The young love the Modern Catholic Mass. But Holy Father, give them the one thing that they really want for the Catholic Mass, more important than ad orientem, kneeling for Holy Communion.
I celebrate Mass on an Island with a huge tourist population. Young visitors to the beach, and there are a bunch of them, attend Mass while here, some for daily Mass. And you know what? They are the ones kneeling on the floor to receive Holy Communion. Nine times out of ten, when a young person approaches me for Holy Communion I predict they will kneel and they do!
The portable altar for the Mass isn’t the mega sized one for Papal Masses. The odd thing is that the facade of the altar has two images of the papal tiara!
This is a synopsis of the opening Mass for the Jubilee of Youth. At the end the Holy Father makes His Holiness tumultuous appearance and he’s a rock star. But you can see that the Holy Father is kind of amazed at such a scene and he’s the cause of it! Very endearing.
I wonder if the Eastern Church, either the one in union or the schismatic one, have anything like this?
The Leo Effect:
7 comments:
I don't mean to be flippant, or critical, but, our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ is my rock star. I realize the HF maintains a tight schedule, but, rather than appear to eclipse the eucharistic gift many just received, why wouldn't he simply have been the principal celebrant, or in choir?
While we have focus groups for youth, and our bishops and/or metropolitan might concelebrate one of our liturgies/administer sacraments then share fellowship with refreshments, I'm unaware we have anything on this scale. Does that make us lesser for not having rock star moments? I don't think so. Our gatherings have contemplative moments coupled with communal liturgy and fellowship as mentioned. The same occurred here, just on a scale that is mostly unfamiliar to us.
I don't wish to speak for Marc; however, I suspect any response he might choose to provide would have similarities to mine.
When our archbishop comes, which he is doing next week (God willing), it’s a pretty big deal. But it is ceremonial and ritualized… he is greeted by the clergy and people and given the traditional gifts of bread and salt before entering the Temple. When he celebrates Liturgy, Vladika only distributes Holy Communion to the minor clergy, monks and nuns, presumably to avoid people clamoring for him.
People wear their best clothes and the children are pretty excited to see him. But I would say he carries himself with a dignified, fatherly presence.
There’s nothing “rock star” about the situation. Our liturgy doesn’t allow for these sorts of spectacles.
This from Pope Benedict, will upset the "steak and eggs, time server bishops" we have all known and come to despise:
The entire recollection of Cardinal Ratzinger’s remarks reads, as follows:
1) “It is hard to see what the Church owes to Archbishop Lefebvre, not just for his
‘African period,’ but also later for the Church as a whole. … I consider him to be the most important bishop of the 20th century with regard to the universal Church.”
2. “Had the French episcopate at that time shown even a little more
Christian charity and fraternity towards Archbishop Lefebvre, things might have taken a different course…”
3) “From my current point of view, I have to agree with Archbishop Lefebvre in retrospect about having his own bishops. Today after the experience of ’15 years of Ecclesia Dei’, it is clear that such a work as that of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X cannot simply be handed over to the diocesan bishops.”
"The young love the Modern Catholic Mass.They are the ones kneeling on the floor to receive Holy Communion.."
Sometimes when we look at reality, we miscalculate. We add 2 + 2 and think the answer is 5. I think there's a bit of that in these statements. We've all read the statistics that show how young people are the backbone of resurgence with the TLM, but we also know that the TLM, even at the most generous applications of Summorum Pontificum, has not always been the easiest Mass to attend. So for young, faithful Catholics, who want to be better people and, dare I say it, strive for holiness, they take what they can get--which in most cases is the Novus Ordo. Their faithful attendance, especially in vacationland, doesn't necessarily equate that they LOVE the New Mass. I attended daily Mass for years, grinding my teeth at the crummy music, horrid homilies and various abuses all Catholics have learned to turn their heads at. That's ALL that was available--especially on a daily basis. Instead I would focus more on the other observation in this post: They are the ones kneeling on the floor for Holy Communion. NEWS FLASH: KNEELING FOR COMMUNION ISN'T A "FRUIT" OF THE NOVUS ORDO DOMINANCE. No! The Novus Ordo Experience has generated (and at times shoved down our throats) Communion standing, Communion in the Hand, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and females in the sanctuary. Think about it--these young people are desperately demonstrating their hunger for tradition. They are probably comfortable coming to YOUR Masses Father, because the word on the street has probably reached them that you are one of those rare priests who is reverent during the Novus Ordo and you won't "kumbaya them to death." In most parishes, the average age of parishioners and attendees are late 50's to early 60's. THEY are the generation that LOVED it when the Church took away its discipline. They LOVED the (perceived) relaxation of meatless Fridays, they LOVED the lack of emphasis on Confession, they LOVED the crummy music with guitars, they LOVED the "hipster" priests who joked about tradition with an ironic wink. And when the Church finally unlocked (albeit in a limited way) it was these same Novus Ordo addicts who shunned the few TLM's being offered, while the churches and chapels were PACKED with young people--the same young people who snickered for decades at the spectacle of the aging hippies singing "Come as a child." I strongly suspect the children coming to your Masses long to shed the childishness that has been imposed on the modern Church. I would not be so quick to jump to the conclusion that they LOVE the "modern Mass"--the most devastating failure of our lifetimes.
Jerome Merwick, you are so, so right in your commentary below and you mirror my sentiments exactly. (( I attended daily Mass for years, grinding my teeth at the crummy music, horrid homilies and various abuses all Catholics have learned to turn their heads at. That's ALL that was available--....))
No question that the young are attracted to the TLM - it is authentic unlike Brand X created by a Committee of “experts!”
I meant to say "When the Church finally unlocked THE TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS IN 1988 (albeit in a limited way)..." Sorry for the omission.
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