Thank you priests! I will just tack on, to me there is no reason for regular Sunday Mass to go for an hour and fifteen minutes. Is the choir going long? Are there not enough Eucharistic ministers? Are you waiting three minutes after the opening hymn has started to walk down the aisle? Should we be fine with dedicating our whole Sunday including a three hour Mass to the Lord? Yes, but we are fallen humans, and for me personally (no kids) it is hard to stay engaged in the Mass and actively participate when it goes an hour and 15 min+. It’s not necessarily how long it is taking overall, but that is usually an indicator that there is a lack of rhythm and flow that is engaging.
Yep, yep, yep! I’ve never been to a mass that went super long because it was being overly reverent. It’s literally always been due to long homilies, starting late, or disorganized, communion lines.
I’m blessed to attend an extremely young and vibrant parish. Our priests truly welcome families and often incorporate the “noise” during homilies into the message and often thank families for bringing their kids. The Sunday noon Mass is the children’s Mass whereby they are the choir and the kids come up to the front for their homily. Father speaks directly to them and it is very interactive. He always ends with, “ok, kids go back to your Mom and Dad. I just have a couple things to say to them.” And he keeps that to about 1 minute. My only suggestion is that they have older children also be the Readers. When the priests lead like that, it sets the tone that all are welcome. If ever there is a place where kids should be and feel part of the family, it’s at church. We have no future otherwise. At all Masses the children’s collection is the best… as they rush to the alter to put in their coins and envelopes… sometimes multiple times!
My Parish has a new-ish pastor - finishing out his 3rd year. He came when our former pastor retired after 21 years. Yes, 21! To make life easier on him as he got older, the activities and pastoral engagement declined. However, you could always count on a QUICK mass. With the arrival of our new pastor, the parish is becoming what I had experienced as a youth. A parish family could find all of their weekly activities, if they so chose, based at the parish because we now have a large offering with more to come. I always joke when others ask about the "new pastor" that when he moves parishes, he needs to arrive at the new parish with neck braces because his energy and the speed with which he implements changes causes whiplash. Our pastor came from a primarily black parish and that community did church differently. They expected a more theatrical production and LONG homilies followed by fellowship after mass. Not wrong, just different. It was an adjustment for our pastor to tone it down after the more than a decade serving his former, and very different, parish.
This newsletter seems to be following Day 126 of the CIAY. Brava!👏
I love and relate to this letter so much. Something else my husband and I have discussed is wishing priests would have clear boundaries or even a time limit or “recommendation” for confession during the standard weekly parish confession times… Nothing drives us crazier than trying to go together and taking our kids, and then someone pouring out their soul for 30 minutes when there’s 17 people in line!!! 🙃 Truly wish penitents would consider that too and be courteous… if spiritual direction is needed it should be a separate appointment. A monthly family confession time with music and coloring pages for the kids or something easy would be amazing too. Other people with small children probably know the unwritten rule of not taking more than 5 minutes in the confessional. 😆
Wait, that is BRILLIANT! Back in the day when I was part of a mom's group (think: a bunch of babies crawling around a church basement filled with toys, haha) once a month a priest would offer confession at that time. It was such a godsend.
Thank you priests! I will just tack on, to me there is no reason for regular Sunday Mass to go for an hour and fifteen minutes. Is the choir going long? Are there not enough Eucharistic ministers? Are you waiting three minutes after the opening hymn has started to walk down the aisle? Should we be fine with dedicating our whole Sunday including a three hour Mass to the Lord? Yes, but we are fallen humans, and for me personally (no kids) it is hard to stay engaged in the Mass and actively participate when it goes an hour and 15 min+. It’s not necessarily how long it is taking overall, but that is usually an indicator that there is a lack of rhythm and flow that is engaging.
Yep, yep, yep! I’ve never been to a mass that went super long because it was being overly reverent. It’s literally always been due to long homilies, starting late, or disorganized, communion lines.
I’m blessed to attend an extremely young and vibrant parish. Our priests truly welcome families and often incorporate the “noise” during homilies into the message and often thank families for bringing their kids. The Sunday noon Mass is the children’s Mass whereby they are the choir and the kids come up to the front for their homily. Father speaks directly to them and it is very interactive. He always ends with, “ok, kids go back to your Mom and Dad. I just have a couple things to say to them.” And he keeps that to about 1 minute. My only suggestion is that they have older children also be the Readers. When the priests lead like that, it sets the tone that all are welcome. If ever there is a place where kids should be and feel part of the family, it’s at church. We have no future otherwise. At all Masses the children’s collection is the best… as they rush to the alter to put in their coins and envelopes… sometimes multiple times!
My Parish has a new-ish pastor - finishing out his 3rd year. He came when our former pastor retired after 21 years. Yes, 21! To make life easier on him as he got older, the activities and pastoral engagement declined. However, you could always count on a QUICK mass. With the arrival of our new pastor, the parish is becoming what I had experienced as a youth. A parish family could find all of their weekly activities, if they so chose, based at the parish because we now have a large offering with more to come. I always joke when others ask about the "new pastor" that when he moves parishes, he needs to arrive at the new parish with neck braces because his energy and the speed with which he implements changes causes whiplash. Our pastor came from a primarily black parish and that community did church differently. They expected a more theatrical production and LONG homilies followed by fellowship after mass. Not wrong, just different. It was an adjustment for our pastor to tone it down after the more than a decade serving his former, and very different, parish.
This newsletter seems to be following Day 126 of the CIAY. Brava!👏
I can't imagine having to step into shoes after someone was there for 21 years!
I love and relate to this letter so much. Something else my husband and I have discussed is wishing priests would have clear boundaries or even a time limit or “recommendation” for confession during the standard weekly parish confession times… Nothing drives us crazier than trying to go together and taking our kids, and then someone pouring out their soul for 30 minutes when there’s 17 people in line!!! 🙃 Truly wish penitents would consider that too and be courteous… if spiritual direction is needed it should be a separate appointment. A monthly family confession time with music and coloring pages for the kids or something easy would be amazing too. Other people with small children probably know the unwritten rule of not taking more than 5 minutes in the confessional. 😆
Wait, that is BRILLIANT! Back in the day when I was part of a mom's group (think: a bunch of babies crawling around a church basement filled with toys, haha) once a month a priest would offer confession at that time. It was such a godsend.
I love your idea of a family confession time!