What's so scary about the traditional Mass?
On Sunday, May 29, 2005, the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia, PA will be host to its first traditional Mass in probably 35 years. I mentioned this fact to a friend of mine (who is also my confirmation sponsor), knowing him to be a devout Catholic, and he immediately clammed up! Undaunted, I tried to explain that we were trying to get as many people as possible to turn out, and he responded, "Well, you won't see me there," and muttered something about how purists really ought to prefer the Mass in Aramaic. When we parted ways I felt like we had just had an argument.
I don't like to take issue with other people's personal preferences, but at the same time I can't understand why a Catholic would totally reject the liturgical patrimony of the Church. Is the traditional Mass so frightening that one can't attend one even to support a priest celebrating his first Mass (which is the occasion of the Mass at the Cathedral)?
There are a lot of things I feel I could add here, but somehow I just don't have the words for them.
posted by dcs @ 5:06 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I'm scared to attend a TLM. I'm scared because I'm afraid I'll never be able to return to the NO again, and the TLM is over an hour away. The logistics of attending TLM every week scare me, hauling four kids out of the house on time to drive an hour each way, who will inevitably want to be fed after Mass (heck, I'll want to be fed after Mass) which will cost money we can't afford, never mind the extra gas money in this day and age of neverending skyrocketing gas prices!
Simply attending a Eucharistic Adoration with incense and chant is nearly an out of body experience for me. TLM would be glorious.
We have a priest in the family. My husband's great-uncle is a retired priest. We've never met him, but I need to go visit him one day before he dies. He is a TLM devotee, and for that reason alone, my husband's mother thinks him hopelessly ignorant. Course, she doesn't attend Mass regularly at all. But, I don't quite get the modern Catholic's rejection of his heritage. The Latin Mass is our birthright. We have lived too long in Protestant culture. It's eroded too much of our Catholic identity.
Ditto, Bekah. The only TLM in my diocese is once a month, 75 mi away. I really don't want to go visit for fear that it may destroy what little appreciation I have for the NO. I guess I could go to a Byzantine liturgy...
I'm very famous for putting my foot in my mouth. I once told someone that Hispanics were very attracted to images of Our Lord that were gory. I'm sure it came out sounding like I was denigrating the poor peasants of Latin America; but what I meant was that Hispanics were unburdened by Protestant culture. You are right that here in the U.S. our Catholic identity has been eroded. What is more shocking is how it has been eroded among those who are old enough to know better. It's weird seeing the the very folks who huddled together in Catholic enclaves to protect their Catholic heritage now telling us that we should embrace our separated brethren.
I guess it's the old question of how Church and "culture" should interact... I'll try to unpack that later...late for a meeting (as usual).
I think our Church should be our culture. They should be one in the same.
It's sad the so many in the Church seem to have lost touch with our Catholic culture over the years.
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