The Easter Vigil was very disappointing

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CatholicZ09

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So, I went to the Easter Vigil Mass tonight and from the time I got there (about 30 minutes before Mass) until the time Mass was to begin, people were talking nonstop. Secondly, there was this lady in front of me with two kids and she was feeding one of them and the kid was chomping on what ever he was eating very loudly, and it was distracting. Then, the woman kept getting text messages and kept staring down at her phone. After that, she got two phone calls (phone on full volume), and she ignored the first one, but then answered, yes answered the second one! I was ready to flip. With all these distractions, it was very hard to concentrate on the main purpose of why I was there.

I hope the 8am and 10am Masses tomorrow are more tolerable.
 
Sorry to hear that. Some people are so inconsiderate. Don’t they realise it’s the most important Mass of the liturgical year?
 
Should this happen again, ask an usher to deal with her. Food does not belong in the Church and the Usher will also tell her to turn off her phone.
 
I know how you feel!!! Our Triduum Masses were not sooo bad as usual though, I think people sensed the liturgical importance and were slightly more reverent because of it. I waited for the telltale sign of who believes in the Real Presence - and I didn’t mean to judge, just observe who genuflected to the empty tabernacle. Hmmm, these are the ones who yell greetings to each other across the church every morning…

Thanks be to God, come college this fall I’ll be attending a beautiful Latin Mass on Sundays and a very reverent OF for daily Mass!! YAYYY
 
How very inconsiderate people are, there is nothing more important aside from a emergency from the babysitter, than spending time with God on this most Holy day. HOW SAD:(
 
CatholicZ09 said:
So, I went to the Easter Vigil Mass tonight and from the time I got there (about 30 minutes before Mass) until the time Mass was to begin, people were talking nonstop. Secondly, there was this lady in front of me with two kids and she was feeding one of them and the kid was chomping on what ever he was eating very loudly, and it was distracting. Then, the woman kept getting text messages and kept staring down at her phone. After that, she got two phone calls (phone on full volume), and she ignored the first one, but then answered, yes answered the second one! I was ready to flip. With all these distractions, it was very hard to concentrate on the main purpose of why I was there.

I hope the 8am and 10am Masses tomorrow are more tolerable.
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Sorry for what you went through! Some people just don’t seem to understand how truly sacred the Mass really is and especially for this time of year.
 
Ah, well, I had a 4 and a half hour mass that was more in Spanish than in English, with a child, we have NO IDEA whose, running around like a bat out of hell. I mean, he was no older than 3, and no one was keeping tabs on him!

Wonderful sermon from Fr Mathias, and I now know how to both baptise and confirm someone in Spanish, but really; did we HAVE to sing EVERY song in both languages? And every prayer? And every gospel reading? It was 85 degrees in that church…

I know it sounds horrible, and I sound whiny, but really…4+ hours…my goodness
 
shondrea said:
Ah, well, I had a 4 and a half hour mass that was more in Spanish than in English, with a child, we have NO IDEA whose, running around like a bat out of hell. I mean, he was no older than 3, and no one was keeping tabs on him!

Wonderful sermon from Fr Mathias, and I now know how to both baptise and confirm someone in Spanish, but really; did we HAVE to sing EVERY song in both languages? And every prayer? And every gospel reading? It was 85 degrees in that church…

I know it sounds horrible, and I sound whiny, but really…4+ hours…my goodness
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Better than mine, not ONE person came into the Church by way of our parish tonight (or any recent year as far as I can remember). I consider that a failure. Plus a one hour thirty minute Mass, with skipped readings and the priest yelling instructions because nobody knew what to do. Lord help us… :signofcross:
 
My gosh, NO ONE? We had, like, 20 baptisms and almost 30 confirmations, and a half dozen girls in beautiful white veils
 
shondrea said:
My gosh, NO ONE? We had, like, 20 baptisms and almost 30 confirmations, and a half dozen girls in beautiful white veils
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Well they like tradition (as in the tradition of the 70s), so that’s what they get I guess… 😦 It is really sad.
 
We had about 1,000 people, with 60 new Catholics admitted to the Church. This weekend, we have 12 masses, because the Church can only sit 800. On the altar there were five secular priests, four secular deacons and three religious brothers.

At our other parish we had six of our brothers, only one of them is a priest. They received about 35 into the Church. They had a congregation of over 800. Their parish is small, about 2,000 families. But they are having 6 masses tomorrow. The superior has asked priests who are not doing priestly ministry to come say mass. We have about 25 secular priests who do not do preistly ministry. They teach or are administrators at the chancery. Some are retired too. But they love to come help.

The brothers did have mass in three languages, because the community is trilingual. Mass was in Spanish, English and French. Two of the brothers are from Haiti, one is from Colombia and the other three are North Americans.

But the people accomodate very well to the different readings in different languages. The Eucharistic prayer is always in English The Sanctus and Angnus Dei are in Latin. The hymns are in different languages all done by one choir. So they have to learn the proper pronunciations. I have to admire them, they don’t falter. I didn’t get to hear them tonight, because I was at the other parish. But I heard them at Christmas. They were very good. It’s always good to see all the Catholics celebrating together.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
I forgot to add that there were three phones that went off during the mass. Finally, the pastor was getting upset. He stopped and told the congregation to turn off the phones or leave. Some people think that they can’t live without their phones.

Fraternally in the Risen Lord,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
I mean, I hate to judge people like that, but it sucked a lot of the reverence out of that Mass. I really love that Mass too, however, it was just really bad this year. I’m glad I’m going today to make up for that. I tend to like Easter Sunday Masses better than the Vigil. At least the music sort of made people to stop talking, and it got me on focus again. It just didn’t feel like an Easter Mass. 😦

On the other hand, my parochial vicar did an awesome job with the Exsultet! 👍
 
CatholicZ09 said:
I mean, I hate to judge people like that, but it sucked a lot of the reverence out of that Mass. I really love that Mass too, however, it was just really bad this year. I’m glad I’m going today to make up for that. I tend to like Easter Sunday Masses better than the Vigil. At least the music sort of made people to stop talking, and it got me on focus again. It just didn’t feel like an Easter Mass. 😦

On the other hand, my parochial vicar did an awesome job with the Exsultet! 👍
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We had a beautiful mass, except for the part when the pastor had to ask that the phones be turned off and the Exultet. He’s a great preacher, but can’t sing. :eek:

Fraternally,

Br JR, OSF 🙂
 
My parish had a beautiful mass and lasted 2 hours very reverent. The church was beautifully decorated. Three adults were confirmed this year. For the most part, parishioners are quite respectful at my parish for mass. Last night a family of 4 (two girls 5-7 years?) that I didn’t recognize sat in front of me. After an hour the two girls became restless and were lying down on the pews and up and down. They left right before communion - maybe didn’t realize the vigil was a two hour mass. The family in the pew in front of them had two girls same age who sat behaved like little ladies so it is possible to bring kids to mass and have them behave appropriately. At least I didn’t see any kids run up and down the aisle like at some services in the past.
 
We had a wonderful Vigil with all the readings. It lasted about four hours and fifteen minutes. We had a lot of beautiful music. The church was packed.

One thing I don’t understand about the cell phones is that if I hear a phone go off I will always check my even though I know it is turned off. I just like to be careful. I do the same if they make an announcement at the beginning. I check. Once in a great while I find I didn’t turn it off. I
 
CatholicZ09 said:
So, I went to the Easter Vigil Mass tonight and from the time I got there (about 30 minutes before Mass) until the time Mass was to begin, people were talking nonstop. Secondly, there was this lady in front of me with two kids and she was feeding one of them and the kid was chomping on what ever he was eating very loudly, and it was distracting. Then, the woman kept getting text messages and kept staring down at her phone. After that, she got two phone calls (phone on full volume), and she ignored the first one, but then answered, yes answered the second one! I was ready to flip. With all these distractions, it was very hard to concentrate on the main purpose of why I was there.

I hope the 8am and 10am Masses tomorrow are more tolerable.
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All of this happened outside 30 minutes before the lighting of the New Fire?
 
CatholicZ09 said:
So, I went to the Easter Vigil Mass tonight and from the time I got there (about 30 minutes before Mass) until the time Mass was to begin, people were talking nonstop. Secondly, there was this lady in front of me with two kids and she was feeding one of them and the kid was chomping on what ever he was eating very loudly, and it was distracting. Then, the woman kept getting text messages and kept staring down at her phone. After that, she got two phone calls (phone on full volume), and she ignored the first one, but then answered, yes answered the second one! I was ready to flip. With all these distractions, it was very hard to concentrate on the main purpose of why I was there.

I hope the 8am and 10am Masses tomorrow are more tolerable.
Click to expand...
As slick willy (Bill Clinton) once said, “I feel your pain America.” All joking aside though, Thank God for the grace that he gave you, because you didn’t end up choking that woman. I can’t stand when I hear cell phones ring in church. Chatty Parishioners are unfortunately always going to be part of the problem, but that doesn’t make it right. I don’t think that there is any excuse whatsoever, to be hearing cell phones ring in church. The last time I checked, all cell phones have a vibrate button on them. If people feel that they must have their cell phones on them, put them on vibrate. I also hate when people actually talk on their cell phones in the church. I don’t care if the Mass is over, go outside, or at least into the vestibule, before you answer, dial, or start talking on your phone. Its just plain ignorant and totally disrespectful to everyone around you, and especially very disrespectful to God Himself. Its a very sad time we live in, when libraries, movie theaters and lines in Post Offices, are given more respect for quietness, than the inside of a Catholic Church is. I still hope that you have a Happy, Holy & Blessed Easter friend, and I hope Todays Mass is much better. God bless you friend. P.S. Maybe God puts all of these annoying people around us, so that we can practice patience & humility, and He is making Saints out of us. Try to think of it that way.
 
We had a lovely Vigil, though for some unknown reason Fr. decided to only have 3 of the 7 readings. That was a disappointment. There was no music but the choir acquitted themselves admirably a capella. The cantor sang the Exsultet! and as usual she did a wonderful job (better than Fr. sing one verse last year and then reading the rest).

The one great disappointment was looking out into the assembly when I went up to read and seeing 6 rows of empty pews before stretching before me. We had fewer than 1/2 of the regular Sunday crowd.

No cell phones went off. Often when one does it’s our organist’s who’s also the only anesthesiologist and is on call 24/7, but he’s away this Easter.
 
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