Singing Happy Birthday during Mass

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I’ve seen it happen at the end of Daily Mass and to be honest, I don’t have a problem with it. Most of those who attend Daily Mass in my large Parish are probably thrilled to make it to another year, yes there are normally some of us “kids” it attendance (i’m 39), but we are the minority. Then again, I wear shorts to Mass in the summer months, so what do I know? 😛
 
latingirl said:
If you were standing at the foot of the cross would you turn to your neighbor and sing him happy birthday? People need to realize what exactly the Mass is!
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I don’t know if it is proper for the priest to sing Happy Birthday. I would hope that he understands the Mass well enough to make a good judgment if he can sing “Happy Birthday” to those at Mass.

When we sing or wish someone a Happy Birthday, we are acknowledging the gift of Life God has blessed them with. We are celebrating Life!

If you find the simple song in bad taste when song during Mass, maybe say a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the gift of life of that person while others sing.

You might ask your priest why he chooses this expression. Maybe understanding his reason would be important to you.
 
I have walked out of two parishes since 1991 over this same issue. Happy Birthday, then burst into applause. No way. There are lots of parishes that offer reverent Masses. You can “justify” anything if you work at it. I just will not be part of stuff like this.

God Bless
 
Moore11 said:
I think this mantra is probably to blame for 99 percent of abuses at Mass.
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This is not an abuse. I think our an opinion on this reflects more on ourselves than on any interepretation of the GIRM. I try and never forget the Mass is about community and about God.
 
But it should not be about the community at the expense of God. For some people, Mass is the only time of the week where they can be close to God and reflect in his mystery. Why should that be intruded upon?

Come on, even the pope says things like applause and showing attention to man are unfit for the Mass. But then again…who is he?
 
There’s been various opinions about when the Mass officially ends in this thread.
Some say once the priest has given the dismisal prayer and blessed the congregation.

I would say its the recessional when the priest being the last person to leave the sanctuary, goes down the centre aisle to the entrance of the Church and greets the parishioners exiting the church.

Heck I wouldn’t want my birthday song sung in front of a Mass.
Sickening. Secular Birthday songs have no place in a Catholic Liturgy
 
latingirl said:
and two priests I know, plus Cardinal Arinze and Pope Benedict XVI disagree with him…but I guess he’s right!
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I have not seen any source on this. Instead of just responding with authority that doesn’t exist, do you mind showing where Pope Benedict has spoken on this?

Otherwise, it is still just opinion, but coupled with rumor.
But it should not be about the community at the expense of God.
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I do not understand this. What is the cost to God?
 
pnewton said:
I have not seen any source on this. Instead of just responding with authority that doesn’t exist, do you mind showing where Pope Benedict has spoken on this?

Otherwise, it is still just opinion, but coupled with rumor.

I do not understand this. What is the cost to God?
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For the record, Do you think it is appropriate to sing happy birthday to a parishioner within the context of the Mass, with applause? Or are you just a little raw because somebody forgot your last birthday?😛
 
Moore11 said:
Or are you just a little raw because somebody forgot your last birthday?😛
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No, though the priest did (just last week) have everyone sing happy birthday to me…

… a day late, after my wife told him the 12th was my birthday, and everyone was already outside greeting and visiting. He announced it to the few dozen remaining and then enlisted them to sing, then told me I should have let him know (as if :rolleyes:). You see, I lead music both Saturday (my actual birthday) and Sunday.

I do not like this outside the context of Mass, much less inside.
 
garn9173 said:
I’ve seen it happen at the end of Daily Mass and to be honest, I don’t have a problem with it. Most of those who attend Daily Mass in my large Parish are probably thrilled to make it to another year, yes there are normally some of us “kids” it attendance (i’m 39), but we are the minority. Then again, I wear shorts to Mass in the summer months, so what do I know? 😛
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🙂
 
PS: my parish puts birthday announcements in the bulletin. I think this is much more appropriate.
 
I think it would be a wonderful day if this were the most questionable thing going on in Mass.
 
pnewton said:
I have not seen any source on this. Instead of just responding with authority that doesn’t exist, do you mind showing where Pope Benedict has spoken on this?

Otherwise, it is still just opinion, but coupled with rumor.

I do not understand this. What is the cost to God?
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The pope has said that no man should be praised or applauded in the house of the Master.

The cost to God, is paying attention to men and glorifying men when we should be giving thanks to him for the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of his Only Son. Don’t you know what the Mass is?
 
pnewton said:
No, though the priest did (just last week) have everyone sing happy birthday to me…

… a day late, after my wife told him the 12th was my birthday, and everyone was already outside greeting and visiting. He announced it to the few dozen remaining and then enlisted them to sing, then told me I should have let him know (as if :rolleyes:). You see, I lead music both Saturday (my actual birthday) and Sunday.

I do not like this outside the context of Mass, much less inside.
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Okay you are talking about the birthday song being sung AFTER Mass while the priest is outside greeting people right? Maybe you misunderstood, I am upset that our priest sings it DURING the Mass, before he even dismisses us, when he and everyone else is inside. What you describe above is correct and I’d have absolutely no problem with it.
 
Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but it is perfectly applicable to my current concerns.

Hey, it could be much worse. My wife and I recently changed parishes as we enrolled our children in an elementary school that is part of another parish. And we felt we should be a part of the same community as the school. In our new parish, we REGULARLY stop in the middle of the intentions for this. Father has recognized various individual birthdays and had the congregation sing to them. Last week, he walked down off the sanctuary and called a couple up to the front that was celebrating their 50 year anniversary and called up all their children and grandchildren that were in attendance naming them individually and leading everyone in several rounds of applause. Then after they went back to their seats, he did his usual Happy Birthday routine. And this was RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE INTENTIONS. Then he walked back up and carried on with the liturgy.

I plan to approach Father as charitably as I possibly can about this. I have found some specific authoritative references regarding applause during mass (Ratzinger in The Spirit of the Liturgy and Arinze in “Adoremus Bulletin”). If anyone can provide any similarly authoritative references regarding Happy Birthday or the interruption of intentions for it, I would be most grateful. I think I understand that anything not specifically mentioned in the GIRM should not occur. But any direct statements may be better.
 
pnewton said:
I have not seen any source on this. Instead of just responding with authority that doesn’t exist, do you mind showing where Pope Benedict has spoken on this?

Otherwise, it is still just opinion, but coupled with rumor.

I do not understand this. What is the cost to God?
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pnewton, while still Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Benedict the XVI said on page 198 of his book The Spirit of the Liturgy “Whenever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of the liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment.” Cardinal Francis Arinze while serving as prefect for the Congregation of Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome said in Adoremus Bulletin Vol IX no 7 Oct 2003 “…when we come to Mass we don’t come to clap. We don’t come to watch people, to admire people. We want to adore God, to thank Him, to ask Him pardon for our sins, and to ask Him for what we need.” I suppose there is a still higher level of “authoritativeness” than those, but they seem pretty solid to me, and they come from sources that seem pretty authoritative also.

Granted, here they are speaking specifically about applause. But it seems to me that they are also speaking more generally about the edification of man during mass versus the adoration and praise of God. Nonetheless, like you, I am also looking for anything else authoritative that can help me address my concerns in my parish.
 
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