A slant on the gathering rite

[docmattc]

I visited my parents yesterday who were telling me about the church in our South-Western most diocese where they went on holiday out of season.

Before Mass, people (few holiday makers mostly locals) were catching up on news with each other. Mum said the conversations were of a "How are you', "Do you know mrs so-and-so is in hospital" kind of nature.
Just before Mass, a hymn was announced and they all sang, then knelt down for a couple of minutes in silence before the bell rang, they sang the entrance hymn and the priest processed out.

This seems to me to be a solution to that tension that some people want the people of God to be silent within the church in preparation for Mass, whereas others want the community to gather by greeting each other. But I'm not sure its an elegant solution. Having not experienced it first hand its difficult to tell.

What says the house?

[SOP]

I think it sounds good but I doubt if everyone would go along with it.

[nazard]

If the nattering gets too much, one solution which works is to sing Lauds immediately before mass. Only a small number of people will come for the start of Lauds and then the rest creep in as quietly as they can. It does have the disadvantage that it totally kills conversation.

[alan29]

I'm not sure that this sort of touching base with the community is always such a negative thing. However a practical way to move towards the start of Mass is to have the musicians play over the entrance song/hymn/music, starting quietly and leading towards the actual Intro. After a while you can encourage the musicians to try out a bit of improvisation while still playing quietly - double bonus.
Alan

[John Ainslie]

I sympathise with the need for some kind of transition between socialising and the Entrance Hymn, to enable some reflection on why one's come to church. This is particularly necessary before an occasion like First Communion or Confirmation, when socialising can be quite noisy. Before one Confirmation, I was summoned by the bishop and told to do anything to quieten down the congregation: a brief congregational practice, ending with an appeal for two minutes' silence, did the trick.

One possibility is a Gathering Song of a quiet, meditative nature, e.g. 'Abba Abba Father, you are the potter' or 'Where two or three'. That can either end with a brief silence before the Entrance Song, or grow into one itself.

If you have a bell outside the sacristy that is rung to indicate that "Father's coming", this might be used instead. Two 'dings' could mean "two minutes' silence, please", one 'ding' means "get on your feet and start singing".

[oopsorganist]

I can't see any reason to torture people with two hymns instead of one.

Some do not like chat before Mass and some also object to chat after Mass. Ours are quiet before waiting for the bell to ring. Then really noisy sometimes after the final hymn. As we have no hall or parish social function at all in any way, this is a good thing and means a lot to me. I can understand if people have a cup of tea after then they can hang on to make chat later.

If people are quiet when the priest comes to the altar surely that is enough and the introduction to the Mass leads to silence and thoughtfulness.

[docmattc]

I think I'm with Alan29 on this one. I don't mind at all a buzz of conversation as the community gather. As JA says, its too much on first communion Sunday when the church sounds like a market place, and if it were like that every week there would be a problem.

I've been in a parish where the 5 minute bell was instituted (to call for silence 5 minutes before 'kick off'), and it felt a bit too constraining- as soon as it rang those who were in church shut up and looked like guilty children caught talking in class.