Full, Conscious, Raucous and Active Participation
  • G
    Posts: 1,401
    (Yes, it was deliberate.)
    That was by far the most worthily celebrated Mass of the tour (apart from the raucous applause).
    Fom another threadI have not yet been able to watch the entire thing, but it seems to me there was more than "raucous applause."
    There was shouting.
    There were whoops.
    There were people in the audience in the mold of that idiot at the opera who has to be the first one to yell, "Brava!," before the diva's last note has died away, or the yahoo who yelps on the golfer's back swing.

    I've heard some brush this kind of behavior aside since it's a special ocassion in a "non-traditional venue," but I've experienced it now at plenty of regular Mass in ordinary parishes.

    I'm curious if anyone here, priest or musician, has ever come into a situation where this sort of thing was common practice, and been able to do anything to correct it.

    If so, how?

    (Save the Liturgy, Save the World)
  • fcbfcb
    Posts: 340
    It seems to have been a common practice in Augustine and Chrysostom's day, but they don't seem to have been all that concerned to correct it.
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,937
    Surely the faithful could be properly catechized to holler something appropriate, like "Vivat Christo Rey" or "Tu es Petrus" or "Restito in facie [sp?]".
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    Speaking of participatio actuosa, we had the great privilege of singing at an EF Solemn High Mass for the feast of the Dedication of St. Michael, the first ever in a parish in Queens, NY, which was a splendid example of how the EF Sung Mass offers ample opportunity for full, conscious, and active congregational participation.

    The celebrant gave a half-hour catechesis on the Latin Mass before Mass, and the program included the entire text of the Mass with clear instructions in bold print for the congregation at every step.

    I am convinced that the vernacular opening and closing hymns were a big help in setting the atmosphere for whole-hearted engagement since the people continued singing all through the Mass. They did great on the ordinary (Missa VIII) and kept up wonderfully with the Credo and all the responses.

    We felt the entire time that the parishioners (who packed the church!) were enthusiastic and engaged, and when they broke into applause after the closing hymn, we were surprised and so touched by their display of appreciation. They were all so kind and affectionate after Mass, and we left thinking that while this "populist" model of the EF High Mass may not be for everyone, it does have a unique ability to reach OF congregations when they are prepared for it, i.e., given the text and the music and, most of all, actually encouraged and instructed by the priest himself to participate in the Mass in the manner proper to them.
    Thanked by 1ClergetKubisz
  • ClergetKubiszClergetKubisz
    Posts: 1,912
    most of all, actually encouraged and instructed by the priest himself to participate in the Mass in the manner proper to them.


    This. Thank you for mentioning this.
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