One of the things that I have found interesting is that young people who attend it when it is convenient for them to do so, actually find it AWESOME. I had a 16 year old high school football player tell me after an EF Mass for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (which he attended not knowing it would be an EF Mass) that it was AWESOME! The Mass was a few years back and is posted below as a video. (Please note too, in the actual video below, the actual participation of the congregation, especially with the chanting of the Latin Credo, almost everyone in the congregation has their hymnal open to the Latin Credo and are chanting it with the schola!)
Unfortunately, I didn't have an opportunity for a follow-up.
When the CMAA held their Chant Intensive workshop here in Macon, they concluded with a Gregorian Chanted Mass to which I invited our elementary and high school to attend. It was the Ordinary Form, but completly chanted in Latin (with mostly English for the priest's parts) with Propers and all. The Mass was ad orientem.
The kids found it AWESOME!
I've asked young people who attend our 12:10 PM Ordinary Form Mass which is celebrated ad orientem and with Holy Communion distributed at the altar railing what they think of this experience. They tell me it is AWESOME!
This begs the question. If this experience of the Mass were the normal fare in parishes throughout the world, would more Catholics remain in the Church or would we see the same bleeding that we see now.
Do young people need "hip" experiences of the Mass to include the vapid worship and praise music a la non-denominational trendy churches to keep them engaged in the Catholic Church?
Or do they need this AWESOME Mass:
19 comments:
A 16 year old would also say a monster truck rally was AWESOME, a fight between opposing football teams was AWSOME , or a performance by Mylie Cyrus was AWESOME, so...
AWESOME!
Maybe when they say the same thing about praise and worship vapidity, we should dismiss it too. :)
I think it is great. I personally find that it allows me to focus on God more so than making myself feel good. The focus of the mass is altar centered and allows us to be in awe of the greatness of God who is truly present at the mass. I think it is awesome! I wish we had it every Sunday. It isn't that anything is necessarily wrong in the OF but rather the EF seems to be complete. Just my thoughts.
What's dismissible is the "high praise" for the EF mass from any teenager who finds it "AWESOME!" Unless you think Mylie Cyrus is AWESOME, too.
The Roman Rite, sometimes known as the Extraordinary Form, does not have 'pious trappings'. In its various Uses it admits of variations but the liturgy, since the first millennium, has always tried to conform with what obtained in Rome.
The rupture of the 1960s had its origins in the early 20th century Liturgical Movement but was given impetus by the Zeitgeist of that time, the Second Vatican Council, and a pontiff (Paul VI) who initially sympathized with it.
Those who packed the Oxford Oratory on Tuesday for Cardinal Burke's Solemn Latin OF Mass seemed to me to have a median age of 35, and that's not counting the large number of children present. For his Low Pontifical EF Mass on the following morning there were more altar servers than were strictly necessary, but the good Cardinal understands that children are the future of the Church and has a special solicitude for them.
Whenever I see an eight-year-old serving a Low Mass with confident Latin responses and perfect actions I am reminded of myself in 1959 when the nightmare of the 1960s was still in the future. And he may be there in the 22nd century when, it can be guaranteed, the Roman Rite will still be there for his children and grandchildren. Deus Vult!
I think Kate Beckinsale is awesome.
Recently, I was privileged to go to daily Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Church, an SSPX chapel in Kansas City. During the Mass at the main altar, there was also a Mass being offered on a side chapel. At the side chapel, a young man of maybe 10 served as the priest offered Mass nearly silently.
That experience, as John describes, assures me of the future of the Roman Rite. In such places, one finds children who have likely never attended a Novus Ordo service -- all they know is the Roman Rite, and they are devoted to it simply as "the Mass" and not as a novelty or as an "awesome" experience (which, unlike the anonymous poster above, I think is a favorable reaction).
Yes, John, exactly so! Last Friday evening at 7:00 PM we attended an EF Mass for the Patron of St, Mary Help of Christians Church in their new just-dedicated church in Aiken, SC. Assisting at Mass were three priests, two Deacons, and TWELVE (yes12!) altar boys raging in age from 6-18! ON A FRIDAY NIGHT! You cannot imagine how rare this is in this "neck of the woods"--we have no access to an EF Mass locally. Their parish is so vibrant, and the pastor so dedicated! We drove an hour each way, and would do it every Sunday if it were available...perhaps in the future...
AWESOME!!!
The Holy Mass is Christ's perfect gift to His Father, and Christ wants to include all of us, including adolescents, with His gift. If the EF of Mass is a better aid to full, conscious and active participation of adolescents in this offering, then its use should be encouraged. This seems like an obvious conclusion.
First, we had "cool," then "bitchin'", then "far out," then "awesome." I think there is an entire group of people (a few on this blog) who think Jesus' entire teaching could be reduced to, "Hey, man, everything's cool."
Anonymous and Jolly,
I think the kid had a real experience and might lack in his vocabulary. So he used a word that is the best word he knows. So you mock him? Awesome - filled with awe.
No, awesome means that an object or event fills one with awe. Awed means to be filled with awe…and I am not mocking him, only the faddish language by which our pop culture seems awed...
When I was 16, I would have called the EF 'exquisitely edifying'. I would have called the NO 'obnoxiously saccharine'.
Flavius…awesome.
I think Father McDonald ("Evangelist of the South and Beyond") is just trying to tell us that young Catholics are not necessarily repulsed by the more ancient form of the Roman Mass. A more thorough discussion of his claim, rather than a discussion of impoverished youth vocabulary, would probably help us work more effectively for the salvation their souls.
Dialogue, the Jansenist's post here at 1:16 PM is exactly correct.
I agree with him.
I was 9 years old when I realized that something special was happening during Mass. I grew up attending somewhat solemn Novus Ordo Masses in our parish. I started taking my faith seriously when I discovered the TLM when I was 14. I always loved the sound of the pipe organ, the hymns, the gestures, and the prayers. It was through the TLM where I gained a much deeper understanding of the NO and the essence of the Mass in general. Also, it became an ultimate dream of mine to learn the pipe organ as well. So, do we need AWESOME Masses (either EF or OF) like this? I say YES.
It has been blogged about over and over that hipness is not what people are wanting in worship.
You have already been asked for the TLM every Sunday, but you don't want to give up one of the several NO Masses.
It's shocking that come September, there will be the TLM at 12:10 one Sunday a month. It's a step in the right direction.
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