Telling a joke at the end of mass

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After announcements, our priest always tells a joke. It has nothing to do with the mass. Sometimes it’s a religious joke, often times it is not. It might be just a blond joke. It’s said before the mass is ended.

I find this terribly offensive and irreverent.

My husband has written to him about it, but he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with it. He loves the attention and laughs he gets. He absolutely does not care if he does anything like this during mass.

There are other things he does that are plain wrong (like having the people stand up BEFORE the Great Amen)

But, the joke is just ridiculous. My MIL always walks out of church when he starts his joke. Most people laugh, but there are others that clearly are annoyed.

Anybody else have a priest that does this?
 
My pastor does that, too. It doesn’t seem to be a big deal to me.
 
I am so thrilled to have this priest. His jokes I have heard before. He is a native of Poland and his accent is so charming. He has brought back our bells:dancing: He has eliminated so many abuses. I don’t see anything wrong with this. If you could quote something that this shouldn’t be done than I will bring it to his attention. Otherwise I will start laughing the minute I recognize the joke he is telling.
 
rochejaune said:
After announcements, our priest always tells a joke. It has nothing to do with the mass. Sometimes it’s a religious joke, often times it is not. It might be just a blond joke. It’s said before the mass is ended.

I find this terribly offensive and irreverent.

My husband has written to him about it, but he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with it. He loves the attention and laughs he gets. He absolutely does not care if he does anything like this during mass.

There are other things he does that are plain wrong (like having the people stand up BEFORE the Great Amen)

But, the joke is just ridiculous. My MIL always walks out of church when he starts his joke. Most people laugh, but there are others that clearly are annoyed.

Anybody else have a priest that does this?
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Hey there yellow rock 🙂

Frankly, I’m surprised by the other people that have responded to you. If the joke were in good taste and perhaps somehow relevant to the readings or perhaps the sending forth of all of us to preach the gospel, it wouldn’t bother me. But the way you describe it, if he’s just telling random jokes…it seems like it is very out of place.
 
This sort of thing distracts from the gravity of what has just ocurred - the Sacrifice of Christ. It profanes the temple of God where the very presence of Christ resides. The time following Mass is a prayerful time of quiet thanksgiving.

Jokes following Mass are entirely inappropriate, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
 
Dauphin said:
This sort of thing distracts from the gravity of what has just ocurred - the Sacrifice of Christ. It profanes the temple of God where the very presence of Christ resides. The time following Mass is a prayerful time of quiet thanksgiving.

Jokes following Mass are entirely inappropriate, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
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If this is the case, aren’t the announcements equally inappropriate? And wouldn’t any humor during the homily be inappropriate as well?

I don’t agree with this position, but if that is the position you take, wouldn’t those follow along with it?
 
Our pastor is always telling jokes following the announcements. They’re usually religious jokes and I don’t really mind them. I can understand you get annoyed if some of the jokes are inappropriate; blond jokes etc …
 
Lujack said:
If this is the case, aren’t the announcements equally inappropriate? And wouldn’t any humor during the homily be inappropriate as well?

I don’t agree with this position, but if that is the position you take, wouldn’t those follow along with it?
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Announcements are fine, as long as they’re particularly important, and they’re kept brief. Otherwise, it can be left to the bulletin.

The homily isn’t an excuse for the priest to crack jokes. If, however, some mild humour can help to make an important point, it may be acceptable. There’s absolutely no justification though, for jokes after Mass, since there’s no context that makes it acceptable. The priest shouldn’t act like a stand-up comic - it trivializes his status as the alter Christus.
 
What is the purpose of telling a ***“joke” ***after Mass? It is not a social get together…it is the "Sacrifice" of the Mass.

How do those 2 things go together? That is why I opt for the TLM…even though my NO priest has not done this. Thankfully…
 
Dauphin said:
This sort of thing distracts from the gravity of what has just ocurred - the Sacrifice of Christ. It profanes the temple of God where the very presence of Christ resides. The time following Mass is a prayerful time of quiet thanksgiving.

Jokes following Mass are entirely inappropriate, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
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I concur. Before I started to attend the TLM, another parish I visited, a priest would tell jokes berore the homily. I don’t have an issue with that, I don’t think.

To do it at the end of Mass is inappropriate if not vulgar. Yes, that’s just what it is, vulgar. The Mass is a prayer, reverance of God and the sacrifice at Calvary is in order! I think you did the right thing by writing to him. What he is doing is very disrespectful and not in place. The Mass is not about the priest.
 
rochejaune said:
After announcements, our priest always tells a joke. It has nothing to do with the mass. Sometimes it’s a religious joke, often times it is not. It might be just a blond joke. It’s said before the mass is ended.

I find this terribly offensive and irreverent.

My husband has written to him about it, but he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with it. He loves the attention and laughs he gets. He absolutely does not care if he does anything like this during mass.

There are other things he does that are plain wrong (like having the people stand up BEFORE the Great Amen)

But, the joke is just ridiculous. My MIL always walks out of church when he starts his joke. Most people laugh, but there are others that clearly are annoyed.

Anybody else have a priest that does this?
Click to expand...
Sadly, I too have had priests that do this in the past. I agree, it is completely offensive and irreverent. The focus of the Mass is not on the priest! He shouldn’t be cracking jokes and making him the “center stage.” The Mass is about the Holy Sacrifice. It’s one of the reasons why the priest shouldn’t be facing the people - it makes it more of a show. Mass becomes about him, is he amusing. Jokes with no purpose (i.e. as another poster said to lighten a serious part of the homily perhaps) are irreverent and take the attention away from the most Holy Sacrifice, the unbloody re-presentation of the Sacrifice at Calvary.
 
Like, A Priest, a Rabbi and a Minster walk into a bar,
the Bartender says, What is this, some kind of a joke?

seriously thou, jokes should not be told anytime before during or after the celerbration of mass.
 
FrCorey said:
Like, A Priest, a Rabbi and a Minster walk into a bar,
the Bartender says, What is this, some kind of a joke?
Click to expand...
Always a classic. But you’d be surprised how many people don’t “get it” when I’ve told that joke.

At any rate, I’m not a fan of joke telling during Mass. We’ve had priests who put humor or light-hearted moments into the homily, but that’s different. Telling actual jokes is not a good idea.

In fact, our Bishop put out a document that, among other things, specifically banned it, saying it was inapproriate for a Mass, and even if he did allow it, were would we draw the line?

The bishop’s letter basically said that, today, it might be an innocent little joke, but if we keep adding a little thing here and there, one at a time, what will we end up with? (Wait, I think we already have our answer).
 
Thank you all for the responses.

I do not mind when he tells a funny little story at the beginning of his homily to get a point across. But, the joke at the end of mass has nothing to do with anything. It’s just a joke, just to tell a joke. But, a lot of people laugh, and he does enjoy that.
 
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