Something new at our parish. It seemed spontaneous but WHY? The choir/parish finished the recessional hymn and then people broke out in applause. Uh, the hymn was not sung that well and were they applauding the hymn, the choir, God . . .?
I hope it is not another made-up, grass roots agenda that spreads throughout the Church like hand holding at the Our Father. I am faithful to the laws and rubrics of the Church and am constantly fighting off fellow parishioners who want to grab my hand at this time. Even when a pastor explained from the pulpit that holding hands at the Our Father is NOT in the rubrics of the Mass, people pretty much, by out loud word and action, said, "So what? We WANT to do it!" If a Catholic knows their Faith, they know the Rubrics and if you go in opposition to the Rubrics, your gesture is illicit.
Given that 'history', I'm hoping we don't turn the end of the Mass into a curtain call with applause. It is kind of nice and spiritual to head out of church to the last strains of the music with thoughts of the Mass still in mind.
