Life Teen Liturgy Experiences Changes

MESA — In “joyful obedience” to the Church, Life Teen officials say they will cease the ministry’s longtime trademark of gathering teens arm-in-arm around the altar during the Eucharistic Prayer.

The practice that has been a staple at Life Teen Masses nationwide for nearly two decades will cease Oct. 1 in compliance with the revised General Instruction of the Roman Missal.

The youth ministry will also refrain from using the phrase, “The Mass never ends, it must be lived” at the conclusion of the liturgy.

In a recent letter to U.S. bishops, priests and diocesan youth offices, Life Teen founder Msgr. Dale Fushek asked member parishes to joyfully comply with the directives in a “spirit of obedience.”

“Our understanding is that the sanctuary space around the altar is to remain separated from the rest of the assembly,” said Phil Baniewicz, president of Life Teen International.

In a video sent to 920 parishes in the United States and 50 abroad, Msgr. James Moroney, executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Liturgy, said, “Life Teen is like a precious gem in the Church’s crown.

“But gems and jewels sometimes need to get polished and even have their settings rearranged,” he said.

At Life Teen’s request, Msgr. Moroney and Cardinal Francis Arinze, Prefect of the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome, provided direction prompting the liturgical changes.

Hector Cervantes, a core member for 18 months at the Life Teen hub, St. Timothy Parish in Mesa, said the cessation of gathering at the altar helps people focus more on the Mass and on the Eucharist.

Prior to the implementation of the changes at the Mesa parish Sept. 5, he said core members were “constantly having to make sure the kids behaved and didn’t talk” during the Eucharistic Prayer.

However, the 23-year-old, who has attended St. Timothy’s for “as long as I can remember,” said the modifications will take a little getting used to. “But change is always good,” he added. “So we are just welcoming it.”

Bri Morsa, a Life Teen core member at St. Gabriel the Archangel, said she heard no complaints from teens when the Cave Creek parish implemented the changes Sept. 5.

“The flow of the Mass hasn’t changed. The teens have responded in obedience,” Morsa said. “The change doesn’t affect them because that’s not what they’re about. What I see in the teens is that no matter what goes on, they are there for the presence of the Lord.”

Old habits may die hard, she said, but the modifications to the Life Teen liturgy didn’t prevent people from concluding the Mass with a “prayerful heart and a joyful voice.”

Many of these LifeTeen "Masses" may be invalid anyway - changed or unchanged.
The late, great Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani penned a thorough critique of "the great sacrilege" (to use the title of Father Wathen's notable book on the subject).
Neo-Catholics contend that Cardinal Ottaviani later retracted his cutting written comments.
Here's traditio.com's answer to that charge...
What can you tell your participants about the purported Ottaviani statements supposedly retracting his condemnation of the "New Mass"?

Fr. Moderator Replies.

This case provides a good example why the internet is a dangerous source when people don't have the knowledge to analyze the information they receive. The New Order's cover story that Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani changed his mind about his document, authored in conjunction with Antonio Cardinal Bacci and several Roman theologians, condemning the New Order as unCatholic and even invalid, has long ago been shown to be an "urban myth."

The proponents of the New Order were devastated to have the Church's highest theological authority and a President of the Vatican II Council publicly question the validity of the so-called "New Mass" and to have had Pope Paul VI admit the validity of Cardinal Ottaviani's charge by recalling the Novus Ordo Missae in 1969, just after it was issued.

In an effort to counter the Cardinal's charges of unCatholicity and even invalidity, which stand true to this day, the New Order cooked up a phony "cover story" that the Cardinal had "retracted" his statement. This story interestingly parallels the deceit that the English bishops had used with St. Joan of Arc, claiming that she had retracted her statements. Of course, both stories are lies.

A purported letter of February 17, 1970, supposedly with the Cardinal's signature, was adduced to prove the story. However, by that date it is known that the Cardinal, then 80, was totally blind and would not have known what he was signing when presented with the purposed letter by his secretary, Msgr. Gilberto Agustoni.

Now it has come to light that this Agustoni was a member of the Consilium which that fabricated the "New Mass" and which the Arch-Architect of the New Order service, Hannibal Bugnini, led. At the time, Jean Madiran, the editor of the respected French journal Itineraires, publicly accused Agustoni of obtaining the Cardinal's signature by fraud. As a result, Agustoni was fired as the Cardinal's secretary.

So, it seems that Agustoni insinuated his way into becoming the Cardinal's secretary and in that position created a fraud in an attempt to undermine the Cardinal's public document, which questioned the validity of the New Order service, by a phony "retraction," which Agustoni had himself written with others. In any case, co-author Antonio Cardinal Bacci and the Roman theologians never "retracted," in any manner, shape, or form the devastating document, which they courageously published.

The moral of this story is that the New Order will resort even to fraud and lies to relieve itself of the embarrassment of having its New Order service called what it putatively is -- invalid. One can only think of the mountains of lies that New Order bishops have told to conceal the gross immoralities going on in their dioceses, which are starting to topple those bishops, ten of whom have been indicated or resigned, two of whose dioceses have now come under court supervision.

In many ways, this fraudulent cover-story is reminiscent of the current "Rather-gate," in which CBS News and newscaster Dan Rather are embroiled because of their acceptance of phony documents on President Bush forged by his political enemies.

Plus ça change, plus ça même chose.

Seemed to work that way for the Aztecs.

I'm also unclear of your term "overnight". It is more like "over 7,300 nights". The "consecration" was in 1984. To say that this conversion is moving at a snail's pace would be an overstatement.

You also seem to be implying that a conversion has not yet happened when you say we shouldn't expect one that quickly. This would not be in agreement with your claim that Lucy has declared the consecration valid (where she received that authority I don't know). In that same whole ordeal, it was claimed that Lucy said the conversion of Russia has already happened, that Our Lady wasn't speaking of a conversion to Catholicism, but that now the people can choose whether to be Christian or not. I don't expect a clarification on when exactly their free will was revoked any time soon.

Some say that the Novus Ordo closely resembles the Eucharist as it was celebrated in the Early Church.

If true, is that a good thing?

Let's pretend that we all believe that the Catholic Church has enjoyed the protection and guidance of the Spiritum Sanctum since Day One.

If that is true, then isn't it also true that the Mass became better over the centuries--truer to Our Lord's intentions and a fuller expression thereof, more beautiful, more sacred, more pleasing to God?

Or would the Spiritum Sanctum lead the Church in the wrong direction, so that the Mass gradually became worse? Is the Spiritum Sanctum an evil deceiver?

Assuming we all agree that the Spiritum Sanctum is not an evil deceiver, then we are faced with the proposition that the Mass as it existed in 1960 was **superior** to the Mass as it existed in 155.

What exactly do we accomplish by returning to the Mass of 155? Why, we take the 2000 years of improvements and adornments given us by the Spiritum Sanctum and fling them back in His face, much like Kerry flinging somebody else's medals across the White House fence, and return to an inferior form of worship.

So, the Novus Ordo closely resembles the Eucharist as it was celebrated in the Early Church does it?

And why would that be a good thing?

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.