Suffering

I made the unfortunate mistake of going to Mass yesterday. Well, not that going to Mass was a mistake, just that going to my parish on the 2nd Sunday of the Month was a mistake. I forgot that it was Guitar Mass Sunday.
Why our pastor allows this is beyond me. He says the Mass with reverence and class, so the music just doesn't square with it all. That type of music is for those parishes where they promote any of the many pillars of the Hippie Generation (recycling, gay rights, sex education, et al.).

My son asked, when we heard the first "twang" of the guitar, "Dad, can't we just leave and go to St. ???'s". I told him we'd just offer this up this week. But on the next 2nd Sunday, we're going somewhere else.

If anyone has tips on how to convince the pastor to put an end to this, I'd love to hear them.

Have I mentioned I hate the Guitar Mass?

Another big holiday, another Mass ruined by the guitar. My parish is tolerable. And when I say tolerable, I mean it in the sense that at least it's not as bad as many others out there. Once a month, the hippies take over in full force and the 10:30 Mass is a 1970's-era guitar fest. Truly awful. On those days, I try to go somewhere else. On occasion, I've walked out. Once I gathered up the kids and we walked out on Easter Sunday. Of all days, Easter Sunday! It's bad enough that they get to ruin a Mass on the 2nd Sunday of every month, but when they also get to ruin the BIG ONES, well, that's just plain wrong.

This past Christmas, I made the mistake of going to the 7:30 instead of the Midnight Mass. So me and the kids are sitting there before mass and we hear it - the strum of a guitar. Someone's warming up a guitar! My daughter looked at me and I just rolled my eyes. We joke about "offering it up". My 12-year old leans over to me and says "I hate the guitar mass". I said, "Yea, me too, but we'll suffer through it this time."

To top it off, instead of a homily, we were treated to a visiting priest reading a story from a kid's Christmas book! I swear it took every bit of 20-25 minutes to get through that book. Worst. Christmas. Mass. Ever. Thanks Vatican II!