The final song for the conclusion of the Mass and clapping

[BVMFatima]

Today at the conclusion of the Mass the Chior began clapping and the entire parish began clapping during the final song as the priest also joined while exiting the sanctuary. Is this valid since it is not during the Mass?

God Bless!
BVMFatima

 

[JoyfulRC]

I don’t think that the validity of the Mass would be affected by what you describe. I know I wouldn’t have appreciated the commotion.

We are singers at our parish, and we express our Easter joy by rattling the windows and almost lifting the roof with our alleluias. It’s a great feeling to be in the midst of a crowd that stays to sing at the top of their lungs all four verses of Jesus Christ Is Risen Today. :extrahappy:

 

[Elizabeth779]

I agree – sometimes it’s fun to lift the voices as loud and as high as they will go to tell Him how much we love Him.

 

[Filii_Dei]

Can clapping be invalid? Is there a need for necessary form and matter for clapping to be valid? It looks and sounds like clapping but isn’t really?

I think you are referring to liceity, but Canon Law does not strictly govern applause, so perhaps the more appropriate term is propriety.

As our Pope Emeritus said when he was Cardinal Ratzinger,

Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment.
- Spirit of the Liturgy

However, that does not preclude the use of applause to celebrate God’s works. Therefore, intention is everything here. If the congregation clapped for the choir after they finished the song, then it may be clapping for their singing, which is a human achievement and detracts from the Mass’s central focus on God.

However, if - as you say - the congregation were clapping at the moment of conclusion of the Mass along with the recessional song, they may be using their applause as a joyous celebration of the resurrection of Christ. Perhaps it is better for us to give the benefit of the doubt here.

That being said, I like to be conservative on the use of clapping. The only time I would tolerate applause is at a baptism, confirmation, ordination, installation or wedding. That’s a lot of possible use cases, but I would certainly not clap because of a song.

 

[Phemie]

I don’t think the OP was talking about applause, just clapping of hands during the recessional. I can’t think of an Easter Hymn that would make me want to clap like that, although singing Jesus Christ Is Risen Today accompanied by guitars last night came close. How I long for someone to join the parish who knows how to play the organ!

 

[ProVobis]

I don’t think the OP was talking about applause, just clapping of hands during the recessional. I can’t think of an Easter Hymn that would make me want to clap like that, although singing Jesus Christ Is Risen Today accompanied by guitars last night came close. How I long for someone to join the parish who knows how to play the organ!

Be careful for what you ask, you may get him or her.

youtube.com/watch?v=0gRBCAdC7wI

 

[clem456]

We (choir) normally will get applause after the Christmas or Easter recessional hymns. Songs l;ike “Joy to the World” can be overpowering when done with a full choir, trumpets, pipe organ.
I see nothing wrong at all with spontaneous appreciation after Mass has ended.

 

[Layp3rs0n]

I normally avoid clapping during mass for any reason for the reason given by the Bishop Emitus of Rome. However, if it’s after the Ite, missa est, mass is ended, go in peace, the Liturgy is over and is imho more tolerable and I will occassionally indiulge as well.

 

[Filii_Dei]

We (choir) normally will get applause after the Christmas or Easter recessional hymns. Songs l;ike “Joy to the World” can be overpowering when done with a full choir, trumpets, pipe organ.
I see nothing wrong at all with spontaneous appreciation after Mass has ended.

My choir receives applause too, especially - as you say - at the grand Christmas and Easter masses. We acknowledge their appreciation, and we accept their good intentions humbly. However, we do not clap along, because we understand that such applause ruins the sacred atmosphere of the Church.

It is God who gave us the Mass, so any appreciation must be shown not to us but to God. If we think that such applause is proper, we would believe that we deserve the credit for a splendid Mass, when it is God who must be thanked for making this great and wondrous sacrifice that we celebrate. We are not performers showing off our talents to our fellow Catholics, but merely assistants and supporters of this great liturgy. We sing to glorify God, not ourselves.

 

[Phemie]

Yesterday I thanked our Pastor for sparing us the usual ‘applause’ by launching into the Prayer after Communion immediately after thanking the people who had made the Vigil so beautiful. Of course it would have been better if he’d completed the Communion Rite before his thanks but I’ll take what I can get.

In the same conversation he made it clear, by stating just that, that rubrics mean nothing to him. I, OTOH, made it clear to him that I’m a '“Say the black, do the red” person and have learned to just close my eyes at Mass to avoid seeing things that upset me, but I thanked him for genuflecting when it’s called for.

 

[smndtupidisaftr]

I’ve never liked it. I don’t like the raucous of that kind of celebration in a church where the celebration should be more solemn. Secondly, it encourages a lot of talking after Mass and I detest that in the place where the tabernacle is held and people are trying to pray.