This children's liturgy is from the Ordinariate's Roman Missal, approved by the way, by Pope Francis and celebrated at Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church in San Antonio, Texas on March 22, just two days ago.
While this Holy Sacrifice of the Mass includes elements of the Anglican liturgical patrimony, which I find wordy, it is nonetheless a liturgy that Sacrosanctum Concilium envisioned which was disordered by those who fabricated the new Order of the Mass. This is sad indeed, but steps like the Ordinariate's Missal are rectifying a sad situation.
Please listen to the chanting of the Propers in English. Magnificent. How many lay Catholics even know that the Introit, Offertory and Communion Propers even exist if they never hear it since these are not required to be chanted but substitutes can be made, like "Be Not Afraid" and "Here I am Lord" and "Leaping the Mountains" not to mention "How Great Thou Art", "Amazing Grace" and "The Old Rugged Cross."
Thanks to Knoxville Henry for leading me to this video:
9 comments:
"How many lay Catholics even know that the Introit, Offertory and Communion Propers even exist . . ."
Though it's tempting where one can really be a Catholic if he's never participated in authentic Catholic liturgy. (Ours being a faith whose source and summit is the liturgy, etc etc etc.)
" . . . if they never hear it since these are not required to be chanted but substitutes can be made."
Once it's permitted to sing AT the Mass, rather than to sing THE Mass, it's down the rabbit hole -- What should be sung? Who decides? How it it decided? What is good sacred music? Is it just a matter of personal taste? Whose taste? Ad nauseum. Isn't it obvious that anything that leads to such a morass--whether in church or politics, in personal or public life--is prima facie a terrible idea.
I like that phrase, "sing AT the Mass rather than sing the Mass." I continued at NO Mass for many years and was a royal pain to my wife and family with my complaints. The music was simply offensive and actually painful, almost unendurable if not for my desire to fulfill my obligation. When the New Translation was released I was thrilled and attended the parish workshops excited to explore it with the rest of the parish. They began a subterfuge, Liturgy Workshops, with nothing but laity. I brought the new missal and said isn't this all we need? They were willing to consider it but wanted to include everyone's needs. Even worse they wanted to imitate the Methodist music style. My guardian angel showed me another lecture series at the TLM parish. The they spoke of love and respect for God through worship and entering into His Presence. And the priest lecturer was a Good Ole Boy from not more than ten miles from my boyhood home. The desire to show respect for our Father in every action made me feel at home more than I had felt in years. I went to confession and have been living a dream ever since.
There were no 'children's liturgies' when I was a child. In fact there were no proprietorial 'liturgies' at all - there was the Liturgy of the Roman Church, not adapted for various groups, not dumbed-down for 'the masses' which the said masses ungratefully responded to by deserting 'en masse'. When I began serving Mass in 1959 at the age of eight I knew I was participating in something important; I learned the Latin responses although it would be another three years before I began learning Latin at school; I had been confirmed and knew what the Mass was about.
Did I belong to the last generation to be properly instructed and catechized? Would I have benefited had I been patronized and condescended to as children are these days?
The video is excellent. If only the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite were regularly celebrated in that same style and manner. It really reminds me of what the EF would be like (in many respects) if it were celebrated in English. The altar setup and the clerical movements are very similar.
I wish I had the option of choosing to attend an English Mass celebrated like this one as well as the Latin EF! If that were possible, attending the OF as it is now typically celebrated would be only as a last resort in a desperate situation!
"There were no 'children's liturgies' when I was a child. In fact there were no proprietorial 'liturgies' at all - there was the Liturgy of the Roman Church, not adapted for various groups, not dumbed-down for 'the masses' which the said masses ungratefully responded to by deserting 'en masse'."
And, of course, your experience is THE experience that matters, THE experience that should be the model for the entire Catholic world, per omnia saecula saeculorum.
Next we'll hear that, "When you were a child," you had thin gruel three times a day, walked through waist deep snow, uphill, to and from school each day, and was happy to receive half an orange each year for Christmas.
Johnny Nolan for God!
And he lived in a. Ox in the middle of the road. On Sundays all they had to eat was gravel. But those were good days.
My mother is 73 and yes, when she was a child she did get oranges for Christmas and was delighted. Oranges used to be a luxury. I'm 50 and sat through many a children's Mass. Almost none of my classmates are still Catholic.
Willette, whoever you are, it should be clear that what I am saying is factually true; my experience was the same as everyone else's at the time. To contrast this with what prevails today is to make a valid comparison. I don't remember saying that what prevailed in the 1950s should be a model.
There are some commentators on this blog who are so irritated by what I write that they make ridiculous and unsubstantiated inferences and resort to petty insults. You fall within this sad group of inadequate people.
Willette, au poteau! (Whether to be shot or burnt would depend on your sex). A feminine pseudonym is not necessarily a reliable guide.
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