Short Sunday Mass

[RileyG]

I usually go to the Saturday night vigil Mass and there is no singing. The whole mass is probably around 40-45 minutes. On Sunday, maybe just 5 minutes longer.

 

[markomalley]

This is interesting, too, a 7:30 p.m. Mass. The last one at our church is at noon.

I’d like to see something like that.

I’d really try not to get into the habit of not going on Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning and putting it off until Sunday night. Still, it would be nice to have it as a backup in case of an emergency situation Sunday morning.

They advertise that as the “last Mass in the City” – and so they used to end up getting people from around the area who needed a backup, as you say.

There has been a lot of “urban renewal” in the Chinatown area in the past several years…several stylish apartment blocks that have gone up. In the past few years, since those apartments were occupied, I have seen a TON of 20-30 somethings go there. In fact, it is just as common for that Mass to be fully occupied as one of the morning masses.

 

[thistle]

This is interesting, too, a 7:30 p.m. Mass. The last one at our church is at noon.

I’d like to see something like that.

I’d really try not to get into the habit of not going on Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning and putting it off until Sunday night. Still, it would be nice to have it as a backup in case of an emergency situation Sunday morning.

Our Sunday Masses:

5.30 am, 6.45 am, 8 am, 9.15 am, 10.30 am, 3.30 pm, 4.45 pm, 6 pm, 7.15 pm, and 8.30 pm.

 

[Cat]

When I was Protestant, our Sunday morning worship service started at 11:00 a.m., and was usually done around 12:30 p.m At least 45 minutes of that time was the sermon. And most of the time, we attended Sunday School before the worship service, which lasted at least an hour, and usually an hour and half. And sometimes, there was a half-hour of “fellowship time” or “coffee time with donuts” between the Sunday school and worship service. That’s around 3-4 hours in the church building, doing church!

So to me, one hour for Mass seems very short.

I don’t fault or judge people for trying to attend a “shorter” Mass–many people have young children who get restless, or have various physical conditions (arthritis or other stiff joint conditions, blood sugar issues, overactive bladder, various digestive issues, etc.) that make it hard for them to be in the same place for a long time. Also, there are people who are “on call” on the weekends, or who are working and fitting Mass into their work schedule.

As long as the priest does a few key things correctly, Jesus is Truly Present in the Mass whether it is short or long, no matter what the music is, and even if there are errors or abuses in the liturgy.

 

[thomasf]

Frankly, I’d rather not have the music but not because it makes the mass short, I dislike most of the music played in mass. What bothers me is a priest that rushes through the mass and says his parts half-heartedly. Who give a short homily, and in general doesn’t have a very reverent mass. Our current pastor does a 5 min homily, including at least 2 minutes of stand up comedy, and his masses are very irreverent, imo.