It seems that Christmas Midnight Mass is becoming a relic of the past. Very few churches in our diocese, including mine, bother to have it? Why?
Because our laity love early vigils some beginning as early as 4:00 PM. In fact if there is a 4 pm Christmas Vigil it will be the most packed of all the Masses of Christmas.
The schedule at my parish was 5 pm which was the Family Mass preceded by the children's Christmas Pagent. Our church seats about 1,000 and it was packed.
Our "Mass at Night" was at 9 pm. Not as packed but quite full.
Then we had Christmas Day Mass at 9 AM with about 400 in attendance.
In days gone by, but within my memory, the first Mass of Christmas was always on Christmas Day, at Midnight or 12 AM in the morning. It was the packed Mass. Why? Maybe people wanted to get it over with so as not to disturb their Christmas Day traditions of opening gifts and a nice breakfast?
To be quite frank, the early vigils on Christmas Eve killed the Midnight Mass. Even the Vatican since Pope St. John Paul has abandoned the Midnight Mass. This year it was at 9:30 PM I think.
What was your Christmas tradition prior to Vigil Masses being so early and the Midnight Mass abandoned?
12 comments:
On Russian Christmas we will have a midnight Divine Liturgy for the Nativity of Our Lord.
With Father McDonald's permission, and in keeping with the Advent Season/Christmas Season:
On December 1, 2019 A.D:, His Holiness released a brief, but beautiful and inspirational Apostolic Letter.
ADMIRABILE SIGNUM
OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS. ON THE MEANING AND IMPORTANCE OF THE NATIVITY SCENE.
http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_letters/documents/papa-francesco-lettera-ap_20191201_admirabile-signum.html
Excerpt:
"With this Letter, I wish to encourage the beautiful family tradition of preparing the nativity scene in the days before Christmas, but also the custom of setting it up in the workplace, in schools, hospitals, prisons and town squares."
Pax.
Mark Thomas
A child of the 70s, our family clung to the Midnight Mass tradition until the Christmas Pagent was attached to the vigil Mass. After a couple of years, we went back to the midnight Mass or Christmas morning Mass if we couldn’t make midnight. The prevailing rule we still honor with our kids today is no opening of presents until after Christmas Mass. And to me, it’s hardly Christmas Mass when it’s not in Jesus’s birthday.
The vigil Mass is a shame in my opinion because it is usually about convenience and not interrupting the chaos of opening presents for the kids on Christmas Day. How opening gifts for us, on Jesus’s birthday takes priority over worshiping and adoring our Lord on his birthday is a crying shame. We need clergy to stand up and reshape the Mass schedule so it reflects the appropriate priority. Do we value meal time/party time/gift opening more than Mass on Christmas?!? One day a year.... one day a year we have a chance to celebrate Mass on our Lord’s birthday... what could be a better present for Him, the one who made an infinite, universal sacrifice for all mankind, then for us to sacrifice our schedule of social activities and chose to worship Him on Christmas morning, midnight or otherwise later in the morning? Shouldn’t that be the climax of our Christmas Eve or the beginning of our Christmas Day?!?
I was so disappointed to learn that there would be No Midnight Mass at the church I have been going to for years; there is a new pastor this year, but one so holy I was pretty astonished when I read about this change. I know that prior Midnight Masses were not 'well attended', as they say, but those who were there were faithful and dedicated. oh well. I did earnestly try to stay at the 7;30 pm one: but hustled out when the organist in the loft went a little nuts with 'Danny Boy' about 15 min before mass was to begin. I am very (too) easily negatively affected by music....early Christmas day however, I Did make it to, as well as through, Mass. *phew*. the other letdown about Midnight Mass no longer being celebrated there is that it was always such a mystical experience. The next closest one is about 40 min away at a Carmel: next year ! Thank you for asking, and sorry for lingering on & on....
The Vigil Mass on Xmas Eve (violet vestments) was traditionally celebrated in the morning, but by 1962 had been moved to the afternoon, unless it was a Sunday. It did not fulfil the obligation to hear Mass on Xmas Day.
The Novus Ordo uses some of the Propers of the Vigil Mass, including the Introit 'Hodie scietis' but makes it in effect the first Mass of Xmas, with white vestments, and although not an 'anticipatory' Mass fulfils the obligation. This year at the Oxford Oratory it was celebrated at 6:30 pm after first Vespers, in English with carols. I don't know what the attendance was, but the Midnight Mass, preceded by carols, began at midnight and was a Solemn Latin Mass (OF). It would have drawn the largest congregation. On Xmas Day the Masses followed the usual Sunday schedule; a Low EF Mass at 8 am, a sung English 'family' Mass at 9:30, and a Solemn Latin OF Mass at 11. This last was the one I attended, and the church was full, as it had been for the 9:30 Mass.
The problem in most parishes is that the midnight Mass (which in any case might begin earlier) is not particularly solemn. It is probably said in English and the only music will be the inevitable carols. Why wait till midnight to get what is in effect a glorified carol service when you can have the same at four in the afternoon?
We don't have a vigil Mass on Christmas Eve in this parish, and I intend not to allow one. Our first Mass is at midnight on Christmas. It is possible that as I grow older -- and if I can't get help with the 7:30 am Mass that same day -- I may move the "Mass at night" to earlier, but I really don't want to.
There are folks who want me to have a vigil -- as they wanted my predecessor to do so -- and here is how I respond:
When the Saturday vigil Mass was first instituted, it was supposed to be only for those few people whose situation made attending Mass on the Lord's Day impossible or at least very difficult. But what transpired was that lots of people now go to Saturday, and the character of the Lord's Day is obliterated for many, many people. Similarly, where there are vigils for Christmas, they tend earlier and earlier -- the Archbishop here allows them at 3 pm -- and Masses on Christmas Day disappear.
I can't roll back time and undo what happened to the Lord's Day, but I am not going to do the same thing to Christmas Day. The only way I would allow such a vigil would be to have it rather late, perhaps 7 pm or such, and even then, I would need a guarantee that only those for whom attending Mass on Christmas Day is very difficult or impossible would actually take advantage of it. Of course, no such guarantee could ever be given, so...I'm not going to change the schedule.
Our Christmas Mass is usually packed. We do OK on Christmas, and overall, our attendance is a little higher than a usual Sunday. I am not naive; I know that maybe 100-200 folks attend Mass at a nearby church with a vigil.
Fr Fox, good for you. A good friend of mine used to sarcastically refer the the vigil Masses as a Mass of convenience.
Your numbers are interesting. Would you care to share your typical Sunday attendance? If Christmas Day is a little better than a typical Sunday yet short by 100-200 parishioners in a town the size of Russia (population 650) then you have tremendous participation. For those not familiar with Russia, the town is the only developed area within 30 miles in any direction.
RCG:
We have about 1,500-1,600 total parishioners. Our average Sunday attendance is between 750 and 800. We had about 860 or so on Christmas.
And, I hate to disagree with you, but there are other communities nearby: Versailles, Bradford, Piqua, Sidney, Newport and Osgood, all within 30 miles.
The Missal does not give guidance on the times when the Christmas Masses may be celebrated other than the Vigil Mass "before or after First Vespers", during the night, at dawn and during the day. In most places, Vigil Masses are celebrated between 4pm and 6pm, although in a few places before or after these times. On Christmas Eve, this often has become a "Children's Mass" with kids doing a live nativity pageant before Mass; often serving as readers and ushers. Usually the nativity scene and Christmas tree are blessed. No longer called "the Mass at Midnight" but "Mass During the Night", in many places it still takes place at midnight unless the priest has an early Mass Christmas day. In that case, it's commonly moved back to 10pm and sometimes has a half hour of Christmas Carols beforehand. Any Mass before 9am Christmas Day is considered the "Mass at Dawn" and after 9am, the "Mass During the Day". At least that's been my experience over the last several decades.
Thank you for raising this issue. As usual, a lot of the blame falls on the bishops and priests. Where I live, in the Chicago area, in many places there are multiple vigil masses, some beginning early in the afternoon. Then on Christmas Day there is just one mass. Even someone good as the late Cardinal George allowed this. I don't understand the thinking of people who celebrate Christmas without going to Christmas Mass. Isn't that what the word Christmas means? Why do the bishops and priests encourage this? If there needs to have a "family mass," why can it not be on Christmas Day? And if there is a pageant, shouldn't that be done at another time? Apart from mass? I don't know of any bishop trying to restore Christmas Day to its rightful solemnity and beauty. And the priests, like Father Martin Fox, are unfortunately few and far between.
It would not be the first time for holy/holiday mission creep to end up requiring reform measures for Christmas and Easter, as even older missals attest when explaining changes and history and latest pontifical actions.
Meanwhile, we still seem on course, until then, of the USCCB consolidating all Sundays of the year into one combination Christmas/Easter celebration, for, of course, pastoral reasons, those always being nobody is coming anyhow, so, we will just stop bothering, the savings alone will get every desk at the USCCB HQ WIFI, indispensible for the New Evangelization and their planned nationwide coverage of 24hr drive-thru communion booths on every interstate while eliminating costly parish infrastructure maintenance, which also should net the USCCB lay staff new office electronic suites neccessary for the modern media marketing presence in the ever tighter market for tithing members.
As Hillary once said about something else, "what difference does it make?" Just be glad folks are attending, whether it is at 4pm, 6pm, 8pm or Christmas Day. Ancient Jewish custom is days running sundown to sundown (I think this is true in the Orthodox Church as well). I'd be more concerned about getting folks back after Christmas---maybe a reminder that the local parish is open for business 52 Sundays a year, like come back before Easter---speaking of which, this coming year coincides with a certain golf tournament at 2604 Washington Road, August 30904. Will churches accommodate their schedules for that?
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