Recently, our parish has gotten a new priest who is young and very bright and VERY enamored of the attention he gets because of his homilies. People from his last parish have relocated to ours because of him and he speaks Spanish and those Masses are packed.
He does celebrate the Mass I attend a couple time a month and I have noticed things that are disturbing to me. First, people complained that his Masses were lasting 15 to 30 minutes longer that the ordinary Sunday Mass so he was told he had to be more aware of the time. This is mostly because we have 7 Masses on Sunday and the parking situation, getting in and out of the lot is terrible after his Mass because the time is short between the Masses.
Anyway, in the past few weeks he has omitted the Confiteor,the Gloria, the Creed and the prayer after Communion. He omits parts of the Prayers of Consecration although he always says the words of Jesus at the Last Supper.
I said nothing the first time, but after the second I went to the pastor. He admitted that he had heard from others about it and would speak with him. The new priest celebrated my Mass this Sunday and he included everything, but again he shortened the prayers during consecration.
At what point is a Mass not a valid Mass? I believe he wants to have a 30-40 minute homily and so is shortening other parts of the Mass to keep to a reasonable time. Should I just let it go?
The validity of the Mass depends totally on the validity of the exact words of the Consecration. As long as that is there, I would not worry.
Does he not want to shorten his homilies?
Also, maybe your church needs to look at restructuring the park and egress patterns.
Many parishes would envy the problem of logistics brought about by such attendance.
You did the right thing talking to the pastor. If the abuse continues, you might consider a kind, respectful, but firm letter to the bishop. Be sure to address the correspondence correctly if you want to be taken seriously. Be specific and don’t speculate as to the priest’s motivation. Just the facts. And again, be kind.