SPLIT: Too much singing at Mass

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sirach2v4

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I’d like to piggyback a question that seems really similar to the OP: My parish has two churches, and in one of the churches, there seems to be just endless singing. Seriously, the Mass is 15 minutes longer in the one parish, due to all the singing, all the stanzas (and repeated, too) and the choruses. One Sunday I counted 70 total, stanzas and choruses.

first of all, my voice can’t take it.

second, I thought there should be times at Mass for private meditation, it’s not like an awkward silence to me, it’s time for prayer, too.

third, it takes so much more time.

When is there an excess of singing? ever?
 
sirach2v4 said:
I’d like to piggyback a question that seems really similar to the OP: My parish has two churches, and in one of the churches, there seems to be just endless singing. Seriously, the Mass is 15 minutes longer in the one parish, due to all the singing, all the stanzas (and repeated, too) and the choruses. One Sunday I counted 70 total, stanzas and choruses.

first of all, my voice can’t take it.

second, **I thought there should be times at Mass for private meditation, it’s not like an awkward silence to me, it’s time for prayer, too.
**
third, it takes so much more time.

When is there an excess of singing? ever?
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Do what you can. No one asks you to do the impossible.

I don’t think there is an excess of singing. Mass can be sung in its entirety. How much of it is sung in your experience? In mine, little. The 4-hymn sandwich, the Gloria, Sanctus, Mysterium Fidei, Amen, and Agnus Dei.

As for what Is sung, the rules are there to say how it’s to be done.

According to the GIRM, the Entrance Chant’s purpose is to open the celebration, foster the unity of those who have been gathered, introduce their thoughts to the mystery of the liturgical time or festivity, and accompany the procession of the Priest and ministers. It’s a lot of things to do in two stanzas, especially when a beloved hymn has 4 or 5.

The Offertory Chant last has much the same purpose as the Entrance Chant and should last at least until the gifts are placed on the altar, but should be over by the time the priest washes his hands.

The Communion chant starts with the priest receiving Communion and should last at least until everyone has received. That requires many stanzas or a couple of different hymns, depending on the number going to receive. The larger the parish, the longer the singing. If there is going to be another hymn instead of a period of silence after Communion, the Communion Chant should not last much beyond the last person receiving.

No song/chant/hymn should be abridged if part of the message will be left out. I think we’ve all experienced a trinitarian hymn where one of the three persons is missing. Yes, you know, the one that they stop singing after the second verse, because Father has reached the sanctuary, completely omitting the Holy Spirit in the name of not making it too long. It’s singing, not cardiac arrest – 30 extra seconds won’t matter.
 
We have two Sunday morning Masses. Both are wonderful Liturgies but the first Mass is just a little lower key than the 11:00 which is more elaborate. For one thing we do not “sing” the Creed in the first Mass. We only recite it, whereas it is always sung during the second Mass. The first Mass lasts about an hour or a little over. The second Sunday morning Mass last almost an hour and a half. People have a choice of which Mass that they would prefer to attend including Saturday Vigil or the Sunday evening Mass which is probably the least elaborate. Father really wanted to do away with the Sunday evening Mass because it seemed to him like, well whatever…but some convinced him that it was needed. Personally, I do not feel that there is anything wrong with showing great praise to God by singing all the verses of the hymns and the great length of the Mass. We still have ample time for silent period after Communion because our deacon is the slowest to purify the vessels 🙂 and there is no music during that time. Week day Masses have far less singing- usually an entrance hymn two verses an a recessional hymn- two verses and some days no singing at all. I don’t know about you, but I have to occasionally ask myself if I give ample time praising God. It seems that most of my prayers are petitions.
 
Didn’t you have a thread last week where you felt that you were getting nothing out of Mass anymore?

I guess I can understand now.
Why in the world would you think you should COUNT the refrains of the music???

You maybe should read or re-read The Lamb’s Supper by Scott Hahn to reignite your passion for the Mass.
Good luck!
 
tawny said:
There’s an old saying. “When you sing, you pray twice”
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Sincerity is the key, whether you sing, recite, or just plain contemplate. Trying to show up fellow parishioners is hardly a cause of rejoice in heaven.
 
Coming from a Protestant denomination that has good music well placed in the liturgy, I don’t mind the singing. 😃

I think things like this don’t really matter as much. We are supposed to go to Mass to worship and praise Jesus, and if singing more helps people do that, that is good. If for someone meditating works out, that is good, too. If for some, praying the Rosary the entire Mass works, that is fine, too.

If you are unable to sing all the time, you could hum the melody to yourself, or simply be quietly praying or meditating.
 
Graceful_Lamb said:
Coming from a Protestant denomination that has good music well placed in the liturgy, I don’t mind the singing. 😃

I think things like this don’t really matter as much. We are supposed to go to Mass to worship and praise Jesus, and if singing more helps people do that, that is good. If for someone meditating works out, that is good, too. If for some, praying the Rosary the entire Mass works, that is fine, too.

If you are unable to sing all the time, you could hum the melody to yourself, or simply be quietly praying or meditating.
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Best advice I’ve heard so far. 👍
 
I also do not like a mass with too much singing.

If you think it is distracting or annoying, and you do not get anything out of it, then try going to another Mass.

Nothing wrong with that.
 
IMHO, it’s fine to have preferences.
Finding fault with every liturgy is another thing.
We all need to remember who it is we are really with during Mass.
The Lord loves people who love each other.
 
pianistclare said:
IMHO, it’s fine to have preferences.
Finding fault with every liturgy is another thing.
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Is it the liturgy that’s being criticized or the liturgical committees which plan the music, options, etc.? Big difference.
 
claymcdermott said:
If you think it is distracting or annoying, and you do not get anything out of it, then try going to another Mass.

Nothing wrong with that.
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Ehh, actually there might be. The entire loss of the idea of parish territoriality along with the ease of being able to drive past three churches to pick the parish based upon preference and then even within that the time of mass one likes creates such a disunity that is never discussed in the West. If the music inhibits any semblance of prayer either there is a parochial issue with the music being sung or the individual who is so disturbs because their preferences are not being met. As Graceful_Lamb said, one needn’t even sing if one cannot or prefer not to do so. But the Church is not the dictatorship of the individual, which is what often happens when we specifically skip mass at 10AM because Fr Bob is saying it or Mr. Flan insisting to impose his contemporary youth choir (with a median age of 60 :p) on everyone else.
 
I don’t have a lot of personal experience with Roman Catholic liturgies but it’s my understanding that the old extraordinary form had a sung mass. Maybe the current ordinary form does too. Either way it seems that a lot of singing has been the norm down through the centuries.
 
MorEphrem said:
Ehh, actually there might be. The entire loss of the idea of parish territoriality . . .
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such territoriality is not universal, as I was stunned to learn, having grown up in the San Francisco Archdiocese.

When I landed in PA, two churches were a block apart, while a third was 3 or 4 blocks away (and a a Ruthenian EC church tucked behind that one!).

The Irish arrived first and built their church, the Lithuanians and Poles built their own when they arrived.

People still want the to same parishes as their grandparents.

All were built as "national churches"l.

hawk
 
dochawk said:
such territoriality is not universal, as I was stunned to learn, having grown up in the San Francisco Archdiocese.

When I landed in PA, two churches were a block apart, while a third was 3 or 4 blocks away (and a a Ruthenian EC church tucked behind that one!).

The Irish arrived first and built their church, the Lithuanians and Poles built their own when they arrived.

People still want the to same parishes as their grandparents.

All were built as "national churches"l.

hawk
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That would still illustrate the point of a parish’s jurisdiction. If you’re ever in an old immigrant city (like NYC) you’ll find churches literally around the corner - one an Irish church, the other an Italian church. They served their respective constituents and were built were they were generally because they were situated in a ghetto. Parish territory is necessarily defined in the erecting of a parish.
 
Sure, for those groups.

And what about Italians?

There was a woman eager to tell anyone who would listen how her grandfather was turned away for not having his pew tax, to show “how Italians were treated here.”

Italians, Germans, etc. would have to go to one of the other national churches, as there was no territorial church (and to this day, I think the next closest church to this cluster is 25 miles away . . .)
 
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