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Where have all the people in the Pews Gone
Old SF Examiner ^ | 1978 | Kevin Starr

Posted on 03/07/2005 10:01:29 AM PST by Cato1

Yearning for the Latin Mass

by Kevin Starr

Courtesy of the San Francisco "Examiner" (Copyright SF Examiner 1978)

A goodly number of pseudo-reformist movements these days consists of powerful elites telling the majority of people what to do. Elites grab control of an agency, an institution, a political body, then proceed to legislate without regard to majority opinion. Take the matter of the Latin Mass. A recent Gallup poll shows 64 percent of American Catholics prefer the return of the Latin Mass.

Sixty-four percent! That's a solid majority, for sure! Among Catholics with a college education, the figure jumps to 73 per-cent-nearly a two-thirds majority. Roughly 10 percent of the Catholics polled had no opinion. Only 26 percent were opposed. Splitting the difference of the no-opinion group, we come up with the fact that roughly 80 percent of American Catholics prefer the return of the oldstyle, Tridentine Latin Mass. After 15 years, in other words, of guitar music, pseudo-folksongs, banal translations, hand-clapping, the kissing of perfect strangers during the offertory in an orgy of dishonest sentiment, most Catholics yearn for the dignity and mystery of the Latin Mass. We've had circus masses with clowns on the altar, where they played "Send in the Clown" during the offertory. You were supposed to leave Church, I suppose, feeling glowy all over. We've had radical masses where the consecration was ushered in with a folksy protest song by Pete Seeger. We've witnessed with-it priests in psychedelic vestments (most of them on the verge of resigning the priesthood) consecrate loaves of sourdough French bread and Gallo Hearty Burgundy. Also used: Ry-Krisp, Wonder Bread (for that homey feeling), Syrian bread (for that archaeologically exact feeling), and Kasanoff's Jewish Rye (for that feeling of ethnic brotherhood). Of late an English-language liturgy of heroic banality has been forced on us, rivaling the Unitarian worship service for sheer avoidance of Catholicity of sentiment, reference or symbolism.

What is the result of all this tasteless disregard for the necessity of aesthetic transcendence in liturgy? What is the result of telling two-thirds of the Roman Catholics in America that they cannot, must not, worship in the manner of their youth: that the way the Church prayed for more than a thousand years was now forbidden? On Holy Thursday I stood in St. Ignatius Church with a sparse and pitiable crowd and tried as much as possible to attend to a liturgy stripped of its transcendence and grandeur. We were, say, a congregation of no more than 300-mainly older women. Twenty years ago the Church would have been filled to its 1,500 seat capacity. Now on Sunday mornings in the Catholic parishes of San Francisco, you could set up an indoor volleyball game in the center of the Church without bothering the sparse gathering of aged parishioners.

All knowledge of God, St. Thomas Aquinas tells us, is by analogy-with the exception of infused contemplation and certain rare forms of mystical prayer. What St. Thomas means is that God is unknowable in Himself. He is eternal and transcendent. We are finite. We try to bridge the gap between God's awful majesty and our own insecure finitude in a variety of ways-prayer, contemplation, good works, and above all else, through sacramental worship. According to Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and responsible Protestant Episcopalian belief, the celebration of the Eucharist is our most powerful link with the Godhead. It recreates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ and Christ's death on Calvary in a way that is at once profoundly symbolic and profoundly true. In reference, then, to St. Thomas' statement about knowing God through analogy, the Eucharist-called the Mass by Roman Catholics-constitutes our most daring flight towards the Godhead, and Almighty God's most generous intersection with us-through the imminent presence of His Son Jesus Christ in the eucharistic sacrifice. According to Catholic belief, the Mass recreates the grand drama of Calvary. It is not a hootenany. It is not a touchy-feely Esalen session designed to make you feel tingly and sincere all over your body.

It took the Latin Church 500 years to evolve a worship service equal to this awesome, compelling leap to the Godhead through die risen, eucharistic Christ. For a thousand years Catholics prayed this way at Mass. In the 16th century Council of Trent, this 1,000 year-old Mass was standardized, codified, made the norm of the Universal Church. Another 400 more years went by-400 years of dignified, compelling worship. In great cathedrals of Europe, the Latin Mass was celebrated by archbishops and cardinals in splendid robes, accompanied by orchestras and trained choirs; in jungle outposts, it was celebrated by sweat-stained missionaries, accompanied by prayers in a thousand different tongues. But wherever it was celebrated-in cathedrals in ancient abbeys, in frontier parishes, in jungle out-posts, it was the same Latin Mass. Every Catholic over 35 in America grew up to its rich cadences. We followed its intricacies in our missals. We bowed our heads in awful silence as the priest bent over the host and the chalice, intoning the ancient words of consecration.

The day the Latin Mass was outlawed by the elitists, the day 80 percent of the Catholics of America were told they could no longer worship in the manner their ancestors worshipped since time immemorial, I was having dinner in New York with another Catholic-novelist Anthony Burgess. "In 10 years time Catholic churches will be empty," Burgess said. "For when you destroy the Mass, you destroy the faith. We English Catholics know this. We literally went to the stake for the Latin Mass."

Anthony Burgess was right. The elite reformers destroyed the Latin Mass. Now the churches are empty. Now no one believes.


TOPICS: Catholic
KEYWORDS: ageofpiscesisover; basedinlies; cary; catholic; endoftheage; facethemusic; latinmass; liesaresurfacing; religion; truthfindsitsway; vaticanii
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This was the year of Three Popes. Interesting article that says alot about how things have changed.
1 posted on 03/07/2005 10:01:32 AM PST by Cato1
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Comment #2 Removed by Moderator

Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

Comment #4 Removed by Moderator

To: Cato1
Well I'm not a Catholic but have attended several masses and definitely prefer Latin. Latin should be REQUIRED in every public school curriculum in America. Maybe then we wouldn't have so many illiterates. Oh wait -- then some students might fail, and we wouldn't want to hurt their self-esteem, now would we!?
5 posted on 03/07/2005 10:07:52 AM PST by totherightofu
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To: Cato1
Among Catholics with a college education, the figure jumps to 73 per-cent-nearly a two-thirds majority

Apparently the author isn't one of those with a college education.

6 posted on 03/07/2005 10:08:04 AM PST by thoughtomator (Gleefully watching the self-demolition of all things left-wing)
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To: Cato1

The Catholic leadership needs to get it's theology srtaight, then it needs to get it's homopedophillic priests under control.

The wishy-washy attitude on the theological side, and the rampant homosexuality among it's clergy will be the death of the Catholic church.


7 posted on 03/07/2005 10:09:12 AM PST by clee1 (Islam is a deadly plague; liberalism is the AIDS virus that prevents us from defending ourselves.)
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To: Cato1

The Church I grew up with left me in 1965 when services went from Gregorian chants to Peter Paul and Mary (not the Saints).


8 posted on 03/07/2005 10:10:27 AM PST by Semper Paratus (:)
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To: Cato1
After 15 years, in other words, of guitar music, pseudo-folksongs, banal translations, hand-clapping, the kissing of perfect strangers during the offertory in an orgy of dishonest sentiment, most Catholics yearn for the dignity and mystery of the Latin Mass.

Reminds me of some Reform synagogues... by the time you learn the liturgical tune they change it again. There's something to be said for 3,000 year-old traditions.

9 posted on 03/07/2005 10:11:18 AM PST by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: Cato1
Where have all the people in the Pews Gone

Maybe they're in the Religion forum. Have you checked there?

10 posted on 03/07/2005 10:14:06 AM PST by newgeezer (Just my opinion, of course. Your mileage may vary.)
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To: Cato1
I don't know from where they're getting their 64% figure. I know about 10 people in a parish of 3000 families who would prefer a return to the Latin Mass, and most of the people with whom I'm friendly tend to be orthodox Catholics. Are they including in the 64% those who would like to see it available, but not exclusive?

The last Latin Mass I attended was in 1987, and frankly it didn't do anything for me that the recent Mass doesn't do. Someone who is likely to be bored at the recent Mass will likely be bored at a Latin Mass. Those who pay attention, and for whom the Mass is truly a Celebration of Christ's Sacrifice, Death and Resurrection would likely be happy with either, though some may like the Latin more than the vernacular.

I wouldn't mind attending a Mass in Latin, but I wouldn't want to see a return to the Mass in Latin only. We don't need the pendulum to swing completely in the opposite direction, we only need some balance.

11 posted on 03/07/2005 10:15:09 AM PST by SuziQ
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To: clee1

There is no wishy washiness on the Theological side of the Church. The squirrely-ness comes in the form of Theologians or 'Leaders' who try to move the Church from her teachings into something more modern or 'relevant'. Most of those are in America or Europe.


12 posted on 03/07/2005 10:17:07 AM PST by SuziQ
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To: Cato1; reformjoy; MeekOneGOP; Mia T; Ragtime Cowgirl; Carl/NewsMax

.

And now


...MEL's next -PASSION-,

...which was sparked by...

...MEL's -WE WERE SOLDIERS-,

...will be...

...The Miracle of -FATIMA-

http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085111/posts



...MEL's -PASSION- was about our Past and our Future.

...MEL's -FATIMA- will explain what we can do about both in the Present.


MEL GIBSON =

The Spiritual Gift that just keeps on giving

.


13 posted on 03/07/2005 10:18:56 AM PST by ALOHA RONNIE ("ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer/Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965 http://www.lzxray.com)
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To: Cato1

I'm not Catholic, so what's so special about Latin? How about some reformers go really old school and start preaching in Aramaic. And what does that say about your church if people would rather attend if they can't understand what the leader is saying?


14 posted on 03/07/2005 10:19:51 AM PST by bahblahbah
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: Semper Paratus
The Church I grew up with left me in 1965 when services went from Gregorian chants to Peter Paul and Mary (not the Saints).

Guilty as charged! My husband jokes that we're still doing Penance for our singing of "Blowin in the Wind" at Mass.

Most of the folk music we sang was banal, but I must say that when we were involved with a Charismatic community in New Jersey, a lot of their music was very Spirit filled and holy. It all depends on the words. There is some 'traditional' music these days that is just as banal as the folk music I grew up with, and some more lively music that praises Jesus in wonderful way.

I frankly prefer music done on the organ; more classical style, and our two younger kids prefer it as well. We used to attend the later in the day Mass on Sunday, but when they began having music that was more 'rock style' and our kids decided that they didn't like it. Frankly we didn't either because it just wasn't done very well. Now we go to the morning Mass with the organ choir and they like it much better.

16 posted on 03/07/2005 10:24:10 AM PST by SuziQ
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To: SuziQ; Cato1

.

Last summer I attended my first Latin Mass, MEL's favorite, in decades. It was being said by a Priest from the -FATIMA- Foundation.

Get it..? I sure did.
And so does MEL.

See Post No. 13...

.


17 posted on 03/07/2005 10:25:11 AM PST by ALOHA RONNIE ("ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer/Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965 http://www.lzxray.com)
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To: Cato1

Soooooo, let me get this straight. The writer thinks that Roman Catholics are leaving the pews because of the change 20 years ago from the traditional Latin mass to the Hootenany??? ROFLOLOLOL! Nice try!

I don't suppose the corruption in their seminaries, which includes pedophilia, has anything to do with it at all.

<><


18 posted on 03/07/2005 10:26:35 AM PST by viaveritasvita (The Grace of God has appeared, bringing Salvation to all men. Titus 2:11)
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To: Cato1; sinkspur; ninenot; B Knotts; narses; american colleen; saradippity; Siobhan; ...
Sinkspur:

THE Gallup Poll: 64% of all American Catholics and 73% of college-educated Catholics prefer the restoration of the Tridentine Mass as the normative Mass of the Roman Catholic Church after forty years of bad liturgical road! Who'd have thunk it? That was the Gallup Poll not NCReporter.

It's almost enough to tempt me to support a very limited democracy in the pews but not quite. How about you?

19 posted on 03/07/2005 10:28:42 AM PST by BlackElk (Dean of Discipline of the Tomas de Torquemada Gentlemen's Club)
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To: Hartranft

It's not going to be vacated, it has a billion followers. Transmogrified, in all likelihood yes, vacated, no!


20 posted on 03/07/2005 10:29:18 AM PST by AlbionGirl
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