Church attendance soars with the 15 minute Mass

[IndianaGreen]

Church attendance soars with the 15 minute Mass

Thursday, 25 February 2010

An Irish cleric's congregation has increased tenfold in a week -- thanks to a quickie Mass.

Despite the controversies which have rocked the church in recent years and the resulting fall-off in attendances at church services, Fr Michael Kenny has been packing them in at his Kilconly parish in Co Galway.

The popular priest started his 15-minute Mass as nothing more than an experiment at the start of Lent, just over a week ago. And he attributes the speed of the service to foregoing a sermon -- and having the help of a Eucharistic minister for communion.

The regular morning Mass at 9am had been drawing an attendance of just three or four up to the start of his no-frills experiment.

Fr Kenny decided to bring the time back to 7.30am and guarantee he would keep parishioners no longer than a quarter of a hour.

Attendances at the small north Galway parish church have now soared to between 30 and 40, with Mass-goers walking out the door by 7.45am.

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/church-attendance-soars-with-the-15-minute-mass-14697191.html#ixzz0gmPUra3Z

[Libertas1776]

1. 15 minutes?

Who's wearing the collar, the FedEx guy?

[Taverner]

2. It's the 15-minute-soul!

Work out your soul in 15 minutes - - or your money back!

[MorningGlow]

3. LOL--when are they starting a drive-through mass?

When I was young and attempting to be a good Catholic, we had a grumpy priest in my diocese who used to do a speed-mass. It was supposed to be 30 to 40 minutes, but he couldn't be bothered. He always seemed to be trying to beat his best time--hurriedly mumbled through the entire thing and usually clocked in around 22 minutes (I timed him). It would've been enjoyable if he hadn't been such a nasty crank.

Yeah, that did contribute to my departure from the religion, in fact. Thanks, Fr. Newcomb! :D

[patrice]

4. uh . . . wow, just. frakking. wow.

[tularetom]

5. Coming soon: punch your ticket to heaven, log onto www.cybermass.com

You can attend church in your jammies, without all that annoying shaving, brushing your teeth and getting dressed.

Why go to all that effort? You don't really care anyway, you're just trying to fool God into thinking you really care about all this stuff.

And who knows, maybe it'll actually work.

[eleny]

6. Back in the 1970s there was a 20 minute mass in Denver

I can't recall if it was at the cathedral but I think it was. It was a quickie lunchtime mass that even featured a very fast sermon. The message was usually something along the lines of "you can get through your day", "don't let the bastards get you down" and "thanks for coming, now for communion".

Edited to add: It's still going on. It's the 12:10 PM daily weekday mass.
http://www.denvercathedral.org/htmlpages/masstimes.htm

[FSogol]

7. And now Joe Isuzu will read from the Gospel of St. Luke....

:-)

[RagAss]

10. LOL !

[qanda]

8. I think a big drawback for a lot of people

Is the length of service. I know I would feel a lot better about going to church if the service were shorter.

[izquierdista]

9. I like the zero-minute Mass

I've been attending that one for years now.

[RagAss]

11. Me too...I go to the 10am to 10am mass every Sunday.

:hi:

[gateley]

12. Man, when I was a kid those Masses lasted an ETERNITY -- especially

High Mass. I've made up for it by not attending any in about 35 years.

[DeSwiss]

13. It'd probably be standing room only.....

...if the preacher kept his mouth shut.

[CatholicEdHead]

14. Most daily masses do not go over a half hour

Weekend masses with music, etc. run around an hour, but you can find some weekend masses at a half hour, mostly in the summer but every week at some parishes.

[Dorian Gray]

15. McMass!!!!

I knew a 20 minute mass growing up where people would drive 20 minutes each way to get to! People will do anything to get a quick Mass.

[JerseygirlCT]

16. Too funny!

I know so many Catholics, growing up, who liked a particular priest because he could get us in and out in 45. But 15?

That's a lot of liturgy to squeeze in... wonder how he manages it?