. We going to the birthday party of a friend’s son, and went to Mass with them at their parish prior to the party.

The parish is in the same diocese but close to an hour and a half away.

The pastor at that parish is relatively newly ordained, but middle aged. He went through priestly formation back in the early 80’s, but left as the seminary has several unorthodox faculty. He reentered formation about 10 years ago and was ordained 6 years ago.

At his parish (his first), he restablished boys alone for altar service. He did recieve a lot of push back from the parish, as they were having difficulty getting enough altar servers as it was.

What happened is that they have more altar servers than ever before. Boys began signing up and encouraging their friends to do so as well.

And yes, our bishop was supportive. At the very least, he recognizes that it is the perogative of the pastor to choose not to use girls in altar service. LIke a true leader, you recognzie that if you don’t want anyone attacking your perogative to do something, don’t attack other’s perogatives 🙂

That, and our Archbishop has seen the vocations coming from the other parishes in the Archdiocese that use only altar boys (like mine) , and probably would not mind more such parishes. 👍
 
Hi there,

It depends what parish you attend. Within the Roman Catholic church, some are more conservative, some are more liberal. Even within one parish, some have more liberal-style masses and others more conservative within one Sunday (i.e. one geared towards children, a folk-style mass, a more traditional mass). Depending on where you live, you might want to attend a few RC parishes. There also are some that are in communion with Rome (make sure you check that…) that still celebrate the Latin rite which are far more conservative.

I agree that the Eastern Rite, in Communion with Rome, may be more to your suitability.
 
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