Some parishes are so non-traditional it drives me crazy

[Cherub]

I belong to a parish about a half-hour’s drive from where I live. It is a huge parish that has to have 3 whole Masses every Sunday. Saturday vigil Mass is always full, and there has been a considerable turnout at all the daily Masses I’ve been able to attend. They have Eucharistic Adoration three days a week at certain hours (and the sister parish of this one has perpetual Adoration, right across town from there.) The Divine Mercy chaplet is prayed on two days of the week. There is a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Rosary is prayed in a group one night a week. The music and atmosphere are very reverent here. This is why I travel so far.

The parish only 7 minutes away from my home, however, I have been to just a handful of times, when I couldn’t get to my regular place. Here are some reasons why:

In the nearby parish, there is no crucifix (showing Christ, crucified) anywhere near the altar as a permanent feature. There is a side chapel on the left, where the tabernacle also is, and above the tabernacle is a beautiful crucifix – but it is not readily visible from the pews. I didn’t even notice it was there until my third visit.

The church office is only opened every other day, for a couple of hours at the most. There is no scheduled time for adoration.

I called once to ask about having a brown scapular blessed, and the woman who works in the church office practically rolled her eyes at the mention of the scapular. They have Marian statues in several places in the church, but Marian devotion seems to be something not given much attention.

There aren’t any times scheduled during the week for any devotions such as the rosary, divine mercy chaplet, or novenas.

RCIA program is offered only on Sunday mornings, “Sunday school” style, before the Sunday Mass, because (and I quote) “We just don’t open the church around here except on Sundays. People around here don’t come to church during the week.”

Today I finally called just to ask the priest why there is no crucifix near the altar, and he said, “We do have a crucifix. It’s not the kind you may be used to seeing…” and he went on to describe the risen Christ statue that is there instead. (I have seen it, as I said, and it is not a crucifix. There’s no cross in it. It’s just a pure white “unfinished” looking statue of Christ standing with His arms lifted up towards Heaven.) This is an older priest, too, who you think would know better.

Then there are the strum-along guitar music songs that cause me to mentally envision one of those little bouncing balls hopping over all the words so people can sing them…and the glasses the Precious Blood is offered in (yes, glasses that look like table water goblets)…and the songs that are so weird you can’t follow the music…and the holy water fonts always being dry as the desert when you get there (and sometimes only have a drop or two as you exit) and the priest sort of not just absolving you of your sins at Confession, but also making them sound less serious than they are (and believe me, I am NOT a scrupulous person.) It’s just a lot of things.

I really wish the closer parish would be more Catholic. I know it sounds selfish and maybe even petty, and that there are some people who would say “get over yourself! You go to Mass for God, not for your aesthetic senses to be happy!” …but things like the risen Christ instead of a crucifix and the lack of devotions…well, it seems more than trivial to me. It feels wrong.

Anybody else noticed things like this, and if so, what can be done about it?

 

[Crusader]

Cherub:

1.) In the nearby parish, there is no crucifix (showing Christ, crucified) anywhere near the altar as a permanent feature. There is a side chapel on the left, where the tabernacle also is, and above the tabernacle is a beautiful crucifix – but it is not readily visible from the pews. I didn’t even notice it was there until my third visit.

2.) The church office is only opened every other day, for a couple of hours at the most. There is no scheduled time for adoration.

3.) I called once to ask about having a brown scapular blessed, and the woman who works in the church office practically rolled her eyes at the mention of the scapular. They have Marian statues in several places in the church, but Marian devotion seems to be something not given much attention.

4.) There aren’t any times scheduled during the week for any devotions such as the rosary, divine mercy chaplet, or novenas.

5.) RCIA program is offered only on Sunday mornings, “Sunday school” style, before the Sunday Mass, because (and I quote) “We just don’t open the church around here except on Sundays. People around here don’t come to church during the week.”

6.) Today I finally called just to ask the priest why there is no crucifix near the altar, and he said, “We do have a crucifix. It’s not the kind you may be used to seeing…” and he went on to describe the risen Christ statue that is there instead. (I have seen it, as I said, and it is not a crucifix. There’s no cross in it. It’s just a pure white “unfinished” looking statue of Christ standing with His arms lifted up towards Heaven.) This is an older priest, too, who you think would know better.

7.) Then there are the strum-along guitar music songs that cause me to mentally envision one of those little bouncing balls hopping over all the words so people can sing them…and the glasses the Precious Blood is offered in (yes, glasses that look like table water goblets)…and the songs that are so weird you can’t follow the music…and the holy water fonts always being dry as the desert when you get there (and sometimes only have a drop or two as you exit) and the priest sort of not just absolving you of your sins at Confession, but also making them sound less serious than they are (and believe me, I am NOT a scrupulous person.) It’s just a lot of things.

8.) I really wish the closer parish would be more Catholic. I know it sounds selfish and maybe even petty, and that there are some people who would say “get over yourself! You go to Mass for God, not for your aesthetic senses to be happy!” …but things like the risen Christ instead of a crucifix and the lack of devotions…well, it seems more than trivial to me. It feels wrong.

Anybody else noticed things like this, and if so, what can be done about it?

1.) A crucifix with corpus (even if it’s a processional crucifix) needs to be near the altar during the Mass per the GIRM. If you have the means, offer to buy a decent processional crucifix for your parish, or pool some money with friends.

2.) Unfortunate, but it has nothing to doing with being “traditional.”

3.) Talk to a priest, not a confused and rude layperson. See #2.

4.) Talk to your pastor about starting a rosary hour or whatever. Would work well with Eucharistic adoration… Again, nothing to do with “traditional” – perhaps no one is willing to step forward.

5.) So? See

6.) See #1.

7.) The glasses are a liturgical abuse. Perhaps you could raise some money for appropriate sacred vessels?

8.) Has nothing to do with being “Catholic.” You parish like many just seems to be quite lax and confused about what needs to take place.

 

[Exporter]

After reading your description I feel very lucky. My Parish Church has on Sunday 4 Masses in the morning, and one at 5PM. There is a Mass at 5PM on Saturday. There is an eight o’clock AM Mass each weekday, then another at 9:30 AM for the Parish school kids. We have a k-8 parish school with everything they need. We have a Sister from Notre Dame here in charge of Religious education + CCD. We usually have 3 Priest sometimes 4. But if you go to Confession on Sat PM, there are not many there, even though we have about 2400 parishioners. We have one Korean Mass per month and one Spanish Mass per Sunday. I am lucky.:tiphat:

 

[Cherub]

1.) A crucifix with corpus (even if it’s a processional crucifix) needs to be near the altar during the Mass per the GIRM. If you have the means, offer to buy a decent processional crucifix for your parish, or pool some money with friends.

4.) Talk to your pastor about starting a rosary hour or whatever. Would work well with Eucharistic adoration… Again, nothing to do with “traditional” – perhaps no one is willing to step forward.

7.) The glasses are a liturgical abuse. Perhaps you could raise some money for appropriate sacred vessels?

8.) Has nothing to do with being “Catholic.” You parish like many just seems to be quite lax and confused about what needs to take place.

Thanks for your advice. It’s not even my parish, so I apologize if I sound uncharitable by just ranting about things that irk me at this place (as I mentioned, I drive 28 miles to attend a parish more in line with my understanding of how things should be done.) It could be argued that if I wanted to change things, I would go there regardless of the little things and try to change them myself, but the times I spoken with people here, no one has been receptive to changing the least little thing. Ultimately, I know it’s none of my business since I don’t go there.

I guess I just needed to vent.

 

[Cherub]

Exporter:

After reading your description I feel very lucky. My Parish Church has on Sunday 4 Masses in the morning, and one at 5PM. There is a Mass at 5PM on Saturday. There is an eight o’clock AM Mass each weekday, then another at 9:30 AM for the Parish school kids. We have a k-8 parish school with everything they need. We have a Sister from Notre Dame here in charge of Religious education + CCD. We usually have 3 Priest sometimes 4. But if you go to Confession on Sat PM, there are not many there, even though we have about 2400 parishioners. We have one Korean Mass per month and one Spanish Mass per Sunday. I am lucky.:tiphat:

Oh yeah, this sounds more like the parish I actually do attend. We have a k-8 school, too, with a brand new building under construction to accommodate the growth. Great religious education and everything. Wow, I feel lucky after reading my own post, and yours. But still kind of sad for this parish closer to where I live.

 

[rayne89]

At our former parish the resident nun wore shorts to church on one occasion and preached the homliy once a month in a robe that looked like a priestly vetiment.
We did have a beautiful huge crusifix, that was a blessing. I was somewhat tolerable until we recieved a new priest who’s cat had an article the weekly bulletin in the which the cat “commented” on how he liked to lay under the pew during Mass. This priest also said in a homily if you don’t think you’ve commited a mortal sin you haven’t and you shouldn’t stay way from commnion. (He said too many people stay away from communion.) The final straw was when he blasted the Passion of the Christ movie in the church bulletin even though he admitted he never saw it. We are now at a wonderful parish and I wish we would have moved sooner. Ok I’ve vented too.

 

[Cherub]

rayne89:

At our former parish the resident nun wore shorts to church on one occasion and preached the homliy once a month in a robe that looked like a priestly vetiment.
We did have a beautiful huge crusifix, that was a blessing. I was somewhat tolerable until we recieved a new priest who’s cat had an article the weekly bulletin in the which the cat “commented” on how he liked to lay under the pew during Mass. This priest also said in a homily if you don’t think you’ve commited a mortal sin you haven’t and you shouldn’t stay way from commnion. (He said too many people stay away from communion.) The final straw was when he blasted the Passion of the Christ movie in the church bulletin even though he admitted he never saw it. We are now at a wonderful parish and I wish we would have moved sooner. Ok I’ve vented too.

That’s pretty wild stuff.

But speaking of shorts, the woman I mentioned above who works in the office at that parish is also always the Lector, and she wore shorts and sleeveless shirts and flip flops or backless sandals all summer long, right down the aisle in the procession looking for all the world like she was on safari instead of at Mass.

 

[RichT]

Simple solution. Don’t go to this parish. That is the same reason I dirve my family past three other parishes every Sunday to attend mass at a parish that my family and I prefer. Not every parish is alike. Thankfully…