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Latin Mass Attracts Young Worshippers and Converts in Bob Jones University Territory
The Greenville News ^ | 4/27/04 | Ron Barnett

Posted on 04/27/2004 7:04:58 AM PDT by Mershon

Edited on 05/07/2004 9:06:02 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

The sanctuary is both modern and Romanesque, a streamlined brick and glass edifice with a lofty, vaulted ceiling.

And inside this brand new house of worship on Greenville's Eastside echoes a liturgy that is nearly as ancient as Christianity itself - the Traditional Latin Mass.


(Excerpt) Read more at greenvilleonline.com ...


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Current Events; Ecumenism; Evangelical Christian; Mainline Protestant; Orthodox Christian; Religion & Culture; Worship
KEYWORDS: bobjonesuniversity; fssp; latinmass; lefebvre; tradition; traditionalism
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More and more converts and young people in the heart of the Bible Belt are finding their way to Tradition. "If you build it, they will come! They most certainly will come!"
1 posted on 04/27/2004 7:05:00 AM PDT by Mershon
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To: Mershon
I think the Tridentine Mass would be fairly popular if it were offered in a "wide and generous" manner.

Sure, not everyone likes it; but it has a beauty and reverence that can't be beat, IMO.

2 posted on 04/27/2004 7:11:24 AM PDT by B Knotts (Just another medieval Catholic)
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To: Mershon
so long as it doesn't replace the Mass in the vernacular

This is somewhat amusing. It is a common belief that Mass in the vernacular is the norm.

That may be true in practice, but as far as I know, the Novus Ordo, in Latin, is the current norm. Mass in the vernacular was always supposed to be an option.

3 posted on 04/27/2004 7:14:49 AM PDT by B Knotts (Just another medieval Catholic)
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To: Mershon
The caution stems from concerns that use of the old language might be seen by some as an attempt to return to pre-Vatican II theology.

I heard this same thought expressed in my own parish, rather vehemently, that the "theology" of Vatican II was different than what came before.

Not wanting to get into a heated dispute at that time, I calmly expressed my disagreement with the statement and we moved on. What say you, Catholics? Did Vatican II express a a different theology?

I've read a few of the documents and I don't see it.

4 posted on 04/27/2004 7:33:27 AM PDT by siunevada
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To: Mershon; B Knotts; siunevada; Canticle_of_Deborah; Siobhan; NYer; Salvation
I took a look at the parish's website, and their new church isn't bad for something that was finished last year. It looks like they will get stained glass in there eventually.



5 posted on 04/27/2004 7:56:50 AM PDT by Pyro7480 (Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, sancta Dei Genitrix.... sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper...)
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To: Mershon
I wondered why you changed the title of this article. Then I found this letter you wrote to the Diocese Report.

Dear Editor:

While the Deep South has been used to the conservativism of Bible Belt Baptists and fundamentalists of other denominations, a new "traditionalism" is rising within the borders of South Carolina.

With only 3 percent of the entire state of South Carolinians declaring themselves to be Roman Catholic, there is an influx of Yankee (Northern) transplants and a steady stream of local converts (several young men who have decided they want to become Roman Catholic Priests) spurred on by the visits of Catholic apologists/converts Gerry Matatics, Steve Wood and Scott Hahn (all three former Presbyterian ministers), over the past couple of years. This stream of Catholics from the North and from within is also being geometrically multiplied by the burgeoning Hispanic population, and has the Greenville, South Carolina Catholic population approaching 10 percent, not including many of the Hispanics who are not officially registered in their parishes.

This stream, which started out as a trickle, and is becoming a flood, speared six local Bob Jones University-affiliated churches to hold a four-day anti-Catholic conference back in February 2003, in which they brought in six ex-Catholic Priests and seminarians to innoculate their congregations against the horrors of "the whore of Babylon." As a result of the publicity surrounding this conference, another young man in his early 20s, a youth minister at another local Protestant Church, has recently been inquiring about becoming Catholic because he is discerning a call to the Priesthood as well.

In the midst of the everyday anti-Catholic environment has emerged a growing movement of traditional Catholics whose numbers are difficult to calculate, but have included from 130 to over 200 attendees at five traditional Latin Masses over the past year and a half.

Now, this traditional Catholic community moves forward, and perhaps the irony is that the "spirit of Vatican II" that every Catholic in his 40s and 50s and above was brainwashed with over the past 40 years, is perhaps really and simply a return to traditional Catholicism. These Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina-based Catholics will get the opportunity to attend the traditional Latin Mass (pre-Vatican II liturgy) on a monthly basis (third Sunday of every month) in Blessed Trinity in Greer, South Carolina at 5:30 p.m. Father Mark Fischer, a Priest with FSSP, who is based in an Atlanta-area Latin Mass community, will make the monthly trek up to the Greenville-Spartanburg area, and will also hold catechesis classes beginning at 4:30 p.m. through 2003. This Holy Mass is being celebrated through the gracious permission of His Excellency, Robert J. Baker, and Father Steve Brovey, Pastor of Prince of Peace in Taylors and Blessed Trinity in Greer.

Of course there are lots of older folks that attend this liturgy, but what is interesting is that there is an ever-increasing number of younger people and especially young families--BIG families--who were born after the Mass was changed to English and the Priest began to face the people, rather than offering sacrifice turned toward God.

All this in the heart of Bob Jones University territory. Perhaps "the spirit of Catholicism" in its "old-time religion" fits into the landscape in the Deep South much better than anyone could have ever imagined. God works in mysterious ways!

Written In Memory of Cardinal Pie of Poitiers

Mershon
Taylors, South Carolina
6 posted on 04/27/2004 8:04:43 AM PDT by Between the Lines
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To: Between the Lines
To the Editor, [Greenville News]

I want to congratulate you on the article about the Traditional Latin Mass at Prince of Peace Church. In this day and age, fair and accurate journalism is no longer a "given"; but as evidenced by this story, Ron Barnett is an asset to your paper.

I just moved to Michigan from the Upstate, where I attended the Latin Mass. As a former Southern Baptist born and raised in Union, I converted to the Catholic Faith fourteen years ago. Like Mr. Arrington, I was attracted to the age-old forms of worship found in the Traditional Mass. Nothing could be more Christ-centered that what I found in it's ancient rites and rituals. I now attend a weekly Traditional Latin Mass in Flint, MI.

With all due respect to Fr. Conner, Latin is spoken and studied by many people all over the world. It helps with SAT scores and those studying medicine and other sciences. If it is true that "only God knows Latin", then our prayers at Mass are definitely being heard, since we pray to Him and not to each other.

Emily Paluszak
Millington, Michigan
7 posted on 04/27/2004 8:43:50 AM PDT by Mershon
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To: Between the Lines
And by the way, believe it or not, the relics under the altar at Prince of Peace include Pope St. Pius X. Traditional Latin Mass in May on Mondays (NOT Memorial Day) and the second and third Sunday of every month.

Come join us!!!
8 posted on 04/27/2004 8:48:09 AM PDT by Mershon
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To: Mershon
Who else has relics under the altar? There has to be at least one martyr usually.
9 posted on 04/27/2004 8:49:49 AM PDT by Pyro7480 (Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, sancta Dei Genitrix.... sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper...)
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To: Mershon
Please note that mass at this church is offered by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, which is in full communion with the Holy Father. It is so important that those seeking out masses according to the Tridentine rite ensure that those churches are in full communion with the Successor of Peter, otherwise they are not fully Catholic.
10 posted on 04/27/2004 8:59:01 AM PDT by Unam Sanctam
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To: Between the Lines; Mershon
"Of course there are lots of older folks that attend this liturgy, but what is interesting is that there is an ever-increasing number of younger people and especially young families--BIG families--who were born after the Mass was changed to English and the Priest began to face the people, rather than offering sacrifice turned toward God."

The Holy Ghost raises to the moment whom He pleases. The Mass of the Ages will never go out of fashion becuse of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost.

Liberals make the mistake in believing that all they have to do is wait until the pre Vatican II generation dies off, then they will have their own way. Never happen

11 posted on 04/27/2004 9:19:07 AM PDT by Arguss
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To: Diago; narses; Loyalist; BlackElk; american colleen; saradippity; Polycarp; Dajjal; ...
Thanks for this interesting article that shows the Latin Mass can be popular even in the heart of the Bible Belt. I know that the Richmond diocese has 2 parishes that are Tridentine only, one in Richmond and one near Virginia Beach.

This case is very interesting for the fact that a normal New Mass parish just decided to start offering the Latin Mass. The article doesn't really explain what got that started.
12 posted on 04/27/2004 9:23:27 AM PDT by Maximilian
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To: siunevada
The caution stems from concerns that use of the old language might be seen by some as an attempt to return to pre-Vatican II theology...

What say you, Catholics? Did Vatican II express a a different theology?

Like you, this statement leaped out at me from the article. From my perspective, the Latin Mass is primarily a vehicle to return to the "pre-Vatican II theology." The Mass alone is not enough if one continues to hold modernist beliefs that contradict centuries of Catholic teaching.

It would be a grave disservice to the faithful if the Latin Mass is presented in a context in which it is deliberately shorn of its connection to traditional Catholic theology. Although in fact, this is the intention of virtually every diocesan indult Mass when it is not part of a traditional apostolate like the FSSP. The bishop thinks, "We'll give those old cranks a Latin Mass to keep them quiet, but it will be surrounded by a New Mass environment."

However, I have personally witnessed more than one priest who started out saying the Latin Mass with a New Mass theology and sensibility who changed dramatically over time. It seems that it was impossible for them to continue offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass without becoming transformed, and thereby rejecting the new theology and adopting a more and more traditional Catholic understanding.

As far as it being a "different theology," that's self-evident. Anyone who cannot see the difference would also have trouble seeing the difference between black and white or night and day. The liberals have no such trouble. They are very clear that the spirit of their new post-Vatican II Church is radically different in every way from the pre-Vatican II Church, and they are extremely active and aggressive to maintain that distinction and prevent any return.

13 posted on 04/27/2004 9:36:26 AM PDT by Maximilian
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To: Mershon
I just *dragged* some folks from my young adults group to see their first Tridentine Mass this past Sunday. Thought I'd try and plant a seed.
14 posted on 04/27/2004 9:49:26 AM PDT by GenXFreedomFighter
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To: Unam Sanctam
And if there is no "indult" available within a reasonable distance, what then? Are tradition-minded Catholics just supposed to shut up and put up with whatever nonsense goes on at their Novus Ordo parish?

You know perfectly well that the Vatican has admitted that if someone attends an SSPX mass not with the intention of separating himself from the Pope, but solely for the sake of desiring to attend the Traditional Latin Mass, this is not a sin and fulfills the Sunday obligation. Presumably this also applies to "independent" traditional masses.

I am preparing to move to North Carolina, where there are no "authorized" Latin masses in the entire state. The SSPX is the only option. I recently got a very nice e-mail from the woman who founded the Una Voce chapter in Charlotte. She did everything she was supposed to do--petitioning the bishop, etc.--all to no avail. The Novus Ordo Diocese of Charlotte has all sorts of "multicultural" ministries, complete with a Korean mass, a Vietnamese mass, and a Martin Luther King celebration, but apparently can't bother to accommodate anyone who wants a Latin Mass. So she now goes to the SSPX. Honestly, what else was she supposed to do?

I myself am very interested in Catholicism, but only the traditional version. As long as I live in North Carolina and the situation there remains as it is, I will either approach the SSPX or remain a non-Catholic. Sometimes I wonder which choice people like you would prefer.
15 posted on 04/27/2004 9:51:47 AM PDT by royalcello
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To: royalcello
Your "people like you slur" is completely uncalled for.
16 posted on 04/27/2004 9:56:46 AM PDT by Unam Sanctam
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To: Mershon
"Come join us!!!"

Oh how I long to!

17 posted on 04/27/2004 10:03:38 AM PDT by sneakers
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To: Mershon; Maximilian
Thirty-five-year-old Robert Fromageot, a member of the Atlanta-based Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter

First of all, the FSSP is based in Elmhurst, PA, not Atlanta, GA. Fr. Fromageot is the pastor of a parish in Atlanta (St. Francis de Sales, I think). Secondly, I know Fr. Fromageot from his previous assignment. He is a very faithful and devoted priest. Those congregants are blessed.

18 posted on 04/27/2004 10:05:17 AM PDT by ELS
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To: Unam Sanctam
How is that a "slur"? By "people like you" I meant "Catholics who insist that there can never, ever, be any justification for attending, for any reason, a traditional Latin mass that is not approved by the local bishop." If you're going to respond, please address the actual points I made instead of overreacting to a nonexistant insult where none was intended.
19 posted on 04/27/2004 10:06:13 AM PDT by royalcello
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To: Maximilian
Latin may be a "dead" language, but it is coming to life in the aftermath of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." Dialogue in the film was in Latin and Aramaic, the languages of Jesus' time.

LOL......Latin is nowhere as DEAD as Bernadin, Untener, or any other unfaithfully departed AmChurch subversives.

Matter of fact, Latin is very much alive, and will be so till the end of time.

20 posted on 04/27/2004 10:21:45 AM PDT by m4629
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