This really pushed my charitable thought to the limit!

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AngelusDomini said:
This may not seem a big deal to some people but it really annoyed me.

I recently attended a vigil mass while away on business, unfortunately I left in a less than charitable mood. Mass was said so quickly that if one didn’t have a missal it was just garbled - acoustics in large churches do not really allow for rapid speech, however, I have experienced this before so no big matter. What really did get to me though was this…

At the offertory collection baskets were being passed around, however, the celebrant launched into the Eucharistic prayer which meant that those of us at the back were still passing the baskets around just before the Sanctus, a second collection was also making its way around for a separate cause. Long story short - a basket was thrust into my hand just at the point of the elevations!

This was at a well known and prominent Catholic Church, I would have expected more knowledge of the importance of the liturgy by the stewards. All in all I left a little annoyed and disappointed. I did try to presume on the good intentions of those collecting, however, this did push the boundaries.

Anyone else experienced this sort of thing and how did you deal with it?
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Frankly, I think you are making a mountain out of a molehill. It seems your limits are exceeded very easily!
 
thistle said:
Frankly, I think you are making a mountain out of a molehill. It seems your limits are exceeded very easily!
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Actually, I think the OP is quite correct to be scandalised. I would be, too.
 
AngelusDomini said:
As it wasn’t my regular parish it wasn’t my place to say anything. And the priest was a lovely chap.

Looking back, I’m just pleased I was able to go to mass in this place as it’s somewhere I have wanted to attend for ages.

Also, counting the positives that at least I was able to go to mass, something not everyone has ease of access to and in some places would mean risking life/prison.
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I can think of several possible explanations; he might have not been feeling well; he might have had to say Mass elsewhere and was on a time schedule; he may have had a commitment not necessarily of his making that was a time crunch.
 
Phemie said:
No, because people were paying more attention to the collection plate than to what was happening at the altar.
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Sorry. I did not know you were present to witness these events. If you were not you seem to be scandalised by listening to hearsay.
 
I think you should write a kind letter to the pastor expressing your thoughts, and then leave it at that.
 
Cat said:
If this is all it took to “push your charitable thought to the limit,” perhaps you should consider enlarging your charitable thought limits?

On my “Annoyance Scale,” this wouldn’t even register. 🙂

If this were in the United States in the last few weeks, I would suggest that perhaps it was done because of dangerous winter weather. We’ve had several bad storms in the last month, with snow falling so fast that it could literally snow several inches in an hour, and temps below zero, with windchills in the teens and twenties. This makes it really tough (dangerous) for people to drive home, so I know that Masses are being “compacted” to make sure everyone gets home safely.

But I don’t know anything about England, so can’t speculate.

Hope this is helpful to you.
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A compacted Mass? Does that really work? I know of cases where they will just cancel services if the weather is bad.
 
SuperLuigi said:
A compacted Mass? Does that really work? I know of cases where they will just cancel services if the weather is bad.
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I know one pastor who delayed starting the service to give everyone time to get there. That didn’t go over too well with those already there, as the snow was still accumulating and they were afraid of being stranded there.
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
Different parishes train ushers in different ways. And, as usual in these situations, if you’re not in charge of things all you can do is let it go if you’re unhappy. The other choice is to allow something that took a few seconds to ruin your day, your week, or your month.

At my parish the ushers are well trained to notice where things are in the liturgy and act accordingly. If latecomers arrive, the ushers will wait to seat them until there’s a break in the liturgy – at the point where people are changing positions from standing to sitting, for example. They won’t have people moving around during a prayer or during a reading. But I’ve been in other parishes where that’s not how things are done. Oh well. Makes me appreciate my own parish all the more.
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Well, one really shouldn’t let it ruin the day, but something like this seems disruptive to the Mass.
 
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