St Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church — Attraction in McKinney

I’m looking for a parish in the area, so I checked out St. Gabriel’s, and I have to say I was disappointed. I was initially attracted to the church because it is a beautiful facility, but after attending mass I probably won’t be going back.

My biggest problems were issues that seem to be increasingly prominent in the church today. Those include a lack of reverence and movement away from tradition.

If you attend a mass here expect a very modern service. When I went they had what was basically a rock band playing. There was DRUMSET, electric guitar, and bass among the instruments. The music felt like pop/rock songs. It was the type of music that Bible churches play for like the first 20 minutes of their services.

As to the lack of reverence, people were walking in and walking around like 15 minutes after mass had started. There were people dressed in hoodies and t-shirts. The announcements at the beginning of the mass felt very out of place.

There is an indescribable, intangible atmosphere created by more traditional mass. It’s something that can only be felt in the soul. It’s one of the most beautiful things about the Catholic Church, and I think it has been lost in many places. This parish included.

I don’t say this to hate on the church, but hopefully to inspire some sort of change. I want to see this parish reach its potential, and I pray that they come to embrace the beauty in the tradition of the...

Me and my family went to Christmas Eve Mass (7 pm). Although the church is beautiful, I was very disappointed in the mass itself. I have been a catholic all my life and was quite puzzled by some of the prayers that words have changed from the traditional words. (ie.) the Apostles Creed. Some of the words were changed from tradition and I found myself confused and so I was family. The entire quote of "Lamb of God" was shortened to only one sentence instead of the traditional three. I have young adult children who went to catholic school in New Orleans and the talk after mass wasn't about how beautiful the traditional Christmas Eve mass was, but how confused everyone was in several prayers were changed. Last year me and husband had the privilege of going to the Vatican and one thing that we remembered our tour guide said about the catholic church. "You could go anywhere to any Catholic church and you will have the same prayers said in every church around the world. That's not the case after last week's mass we attended. I thought a church couldn't change the prayers. We found ourselves thinking we weren't at a catholic church, but a non-domination...

Beautiful church & I was reminded of why I don’t attend this particular parish often. The singer of the choir/band. I had a very hard time concentrating for Mass. I’ve heard this singer before and it’s just too much. Am I attending Mass or a concert? The choir is not suppose to be the center of Mass. Her voice is beautiful however, too loud & piercing. She sings like she’s in an actual concert, holds her tummy like she’s controlling the “notes” moves her hands around for show, puts her mouth all the way to the microphone moving around like it’s a literal concert. This literally defeats the purpose of going to Mass. Before Mass even started, the band (yes I said band) was rehearsing making it difficult for me and my family to even concentrate with prayer. We even left early because we couldn’t take it anymore. Please consider the above and have her & the band tone it down. No other parish we’ve attended makes the singer/band...