The following comes from a September 16 story on the website of the Catholic News Agency.
The ring of a cell phone, cry of an infant parishioner, or medical emergency are unintended distractions that can often drive away the focus from the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “to set about hunting down distractions would be to fall into their trap, when all that is necessary is to turn back to our heart, for a distraction reveals to us what we are attached to. Therein lies the battle, the choice of which master to serve” (2729).
During his very first Easter celebration as a priest, Father Jeremy Rodrigues, director of the diocese of Providence office of worship, witnessed a parishioner suddenly collapse to the floor. Out of concern, the congregation’s focus quickly turned from the Mass to the ailing parishioner.
“I was just at the end of my homily and someone just passed out,” he recalled. “I thought, ‘maybe it was it something I said.’”
As many attended to the needs of the parishioner, Father Rodrigues felt that it was appropriate to regain their spiritual attention and continue with the celebration of the liturgy.
“We can continue as long as it’s addressed,” he said. “It doesn’t do the congregation any good to sit there and it becomes mass hysteria. The best thing we can do is pray for them and the Mass is the best prayer we can offer.”
Providence director of vocations Father Michael Najim said that in cases like this, the priest trusts that the people in the congregation can best respond to such situations, adding that there are often several nurses and even doctors who are present at Mass….
Even the most natural distractions like a crying baby might demand greater focus and patience from other parishioners. Father Thomas O’Neill, pastor emeritus of St. Mary Church, West Warwick, RI, said that 90 percent of the time when a child cries loudly during Mass, they either need to be fed or have their diaper changed. Father O’Neil suggests that parents of young children sit in cry rooms. A cry room is intended to serve as a temporary option for parents to retreat to when they feel that their little ones might start to disrupt the Mass.
“It’s an opportunity for charity,” said Father O’Neill, noting that worshipers need to be tolerant and charitable when a young child becomes agitated during Mass. He added that he has never asked parents to remove or not to bring a child to Mass.
“The community can find ways to work with it,” he said.
Posted with permission from The Rhode Island Catholic, official newspaper for the Diocese of Providence.
To read entire story, click here.
Simple answer, return the “Traditional Latin Mass” to all of altars!! This Mass is God centered the “man-made” Novus Ordo is people centered.
That’s no answer!
To suggest a return to the EF Mass would be like a silver bullet and make everything OK is pure bunkum.
It’s too bad there aren’t more people with realistic recollections of when the EF Mass WAS the normative Mass most commonly celebrated. Most Sunday Masses were “the shorter the better!” Even today many elderly gauge how good a parish/priest is by how fast they celebrate the Mass.
Back the the old days most ignored the Mass, prayed the Rosary, slept or just willed themselves to endure the 30 minute low Mass.
No thanks!
Why are you so afraid of the “True” Mass of All Times? The Mass you call “old” and “outdated”???? It fed the souls of all the Saints prior to to disaster called Vatican II.
Janek that was rather harsh. I don’t understand what this emergency of a person passing out during mass has anything to do with returning to the Traditional Latin mass? The Mass must go on. When we are at our kids sport functions, when a child gets injured, some adults come to handle the situation all while the game still goes on. Also when a child cries, we do need to be patient and understanding while considering others as they are there to worship our Lord…Christ loves having children there too.
I love the Traditional Latin Mass but your comment only brought division to this story, this had nothing to do with what you just commented, or maybe I am not understanding you well and I apologize if that is the case, whether we bring back the Traditional Latin Mass to all parishes is irrelevant. We still need to have a protocol on handling emergencies. I think Father noting on how to handle such incidents was compassionate and notably good. God bless him!
Protocol for handling emergencies: Call in a faith healer with televangelist TV crew?
Janek I forgot to mention that while I was at Mass (the Latin Mass) there were a few cell phones ringing too. I loved how Father kindly asked everyone to make sure they don’t forget to silence their phones. : )
You simply don’t know what you’re talking about.
The OF Mass is every bit as valid and “true” as the EF Mass. To even infer differently is to show ignorance of the sacrament.
It gets tiresome to hear people spew their ludicrous belief that a switch from the OF Mass to the EF Mass would magically cure the ills of the Church. That’s simply nonsense. I suspect it would actually make thing worse.
Something like 99.5-99.75% of all Masses celebrated are the OF Mass. The rest are the EF Mass and various others not counting the Eastern Divine Liturgies. This tiny number of Masses is largely attended by people who deeply value silence and adherence to the rubrics. That’s wonderful and all, but to suggest that’s going to magically translate to the other 99.5+% of Catholics is downright ignorant.
This ignorance becomes especially apparent when once considers just how uninviting and negative so many of those are who prefer the EF Mass. Many are downright insulting to other Catholics. Many seem to be stuck in a horrid bunker mentality born of hate and ignorance that few other Catholics want to share.
Before people pop-off about the EF Mass being some sort of panacea, they should take the time to study how it was celebrated and attended when it was the normative Mass in the Latin Rite. Even during the Church’s heyday in the USA after WWII, the rot had already long existed within the celebration and attendance of the liturgy.
Few understood the Latin. Few even understood what was going on in the sanctuary. Some tried to follow along with missalettes, some ignored the Mass and prayed the Rosary and others simply daydreamed until Mass was over. This led to plenty of abuses.
Low Masses burned-through in record time. Skipped prayers, substituted prayers, people leaving after communion. Many of the problems we still feel today are a product of the 34 minute turn-and-burn Low EF Masses.
So to suggest I am “afraid” of the EF Mass or that it would be some sort of panacea is just bunkum. Continually suggesting it’s a solution does nothing more than distract from finding and implementing real solutions.
Now Rodda come on…if your love for Jesus is real, then you should not hate the Latin Mass either…okay?
Stop lying.
I don’t dislike the EF Mass in the least — although I wish I wouldn’t come in contact with some of the people that I do when I attend the EF Mass.
Again, don’t you dare ever lie again and infer my love for Jesus Christ is not real or that I hate the EF Mass.
Rodda it is Jesus who changes our hearts, He takes away the indifference we so easily verbalize….I did not lie, I can only go by your many comments you make against the faithful who prefer EF Mass. I;m so sorry that you have such a negative outlook. God bless you.
Abeca, you are so right. Both forms of the Mass are Holy – with the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you MIKE : ) God bless you. : )
That’s absolute nonsense, and typical of the phony recollections of Catholics who are in love with the hootenanny atmosphere of the modernized Church’s “easy religion.”
Pope Benedict XVI wrote in one of his books that he would prefer the EF to become once again the norm. Now, where does that set you, Rodda?
And, so, today, Rodda, you attend Mass with your hula hoop, just to keep from falling asleep?
JLS LOL I get your point….
Rodda your comments are only justifying what Janet was trying to convey…this is very sad. You are proving her right. A little more charity, you may just win some hearts.
I don’t find these unintential distractions disturbing. What I find disturbing is when the priest says “thank you” following the congregation saying “and with your Spirit”, interrupting the Mass to shout out an altar girl and how long she has been serving and what a good job she is doing; pointing out different members of the congregation while he (priest)is on the altar; all the waving and hugging, etc. during the sign of peace; children allowed to run up and down the aisle and making noise while their smiling parents sit by smiling. Singing during the Offertory while the priest is preparing the Gifts is a main distraction for me, as well as the awful hymns sung, in general. “These are just a few of my unfavorite things…” I love Mass Monday through Saturday but Sunday Mass provides a mortification for me to “offer up”.
Emergencies are beyond control and must be handled by ushers or a Doctor in the Church.
Cry-rooms are for parents with fussy young children, or they can take them outside to avoid further disturbance. Out of ‘charity’ for everyone else, parents should take care of unruly children outside.
There is no excuse for a cell phone ringing. If you don’t know how to turn it off, leave it in the car.
Sunday Mass is the only time people can fully worship God, and every attempt should be made to insure that the focus stays on God.
Charity is a two way street, and the offending parties must be taught to be charitable.
As a former Ski Patrolman and an Assistant Scout Master, I have often been called on to take care of someone who passed out in Church. On one occasions it was actually a priest, not the celebrant, but a priest assisting at the Tridentine Mass, sitting on the side. It is possible to do so with a bare minimum of disturbance to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Maybe that is the real problem, they no longer consider it the unbloody re-enactment on Calvary, so they clap, play loud music, etc. etc. ad nauseam.
Last Friday while attending a Novus Ordo Spanish Mass, the screaming of ill disciplined children was so bad, I could hardly hear the priest. What made it worse was these “parents” were sitting in the back of the church just in front of the, you guessed it, crying room. It seems that Mexicans who come here, do these things they could never get away with in Mexico, like letting their badly behaving offspring continue to carry on, and like flying the Mexican flag, sometimes even above the American flag, when in Mexico they can not fly even the Mexican flag except for Official purposes, no flying the Mexican flag from even their own homes. It is ILLEGAL to do so in Mexico.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Mr. Fisher a few years back I recall an alter boy passing out too.
Abeca,
I am happy that you are not offended by my “bizare insights” to quote Thomas who I highly suspect is really TEM.
I have not had to administer to an Altar Boy yet, but I am sure it can happen.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Mr Fisher what I neglected to add or clarify is that it was my nephew, a few years back, that had passed out, I think that the incense was much for him, being that he was a new alter boy and very young and very nervous too. We were at the Ukrainian parish when this happened.
Kenneth, your bizarre “insights” are enough to make even health adults pass out.
Soooooooooooo sorry these evil Mexicans invaded your California and distracted you. Oops, sorry, my mistake: California was part of Mexico long before it was part of the U.S.
And Spanish was spoken here long before English. Maybe you’d feel more at home in Oxford?
Thomas: Familiarize yourself with the history of California. As it stands, you are a towering monument of ignorance! Don’t buy into the Chicano propaganda of the Reconquista. It is pure racist claptrap propagated
by La Raza. California was colonized and christianized by Spaniards.
Kenneth, if you time it right and generate the most effective look then you can sometimes shush these childish parents. Sometimes they jump back at you though. Recently it came to me to tell the mother (the father looked like the impersonation of a carrot) that hers was the only infant running around making a lot of noise … she got the point. A lot of these people do not use their mental faculties to any significant degree and simply react emotionally to everything. They do not even know the difference. There are race horses and there are burros … what can you do?
JLS,
In this case, I was towards the front of the Church and they were in the back right in front of the “Crying Room”!
I am not at all surprised that Thomas completely missed my point!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Keneth M. Fisher
DAN I agree with your comments : )
Dan,
For the most part I completely agree with your statements; however sometimes even the best intentioned persons forget to turn it off or on Silent. The only thing one can do then is turn it off as quickly as possible. They can also put their hand over the speaker to muffle it. Been there, done that!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Kenneth,
Leave your phone in the car. If it rings, no one will care there.
You do you intend to call during Mass anyway ?
Deb,
But sometimes, in emergencies, I temporarily leave the Church to answer the call; thererfore I try to make it a practice to put the phone on “silent vibrate”.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Too few pastors have the resolve and people skills to deal with many of the issues that plague the celebration of the Mass.
They don’t want to make the effort to teach and correct. Until a parish gets a good pastor it’s nothing more than a struggle.
“People skills”, Rodda?! All a pastor needs is one of those jawbones from a donkey that King David used to bring a bear and a lion into submission. A stick would do also, or an aluminum baseball bat. Hitting a flinching target is not so easy, and requires people skills … Am I getting what you mean, Rodda?
A statement from the Pulpit will almost always bring about charitable correction!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
yes for sure Mr. Fisher…I appreciate it when Father gently makes a loving statement from the pulpit…he is very gentle too, that usually seems to work…
If you can see the crack of the rear end of the person in the pew in front of you,then that person is not properly dressed for Mass,Do you check your rear end before attending Mass????
To avoid visual distractions at Mass try using the missalettes that the parish is paying good money for,
Interesting parish you’re in, L from RI!
For nearly fifty years there have been distractions going on during Mass. As a priest, I do not mind that much if a baby is crying, but oftentimes one baby begins to cry, and pretty soon there is a Wagnerian chjorus of continual cries. I have had to interrupt Mass to kindly tell the congregation to please stop talking. We have lost the sense of the sacred.. There seems to be more decorum in a train station than there is in God’s house. The majority of the people in the pews think the Mass is a time of fellowship,, holding hands across the aisles from the Great Amen to past the kiss of peace. The kiss of peace continues even while I am staying “Behold the Lamb of God”. Liturgical experts force the people to stand until everyone finishes receiving Holy Communion, and in many churches (?) there are no kneelers. The hymns are terrible and awful. And the experts wounder why people are not attending Mass! During the extraordinary form of the Mass, none of these abuses are present, as the congregation knows why they are at Mass, and WHOM they are adoring.Until priests beginn the educatate the laity, these abuses will continue., The pews will be getting emptier until the last of the burned out hippie Catholic dies, and then the only Mass that will remain will be ones that are celebrated with dignity and reference
There have been distractions at Mass for a helluva lot longer than 50 years…
R.B. Rodda,
Shame on you! This means you are all the more culpable. If you already know or already think that there have been distractions at Mass for a “helluva lot longer than 50 years,” then you should stop using your own distractions on CCD to enable those who have deliberately worked to destroy Church teaching as well as the sacredness of the Mass.
“There have been distractions at Mass for a helluva lot longer than 50 years…”
So true, Rodda! This is why the “sanctus bell” was introduced, to tell people to “shut up!” because something important was happening, namely, the consecration.
Since the priest had his back to the people, mumbling in garbled Latin he sometimes didn’t even understand himself, they kept busy with their own stuff, and had to be “shushed” by the sanctus bell at special moments. Then back to their own business.
Excellent post Father Karl! God bless you!
Karl, it sounds like you need a sabbatical.
Or a parish attended only by old, well-behaved Swiss Germans.
Thomas,
You sir are insulting a priest that has suffered more than you can imagine for his Priesthood and inspite of it all is still faithful to the Church. You sir are a disgrace.
May God have mercy on your compromised soul,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Father Karl, I suppose there are distractions at Mass but they usually don’t bother me that much. You say that in many churches there are no kneelers but I have never been in a Catholic Church without kneelers. You have to kneel during certain parts of the Mass so that is why we have kneelers. The hymns in our church are pretty good. Don’t you have the people in your church sing hymns that you like? You should have some input. For some reason babies and small children don’t bother me either, they are part of our church family. But I do have to say that I never attended many Latin Masses in my life. My parents didn’t really take me to Mass much when the Mass was in Latin. Since I didn’t sit still and talked, they didn’t really take me to Mass until I was 7 years old. (When I was very young the Mass was in Latin.) That way I didn’t disturb anyone. I never really missed Mass after my First Communion though. “The last of the burned out hippie Catholic dies”!!! What kind of a comment is that? Do you have a dislike for people in a certain age group? If you have young people in your church that are kind of hippie types do you tell them to take a hike?
Mark from PA,
If you have never been at a Mass at which you could not hear the priest, thank God for that. I have, and it is very disturbing.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
The one that sticks out in my mind is an afternoon Polish Mass that happened to be going on during our town’s St. Patrick’s Day parade. The priest was soft spoken and tended to slur his words together (in Polish). When he started the sermon the parade ended and sirens blared and horns went off. I understood about 2 words of the sermon if I was lucky.
Wagnerian chorus … of crying, wailing babies. The Flight of the Valkeries, the Wailing of the Banshees. I prefer at Mass to shut out the temporal world and focus on the eternal world; but so many “Catholics” prefer to focus on the temporal world and shut out the eternal world. They should give ushers big sticks to walk up and down and beat the temporal tyrants into silence.
On the web- A church named St. Anthony has developed a handout on Mass Etiquette. It begins with an admonishment to charity in welcoming others then addresses promptness for Mass, children, what to wear and not wear (I would add a more specific instruction) Sacred Silence, genuflecting, sitting, recieving Holy Communion (I would add a list of grave sins for reflection on wothiness to receive) after Holy Communion (I would add appropriate prayers to use) and when to leave. Maybe you could adapt this and make it known.
A little compassion please for us who have children…
A crying or fussy child once is understandable, but Sunday after Sunday is unexcusable. The same couples bring their young children to mass, sit in the front pews of the church and then proceed to let their children run wild. We have even witnessed these uncontrolable children run up to the altar. We have all had young childen and took turns going to Sunday mass so as not distract other parishioners when our children were very young. Or if you cannot do this, then sit towards the back of the church.
Not everyone wants to see your cute children. There are some Sundays when you leave mass feeling like you have gotten nothing out of it. I even heard the priest after mass one Sunday say that he was so distracted by the antics of two children, that he could not continue his homily.
Spare the rod, spoil the child. It is sad when small children age, have babies and remain small children.
Well, JLS, most of us with children don’t beat them with rods. Most parents today refrain from hitting their children. It is easy for you to talk since you have never raised any children. I read a chilling account of his childhood by Rev. Fred Phelps’ son . Rev. Phelps’ wife and children had to endure frequent beatings from him, of course with justification from the Bible.
PA, abuse can be extreme without using a “rod” to beat a child. It is odd that homosexuals have no problem with abusing the flesh with sex acts but when it comes to using corporal means of discipline on children they are horrified and go politically ballistic over it. I got the coat hanger on the butt treatment as a child as did my four siblings. We were never injured by this mild treatment. The only problem was our parents were somewhat random with it and not so consistent. I know people whose childhood was without corporal corrective actions. There are pros and cons to both. In my junior high and high school days there was the ruler across the knuckles and the mega-paddle with holes to minimize air resistance. No one to my knowledge was ever injured with these practices. The benefit was that the subject of the swat may have learned, and also it subdued their disruptions of the education and socialization and teamwork of all the other students. Either way, PA, it is wisdom which rules: without wisdom it does not matter what one does because it leads to chaos and destruction, exactly the situation we find being orchestrated by the homosexual movements today. Besides, PA, you fabricate reality such as the implication that I have no knowledge or understanding of children … but let me assure you that I do, especially since I have on several occasions visited zoos.
Interesting, PA, just occurred to me that following high school, while in a government program, the training included physical ie corporal methods of discipline. But none of it was done by striking a person. Rather other means of brutal action were employed … my favorite and perhaps the all time classic corrective for carelessness was the six count burpie … I was utterly exercised with this cruel and unusual means of physical torture in a sand pit by some old mean crazy dude. He ran me into the ground literally until I could barely drag my feet back and forth. Finally he saw that I was not going to quit no matter how exhausted I got, and so he ended the surreal session. I came out better for it, never made the same careless mistake again, and even felt good because I had matched up to what satisfied him as a fair level of toughness … He himself had survived Chosen Reservoir, a considerable distinction, one of the Marine Corps’ toughest tests by fire. The lesson is that the application of discipline has to be done right, in which case man is the better for it. When it is done wrong, all hell pops into action.
PA no offense but there is nothing wrong with spanking a child that is older than 4 years old, younger is truly wrong. There is appropriate spanking and inappropriate. It all depends on the child. I for one believed in time out, as they got older, a good priest taught us to use black out, which we take away all TV computer etc privileges for whatever length we felt was appropriate.
I think that society has trained parents that spanking is evil but actually we are doing a dis-service to our children when we do not. Also PA the BIBLE is correct but it is humans who use harsh punishment only upon their anger, we are not to discipline our kids when we are angry, because we can go overboard. Oh well, no parent comes with a hand book on how to handle things but we can surely do our best as long as we do it with love and care for our kids. We also have no right to dictate how a parent should discipline their child, as long as their is no abuse, we need to stay out of it…..a good parent knows best.
My dad once told me “this is going to hurt me more than it does you”. After I became an Uncle and had to use corrective procedures myself, I realized how right my good father was!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
BTW, PA, you have never explained how it is that you always know what most people do. Do you know what you yourself are even doing?
Amy I don’t know how to reply to your post but as a mum who worked very hard to train our children on how to behave during mass, it was surely a hard task at times but eventually they learned. I feel a little of your comments were a bit un-compassionate but I can understand your sentiments when there are parents who just don’t really do anything to train them to contain their ill behavior. My husband is hard of hearing, we always had to sit in front, back then also I didn’t like the cry room because it was a place where parents didn’t at all train their children, it was a mess, they brought them toys, they distracted us the other parents who did use the cry room to train our kids in good behavior for Mass but the other parents didn’t, so because of that, I decided it was best for my kids to learn by not being in the cry room but actually being out where the rest of the parishioners were, I didn’t like it when priests made the good parents go to the cry room just for us to give witness to our children that if other kids play in the cry room, then they can too,.
So we looked for a parish that didn’t force us to be in the cry room. When one of our kids didn’t behave, then either my hubby or I, would take our child outside and let them know it was unacceptable. We lovingly did this over and over until our child learned that during Mass, it was quite prayer time. We weren’t harsh with them because it’s hard for little ones to stay good the whole hour but we rewarded them to see who went the longest….etc
Please a little compassion with those of us who have children and of course not to excuse the bad parents who do nothing to train their little ones.
If one has Jesus as center of life, surrendered self and taken Him in your heart, mind, body, and soul, even death will not dirstube you. Yet there must be respect for God’s House, and your brothers and sisters that are there to hear His Word, receive Him, and worship Him. J. M. J.
WW, you’re saying that death did not disturb Jesus? Or are you saying that the Mass is not the source of Jesus in your life? Don’t tell me that your patron saint is Billy Graham? But seriously, are you Protestant or Catholic?
The only distraction that gets me is the music of “contemporary” Catholiscism.
Solution: Earplugs.
Want more focused prayer at Mass? Ever heard of S-I-L-E-N-C-E ? Today’s Mass is noisy. Church music folks keep the noise level up so when the priest is not talking or reading the ligurgy there is constant music. Too noisy! God speaks to us in the quiet times of our lives, and it’s a shame the Mass has no time for silence. You can’t even concentrate on the Eurcharist when the music folks keep the noise up during Communion. How are you supposed to pray? That’s why Mass is no longer my favorite place to pray. Home or outdoors in the quiet is what it’s all about.
What about a carousel Mass, with the wooden horses, painted so gayley, going up and down. What a way to approach the communion official! But I wonder if such a thing would be beyond the limits of sincere Catholics. Where is the line beyond which no bishop would allow a parish to go?
JLS,
Re.: the limits at which no bishop would not allow a parish to go, Don’t ask! Some don’t even prohibit extraordinary ministresses dressed as SATAN!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Well, that explains it, goodcause, your idosyncrisy, that is. You’re being hammered by the noise at Mass and thus being refused access to real worship. And thus your views are seriously tweeked by all that. You need a vacation … perhaps to a traditional Mass on a regular basis.
goodcause,
What you described above came right from the Protestant Revolt (Reformation)!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Dear Mr. Fisher, It’s obvious you had a very frustrating experience at that Mass. We’ve all been there and I think most of us “feel your pain.” However, ignorance can come from all sectors of society. And having seen many of your posts, I feel you know this in your own heart; you probably wrote this post in frustrated haste. I agree with everyone who says we need more silence at Mass. The chatter before Mass is deafening; I now pray at home before Mass in preparation. The singing and/or music during the Offertory prayer and after Communion is oftentimes unbearable. But despite the imperfections and human ignorance, it is still The Mass. Make a silent sacrifice to look directly at the altar throughout Mass and not turn to scowl disapprovingly at ignorance or error. Believe me, I’m not being self-righteous. This has been so difficult for me, it hurts. But if we cannot practice charity inside our church during Mass, how can we hope to in the world? All I’m saying is to try for the sake of His sorrowful passion. You might surprise yourself. God bless all.
IT IS NOT CHARITY TO PERMIT PERSONS TO CONTINUE TO SHOW DISRESPECT FOR THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT!
I prefer to pray in the Divine Presence, I also pray at home and many other places, including when I am giving talks to the spiritually blind.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Fr. Karl would be welcome to celebrate mass at our parish. Our pastor
invites the congregation to step out into the aisle and hold hands with those sitting across the aisle. Daily mass is such a joy. No constant music, no distractions – only the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. You can pray and concentrate as to why you are at mass. Yes! We have lost a sense of the sacred and what and why we are at mass. How nice it would be to have some instructions, every now and again, as to what the mass is about. This can only come from the altar.
One time out in the San Fernando Valley at a Franciscan parish I stood still in the pew despite the press of the herd toward the aisle … and after they could not budge me with physical force, they simply walked over me, at least over my feet. At that point I began muttering something like “Communists!”, and then let my feet do the walking, out of the orchestrated panic.
I grew up with the Latin Mass. The babies cry and occasional emergencies in the church are human distractions that was natural and not man made. What to me is very distracting is exactly what Father Karl has mentioned in his comments. We need the US bishops conference address the need to bring back the sense of the Sacred. We need to truly believe and apply to our practice of the Faith that the Holy Mass is the unbloody Sacrifice of the Cross and not a protestant fellowship. I think anyone of you would agree that the on the Good Friday that Jesus was hanging on the cross and we are having a fellowship holding hands and clapping as the folk music is sung and Jesus is saying his last words, for anyone to see our reaction as the Lord dies hanging on the cross would conclude that what we are doing inapproriate with what is actually going on. The bishops has studied theology and should know better. That some liberal bishops has lost their backbone to preserve the FAith as taught by Christ is deplorable. For us who has learned to live the Faith must continue to pray to the Holy Spirit to renew the face of the earht. I believe that this is the pruning time. The dead branches will fall down and the good branches will continue to feed on the branch of the Lord. I am glad to read comments from you guys who understand and believe in the traditional teachings of the church. The Holy Spirit will remain in the heart and lives of those who are faithful and will be saved no matter how corrupt the culture becomes.
You are correct that due reverence should be given at Mass. And the sense of the Sacred is very necessary. The Mass is the re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross. However, He is Risen. He has died and rose again and ascended to the Father where he makes a place for us. This is a cause of great joy. At Mass, we are united with Heaven where there is peace and joy. We are united with each other in the Mystical Body of Christ.
k, it’s a continuation. You have to deal with the reality outside the time box to understand. Your phrasing is ok, but would be better if you understood what you’re talking about more deeply.
Yes that term is used also. Something to meditate on.
K, thanks for agreeing with me that we need the sense of the sacred. I do agree also with you that Christ has risen and it is an occasion of great joy. True we are united in the mystical body of Christ but if you have attended the Tridentine High Mass where the the Asperges me is chanted, and the melody of the Gloria, the Credo, expreses the joy of celebrating the Holy Mass and the solemnity when the Agnus Dei and Kyrie Eleison is chanted, we experience the sacredness of the unbloody sacrifice and the melody of the Gloria and the Credo expresses our joy with great gratitude while the melody of the Credo expresses the joy of belonging to the mystical body as well as our deep faith on the tenets of our Faith which is a pure gift from God. You can see, we can celebrate and participate with great joy through the hymns we sing. Those who had grown up with the High Mass in Latin and experience the different way the Gregorian chant is sung, will know that one can be joyful and still have reverence. When Mary said her Magnificat, there was great joy and humble acceptance and yet the reverence and awe for the great privilege accorded to her was there because Mary knows the Sacredness of being chosen.
I like very much what you wrote.
Pilar,
Perhaps if the priests would bring back that which should never have disappeared, the “Mea Culpa” with the lightly pounding of the chest in a pentitent way, more persons would understand the majesty of the Mass. While I am at it, how about bringing back the Genuflection during the Credo.
The Novus Ordo Missalettes say to “bow”, but has anyone noticed how few even bother to do that, sometimes even the priest does not bow. Oh what we have lost! I genuflect no matter what everyone else it doing.
When I first read the instruction to bow instead of genuflect, my first thought was “bow wow”!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Re.: Some liberal bishops have not really lost their backbone, some never really had the Faith. Read Dr. Bella Dodd if you don’t want to believe me.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
oh yes I heard about that Mr. Fisher about some that never really had faith…
I mean how could you lose something that you never had Right?
Remember Mass attendence was at 75% before Vatican II and now it stands at 25%.
Maybe at your church.
Ours is pretty full at all the Masses.
Maybe you guys are so unpleasant, you’ve driven the people away to friendlier parishes!
Thomas I don’t want to know what you consider to be a friendlier parish…I just hope that in that definition a Governor Brown is the not attendee…just saying…..pretty scary
Well, yeah, but maybe there are three times more Catholics today.
yippers yes but maybe most of them do not attend Mass….look at Mr. Governor Brown, I bet he attends a friendlier parish when he is in a mood and still he votes in the abortion laws. Yip there you have it folks the Catholics of today.
JLS,
NOT REALLY CATHOLICS!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Bring back the altar railing is what I suggest! I believe that would
bring about more reverence. And tell the people, that the red candle,
that means that JESUS is here with US!!!!!!!
Also, yes we need to have updates on proper decorum and DRESS
while we attend Mass and are with the King of Kings!!!
i sit in the second pew just so I don’t have to see so many distractions,
because I have a REAL HARD time focusing otherwise.
Elizabeth,
Try attending Traditional Mass, NO DISTRACTIONS!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
The least distracting Mass? One where the priest will skip the silly handshake of peace. Ahh, no phony-baloney “community” sharing. Continue with the worship directed to God – not glad-handing each other.
It’s not the out of the ordinary person collapsing, or crying baby — a while back, grammar school kids would entertain themselves by snapping the hat hooks. Today there is a general lack of decorum throughout society — going to Mass is like being in the high school cafeteria at lunch, there is constant, distracting movement. You can’t hold going to the bathroom for 40 mins? Why are so many people moving up and down the aisles, making so much noise, during Mass? Badly brought up, badly educated; no respect or self-consciousness. What a sorry path.
Good point, the endless procession back and forth to the church bathrooms is a real problem. Back in the old days no one would dare be up and wandering church during the consecration and elevation, a BIG no-no. Now people come and go during that time and sometimes people will talk and be looking at their family members oblivious to what is going on at the altar. Kind of hard to not notice this if they are parked in the pew right in front of you.
Come on now, I have even been at Tridentine Masses at which the poor priest had to leave the altar because nature calls.
As far as the other distractions are concerned, you won’t find those distractions at a Tridentine Mass, at these Masses even the Ushers are permitted to take corrective actions when necessary. I am an Usher at these Masses, and I have taken corrective actions and the pastor approved of what I did as long as I did so in charity and love.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Read The Screwtape Letters. One of the ways “Uncle Screwtape” tells “Wormwood” to get the soul of his “patient” is to have him pay attention to the distractions. If he pays attention to the distractions, then, his attention is drawn away from the sacred. So, when a child fusses, smile after all the parent brought the child to mass. A cell goes off, maybe the person needs to hear the phone because they are expecting an important call, ignore it, don’t dwell on it. Someone isn’t dressed properly, say a quick prayer for them and then get back to the Mass. Don’t allow your soul to be distracted for any length of time.
Screwtape Letters, although good entertaining reading is NOT MORAL THEOLOGY!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
The Screwtape Letters, while not theology, does give some insight as to what the Father of Lies wants to do to our souls. He wants us distracted. He does not want us to focus on the Mass and prayers. He wants us to turn away from the Mass and therefore from Christ. Lewis, Chesterton and Bellock (sp), spoke to the common man in terms that he could understand.
In the parishes I have attended in the last few years, outside of the plunging necklines and short skirts and short shorts, I have found most people in the pews acting in mostly a proper manner. I find the vast majority of distractions during Mass coming from within the sanctuary from the priest and or deacon. The priest talking to friends in the pews during Mass from the altar, making comments from the altar about if their favorite college football/baseball team won on Saturday, playing the Notre Dame fight song on the organ if the retired pastor’s favorite team won the day before, applause for the new altar server, applause for the choir, an angry condemnation from the pastor about the person who put a conservative group’s website address on American flags which were put on the car windshields in the church parking lot the week before, threatening eternal damnation to anyone who changes the temperature on any church thermostat, making demeaning remarks (supposedly in jest) about parishioners, throwing confetti and household cleaners around the sanctuary during the homily in order to illustrate his sermon’s points. Need I go on?
Sometimes I really wonder if people realize what they are saying when they claim that the Novus Ordo is not valid. The Church (that would be the Holy Roman Catholic Church) has spoken through Her Magisterium that the Novus Ordo is the normal Mass to be celebrated and that the Latin Mass can also be celebrated. If you wish to claim that the Novus Ordo (or Vatican II) is not valid, then you are actually saying that the Magisterium does not have the authority to make this determination (and that YOU do). I generally refer to that as protestantism. You are protesting a practice that falls squarely in the realm of Faith and Morals, where the Pope and the Magisteruim are infallible. Since the Pope and the Magisterium are, in fact, infallible in these matters and you are not, how about taking some time in serious prayer and decide if you are Catholic, meaning that you follow the teachings of The Church, or that you are protestant, and if the latter be the case, then go join some other church down the road or maybe pull a Martin Luther and start your own. I would hope and pray that you would do the former and not the latter. You have free will so it is your decision. God will not force you to follow the teachings of His Church. I firmly believe that if God wants something like this changed in His Church then He will inspire the leaders of His Church to change it. I prefer to spend my short life here on this earth trying to learn the teachings of The Church and conform myself to them and not waste my time trying to second guess them, and believe me I have had to do some serious learning and conforming over the past 10 years, but it’s all been good. Thanks be to God!
Danny who here have claimed that it was not valid?
Abeca,
God bless you for writing to Danny what I wanted to write.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
You are welcome Mr. Fisher, my pleasure.
Danny are you going to answer because I keep going back and have not found any that states what you just posted.
If the pope prefers the EF mass over the NO mass, why doesn’t he declare no more NO mass? Does he not have the power and authority to do so? I invite everyone to go to Utube and watch a black and white movie narrated by none other than soon to be venerable Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. It is very educational, inspiring, solemn, and reverent particularly to those whom have never seen the Tridentine Latin Mass. Set one hour aside of quiet time to watch it without interruption and listen and watch very carefully. Praying and following along with the TLM in Latin is really not that hard to do. It requires a little extra effort, but for our Lord’s sake, it is worth it. Afterall we are worshiping God, it is all about Him and His cruel and painful deadly sacrifice for us, not about us. It certainly is not a time to hold, clap hands or cheer. Doubtful during His crucifixian, christians did these things while He hung on the cross ignominiously suffering at Calvary. The only people that were happy then were His enemies. They probably held hands, clapped, sneered and cheered. On the side in the movie, notice how the parishoners are dressed and behave themselves. No I didn’t say the EF mass, but the Tridentine Latin Mass. There are differences you know, take for example the liturgical calendar, the missing second confiteor, absolution and remission of venial sins (to account for any distractions) before holy communion. You see, there was a good reason for the second confiteor! OBTW, for those who like to exaggerate about the distractions that happened at the TLM, yes some of those things did happen but not to the magnitude falsely protrayed, afterall we are all people and sinners, we all make mistakes. Generally though, the frequency didn’t happen very often on account of the parents not letting their children getting away with their little stunts. Most parents in those days taught their children as toddlers to be quiet and they were well behaved. They learned and accepted good quiet behavior in Church early. The infants were taken to the crying room when they first began to disturb their neighbors praying and meditating. For those who were impatient and couldn’t bother to spend any significant time with our Lord after He died for them, well that is their loss. They either ignored or never learned the significance of His death for saving their souls, learned to show their appreciation and sorrow for His agony, or weren’t properly taught by their parents. When we really think about all of the suffering Jesus accepted humbly for us, we wouldn’t be looking at our clocks in Church, but be willing to spend extra time at Church, maybe even attending a second TLM!
No the Pope does not have the power to outlaw the NO Mass. The NO Mass came from the Magisterium which includes the Pope.
Both Masses are HOLY – and anyone who says otherwise is a heretic and/or schismatic.
People need to attend the Mass that best suits their own spiritual life.
Personally I would have preferred that the NO Mass be exactly like the Latin Mass – except in the vernacular (local) language, so the average person could better understand it – but the decision was not and is not mine or yours.
OSCAR you too feel that way…It would be nice if the Latin Mass was in the local language, it would be nice to understand it. But I am learning Latin, little by little….
For those who don’t know where to visit based on my previously edited suggestion Type in: R6AOvStZS64 or using your web browser type in Traditional Latin Catholic Mass: Easter Sunday. The movie goes all the way back to the year of when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese! May God lead you to His home in heaven, and please follow Our Lady of Fatima’s message to pray the Rosary for world peace. May God bless you all.
The author failed to admit and print in the article above three of the biggest distractions: 1) immodestly dressed women with halter tops, or low cut necklines showing cleavage, or their wastes, or short dresses high above the knee that draw men and some disgusted womens attention from what is going on in the sanctuary; 2) whispering and giggling by adults or teenagers in church within audible range, and 3) people getting up going to the bathroom and flushing toilets during the consecration without any regard to what is going on in the sanctuary or anywhere else for that matter. I guess they are just waiting or preparing for the fun socializing after the norvus ordo service. It is sad for those how little reverence they show our Creator.
Some questions about the Latin Mass. Do people say the Our Father in English or in Latin? Do they do the same readings that they do in English Masses, gospels and Old and New Testament readings, psalm responses and alleluias? I remember when I was a child that the priest said “Dominus vobiscum and the people responded “Et cum spiritu tuo.” So they must say this in the Latin Masses.
PA – Answers to your ????s. The priest says the Our Father in Latin in the Low Mass and I believe the people sing it along with the choir in the High Mass (someone correct me if I am wrong on that point). The readings are not the same. The Epistle (letters of St Paul, etc) and Gospel are read in Latin. No psalm responses. Yes, they say “Dominus etc” in the Latin Mass but some NO priests (on EWTN) will insert “Dominus etc” into that Mass.
I think I may remember saying the Our Father in Latin at Mass but don’t ever remember the Epistles and Gospel read in Latin. They were always in English in my church. Thanks for your answers, Cole Thornton.
Mark from PA,
Yes to all of the above except the priest in the Tridentine Mass says the “Pater Noster” in Latin and the people can follow along with their Missals. At Sunday Masses the Epistle and the Gospel are read first in Latin and then in English.
I believe Cole is correct on the Psalm Responses.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
You are right – the big distractions are irreverant people.
All of us should correct them when necessary.
Don’t be too shy to tell people to quit talking.
Harv,
I created posters that feature a beautiful picture of the Sacred Heart, in English and Spanish that promote “Proper Dress in Church”. I will download it FREE for anyone who contacts me either by phone or E-mail. My E-mail address is: kmfjmj@att.net.
However, I have never been bothered by persons flushing the toilet. I think that is going too far. As I wrote earlier, I have even been present when the poor priest had to leave the Altar suddenly. This tends to happen more often with our beloved senior priests.
This has never to my experience happened once the Consecration started!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Mark from PA it is clearly obvious from your questions that you haven’t been to a TLM for ages if ever at all. I’d suggest to you that you attend a TLM sometime, and I don’t mean an EFM, but a TLM as there is a difference and no compromise with the NOM nor the NO 3-year liturgical calendar. You see before Vatican II, the Church was on a 1-year liturgical calendar which the TLM rigidly stickes too. With that being said, people do not speak or sing the Our Father in the TLM maybe the EFM, but not the TLM. Only the priest recites the Our Father out loud in the “Low” TLM and only the priest sings the Our Father out loud in the “High” TLM. There is no Lutheran addition ‘for the power and the . . . . now and forever amen” at the end of the Our Father in the TLM. No the TLM does not have the same epistle and gospel readings as the EFM or NOM as they are on 1 vs 3-year liturgical calendars. However, there are holy days and special days like Easter when they may synch up. Three big differences between the TLM and EFM/NOM is that 1) the TLM has only 1 epistle reading not 2, 2) only the priest reads the epistle and gospel, no lay lectern, and 3) in the TLM both the epistle and gospel are generally read twice, the first time in latin while the priest is facing the alter with his back to the people, and the second time in the vernacular language when he is at the pulpit facing the people just before he gives his sermon (it makes for a nice transition to go from the epistle and gospel readings into the sermon subject matter) .
Thanks, Bruce. I am learning here. I thought that all Catholic Churches followed the 3 year liturgical calendar and that on any given Sunday, the same gospel is proclaimed in all Catholic Churches throughout the world. I am aware that we used to use a one year calendar but I didn’t know that some Catholic parishes still used it. I have never been to a Mass where the epistle and gospel were read twice. I have never been to a Mass where the epistle and gospel were read in Latin. When I was a child and the Mass was in Latin, the epistle and gospel were always in English. I have also never been to a Mass where the priest read the epistle and gospel with his back to the people, they were always read from the pulpit. So that is something completely new to me.
Oscar, before answering questions with such a great confidence that you know the answer, and can mislead others, please bone up on the subject (i.e. do your research) so you can speak with a real sense of the truth. To many times people think they have the answers, when in reality they don’t especially so n these last nearly 50 years of these “times they are a changing”.
What to do? What to do? Stop going to a norvus ordo service that has distractions. Find instead a Tridentine Latin Mass to attend instead. Yes it is true, they are scarcer to find but not impossible. They do exist and maybe within an affordable distance to your home. You will find the Blessed Sacrament, serenity, reverence, and quiet peace you need there to worship our Lord without distractions. Look for a Tridentine Latin Mass by reviewing a directory on traditio via your web browser. Good luck and pray your Rosary’s. Our Lady will help you!