Posted on 09/26/2004 5:34:44 AM PDT by tridentine
With the aroma of incense hovering, the Rev. Eduardo Garcia lifts the communion wafer toward heaven, reciting, "Hoc est enim corpus meum."
As the prayer echoes through St. Peter's Catholic Church in Volo, 15-year-old Beth Gammel says this is the moment she feels closest to God.
She doesn't understand Latin, but the book she holds translates Garcia's prayer: "For this is my body."
For Gammel and a growing number of young people, the once traditional Latin Mass provides a connection to the divine unmatched by any contemporary service.
The Catholic rite dating from the 5th century had almost faded into oblivion after Vatican reforms in the 1960s, which included an official ban on its use. But since Pope John Paul lifted the ban in 1984, it's thriving in Volo and being revived across the country, with young families leading the way.
The Rev. Donald Dietz, a priest at St. Peter's, says he's seeing a growing number of young people coming to Volo from as far as Marengo and Palatine.
"It's not just gray-headed folks. We're getting younger families who were born after 1964. It's an amazing thing to see," Dietz said.
St. Peter's is one of several churches offering the Mass in the dioceses that serve Chicago and its suburbs. Dietz says they have 150 people attending each Sunday, and the number is growing.
The two Chicago parishes are reporting increases, too. St. Thomas More Church on the South Side is getting 300 people a week. Nearly 1,000 folks show up to St. John Cantius on the Near West Side for two Sunday services. A fourth church, St. Gelasius near Hyde Park in Chicago, will offer daily and Sunday Latin Masses as soon as its building renovation project is complete.
At a time when churches are competing to attract the Gen-X crowd, what's the draw of this more traditional practice?
"The Mass has an intensity you don't normally see," Garcia said. "The art, the music, the chanting connects the people to God in a deep and mysterious way."
Garcia says he believes young people "crave a closeness to the Lord" and need a sense of permanence in a chaotic society.
Dietz agrees. "We're constantly bombarded with change, change, change," he laments. "The Mass is like a rock, a source of stability in a noisy world."
The revival isn't just in the Chicago area, home to nearly 3.5 million Catholics. The comeback is happening across the country.
"There is definitely a resurgence of the Latin rite," said Mary Kraychy. She heads a group called Coalition Ecclesia Dei in Glenview. The organization is a clearinghouse for issues related to the Latin Mass.
In 1990, six dioceses in the nation offered the Mass, Kraychy said. That number has now climbed to 120. The newest additions are in Michigan, South Carolina and Arizona. Kraychy's group says it hopes to see the Latin Mass eventually offered in all the nation's 180 dioceses.
It's Kraychy's sense there's been a "snowball effect" over the last dozen or so years. "Now that people have had some time to see what effect the reforms would have, they're returning to a more God-centered service," she said.
Yet some see the trend as more worrisome - a move they say is a step back to a time when women had even less a role in the church than they do today, a time when rigidity took the place of a more humane view of real life and faith.
"This isn't a trend we would welcome with open arms," said Crystal Chan. "What underlying message is being sent to the laity, especially women?"
Chan is with Call to Action, a Chicago-based group whose mission is to "work for equality and justice in the church and society," according to the group's Web site.
"The nature of the Latin rite encourages the laity to revert back to a powerless position," she said. "We need to embrace the rituals we have now. There isn't a need to return to the Middle Ages."
Inside St. Peter's church, the tone is hushed. The shuffling of pages and an occasional cough are the only distractions from the pews where many of the women wear traditional veils that were standard for females during Mass more than 40 years ago.
That stillness suits parishioner John McLinn just fine. "The Mass isn't a place for back-slapping, laughing and joking around," said the Wonder Lake man. "It's not a picnic. People forget that."
In a culture where people are accustomed to living in 30-second intervals, the long silences in the Latin rite may seem like an eternity. But for others, it's refreshing.
"The incense, solemnity and holiness of the Mass are powerful," said Mark Covalt, 31, of Palatine. The recent convert to Catholicism and the Latin Mass says he comes out of church "absolutely revitalized."
The service is also called the Tridentine Mass, referring to the formalizing of the liturgy at the Council of Trent in the 1500s.
It's that sense of antiquity that impresses Gammel, a sophomore at Grayslake High School. "The fact that it's ancient gives it a sense of importance," she said. "I feel like I can defend the tradition with confidence."
Except for the homily, or sermon, the entire service is in Latin; either spoken or chanted in Gregorian style. Far from being a hindrance, proponents say the language is incorruptible by modern vernacular and serves as a unifying force across cultures.
Alter server Matt Carlson, 17, of Hawthorn Woods says Latin adorns the service. "For a dead language, it's really beautiful," he said.
Magazines such as Latin Mass Quarterly and other support organizations like Une Voce have formed in recent years hoping to keep the tradition strong.
The Rev. Anthony Brankin of St. Thomas More says he believes the counterculture nature of the Mass is its strength.
"It's a no-nonsense, no-fluff way to honor God," he said. "There isn't room for the priest to get creative. It's so unhip, it's hip."
I was unaware the teachings of Vatican II contradicted any teaching of the previous 2,000 years. Care to elaborate?
Your post seems to imply sedevacantism, which is not what the priests like those of the SSPX believe.
They, in fact, pray for the same Pope John Paul II and the local ordinary in their masses that the other priests of the diocese pray for. In fact, in some dioceses, they may be giving more honor to the Pope than the locals. I have seen in reported that in Milwaukee Archbishop Weakland (I don't even like typing that name) had ceased prayer for POPE John Paul II, and started saying John Paul II, Bishop of Rome in his mass. While doctrinally correct, he is the Bishop of Rome, I don't think that is point Weakland was making. His efforts to keep the Vatican out of his business in the name of collegiality are no big secret.
I feel it necessary to add that I, in fact, do not attend an SSPX chapel. My mass is approved by the local ordinary (whether he needs to or not is another argument, but it sure makes it easier on my conscience when he does). I simply do not wish to engage in attacks against the SSPX when there are so many others out there who actually dissent from Catholic teaching and remain "within the fold". Sooner or later, Our Lady's Immaculate Heart will triumph, and we will have much to thank Archbishop Lefevre for (I should also point out that he is largely responsible for the Church's growth in Africa during this past century, something he rarely receives credit for).
I think I misread your post. I have read it again after several cups of coffee, and you were just stating the norm for who is mentioned in the Canon.
My mistake, and thanks for the clarification.
There is a device that is attached to the vehicles of habitual alcohol driving offenders sometimes that they have to blow into to make sure that they do not test positive for alcohol before their car will start.
I think I need to install something like that on my computer- if my caffeine level is below a certain limit the keyboard doesn't work. Any entrepenuers out there to market this?
God bless.
bump
Here's a recent commentary from traditio.com that relates to this thread...
Since Vatican II the Newchurch has tried to make it out as if the Traditional Latin Mass were just for old foggies, but the Novus Ordo service is for the young and hip. That piece of deception is now being exposed by the secular press.
A recent article in the Daily Herald from the Chicago area unabashedly proclaimed: "Youth behind Resurgence of Ancient Catholic Ritual." It turns out that the young people are throwing over the steel guitars and vernacular for a connection with the real Mass. For "a growing number of young people, the ... traditional Latin Mass provides a connection to the divine unmatched by any contemporary service." They got that right! At a time when many dioceses are shutting down a significant number of churches because attendance at the Novus Ordo service is plummeting, to less than one in seven, traditional churches are seeing increases.
One Novus Ordo presbyter had to admit: "We're constantly bombarded with change, change, change. The Mass is like a rock, a source of stability in a noisy world." Well, isn't that what traditional Catholics, and the true Church, have said from the beginning? Some people are just 40 -- or 2000 -- years behind.
Sometimes looking at who your enemies are confirms the correctness of your position. And who are the enemies of the Mass and the Church quoted in the article? Why, one Crystal Chan, who is with Call to Action, an organization that wants to destroy the Roman Catholic Church by promoting lesbianism, "gay marriage," priestesses, wicca, and all the rest. "This isn't a trend we would welcome with open arms," she said. I should think not! Maybe a return to the true faith would "out" these pagans, who pose as "Catholics" in order to use the mechanism of the Church to destroy the Church.
And what about that Latin? Far from being a hindrance, the language is incorruptible by modern vernacular and serves as a unifying force across cultures. "It's really beautiful," says one 17-year-old.
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