Here’s my honest response, and no offence intended. If I attended a mass like that, I would not be back again unless I had absolutely no other choice in the matter. As it is I think a sense of community and belonging is at best extremely frayed in the Catholic Church. I find the culture that has developed of “I’m just at mass for communion and the graces I will receive and have no interest in anyone else” to be extremely mercenary, cold, and isolating. I appreciate that there are people who simply want to focus on adoring the Sacrament of the mass and are interested in nothing else at church. I see many people at my church who come to mass, don’t say a word to anyone, receive their communion and are straight out the door. Unfortunately I think the Church in America is paying dearly for this. People feel cut off from one another, unsupported, unimportant, not welcomed, and confused. Anyone visiting a Catholic mass for the first time will have almost no idea what is going on. I think of my wife, who was a non-denominational Christian, who has just recently begun to feel in any way accepted or welcomed at a Catholic mass. And at our parish we actually take a moment to greet everyone around us before mass begins, shake hands and hug at the sign of peace, and hold hands during The Lord’s Prayer while we sing it. Personally I find that all to be very beautiful. It creates at least an expression that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and that is more important than petty differences. Again I see what the appeal of a mass like you mentioned has, but worry about the toll such masses ultimately take on the Church and the community.
