The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - Irish Style!

The Irish Independent national newspaper has a front page caption today of a priest who is offering his parishioners a "quickie" Mass during Lent which he guarantess will take no longer than 15 minutes.
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Fr. Michael Kenny of Kilconly parish in Co. Galway has introduced these 15 minute Masses to better facilitate his parishioners and their busy lives. Normally the Mass would be at 9am but that time proved to be inconvenient for many who had work and school to attend. And so he now offers the Mass at 7.30am for the duration of Lent.
(For those of you who are not Irish - it's important to understand that places in Ireland, like school and workplace, open soemwhat later than in many other countries.)

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The move has seen a 10 fold increase in those attending daily Mass for Lent (30-40 instead of 3-4). Fr. Kenny says: "Now, more and more people are coming along to the Mass at 7.30am as they know they can be on their way to work or school 15 or 20 minutes later and it is far more suitable."

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The paper (not the online edition) carries a breakdown of the 15 minute Mass and seems to join the parishioners (at least those who were interviewed) in their admiration for the Lenten Fast Mass. The "15 Minute Service", as the paper calls it, goes as follows:

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7.30am (Sharp) Mass begins with the Entrance Antiphon

7.31am Opening Prayer

7.32am First Reading

7.35am Responsorial Psalm

7.37am Gospel

7.39am Communion. Lay Minister of the Eucharist speeds up the distribution of communion.

7.44am Prayer after Communion.

7.45am Fr. Michael wishes the congregation a happy day. Mass over and congregation disperse.

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Now there are a number of problems with this timescale - not least how it is possible to pray the entire Eucharistic Prayer (even Eucharistic Prayer II) and the entire Communion Rite in 2 minutes - between 7.37am and 7.39. That seems to be an impossible feat. Perhaps I have misunderstood or perhaps the reporter mistook a Liturgy of the Word with distribution of Holy Communion for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. But Fr. Kenny assured the reportere that he wasn't "leaving anything out" of the Mass. It just doesn't seem possible to do it all in 15 minutes.

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Quite apart from the fact that, with 40 people in the congregation, an Extra-Ordinary Minister of Holy Communion (in my experiencethe correct terminology is still almost unknown in the Irish Church) seems to be illicit; how can it take them from 7.39am to 7.44am to distribute Communion - unless of course Fr. Michael is very particular about the way he purifies the Sacred Vessels afterwards.

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This story just leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. First we had 'A La Carte' Catholicism, then 'Cafeteria' Catholicsim and now Convenience Catholicism.

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One last sound bite from Fr. Kenny: "We are here to facilitate the congregation and if there are any further increases in numbers attending, then the more the merrier."

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Respectfully I would disagree with Fr. Kenny on this point (among others). We priests are here to facilitate an encounter between God and his people, to facilitate the lifting of hearts and minds to the Lord in worship that is beautiful and edifying - both for the priest and the people. We priests are here to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as prayerfully and as lovingly as we possibly can. Fr. Kenny may well be able to do all that in his 15 minute Mass - if so then fair play to him. I couldn't do it in that time and still feel that I have given my parishioners a draft of the spiritual treasures that are in the Mass.

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And one final thought: One of the parishioners interviewed expressed the hope that the cause of the 15 minute Mass would be taken up in other parishes. I pray sincerely that this does not happen.

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From Sacrosanctum Concilium #7 & #10:

Every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of His Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others; no other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree...

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Pastors of souls must therefore realize that, when the liturgy is celebrated, something more is required than the mere observation of the laws governing valid and licit celebration; it is their duty also to ensure that the faithful take part fully aware of what they are doing, actively engaged in the rite, and enriched by its effects.