Which time do you prefer to attend Mass?

[Richard_White]

I have gone to Mass with my mother at 5:15 on Saturdays, but for several week I had been attending the 11:30 Mass instead due to scheduling conflicts with Saturdays, and I realize that I actually like Sunday Mass better.

May God bless you all abundantly and forever!

 

[Blue_Goose]

Saturday evening.

 

[liturgy96]

I prefer my university’s 6 pm dorm mass as it’s quite solemn. It’s every Sunday, but should it be cancelled for some reason, I prefer the 10:30 a.m or 12 nn mass at nearby parishes

 

[truetofaith]

I like to go to Confession at a nearby parish at 3:30pm on Saturday, then go right into 4pm Mass. My wife ushers at 10:30AM Sunday morning at our own parish, so I usually go there. That kills half of Sunday, though & we can never go to the beach or a day trip.

 

[AKDee]

Our Parish has a Mass Saturday evening (5:30pm), Sunday morning (10:00am) and Sunday evening (7:00pm). I’ve been to all of them, but my preference is the 10am Sunday Mass. I prefer it both because I think Sunday is the “right” day for worship (habit, I suppose) but also because the way they do the music (such as the Gloria) is familiar to me in that Mass. They’ve changed the music up in the other two Masses and while it’s dumb I actually have more trouble remembering the words when the music is unfamiliar.

 

[ccmcmg]

Saturday evening usually. If I go directly from work I can make confession, then mass.

I’m not a morning person. In 6 years as a Catholic I have attended a morning service twice. Sunday night is the time each week when I’m most likely to have something unplanned pop up. Attending Saturday night means I can attend whatever that thing is.

I’m not a morning person either. I have attended a couple early early Masses (weekday/Sunday) when I either couldn’t sleep, or was returning from a call at the hospital Sunday morning at 7 AM.

I do like the nearby parish with 4:30 PM Saturday Mass; confession and Rosary are beforehand, so I can pray for an indulgence with those 3 things.

My own parish has 5 PM Sunday Mass, which is a Lifeteen Mass. It has things I both enjoy and don’t enjoy (music vs. disrespect). 11:30 AM Sunday Mass is our ‘usual’ Mass for serving, though. My parish has 4 PM Saturday, and 4 Masses on Sunday.

 

[CJsmommy]

We have an 8:00pm Sunday Mass as well. Our previous bishop, Cardinal Maida, mandated that each Vicariate offer a Sunday pm Mass, so that people who work Sundays have a reasonable close Mass opportunity.

Our parish is the one that offers that for our Vicariate. My teen son prefers that one, as our family normally goes to the 9:30am Sunday Mass, and that is just too early for a teen to get up on a weekend

And the 11:30 and 1:30 just cut into the day for him, so 8:00 it is

I thought Sunday evening Masses were very rare. My parish is technically not “my” parish, but it’s the only one around that has Sunday evening available (and RCIA that meets at a time when I can attend). I’m blessed that it’s still really close.

 

[ccmcmg]

I thought Sunday evening Masses were very rare. My parish is technically not “my” parish, but it’s the only one around that has Sunday evening available (and RCIA that meets at a time when I can attend). I’m blessed that it’s still really close.

More than a few parishes in my area have Sunday evening Mass, usually starting around 5:00 PM. Only one (other than perhaps colleges) that I know of has both 6 PM and 8 PM Sunday evening Masses, in addition to their 2 Saturday weekend Masses, and 4 or 5 Sunday daytime Masses.

 

[Phemie]

I usually attend the Saturday 4:30 p.m. Mass as I’m on that reading roster.

My personal preference would be a 7:30 or 8:00 Mass on Sunday morning but I don’t have that choice, we’re the only parish and the only Mass on Sunday is at 10 a.m. I attend that one if there is a Baptism since I’m on the Baptismal Preparation team.

I’m always surprised to read that parishes still have really early Masses. I remember attending the 6 a.m. Mass with my dad about 50 years ago but the trend in parishes I’ve attended is for fewer Masses, not more. Where a neighboring parish used to have 4 per Sunday when I was growing up it now has 1 (and none on Saturday evening). In the parish where I grew up, where we had 1 on Saturday evening and 2 on Sunday morning there is only 1 – on Saturday.

 

[MissRose73]

A few years ago, I had a shift at work for a few months where I could not go on Saturday evenings and even the 5:30pm on Sunday at the diocesan cathedral was too late for me. I had to make due to with an 8am Sunday Mass at a church that was 10 minutes from my work. I sat in the back and sometimes I would have to leave before the final blessing & hymn to make it out of the parking lot (as some people took their time to get to their cars) then to work on time. Now this same church no longer has the early Mass, and only 1 diocesan church has a 7am Mass on Sundays but they are too far away from me (they advertise it as the farmer’s Mass as they are in an area with a lot of farming).

Since then, I keep my Saturday evening Mass times as I work weekends currently but am out of work for the day with over an hour to spare before Mass.

 

[baliano]

I prefer the earliest Sunday Mass; fewer whining kids, church is usually a little cooler in the Summer and there is usually less music.

 

[Oneofthewomen]

I prefer the earliest Sunday Mass; fewer whining kids, church is usually a little cooler in the Summer and there is usually less music.

The bolded makes me sad.

While I understand that children can be whiney sometimes, they are the future of our Church.
With all the complaining about how families don’t come to Church, I can’t help but to wonder if this attitude is why.

 

[baliano]

The bolded makes me sad.

While I understand that children can be whiney sometimes, they are the future of our Church.
With all the complaining about how families don’t come to Church, I can’t help but to wonder if this attitude is why.

Why? I prefer to actually hear the readings, the Homily and the choir without having to strain through a cacophony of yelling crying, crunching of cereal and banging of toys on the pews. There is a balance between the goodness of a family going to Church together and respect of those around trying to pray that seems to have all but disappeared. Letting children get away with whatever they want to do in Church does not make me confident they will be the future of the Church.

 

[thequeen]

Why? I prefer to actually hear the readings, the Homily and the choir without having to strain through a cacophony of yelling crying, crunching of cereal and banging of toys on the pews. There is a balance between the goodness of a family going to Church together and respect of those around trying to pray that seems to have all but disappeared. Letting children get away with whatever they want to do in Church does not make me confident they will be the future of the Church.

I totally agree. I could not have said it better myself

 

[AKDee]

Why? I prefer to actually hear the readings, the Homily and the choir without having to strain through a cacophony of yelling crying, crunching of cereal and banging of toys on the pews. There is a balance between the goodness of a family going to Church together and respect of those around trying to pray that seems to have all but disappeared. Letting children get away with whatever they want to do in Church does not make me confident they will be the future of the Church.

Our Parish welcomes children. I’ve never seen any child eating cereal or banging toys during service, parents do a good job of keeping them in check. If one does start to cry, the parents pick them up and take them to the “cry room” which is actually a chapel to Our Lady in the back but it has glass windows and a door that closes and speakers for them to hear the Mass. It’s rare that I can’t hear due to children. It’s more likely I won’t be able to hear because we sometimes have visiting priests who disdain the microphone and instead just try to speak loudly but it’s a big Church. I wish they’d use the microphone.

Anyway, personally I’m glad that children are welcome in our Parish. I read in these replies on this thread how so many Parishes are offering less Mass times and that can only be a result of less people attending Mass. Which is exactly what will continue to happen if we don’t raise our children in the Faith.

 

[Oneofthewomen]

Our Parish welcomes children. I’ve never seen any child eating cereal or banging toys during service, parents do a good job of keeping them in check. If one does start to cry, the parents pick them up and take them to the “cry room” which is actually a chapel to Our Lady in the back but it has glass windows and a door that closes and speakers for them to hear the Mass. It’s rare that I can’t hear due to children. It’s more likely I won’t be able to hear because we sometimes have visiting priests who disdain the microphone and instead just try to speak loudly but it’s a big Church. I wish they’d use the microphone.

Anyway, personally I’m glad that children are welcome in our Parish. I read in these replies on this thread how so many Parishes are offering less Mass times and that can only be a result of less people attending Mass. Which is exactly what will continue to happen if we don’t raise our children in the Faith.

I have to agree. I have never seen the level of rambunctiousness in real life that I hear about in these forums, even at specially designated “Children’s liturgies”.
I am starting to think it’s akin to the ubiquitous “NO Clown Mass”.

 

[Sunbreak]

Later is better. I’m no early bird. 11am Sunday or we have an evening Mass on Sunday too.

 

[baliano]

I have to agree. I have never seen the level of rambunctiousness in real life that I hear about in these forums, even at specially designated “Children’s liturgies”.
I am starting to think it’s akin to the ubiquitous “NO Clown Mass”.

You and AKDee should be very thankful to be blessed with such parishes. I have left one parish because it got so bad even at 0730 that I would be frustrated and upset by the end of Mass. My current parish is very good at 0700 but the other Masses not so much. Yes families are vitally important but they are not the end all of end all, a certain discipline and child control goes along with the wonder of parenthood not to mention common courtesy. My youngest is 47 and I can assure you neither he nor his sister got away with what I witness today.

The local FSSP parish asks parents to take noisy children out, my current parish another has a cry room at the rear of the nave. The cry room is rarely used, it’s a good refuge for those seeking some peace and quiet. The parish I left has a nursery but few parents utilize it?

 

[ProVobis]

Not much choice when you attend an EF.

No preference, really. It’s where, not when.

 

[baliano]

Not much choice when you attend an EF.

No preference, really. It’s where, not when.

I do have the option of attending an FSSP parish 10 miles away, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Littleton, CO, and did for a couple of years. I returned to an OF parish to keep peace in the family.