Shoud we greet each other at the beginning of Mass?

[06convert]

Our parish has recently started to open the mass with, “please stand and greet those around you”.

Our pastor said that he wants us to do this because he wants us to all be welcoming and inviting and that mass is a community gathering and that this is a good thing for the parish family.

I guess I don’t feel comfortable about this. I look at mass as time for prayer and reflection. Not a social gathering.

Should I practice humility and just smile and shake hands?

Should I stand up for the solemnity of the mass and say something?

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Hi,

The reason the Catholic Church invites us to Mass is not to make us feel welcome and warm with each other. The Church invites us (actually commands us on Sundays) to Mass is to publicly acknowledge the sacrificial offering Jesus made of Himself for our sake on Calvary. It is that sacrifice and the presence of His body and blood on the altar that unites us in a way that our feeble attempts at unity could never accomplish. We are there principally because of Him—not us!!!

I suggest that you attend another parish were Mass doesn’t begin this way (if you can find one) and tell the pastor why you’re leaving! If this isn’t possible, then give the pastor your objections and sit away from others. The good news is that the new generations of clergy and religious are more vertically oriented than those still rooted in the 60s and 70s
where Church was considered to be all about ‘community.’

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.