More on church closings

No, not the usual kind we talk about around here, but the Christmas kind. Via a comment in a Get Religion thread, this blogpost from a Canadian Presbyterian dismayed that his church will not be having Christmas day services.

If you haven't checked out the comments below, they have transformed into a discussion of the slow disappearance of the Christmas morning Mass in Catholic Churches, in favor of the Christmas Eve liturgy. One later poster says that her parish is having a 3pm vigil Mass! 3!

Of course the Vigil Mass is an important part of traditional Christian liturgical practice, but the shift away from Christmas Day Mass really has nothing theological about it - it seems to me it's all about "getting it over with" so we don't have to rouse ourselves from the wrapping paper and breakfast of Christmas morn. Parishes then give in to this by scheduling the Children's Christmas Liturgy for Christmas Eve - is there a law that demands this? No, of course not. It could be scheduled for Christmas morning.

Personally, I would love to go to Midnight Mass, but I don't think I've been in years - you have to go so early to get a seat, and with two little ones who need to be asleep anyway - that's not going to happen. Christmas morning for us - not so crowded, and a moment in time, that is sorely needed, as we are forced to rise and leave our material gifts and go celebrate, with the entire Church, what those gifts point to - or, to whom, rather.

Comments

[Rich Leonardi]

Unless you live in the far reaches of the Northern Hemisphere, 3PM is nowhere near sundown (which marks the liturgical "next day.")

At my parish, the Christmas Eve Vigil has become THE Mass. It's held at 4PM and unless you're there by 3:30, you flat out aren't going to get a seat. Christmas carols start at about 3:15. When the choir wrapped up last year just before Mass was to begin, one of my little ones asked "Is it [meaning Mass] over, Mom?"

We'll be back in Rochester this year, and though we'll have to drive half-way across town to find a cringe-free liturgy, it'll be Christmas morning. Hopefully.

[thomas tucker]

I agree. Christmas Day Mass is the way to go. The midnight Mass is chock full of people and the ranks are swelled by those who go once or twic a year simply as a tradition- the end result is no place to sit.

[Jacob]

In my home town, the three parishes along with surrounding towns' parishes are grouped into a county 'team ministry'. So everyone gets together and schedules so that there is a Mass somewhere going on.

The funny thing is that on Christmas Eve, there are several Masses, but the lastest one begins at 10:30. Then there are more Masses in the morning.

Rather than abandoning Christmas morning, some have abandoned Midnight Mass as the inconvenient time to have Mass.

[chris]

Growing up in my typically liberal Catholic parish, the 4pm/6pm Vigils were the big Masses. We used to have a midnight Mass, but the new priest moved this to 10pm, because he's too tired to say Midnight Mass (and he's been battling cancer, so he may be exactly right here in his case).

After my adult reversion to the Faith, I started refusing to attend the crowded/circus atmosphere 4pm/6pm vigils, in favor of Midnight Mass. My parents, who I still visit at Christmas, wanted to keep it a family event, and realizing that I wasn't going to budge, now attend it with me, and they love the change.

Now that Midnight Mass has been moved to 10pm, we attend that. I wouldn't mind attending the 9am Mass on Christmas Day in the least, but that's where they draw the line.

On the plus side, having an early "Midnight Mass" allows me to get home in time to watch the Papal Midnight Mass (6-hour tape delay) on NBC.

[Fr. Larry Gearhart]

It's definitely a scandal, but it takes a lot more guts than most pastors have to go against these trends.

[Liam]

Growing up, my family opened gifts at dawn on Christmas, and then my father took us to the first Mass.

We would come home to Christmas breakfast, the only day of the year my mother prepared bacon for us. After breakfast, my mother would attend Mass later in the morning, perhaps with the oldest child, while we cleaned up the house.

This pattern had the salutary effect of putting a quick and huge break in the focus on loot, and I highly recommend it.

We kids never went to midnight mass, because it was adults-only admission. So I never developed the taste for it. Even in my choral days, I would sing the vigil and Christmas day, but not midnight (if you want me to sing the morning, I cannot sing at midnight...and we needed some singers to show up for the morning....).

What the vigil became in my parents parish on Long Island was a huge display of conspicuous consumption. Furs, jewels, hats, gloves, the works. You'd not see this at anything other than the first vigil mass (in fact, you'd never see it at any other mass of the year, even Easter): it was abundantly clear that, for many, the mass was simply the preparation for the menu of social celebration.

[MS]

Our parish moved its midnight Mass to 10 o'clock years ago -- because the Episcopal church across the street decided they wanted to have a midnight Mass, too. Someone figured out parking would be a nightmare if both churches had their most heavily attended Mass of the year at the same time, so our priests (who were very old and I suspect wanted to get to bed early) moved the Mass to 10. Whatever. We go on Christmas morning and there's fewer people there than you would see at a normal daily Mass. Kind of nice I admit.

[Kate P]

This may be a regional and/or ethnic thing, but not too long ago I learned that another problem with the Midnight Mass is that some people attend without taking the time to sober up from dinner beforehand. This problem was mentioned by a local talk radio host who said he wanted to "ban the yahoos from Midnight Mass." I've been to Midnight Mass only once, and I was cantoring, so I wasn't sure what he was talking about. I asked people on the Catholic discussion e-group I belong to, and someone said, "Sure, I know what that means--you've got people in the pew next to you so drunk you can smell the alcohol on them." I guess that would be a little disruptive, not to mention disrespectful.

[Brian Day]

Living in a large city, we have a "megachurch" parish.

This year there will be vigil Masses at 4:00, 6:00, and 8:00PM, plus Midnight Mass. Then there will be the full compliment of eight (8)! Sunday day Masses.

http://saintcolumbanchurch.org/downloads/Christmas%20&%20New%20Years%20Schedule.pdf

Another aspect of a large parish is that there are two Easter Vigil Masses. One at 5:00 PM and the other at 8:30PM. The 5:00 Mass definitely starts during daylight. I've lectored at this Mass. Even with cutting down the number of readings, the Mass runs three hours. So with two vigil Masses, moving the first to after sunset would have the second one finish up well after midnight.

[Liam]

Brian

What is the need for the earlier Easter Vigil Mass? Are there likewise two Lord's Supper Masses on Holy Thursday?

[Samuel J. Howard]

Wow...it's incredibly illicit to have more than one Easter Vigil mass.

[Anthony]

This strikes me as counterprodutive in the same sort of way the American Jewish custom of charging (a *lot*) for admission to High Holy Days services at synagogue.

[LadyHatton]

Due to changing demographics (neighborhood becoming more crime-ridden, parishioners becoming more elderly), one of our parishes began holding "midnight" mass at 7 pm. This mass is packed out, as is the 6 p.m "family mass" at our own parish. I think because many families enjoy a long Christmas Eve dinner afterwards; this is an Italian tradition. My family, being Irish, celebrates at Mom and Dad's on Christmas Eve afternoon, then we take the kids to an evening mass. I always like to go on Christmas morning, though.

This year we will be visiting my husband's parents in Mississippi, where the local Catholic church is an outgrowth of the University's Newman Center. They are building a new church building, so we will be celebrating in the theater of the School of Education across the street. We usually end up at their *4:00*PM (!!!) mass, since we have to attend my inlaws' Methodist church for the Christmss Eve "candlelit service"--my husband loves it,so we go. This year maybe we can go to Mass on Christmas morning. I like the idea of taking a break from the "loot grab" ("giftmania" as my brother-in-law calls it)but my inlaws NEVER go to church on Christmas Day so that will be a disruption to them...another weird Catholic thing their daughter-in-law is passing on to their grandsons. (You bet.)

[Fr. Rob Johansen]

Ditto on the "incredibly illicit" double Easter Vigil.

The Instruction says quite clearly that there is to be ONE Easter Vigil Mass, and it is to begin after darkness falls. Not at sundown - there's a good 45 minutes to an hour after sundown until total darkness falls.

Also, to have a vigil Mass for Sunday or Holy Day at 3:00 PM is illicit as well. The norm in the US (enacted by US bishops and approved by Rome) is that the earliest a vigil Mass may be celebrated is 4:00 PM.

[Liam]

Fr Rob, I assume your reference in that last paragraph to "vigil mass" is not meant to include the Easter Vigil, which is governed by unique and specific universal norms.

[Liam]

Btw, this is my annual Ordo opportunity to remind you priests that, when the propers of Saturday are of a feast that is higher ranking than those of the adjoining Sunday, you use the propers of the Saturday rather than Sunday for your anticipated Masses on Saturday evening. (This is an issue the USCCB liturgy folks seem to screw up when publishing the ordo; they made a mistake for December 2004 in this regard.)

In 2006, the only time this will be an issue will be on Saturday June 24.

[LeeAnn]

Our suburban/edge of rural parish has two Christmas Eve Masses, at 3:30 and 5:30 pm and one Christmas Day Mass at 10 am BUT our pastor and associate pastor have to cover two parishes and ours is the smaller of the two, so I guess we get the less desirable times. I was planning on going to the 10am Xmas day Mass but then my eldest daughter got picked to play Mary in the pageant at the 3:30 pm Xmas Eve mass, so oh well for that plan.

The weirdest thing about Easter Vigil last year is that our priest skipped some of the long readings because he had to get back to the larger parish to do the Vigil Mass there in less than two hours. That doesn't seem quite right to me. Although apparently the first year he was here he said that some of the parishioners gathered outside the church around the bonfire (to light the Paschal candle) drinking beer and sitting in lawn chairs! Yikes!

[cw]

I was the poster who mentioned the 3pm vigil Mass. I just spoke with the diocese. There are a few super huge parishes in the diocese who have requested special permission to start vigil Masses at 3pm. This parish was one of them. As I posted in Amy's earlier thread, the least crowded of Masses on a regular Sunday numbers 400+. The pastor is an Anglican convert who is married and has children still at home. That might have some influence on the Mass schedule, but I doubt it. There are also three other priests at this parish. I think this is what the congregation demands. Lots of families who don't want their picture perfect Christmas morning disturbed I guess. I understand that reality is that way, I just wish our pastors were strong enough to encourage everyone to try harder and do more, not just fulfill the requirement. An expectation of mediocrity is going to be met with just that.

[TSO]

Yeah the 3pm Christmas Eve Mass is the "Children's Mass" with the children's choir singing. Since most parishioners have children, this is "the Mass". Can a "vigil of the vigil Mass" on the 23rd be far behind?

[Liam]

TSO

Funny allusion: recall how certain penances of Christmas Eve got moved to the 23rd by indult before Vatican II?

[John]

Friends:

Most Ecclesia Dei chapels have decent Midnight Masses at midnight, with a dawn Mass and a morning Mass on the 25th. If you wish to follow the Midnight Mass tradition, you could do worse than to go there. In my experience, such chapels do not usually have hymns that make one cringe, to boot.

[Lori]

I don't think it's entirely fair for us to assume that the most common reason that people are opting to go to Vigil Masses or Midnight Mass is solely because they don't want their picture-perfect Christmas mornings of gift-opening to be messed up. Of course, for some that may be the case. But I can think of other reasons that could be the case as well.

First, attending Midnight Mass is a very strong tradition, particularly for those with an Italian or Slovak background. (Although I am neither, I go to a parish that is pretty evenly divided between the two traditions.) From what some of my fellow parishioners have told me, they celebrate with a big family dinner on Christmas Eve, and then the entire extended family -- often with sleeping babies in tow -- attend Midnight Mass together. Our Midnight Mass is usually pretty crowded, and almost always with huge family groups who all arrive together. I'm a regular Midnight Mass attendee, and I find that to be a lovely sight.

As for the Vigil Mass attendees, I'm sure there are some among them who may want to "get it over with" so that they can devote the morning to opening presents. But I think it's entirely possible that some folks need to get an early start in the morning so that they can visit both sides of the family on Christmas day. In many cases, one side of the family will pitch a fit if they perceive that they're being "slighted" on a holiday in favor of the other in-laws, particularly when there are grandchilden involved. I can only imagine how much that kind of thing could be multiplied in the case of divorced and remarried parents. And with families living further apart these days, to visit everyone on the holiday often requires traveling for much of the day.

So perhaps some of the Vigil Mass attendees would love nothing more than to spend Christmas morning at Mass but they feel pulled in too many directions on the family front. If there's a Vigil Mass available that they can go to, that certainly seems preferable than for them to skip Mass altogether.

[Anne-Marie]

Where I grew up, Quebec, the standard mass for Christmas was the midnight one. Traditionally it was held at midnight and followed by a big party at home; sometimes that's when presents were opened, sometimes they waited till New Year's. For Quebecois there was no picture-perfect Christmas morning driving attendance at vigils.

However, since we spent most of my early Christmases at my grandmother's in Vermont, we always went to Mass on Christmas morning, usually 10 a.m., and we never opened presents (except stockings) until after Mass. When my sisters and I were older, my grandmother started coming up to our house for Christmas, and we got promoted--or so it felt--to midnight Mass. Every year, my mother would conduct a search to find the latest "midnight" Mass. The local parishes had mostly moved theirs to 7 p.m. or so by then, and we usually ended up at the basilica downtown.

[ange]

Lori,
My thoughts exactly. 100 times over.
We decided to have our own Christmas celebration and see extended family at another date during the 12 days of Christmas.

My heart is still with the Christmas eve mass, but ours is at midnight in a not-so-nice neighbohood. The last time we went we didn't get home until 2:30 am. With several kids under ten that just doesn't fly.

Now we go at either 10 am Christmas morning at our own parish or to noon mass at the Basilica. (Incidentally, last year the Basilica was packed for a noon mass, after having a few masses before that). Then we open gifts and have dinner. The kids prefer it that way and it's more relaxed.

[(Fr) Septimus]

Our tradition growing up (my father German, mother Irish) was to go to Midnight Mass together; then, upon arriving home, we would wait in the car while dad ran in to see if Santa had arrived yet. Invariably, dad would "help" Santa finish up, then we'd all come in and open presents at around 1:30 AM. I guess we'd get to bed by around 3 AM, and then mom and dad got to sleep late.

Did anyone grow up doing this?

[scotch meg]

I think the vigil becomes a chicken-and-egg thing. I would prefer (strongly prefer!) to attend Mass on Christmas Day, but I have kids in the children's choir. So we go when they sing, which is the 4PM vigil Mass, complete with horrible crowding, most unchristian behavior about reserving seats, and much more noise. I have friends who say that Christmas Day is the only time they prefer the 9:30 AM Mass... and I'd love to join them. If the pastor would move the choir to Christmas morning, I'd be delighted to attend then. Delighted. And I bet it would shift lots of other families, too... if you could get enough of the choir kids to show up. Although the families tend to be pretty conscientious (which brings me back to why we go to the 4:00...).

[ambrose]

Midnight Mass for convenience? Do the math. You get there at 11:30, you get home sometime between 2 and 3 am, the kids and your 25-year-old sister who still acts like a kid are all up at 5 am. The past few years I look a lot more hung over than picture perfect in any Christmas morning picture taken.

[Karen Marie Knapp]

The Cathedral here in Milwaukee still has midnight mass at midnight, but my other parish, which is also in the downtown area, about a decade ago moved the midnight mass to 10 pm (to finish between 11:30 and midnight). This move happened after a year when a blizzard began during the midnight mass, the mass went on until after the buses stopped running for the night, and many elderly parishioners were stranded at the bus stop in the snow until the buses started again in the morning. So, now they make sure that mass will be over while the buses are still running, so the parishioners can get back home.

[Liam]

Karen

In urban areas, moving the midnight to an earlier hour started a couple of decades ago to accommodate public transit schedules on which many congregants depended. This might strike some folks as odd, because they assume urban parishes are small enough for this not to be a factor. Well, on days like Christmas, people often migrate to former parishes for reasons of friends/family/memories, et cet.