Should I be leaving mass after the homily?

[5Loaves]

What we today call the “Liturgy of the Word” was in the past called the “Mass of the Catechumens” (still called that in the Tridentine form of Mass), because this was the portion of the celebration of Mass that catechumens were permitted to attend and they actually were not permitted to remain the for the Canon…

In the Divine Liturgy it is called Liturgy of the Catechumens. (In some Orthodox Churches Christians who are not Orthodox, including Catholics, are asked to leave at the end of the Liturgy of the Catechumens, when Catechumens, were there any, would depart.)

I found a really great blog post about “breaking open the Word of God.”

That’s a nice explaination for that perspective.

Here’s another useful website on the RCIA, and the issue of dismissal of both the catechumens and the baptized candidates.

If you look at the combined rites that include both catechumens and baptized candidates, only the catechumens are dismissed. See, for example, paragraphs 527-529, 544-546, and 559-561.

 

[Aramis]

Is this something you’ve actually encountered? For all the 40 years I’ve attended Sunday Mass in as many different churches, that has never happened.

It depends upon the parish and how it runs its RCIA program.

When used, a formal dismissal of the catechumens is used.

This isn’t uniquely Roman, either. The Byzantine rite also has such a dismissal.

I’ve seen it used in Roman parishes in Alaska.

 

[GaryTaylor]

In the Divine Liturgy it is called Liturgy of the Catechumens. (In some Orthodox Churches Christians who are not Orthodox, including Catholics, are asked to leave at the end of the Liturgy of the Catechumens, when Catechumens, were there any, would depart.)

That’s a nice explaination for that perspective.

Here’s another useful website on the RCIA, and the issue of dismissal of both the catechumens and the baptized candidates.

Interesting, I just assumed we were to wait for the Priest to leave before anyone left. Certainly in better perspective. I knew I came here for a reason

 

[5Loaves]

Is this something you’ve actually encountered? For all the 40 years I’ve attended Sunday Mass in as many different churches, that has never happened.

Most parishes have several Holy Masses on a Sunday, and perhaps one Sat. evening. The Catechumens only leave during one Mass. In my Latin parish which Mass they leave for Breaking Open the Word depends on which Mass is best for the Catechumens and the catechists that year. One year it was the 7pm Sunday Mass, another it was the 7:30am Mass, another the 9:30am Mass, so any parishoner assisting at the 5 other Masses would never see the Catechumens. It may be that you’ve not been worshiping in the Holy Mass which the Catechumens attend.

Also, you wouldn’t have seen this 40 years ago because the RCIA process was not restored until the Second Vatican Council.

The RCIA was restored by the Second Vatican Council as the normal way adults prepare for baptism. In 1974 the Rite for Christian Initiation for Adults was formally approved for use in the United States.