Confusion reigns as cantor fails to raise her arm

Last Sunday at Saint Cecilia Catholic Church in Huntington, NY a series of unfortunate events left the parishioners on edge and confused.

It started during the singing of the Responsorial Psalm when the cantor failed to raise her arm up to indicate when the parishioners were to sing the response. People were just looking at one another waiting for the cue to sing. An awkward silence was evident while people awaited the visual cue.

The confusion continued when before The Universal Prayer that no mention of the proper response was made. One person did manage a tentative “Lord hear our prayers”, but stopped when no one else joined in. One person complained after Mass that “Just because Lord hear our prayers was the same response used everywhere for years, you just felt comforted knowing exactly what you were to say beforehand.”

Due to a scheduling problem there were not enough ushers to stand next to a row of pews to indicate when that row was to get up to go to receive Communion. As a result everybody from the first to the last row tried to all go at the same time.

The problems multiplied when at the end of Mass there was a failure to read the various announcements from the parish bulletin. Several parishioners were thus forced to read the bulletin themselves.

This uneasiness continued when after the priest said “Go forth, the Mass is ended” there was no “Have a good weekend everybody!” Without the final, final dismissal people were unsure if the Mass had actually ended or not. Some people were actually delayed before they could finally rush out to their car and speed out of the parking lot.