Saint Gregory the Great Church in Bluffton, South Carolina has a 7 AM “golfers’” Mass every Sunday.
It is a Low Mass, no singing, whatsoever.
I am scheduled by the pastor to take it on a regular basis as I did this morning.
Since I have retired, I have tried to make sure my homilies are no more than 6 to 8 minutes long. I get praised each Sunday for my brilliant homilies, not so much for content, but for brevity, but I will take praise whatever way I can get it!
Thus we began Mass promptly at 7 AM. I gave my brilliant 7 minute homily, used Eucharistic Prayer III and was greeting the congregation after Mass at 7:35 AM. There were about 500 or so in attendance.
I would have been finished by 7:30 AM, but there was a second collection after Holy Communion which needlessly extended the length of the Mass, but alas.
I have a confession to make. For the entire 42 years of my priesthood, prior to retirement (so-called) last year, I was opposed to Mass without music at a Sunday Mass and if the truth be told also for daily Mass.
But I have undergone a conversion by experiencing the 7 AM Golfers’ Mass at St. Gregory the Great. Perhaps there should be an early morning Low Mass in every parish, no?
12 comments:
No music is better than the vapid, insipid music many of us experience at Mass
I think Pope Francis knows a future pope can do to him what he did to Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. I DETECT AN INSECURITY AS HIS LIFE COMES TO ITS NATURAL CONCLUSION.
No. And you did not celebrate a "Low Mass." You celebrated a mass without music.
No, trust me, it was very low, I was there.
Fr K Orwell, and you celebrate the death of the unborn when you vote for the Party of Moloch, but you are with the braindead “cool kids” who are destroying our lives and culture. Have you no shame, have you no decency?
Father McDonald
You would appreciate these photos at the New Liturgical Movement of the Corpus Christi procession and Latin Mass celebrated in London by the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. Apparently, he is not a fan of Arthur:
https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2023/07/corpus-christi-2023-photopost-part-4.html
I agree with TJM. Why ignoring the Roman Church's rich chant heritage is allowed to continue is incomprehensible to me.
Really, there is no "low mass" concept relative to Divine Liturgy. I've seen priests on canes or, one who was hospitalized from a bad fall greatly curtail usage of the kadillo (thurible), however, there's no way to strip it down any more. You still need a chanter and the whole liturgy (with a few exceptions) is sung.
That said, in the Roman space, the option exists, so use it. Better to have no music than to have music for the sake of having music and then not do it well.
I did always like the low TLM when I was attending. I found it to be profoundly peaceful.
Oh how I wish that this was available here. If you suffer from tinnitus as I do, all the music is just so much noise.I remember an interview of Bishop Dolan, he described a mass he used to do daily earning him the nick name "25 minute Dolan". He explained how so many were trying to attend weekday mass between work and the subway schedule, he said that they were making the effort to be there and he made the effort to make the FULL mass available to them so they didn't have to leave part way through, not much in the way of a sermon but the mass. At least in my mind I go to pray not be entertained. So much of the modern mass is fluff
And not much beats a quiet and briskly moving Low Mass to increase participation through focus. Paying close attention to the postures and movements to know what prayers are being offered and to synchronize my intentions with them. It is a fulfilling experience and powerful way to launch my day.
A relativist might argue that what constitutes 'good' or 'bad' music is simply a matter of subjective personal taste; but even he would concede that replacing the Gloria in Excelsis with a crude paraphrase of the doxology, including 'Alleluia Amen' repeated thrice after each refrain, effectively does away with an ancient and important liturgical text. How well or badly it is rendered is beside the point.
Similarly, setting an admittedly non-liturgical text to the tune of 'Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment; chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie' is not a happy choice, notwithstanding the competence of the guitarist accompanying it.
I heard both the last time I attended Sunday Mass at my local Catholic church, and the Saturday evening Mass offers no respite. Were I offered the option of a Mass without music I would be tempted to attend more often, but alas! none is available.
Mr. Nolan,
A pleasure to see our combox again benefitting from your insights.
I hope you are keeping well.
ByzRus
Thank you. Your own comments and non-vituperative style are also much appreciated, by this writer at least.
Post a Comment