What's something positive that has shocked you at a Mass?

[Solomonson]

This usually only happens in small churches but what is really awesome is when the Incense is at such a volume when the sanctuary is slightly foggy. Seeing the priest lift the Eucharist during the consecration within all of this is heavenly. And when the servers are reverent and bowing…Lovely.
The smells and bells may not be necessary but they do add something.

Yes they do.

 

[MissRose73]

I went to an All Souls TLM, and saw about 5 boys ranging in age from 8 -17 serving at the altar alongside the priest and a few deacons plus a few priests sitting in choir nearby. Keep in mind, a All Souls Requiem Mass has some things that are not done in a typical High Mass. After, I saw one of the boys who appeared to be around 10 talking with their father, and I complimented the boy on his hard work in front of his father. The father said those were my sons serving up there, and I said all of them did very well.

 

[WilliamE]

What’s something positive that shocked you at a Mass?

I remember it like it was yesterday. Palm Sunday, 2015. The new priest at been at our parish for only a couple of weeks and we were still trying to get a “feel” for him. When it came time to recite the sequence, much to everyone’s surprise…the short form was used!!!

Hallelujah!!!

 

[EasterJoy]

They were not drilling during Mass. They drilled outside of Mass so that they could beautifully serve Mass. I think about that experience a great deal when I see young servers struggling in the sanctuary because no one has ever taken the interest or made the investment to properly train them, or when someone is trying to “direct” them from the front row for the same reasons.

In the end this father and his sons did their very best to serve the priest who was celebrating the Mass. To suggest that’s an “obsessive compulsive ritual” is highly offensive and incorrect.

I know what you mean; I don’t think military was the word you wanted, in spite of the sense that everyone knew what he was to do and nothing was left to chance.

When altar serving is very good, it is not military at all. It is heavenly. It is both reverent and competent in a way that is so effortless and serene, it is as if the angels themselves were ministering. No matter what comes up, the servers go with the flow and take care of every need the priest has so seamlessly that most in the congregation never notice anything unplanned ever happened.

 

[Solomonson]

I know what you mean; I don’t think military was the word you wanted, in spite of the sense that everyone knew what he was to do and nothing was left to chance.

When altar serving is very good, it is not military at all. It is heavenly. It is both reverent and competent in a way that is so effortless and serene, it is as if the angels themselves were ministering. No matter what comes up, the servers go with the flow and take care of every need the priest has so seamlessly that most in the congregation never notice anything unplanned ever happened.

I do think the very best altar serving is military in its precision, timing, but never, never outwardly severe as some equate to military drill and ceremony. It’s also adaptive and resourceful in real time.

I think some attack comments about superior altar serving in an attempt to defend the serving they experience at their own parishes.

 

[EasterJoy]

I do think the very best altar serving is military in its precision, timing, but never, never outwardly severe as some equate to military drill and ceremony. It’s also adaptive and resourceful in real time.

I think some attack comments about superior altar serving in an attempt to defend the serving they experience at their own parishes.

Teaching servers how to serve without making them think they have to be stiff or getting them so they are obviously fearful of making a mistake is one of the challenges of training altar servers. It may be that the people responding are speaking against their own experience of an overly-critical trainer who made the servers feel fearful of court martial if they made a mistake. That is: I don’t mean that they’re talking about results they have seen but rather talking about training they’ve actually been subjected to. That can be the parish-supplied trainer, but it can also be one more manifestation of a very critical parent. (These experiences can be internalized as dislike of altar serving when it was actually the server’s parent who made the experience so repugnant.)

There is a sweet spot between giving so little direction that they look sloppy or disoriented or feel unprepared but also directing in such a way that they are still natural and serene and have some hope of being prayerful as they fulfill their roles. This is particularly true when the trainers are not also the parents of the server, and so have a limited amount of time to prepare them.

Yes, I’d say that having their work choreographed and giving them a chance to rehearse rather than giving them a to-do list is very helpful. It is probably the easiest way to give them a tried-and-true way to fulfill their duties when they don’t have enough experience to know what unforeseen things can come up.

 

[janeway529]

Visited a parish for Sunday Mass, and instead of the Nicene Creed, we prayed the Apostles’ Creed.

 

[Solomonson]

Teaching servers how to serve without making them think they have to be stiff or getting them so they are obviously fearful of making a mistake is one of the challenges of training altar servers. It may be that the people responding are speaking against their own experience of an overly-critical trainer who made the servers feel fearful of court martial if they made a mistake. That is: I don’t mean that they’re talking about results they have seen but rather talking about training they’ve actually been subjected to. That can be the parish-supplied trainer, but it can also be one more manifestation of a very critical parent. (These experiences can be internalized as dislike of altar serving when it was actually the server’s parent who made the experience so repugnant.)

I suspect those who are being critical are just trying to derail the thread – any which way they can. That one word “drill” got them excited and it was off to the races.

I don’t think I have ever seen overly-trained servers. *Not ever. * I’ve seen a boatload that weren’t trained however. “Oh, isn’t that just sweet, at least they’re at Mass!”

There is a sweet spot between giving so little direction that they look sloppy or disoriented or feel unprepared but also directing in such a way that they are still natural and serene and have some hope of being prayerful as they fulfill their roles. This is particularly true when the trainers are not also the parents of the server, and so have a limited amount of time to prepare them.

See above. I don’t see a lot of “natural and serene” – I see confusion and angst because they are poorly trained. I see looks of care and concentration in the few that are actually trained. Watch a papal Mass from St. Peter’s sometime. The servers are CRISP, not “natural and serene.”

Yes, I’d say that having their work choreographed and giving them a chance to rehearse rather than giving them a to-do list is very helpful. It is probably the easiest way to give them a tried-and-true way to fulfill their duties when they don’t have enough experience to know what unforeseen things can come up.

Yes it is. So is serving at daily Mass when possible and serving under a training serving on Sundays. That never seems to happen here though.

 

[EasterJoy]

I suspect those who are being critical are just trying to derail the thread – any which way they can. That one word “drill” got them excited and it was off to the races.

I don’t think I have ever seen overly-trained servers. *Not ever. * I’ve seen a boatload that weren’t trained however. “Oh, isn’t that just sweet, at least they’re at Mass!”

See above. I don’t see a lot of “natural and serene” – I see confusion and angst because they are poorly trained. I see looks of care and concentration in the few that are actually trained. Watch a papal Mass from St. Peter’s sometime. The servers are CRISP, not “natural and serene.”

Yes it is. So is serving at daily Mass when possible and serving under a training serving on Sundays. That never seems to happen here though.

Sometimes the problem is the scheduling. In an ideal world, newer servers always serve with a server who is more experienced. When the servers are free to find substitutes for each other, sometimes the groups have all newer servers, and they have no one there to give them direction. This is very hard on the servers, you are right. They don’t enjoy being there to help Father and not knowing what to do. They don’t think it feels “sweet.”

In some parishes, if not most, there isn’t anyone who knows all the servers well enough to talk that into account, or there aren’t enough servers to schedule in an “ideal” way. The parishes use the servers they can get to volunteer as often as they can get them and using the adult help they can get. This is all done on a volunteer basis and sometimes there aren’t enough volunteer hours to do what anyone might like to see done.

Do you volunteer to help out with the altar serving at your parish? Maybe you ought to.

 

[EqualinHim]

I went to my first Holy Thursday mass this past year. The choir sang a beautiful song in Spanish and English because it was a bilingual service.

 

[Solomonson]

…Do you volunteer to help out with the altar serving at your parish? Maybe you ought to.

Helping out with the altar servers is no longer allowed at my parish. We now have someone who is paid to do that. All offers of help are rejected. We’re not really sure how she earns her salary given the performance of the servers and the fact no training sessions are ever scheduled, but of course it’s none of our business.

I used to be in charge of the “Pontifical Servers” at my parish a number of years ago for over a decade. Our name was inherited – the group used to serve Pontifical EF Masses many, many years ago. It was a truly wonderful way to be involved with the parish. Our servers ranged from 12 to 60 in age. The group enjoyed a certain autonomy from parish politics due to age.

We regularly set-up and served the diocese’s Chrism Mass and our home parish’s Easter and Christmas Vigil Masses. With the coming of a new pastor many changes were immediately forced upon us by the new pastor at the urging of problem people (no more incense, no more sanctus bells, no more cassocks/surplices, no more male-only servers, no more use of chalice veils, palls or burses, no more fancy chalice, no more rosary before Mass, etc.) We soldiered on for a while but the new parish politics became truly septic so we quietly voted to disband.

It was a very fulfilling 13 years though.

 

[Roseeurekacross]

In direct response to your stated belief, not all Catholic clergy is hard working and/or dedicated – not that this thread had anything to do about that.

No clergy was being denigrated here. This thread was about positive things. You might interpret it as denigration, but in all honesty, that’s based on defensiveness that you bring to this thread.

Reported for your abusive statement about our hardworking dedicated clergy.

It’s breaking the rules on charity.

 

[goout]

It’s unfortunate that ill-will is assumed so often.
A poster makes an observation about something positive he observed in Catholic life, and is pounced on by word police. Twice.
It’s shameful, regardless of who said it and what their qualifications are.