AmericanPapist Comments
At the end of mass, nobody. shuts. up. I would love to stay and adore, but it's easier to do that in my car, away from the cackle of the marketplace.
I agree that the earliest you should leave is the Ite Missa Est. I usually leave right then, and don't sing the recessional song, since I'm dismissed and I hate most church music.
Some practical things to help this problem:
1. Both species communication slows things down. Reason number 176 why this shouldn't be done.
2. Some priests are really slow on vessel purification. I get horrified by priests that turn the vessels over to sacristans, for what fate I don't want to think about. Similarly, though, there's such a thing as too much purification. Every minute counts.
3. The 2002MR GIRM calls for silence after the purification. But this doesn't have to also include some a capella musical number afterward, when everyone is just waiting for Mass to be over at this point.
4. I realize the GIRM also calls for announcements to be made after the final Dominus Vobiscum and before the Ite Missa Est, but I can tell you as a congregant this is annoying. I just want to get out of there at this point.
5. People should know that they are free to leave after the Ite Missa Est. The songs suck, by and large, anyway. I think people would view this as reasonable if properly-catechized.
Mild public shaming would be wonderfully appropriate. So would medium and hot (the next two grades in Buffalo wings spiciness). Wonder how it could be done ......?
Rellis, I don't mean to be rude, but why would you be in such a rush to leave God's House?
Your phrases that cause me concern:
"slows things down"
"Every minute counts."
"everyone is just waiting for Mass to be over"
"I just want to get out of there at this point."
Is it too much to ask people to give an additional 15 minutes to God? You make attending Mass sound like an onerous burden instead of a glorious joy. I appreciate that you wait for the Ite Missa Est, but what in the world can possibly be so important that a few additional minutes at Mass are so terrible?
Studying, I can appreciate your problem. I try to get my family to move quietly and quickly out of the main Church and into the narthax or social areas before engaging in conversation, because there are usually people praying. Thankfully, my parish has a separate adoration chapel.
I've been praying about this a lot lately and I feel moved to start a ministry to the "Judas Shufflers." I've got a REALLY great thankgiving prayer by St. Thomas Aquinas I say after Holy Communion. I'm having my Uncle make up some holy cards w/ the prayer on it so I can, with the permission of my pastor, hand them to the shufflers on their way out...Anybody else up for some good ol' fashioned evangelization??
Thsi arises in part from the idea that "going to Communion" is the only important thing about going to Mass.
I suspect a lot of people who leave after communion simply don't understand what they are missing - one more area of bad catechesis.
It might help for pastors to make a little flyer explaining things and have ushers hand it to people who leave early.
The priest at our parish has said that people leaving mass immediately after communion are literally breaking apart the Body of Christ.
When he was the assistant pastor at another parish, he would wait and watch by the doors while the other priests said mass. The people who left early complained to the head pastor that this made them feel "uncomfortable" so he was asked to stop.
One priest at our parish (now retired) always used to include as part of his opening remarks "...and as always, I ask that you stay until Mass is completely over, and Mass is not over until the last song is finished being sung". Granted, that's not technically correct, but on the other hand it was rare indeed that somebody left early.
At alot of parishes,the first comment is a big problem...and some modernists and the real enemies of the church do whatever will distract or discourage quiet prayer;so listening to what the Lord has to say to his beloved is made nearly impossible. The noise level in the church here on Sundays is disgraceful and it is encouraged by the leaders...music,deacon,priests,pastor,and the extraordinary ministers all love to talk,talk,talk,and loudly...leading everyone in this most horrible church behaviour.And even when our dear Bishop is here too!It is just the way it is, and they love it that way. Don't dare say otherwise.Could it be that this is the #1 money raising parish,and we want to keep everyone happy or is it just ....
Ed Peters,
Does leaving early from Mass on a Sunday mean that one hasn't fulfilled his obligation?
In one church in our city the Pastor posted signs on the rear exit doors that read:
"Judas was the first person who ever left Mass early."
The expression has stuck with me (although, sadly, that particular church closed in parish consolidation a few years ago).
There is a story of Archbishop Sheen where in once case when somebody got up to leave early they were handed the Gospel to process out. Not sure if the story is true or not, but it is a funny idea.
I heard a story of St Philipp Neri: One lady always used to leave mass right after having received Communion. So one day St Philipp Neri told the altar servers to escort her, with candles and incense, to her house - after all, it was the Body of Christ she was taking home, even if consummated!
In my parish, the procession began as soon as the closing hymn did, and people would just follow them out. Now the priest/deacon/servers don't even budge from behind the altar until at least the second verse, and then they stand facing the altar, back to us, until the last verse, at which point the begin to process. It sure worked! I never realized people would think to leave before the procession!
"Judas was the first person who ever left Mass early."
I like that -- I'll have to remember that.
However, I want to point out that it is possible that someone could have a legitimate reason for leaving Mass early, whether right after Communion or at some other time. For example, maybe they have a job that someone has to do on Sundays (like hospital nurse, prison guard, police officer, etc.), and they have to leave in order to get to work on time. Or maybe they are helping with something in the parish, like serving coffee and doughnuts, or setting up a pro-life information booth, or something like that in the back of the church, for people who are coming out of Mass, and they need a few minutes to prepare before everyone starts exiting.
Now, I suspect that such cases are rare, and do not apply for the vast majority of people who leave Mass early. But we can't always know who has a legitimate reason and who doesn't.
I was going to repeat Victor's story about St. Philip Neri. It was in a reprint of an old collection of stories I read as a child, and it stuck with me. So perfect--except most people nowadays probably wouldn't get it b/c we don't see the Eucharist in procession all that much.
I not only often leave right after Communion (if I even receive Communion), I also often time my arrival so that I get there right before the Offertory. When I was young my mother taught me out of the Baltimore Catechism, which teaches that the three main parts of the Mass -- for which you have to be present in order for the Mass to "count" -- are the Offertory, Consecration, and Communion. I mainly go to fulfill my obligation.
I really dislike the Novus Ordo liturgy and much prefer the traditional Latin Mass. When I have to go to a Novus Ordo Mass, I bring my traditional Missal and read the prayers for the Mass for that day according to the traditional calendar. When I have to go to a Novus Ordo Mass, I really don't want to do much more than I have to just to fulfill my obligation.
I am not defending my attitude, and I realize that there is a great deal wrong with it. But I usually find that attending the Novus Ordo Mass is such as trial (yes, I know -- I should simply accept it and offer it up), between the wretched music and the priests who don't know when to shut up, that I get so distracted and irritated, that's it better for me to be there for as short a time as I need to to fulfill my obligation.
The analysis for leaving Mass early would be exactly the same as that applied to arriving late (or for that matter, stepping out for a time part-way through), ie, assessing the sufficiency of the cause for the absence given the seriousness of the obligation to be present. I really think we need to move beyond the "how late can I come and have it still count" criterion. That analysis was always flawed.
DJW, just saw your honest and very understandable post. Believe me, I know what you are going through. But I have no doubt but that your solution is, as described, quite wrong.
"Is it horrid of me to suggest some sort of (mild) public shaming for this sort of juvenile activity? " We got no slack from one of our priest who set the record pretty straight: He stated both in one of his homilies and in the bulletin that he shall be the last one to come in and the first one to leave. (unless an emergency presented itself, of course). Mind you, what a better time to be reflective that right after we receive Jesus. I think the people that leave before Mass is over is due to a lack of reverence or even understanding of the Real Presence. And that calls for a conversion of the heart. Not an easy task, but one that we can pray for. And of course those of us who do stay can set the example. I have learned so much from others who have set the example for me in my faith journey.
I used to be the type that arrived in church 20 minutes or so before Mass to say some prayers and stay a few minutes afterwards for some time before the Tabernacle. But many of the people in my church who did the same thing were just like many of you -- fretting over what OTHER people did. Why do you care?! I just don't understand. I'm not bothered by people leaving early. Why are you? I think calling people Judases for leaving early is a helluva lot more juvenile. Now, I just don't give a damn about leaving before, after, or during communion. It's a lot more satisfying when I know it pisses some people off. I know I have a good relationship with Jesus. I don't have to wait to be dismissed to prove it.
Franke writes,
"It's a lot more satisfying when I know it pisses some people off. I know I have a good relationship with Jesus."
I LOL'd at the juxtaposition. The rest of the post would have been funny too, if it weren't so sad :(
Frankie, in all seriousness, you seem like you had some sort of bad experience at Church that has caused a lot of understandable anger and hostility. May I ask what happened?
"By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another." John 13:35. If not at mass, when?
Of course, one should not leave early, but wait until the end of the concluding hymn.
My only "complaint," so to speak, is when they insist on singing all seven verses of the concluding hymn. And they insist on continuing to do this, taking five minutes to sing the hymn, even after they see that 90 percent of the folks have taken off after the first or second verse, when the priest has finished receding. It is rather unseemly for them to continue with the hymn (technically a prayer that is part of the Mass I would think) when folks are streaming out of the pews and talking, with only a handful of people still standing there singing.
Our parish solves this problem by NOT singing a concluding hymn. The recessional for the priest is instead a purely musical piece or, on occasion, silence. This rather adds to the solemnity, I think.
When our parish gives out the yearly calendars around Christmas time, the pastor instructs the ushers to put them away after each mass and take them out after the priest enters the gathering space (out of the church proper).
So those who leave early don't get a calendar. :)
Bender -- sometimes it's rather critical not to end the hymn early. Like if you're singing a song with a line about the Devil triumphing, or Jesue being dead!
The closing hymn is most certainly NOT part of the Mass (unless someone happens to stumble into a sung version of John 1 or something).
According to the Rubrics, you are (literally) dismissed at the Ite Missa Est. You can feel free to leave at any point after this without fear of shame.
In response to a comment above, I'm not looking for excuses to leave early. Rather, I'm giving practical observations on solving this problem. If the gap between receiving communion and the Ite Missa Est is shrunk, it will aid the pastor who seeks to nudge people not to leave prematurely.
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