When is it appropriate to applaud at Mass?
The short answer
Rarely, and never for performances. Applause for entertainment — a soloist's high note — turns liturgy into religious entertainment. But applause can fit when the community rejoices together in faith well lived: honoring mothers or a golden anniversary at the end of Mass, a newly married couple, the newly baptized, or those who served at Christmas and Easter.
Not entertainment
The Mass is right worship of the Father, not entertainment. Cardinal Ratzinger wrote that wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, the essence of the liturgy has been replaced by religious entertainment; liturgy attracts only when it looks to God.
Legitimate exceptions
Applause can be appropriate when the faithful rejoice together in faith well lived (see 1 Corinthians 12:12-26):
- recognizing mothers on Mother's Day, or a couple's fiftieth or sixtieth anniversary, at the end of Mass;
- a newly married couple at the end of a wedding Mass;
- the newly baptized at the Easter Vigil;
- choir, musicians, servers and readers at the end of Christmas and Easter Masses.
The rule
Applause should be rare and exceptional — an expression of spiritual solidarity, never applause for a performance.
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