The Great Post-Eucharist Stampede

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I realize it’s a long thread, but please read it more thoroughly before posting.

It has already been repeatedly stated by multiple posters that there are valid reasons for leaving early and arriving late. The original post made it clear that the intent of the thread was to observe a cultural phenomenon, not to condemn others. Most of us have acknowledge that there are times when we leave early and/or arrive late. Also, pointing out a largely unknown standard of Mass etiquette is not the same as pointing fingers at those who don’t follow it. Finally, it is judgmental to denounce others as judgmental.
 
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blackforest said:
What is your parish like near the end of Mass? Do people wait to leave until the end of the closing hymn, or does your parish resemble more of a fire drill? Does anyone stay behind to pray?
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I’ve never noticed any ‘great stampede’ behavior at my present parish. People take their time about leaving, and some people stop to greet the priest and deacons at the church door.
 
The church I was going to for a while had the habit of kneeling down and praying for a short time after the final hymn had finished. Over the past few years that has certainly been less focused on and I’ve noticed people rushing to either talk (quite loudly might I note) or leave. I believe the priest was trying to bring it back over Lent though. The other church I frequent does not have this tradition so everyone rushes out or loudly talks right after the final hymn. At both churches people do leave after Communion but not that many that I’ve seen. It’s just a very quick or loud exit after the final hymn.
It really is sad and I think what bothers me most is how irreverent people are in the House of God. There is a parish hall at both churches and a vestibule where they could hold their conversations.
Or perhaps bring back inviting people over or going out for lunch or dinner to have these conversations…
 
Are LifeTeen or Neocatechuminal Way. Maybe those are the fixes since they don’t even have the historical issue. How about one of the other parishes here where there is no problem?
 
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Perhaps you need to take your own advice. I read the thread.
Last time I checked people are allowed to speak here. If I said something someone else already said, so be it. People do that all the time. No one comes on and says to them “people already said that.”

You are “being judgemental that I said someone else is being judgemental,” do you really want to keep that going?

Let it go already.
 
This doesn’t happen at our parish. We pride ourselves in the fact that people stay until the last note of the last hymn.
Never been to a parish where there is a stampeded.
Doesn’t happen in this Archdiocese. And we’ve very culturally diverse.
 
Well, I don’t know about those folks. But I used to make the mistake of leaving in the middle of the last music. Now I calmly sit and listen to it, enjoying those last moments, then I leave when the music stops.
 
Boy, some of you folks would be truly scandalized by some of the longer Eastern services, particularly the “all night” services–it is the norm for people to come and go, and sometimes come back. Being inside for the entire service is the exception, even for some/most of the clergy.

People each come and do their bit towards offering the entire liturgy.

hawk
 
Maybe 10-20% leave after receiving communion. To give them credit though, leaving after receiving communion has a long history and is biblical. Judas did it at the last supper. 🥖
 
semper_catholicus said:
I don’t know why everyone at most churches these days in in such a rush to get out ASAP.

you’ve just received GOD, and you’re going to dash off without even giving him the slightest than you? Come on.
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If it’s any consolation, even at major sporting events (that many Americans seem to revere more than their religious faith) there are a substantial amount of people who bolt early before the sporting event is over so they can beat everyone out to the parking lots.

I regularly attend NBA games where the most exciting part of the game is often the last two minutes of a close game, and yet there’s their are “fans” that still bolt for the doors with only a minute left in the game and the outcome of the game in doubt. And this is at an NBA game that they paid usually over $100 for each ticket to watch.

So it’s not surprising that there are some Catholics that leave early at a Mass. As a lector at my parish, I notice this phenomenon firsthand. At a typical Sunday Mass, I’ll go up to the ambo four times (for the first reading, seconding reading, the general intercessions, and for the general announcements after Holy Communion). I noticed that the pews are the most filled when I read the general intercessions. By the time I read the announcements near the very end of the Mass (after Holy Communion) about 15% of the parishioners have already left. But after reading other comments on this thread, I guess that isn’t as bad as at some other Catholic parishes.
 
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Timeflies2me said:
The parish I go to has this sort of stampede, but the majority wait until the final blessing and leave once the priest passes them.
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That’s perfectly fine.

The Mass is officially over when the priest says the Dismissal and everyone responds, “Thanks be to God.” People are free to go at that point, though it’s simply common courtesy and a sign of respect to wait for the priest to exit first.
 
MD1 said:
In my parish, some people leave directly after receiving Holy Communion. Most stay for the recessional hymn. Very few stay behind to pray. It is sad to see that maybe these people were not taught to stay after Mass if possible and pray. All we can do is pray for our fellow parishioners. God bless.
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At my parish, far more people stay after a weekday day Mass to pray than after a Sunday Mass. I think that’s more because we have back-to-back-to-back Masses on Sundays where people start arriving for the next Mass right after the earlier Mass has ended in addition of having the choir for the next Mass setting up and getting ready for the next Mass, so it’s not as conducive for prayer after a Sunday Mass due to the activity of people coming and going than after our weekday Masses.

On weekdays, we only have two morning Masses spaced about two hours apart, so there’s a lot more quiet time after a weekday Mass for people to pray is a peaceful environment.
 
Yup. Large 4000 family parish Church here with 6 Masses = total chaos. Before, during, and after…**

We have one Time of Arrival = Anytime before electric guitar & drum band practice prior to Mass up until the final recessional party has reached the vestibule. You make it in between there, you’re good!

If you actually enter the church before or during Mass, there are three Times of Departure available to you = scoot out before your pew stands for entering the Communion Line (this is, and always has been for 70 years, the S.O.P. for non-Communicants.) Or, if you are on the Gospel side manned by a myopic ancient trembling EMHC - you can grab Communion and bail right on out the door to the parking lot and beat the congestion! The third option is to wait at your pew until a well-meaning parish council member ascends to the podium and announces in his best Al Dvorin voice: “The Celebrant has left the Building.” Then you’re good to go.

**Nah, I’m just observant, not judgmental. I myself miss all the hubbub by attending the one Mass that shuns most of the above: our 6:00am WWC Mass. 🙂
 
We have a row of boxing Kangaroos at the exits, ready to pounce on anyone leaving before the ‘ thankyou father’ part Of the Mass

🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖 ( resembles a kangaroo a bit, there is no kangaroo avatar. Dinosaur of a keyboard.)

And don’t you people dare say there is no ‘ thankyou father’ part of the Mass
 
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These stories are only tangentially related to the topic and took place quite a few years ago but I find them amusing.

My late father often worked as an usher at my childhood parish. George Lee “Sparky” Anderson, former manger of the Detroit Tigers, was a member of our parish and a faithful Mass attendee. But in order not to attract attention he would always arrive a couple of minutes late and slip in the back. After Communion he’d usually stay in the vestibule and then slip out before the bulk of the people were dismissed. Of course the ushers were familiar with his routine.

I realize that most people are not celebrities and don’t have this as an excuse!

An even more amusing story is about Jim Caviezel. While he is not (at least he wasn’t at that time) a member of my late parents’ parish, he lives nearby and would often attend weekday morning Mass at the same time that my mother and her group of friends would attend. He also would come in just after Mass started and leave just before it ended. My mother and her friends would find it amusing the few times he stayed around long enough for them to see his Ferrari zooming out of the parking lot. My mother’s friend once observed that, “Jesus goes to my Church!” and that has become a favorite family story ever since.
 
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My father in law was never in a hurry to leave Mass. But he was also never one to arrive early. Sometimes, before we were married, I would be at his house ready to go to the 9am Mass with them. As the minutes ticked closer to 9am I would glance nervously at my watch and say something like “well, we’d better get started.” “No,” he would say, “plenty of time yet.”

Finally, when we seemed to me that we were surely late, we would all pile into his car—no rush—and drive the few blocks to church, parking right next to the side door. We would all pile out and enter through the side door just as the priest was halfway down the aisle for the entrance hymn. We were never late, but our arrival time always amazingly coincided with the priest being halfway down the aisle but not yet at the altar. Curiously, he was never in a hurry to leave, and would sometimes stop to admonish some teenager who had not in his view been paying attention during Mass.
 
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