When is it Appropriate to Applaud at Mass?

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Question:

When is it appropriate to applaud at Mass? To do so appears to reduce the Mass to the level of entertainment, but so many people do it nowadays that I’d like to know if the Church has any teaching about it.

Answer:

Some people take a hard line on any applause during the sacrifice of the Mass, saying that if it’s not explicitly authorized in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), it is to be categorically banned. For those who would counter that there is no strict prohibition on applause, those taking a hard line might respond, “There is also no explicit prohibition of chimps swinging in the sanctuary during the Eucharistic consecration, nor is it explicitly prohibited for priests to dress  up as clowns to offer the sacrifice of the Mass.”

However, it is self-evident that chimps swinging in the sanctuary during the Eucharistic prayer would unmistakably be irreverent and something that is appropriate for a circus, which is a form of entertainment, not the Mass, which our Lord instituted the Mass so that we can offer right worship (sacrifice) and praise to the Father. Similarly, clown makeup is set aside for entertainment, e.g., circuses and some birthday parties; it is contrary to the reverence due the Mass. In contrast, at the end of Mass, when a parish priest recognizes mothers on Mother’s Day, or a married couple who are celebrating their fiftieth or sixtieth wedding anniversary, that can be an example of the faithful rejoicing together to the Faith well-lived and thus worthy of honor and emulation, and so for which applause can be appropriate (see 1 Cor. 12:12-26).

In his book The Spirit of the Liturgy, which he published in 2000 and wrote as a theologian, as distinguished from his capacity as the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger—the future Pope Benedict XVI—makes clear a longstanding principle: that liturgy is not supposed to be a form of entertainment, and despite various entertainment aspects that serve as a drawing card for some forms of modern Protestant liturgy:

Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of the liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment. Such attraction fades quickly—it cannot compete in the market of leisure pursuits, incorporating as it increasingly does various forms of religious titillation. I myself have experienced the replacement of the penitential rite by a dance performance, which, needless to say, received a round of applause. Could there be anything further removed from true penitence? Liturgy can only attract people when it looks, not at itself, but at God, when it allows him to enter and act (Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy [Ignatius Press, 2000), pp. 198-199, emphasis added).

“Break out” is instructive for our consideration, as it denotes the spontaneous response to various forms of entertainment, e.g., a good play, opera, concert, etc. Another example would be applauding a more modern Communion Meditation hymn, because the soloist successfully hit a high note. That type of musical presentation and response is more akin to a concert or nightclub, while the focus of the faithful at Mass should be on the Lord, which can be aided by the singing of a genuinely sacred hymn by accomplished soloist, in contrast to serving as a distraction from God to a human performer(s), as entertainment necessarily does.

Other time-honored exceptions to the rule are applauding for a newly married couple at the end of a wedding Mass, or affirming those who have been baptized Church at the Easter Vigil. Again, such cases are celebrating their reception of a sacrament(s), not some human achievement associated with entertainment.

A final legitimate example could be how many pastors call attention—again, at the end of Masses at Christmas and Easter—to the special contributions of the choir, accompanying instrumentalists, and various others who have contributed to the beauty and sacred majesty of the Masses through their lay ministerial service, e.g., altar servers and readers.

So applause should be rare and exceptional at Mass, not common, and yet we don’t become too rigorous in our approach to the liturgy that we miss how applause can serve as an expression of spiritual solidarity with faithful in their service to the Lord, as distinguished from applauding a performance—which is alien to the sacred nature of the liturgy and rather, instead, befitting a song sung or played at a concert or nightclub.