“One Easy Trick!” for a better Sunday mass

Last updated on: September 8, 2015 at 7:27 am by Jane the Actuary

“One Easy Trick!” for a better Sunday mass 2015-09-08T07:27:18-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany, Philadelphia (public domain via Wikipedia)

Fun fact: Catholicism and me go way back. True, I didn’t make an RCIA profession of faith until graduate school, but Dad was Catholic (Mom Lutheran), so they were married in a Catholic church (St. Louis’s Old Cathedral, in 1966, in that in-between time, when the Tridentine mass had been translated into English, but not revised into the Novus Ordo), my siblings and I were baptized in a Catholic church (the now-closed St. Bede’s in Southfield), and, growing up, we alternated between Catholic and Lutheran services on Sunday, with greater weight given to Lutheran services and Catholic mass coming into play when we had something going on that necessitated convenience.

So I am certainly used to the Catholic practice of high-tailing it out of church the instant the closing song starts, or maybe after the priest walks past. But that doesn’t mean I like it.

And, to be sure, the Catholic church we attended was particularly bad, and Catholics in general have improved — at my home church, for instance, at my husband’s behest, some years ago, the prior pastor began to linger at the altar so that he’d only start the outbound procession towards the end of the closing song. But it drives me batty when we’re at a church where the pews have emptied out before the first verse is over, and, truth be told, there is still a fair degree to which I don’t feel myself to be “one of them” when it comes to my fellow Catholics, and this is a part of why.

But this is the answer: a postlude. A little bit of organ or piano or other instrumental music after the closing song.

That’s it.

It cues the congregation that “church isn’t over” until the postlude starts. Protestant churches do this as a general practice. The Catholic church we attended in Grand Haven had a postlude. And the church by my parent’s house that we attended this past weekend, not the one I attended growing up but a different one roughly the same distance in the opposite direction, had a postlude.

And everyone waited until the postlude began (in this case just a bit of organ music) to begin before leaving.

Now, if this was just the “best vacation church” (as I called the Grand Haven parish) I’d say this isn’t proof that the postlude is the “easy trick” because the priest was energetic and the congregation was enthusiastic in general. But this weekend’s church? They’d had to reinvent themselves a couple years ago when two parishes were obliged to merge, and the congregation that Sunday at 9:30 was relatively old, with only a few younger families.

So there you go: spread the word. Add a postlude.

(Oh, and I’ve been trying to add pictures for visual interest. But “Catholics high-tailing it out of mass after the first notes of the closing song” as a search term doesn’t yield any good results.)

Uncategorized

Previous Post

September 7, 2015

Muslim in America, Detroit Riverfront edition

Next Post

September 8, 2015 From the library: Rising to the Challenge by Carly Fiorina

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is taught about gossip in the Bible?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Avoid it Encourage it Spread it Enjoy it