Not in decades, like the 1970s. And even then it was a brief spasm.

Chonak, that one is new to me! Although I’ve experienced the same as the first two posts many (many) times.

The thank you’s at the end of mass almost always come from visiting priests. I always find it so odd. Oh—and the bishop, whenever he comes. It always seems so gratuitous to me.

Gamba,

At least one point of origin (there may be several which converge) is the idea that Mass is about us, and this is a community celebration, at least in part, of itself.

@CatholicZ09 thankfully no

The Liturgy of the Thank Yous is quite common among priests of a certain vintage, but thankfully it has almost died out. The introduction of liturgical ministers seems to be non-existent in my area: the most you get is the cantor announcing the Entrance Hymn, of course that's sometimes done badly, with a liturgically incorrect idea that the Entrance Hymn "welcomes the presider", though it seems like more places are correcting that: I suppose all it takes is one Assumption Mass where the cantor says, "Let us greet Fr. Smith as we sing 'Hail, Holy Queen'" to get the point across.

"I suppose all it takes is one Assumption Mass where the cantor says, "Let us greet Fr. Smith as we sing 'Hail, Holy Queen'" to get the point across."

I actually witnessed that once, decades ago, but even in my cantor and lector trainings in the 1980s, there was an emphatic direction that the Introductory Rites were not at all about greeting/welcoming the celebrant and any temptation to construe them as such was to be extirpated with extreme prejudice. Instead the purposes of the Introductory Rites as set forth in the-then GIRM were what was emphasized: "The purpose of these rites is that the faithful coming together take on the form of a community and prepare themselves to listen to God's Word and celebrate the Eucharist properly." This was the time of the advent of referring to the opening music as the Gathering Hymn.

and are there any visitors from out of town?... and is anyone celebrating a birthday today?....and Father so-and-so is willing to celebrate a Mass for us this morning. All in favor?

I don't recall my giving any sign of approval, but it seems the Mass proceeded somewhat as usual. (Yes, this all happened about 25 or 30 years ago. Still, it was quite memorable!)

My home parish has eliminated any announcements read by the cantor before Mass. As a cantor myself, I hated reading through the long list of announcements. Most of the time, the announcements ended with: “Please take home a copy of the bulletin with you as you leave church today, as it contains very important information.” Okay, why couldn’t I just say that instead of reading the entire bulletin to the congregation?

And, @WGS, I have seen the whole “Do we have anniversaries, birthdays, visitors, etc.,” too, and I’m surprised that people reciprocate and stand up and let others clap for them. I could never.

A priest I know, had appealed for singers and servers for Candlemas, I did not think we could split our choir to sing at two Masses, so had ignored the request. Three days before the feast my morning science lessons were moved... so on the morning I realised that I could sing at this priest's Mass and not at my normal parish where I had organised singers and servers several week ago... So 2 hours before Mass and procession, I arranged for another cantor to join me. The priest had noticed that a young man had turned up with a Liber 30mins before Mass, when he saw me appear 20mins before Mass he realised that he would have a the full works...

Well after Mass and Marian Anthem, he turned and publicly thanked us! We have since had two e-mails thanking us!

Matthew,

What was common in Canada?

he turned and publicly thanked us!

Most of the time, the announcements ended with: “Please take home a copy of the bulletin with you as you leave church today, as it contains very important information.” Okay, why couldn’t I just say that instead of reading the entire bulletin to the congregation?