Chances are, this is a Mass with freshmen students of Wyoming Catholic College. Before each semester of their freshman year, students have a required outdoor excursion to spend time with God in nature, accompanied by priests who offer Mass for each group that goes out. It is common for the January winter expedition to have students carve altars out of ice and snow so that priests have a place to offer the daily Mass.
A few years back a group of students was coming back from the March for Life and got caught in that horrible snowstorm that stopped all travel. Their buses were stuck and they could not go anywhere. One of the kids suggested the young priest with them say Mass, right there on the side of the road. The kids made a makeshift altar out of snow, and Father, having all the essentials, said Mass outside, a little like the photo on this post, with all the students from 2 buses gathered around.
Most of those kids came back and said it was an incredible ("awesome" was the word they used) moment in a memorable trip.
While I admit I don't know all the facts, I tend to agree with Anonymous, above, about this being a questionable decision.
The key issue is need. Did Holy Mass really need to be celebrated in this fashion, without anything like an altar -- not even a table of some sort -- and without any protection from the elements?
I've offered Mass outside many times; it has lots of problems you will miss if you are not offering the Sacrifice.
- The most serious problems are safety for all concerned and the safety of the sacred elements. Wind blows things around; I dread the day a sacred host is blown off the altar, or out of a ciborium, while the Eucharist is distributed. Safety can be an issue with both cold and heat. I remember concelebrating Mass in St. Peter's Square during the Year for the Priest; it was June, and very hot in Rome; and the sun was blazing down on us. Many were taking shelter in what shade could be found in the peripheries; many were improvising however they could something to cover their heads and faces; lots of us were gulping down water. I don't know if anyone suffered from the experience, but I wouldn't be surprised.
- Rain and snow are not kind to sacred books, and to a lesser degree, sacred vestments.
- All the things you end up doing to overcome the difficulties only distract the participants more. When I offer Mass outside, I find it much harder to pray, because I am concerned about things I don't have to think about when under shelter.
Look: no one is complaining about a priest making the best of it on a battlefield or in the wake of a tornado. I say again: it's a question of need. It's hard for me to see why the Mass which we observe being celebrated exposed to the cold, and without any kind of altar, couldn't have been managed better.
If there's a regular trip out into the wilderness, then why not build some sort of altar and some sort of shelter, and use that? Or, bring a tent and use that. And, really, why does Mass have to happen then and there? What's so terrible about having Mass before you go, or after you return?
Anonymous: right you are; I was one who was pretty critical of the Mass near the pool.
6 comments:
Trivialization of the Mass.
It's not a "Look what I can do" slappy happy Broadway style theatre piece.
Chances are, this is a Mass with freshmen students of Wyoming Catholic College. Before each semester of their freshman year, students have a required outdoor excursion to spend time with God in nature, accompanied by priests who offer Mass for each group that goes out. It is common for the January winter expedition to have students carve altars out of ice and snow so that priests have a place to offer the daily Mass.
Don't discredit if you don't know.
They don't have a tent or a building the student live/sleep in during these "commune with God in nature" excursions?
Surely that would be more fitting.
Bee here:
A few years back a group of students was coming back from the March for Life and got caught in that horrible snowstorm that stopped all travel. Their buses were stuck and they could not go anywhere. One of the kids suggested the young priest with them say Mass, right there on the side of the road. The kids made a makeshift altar out of snow, and Father, having all the essentials, said Mass outside, a little like the photo on this post, with all the students from 2 buses gathered around.
Most of those kids came back and said it was an incredible ("awesome" was the word they used) moment in a memorable trip.
God bless.
Bee
And didn't some folks here explode over a picture of a priest celebrating mass for a bunch of kids near a pool?
While I admit I don't know all the facts, I tend to agree with Anonymous, above, about this being a questionable decision.
The key issue is need. Did Holy Mass really need to be celebrated in this fashion, without anything like an altar -- not even a table of some sort -- and without any protection from the elements?
I've offered Mass outside many times; it has lots of problems you will miss if you are not offering the Sacrifice.
- The most serious problems are safety for all concerned and the safety of the sacred elements. Wind blows things around; I dread the day a sacred host is blown off the altar, or out of a ciborium, while the Eucharist is distributed. Safety can be an issue with both cold and heat. I remember concelebrating Mass in St. Peter's Square during the Year for the Priest; it was June, and very hot in Rome; and the sun was blazing down on us. Many were taking shelter in what shade could be found in the peripheries; many were improvising however they could something to cover their heads and faces; lots of us were gulping down water. I don't know if anyone suffered from the experience, but I wouldn't be surprised.
- Rain and snow are not kind to sacred books, and to a lesser degree, sacred vestments.
- All the things you end up doing to overcome the difficulties only distract the participants more. When I offer Mass outside, I find it much harder to pray, because I am concerned about things I don't have to think about when under shelter.
Look: no one is complaining about a priest making the best of it on a battlefield or in the wake of a tornado. I say again: it's a question of need. It's hard for me to see why the Mass which we observe being celebrated exposed to the cold, and without any kind of altar, couldn't have been managed better.
If there's a regular trip out into the wilderness, then why not build some sort of altar and some sort of shelter, and use that? Or, bring a tent and use that. And, really, why does Mass have to happen then and there? What's so terrible about having Mass before you go, or after you return?
Anonymous: right you are; I was one who was pretty critical of the Mass near the pool.
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