Attention Pastors, Youth Pastors, Music Directors, Deacons and Catechists:
I have oft heard the complaint from you that “The young people aren’t interested in Catholic faith, they don’t come to Mass and they don’t volunteer to sing, lector or help with ministries…it seems there is little hope these days!”
I’ve come to tell you, there is hope! The young people can be drawn to Catholic faith, Mass, choir and any church-related ministry. You can get them interested!
The Problem:
Frequently, young Catholics feel ignored, not that they aren’t being pampered or praised or given special attention, I mean they are trying to tell you exactly what they like, what they expect from the Church, what they are yearning for deep in their souls… but you simply aren’t listening.
I am in my twenties, part of the tail end of what they call “the John Paul II generation” I came into the Catholic Church just as John Paul II went out. My RCIA class was on fire for faith, for learning and for yearning. We did homework, read our catechism, got on the internet, immersed ourselves in it all! The parish that nurtured this crop of oncoming-converts was steeped in reverence and awe for tradition. Not just going through motions and singing empty songs. On Ash-Wednesday, we proudly explained the odd mark on our heads, we debated Protestants on the Bible, we learned basic prayers- in Latin AND English. Sunday night Mass ensued in candlelit splendor, amidst clouds of incense and to the tune of Laudate Dominum. You could never look at these young people and say “They just don’t care”.
After RCIA and graduation, I returned home and attended what you’d call your average parish church. I descended from a world of splendor to bare walls, hurried Masses and barebones hymns. Still fervent in the sacraments, the Eucharist and the Early Church Fathers, I lived on. Come 2012, I attend a parish in central Florida. Art covered the walls, thank God, but it was rather bare art. Mass was still hurried and hymns still barebones. Something however was very familiar: no Latin during Ordinary time, nor during Advent, nor during Lent, no incense, no Laudate Dominum.
I spoke up once during choir practice (I’d since then joined the choir because I enjoyed singing and praising the Lord). I said “You know, I’d really like some Latin hymns…Maybe we can have some silence after Mass during Lent- you know for reverence…”
I suggested to our priest once: “I think a Eucharistic procession around Christmas to celebrate the incarnation would be cool…” Deaf ears in reply. I was told by the music director: “We don’t do Latin anymore…Silence bores the congregation…” The priest said a procession would be “too inconvenient”. What I gave was the opinion of a young Catholic- a real, live young Catholic. They didn’t want it.
The problem is all these people keep telling us young folk what bores us, what we really like, what we find interesting. And guess what, THEY’RE WRONG! If one listens to the young Catholic voice, one would find we are yearning for beauty, for tradition and for truth. Traditional Catholicism honestly fascinates us! We go all week hearing perky pop-songs, jumping techno and chatter that doesn’t leave a minute of silence. We go to church and we get exposed to the same exact things. Thus, of course we find it boring! Why should we go to Mass when we can stay home and sing “Gather us in”, listen to a preacher on tv and fill our rooms with noise? Young people are sick of the world. We long for a safe habitat where we can bow before God and think. We crave contact with ancientness, with a strong grounding, with strong Catholic identity. God’s people are chosen out of the world, set apart, destined for a heavenly home. We want a taste of that!!
What young Catholics want:
First, we wouldn’t mind if you listened… Stop telling us what we think and what we like. Look at traditional Catholic parishes, they are overflowing with young people and traditional seminaries are crowded with young aspirants. The next generation wants precisely what your generation has put away and tried to hide from us. There’s a proverb: “The son longs to remember what the father longs to forget!” We long to revisit the Latin oldies, incense, kneeling and chapel veils. We hate guitar Masses. We hate sappy hymns, watered-down teachings and Masses that must be kept minimal. We want the red meat that is the 2,000 year old Catholic faith and not only that, we want to sink out teeth into it!
When young people see that Mass is not like the rest of the week, that it’s not like the world, that it requires us to think and act differently- as if we’re present when heaven touches earth, we will be interested. We will wander in with curiosity, saying “what glorious thing is this?” and we will stay there.
And this is not a dilemma that has gone unnoticed either. An article on Catholicculture.org states: “The Roman rite was always different from all of the eastern rites, of course, but the sense of the transcendence of God, which once marked our liturgy strongly, seems rarely to find expression in our worship today. And we trashed, just trashed, a glorious tradition of liturgical music which the council fathers at Vatican II explicitly commanded be fostered. ” I can tell you that many of our young people agree with this! Our generation is immensely attracted to the statements of Pope Benedict XVI that ask for a return to tradition in liturgy. I hear countless, young Catholic college students and bloggers begging: “Please, give this back to us.”
People can pretend that worship is a strictly spiritual matter, pretend that it does not involve shallow, physical things but the Mass is precisely opposite. It is very physical just like the union of two lovers is very physical. No sane person declares love is just a spiritual thing, that saying “My dear” doesn’t matter, that singing a serenade or reciting a sonnet doesn’t matter or that a candlelit banquet makes no difference. Our worship became VERY physical the moment Christ assumed human flesh. Catholics are people of the incarnation. We don’t go to Mass to philosophize and have Bible study- no, we go to Mass to taste and see the goodness of the Lord! Mass isn’t about social gathering- no, it’s about each soul receiving perfect union with God! Shouldn’t our pastors and music directors be showing us that? Shouldn’t our priests be saying with their actions and words and prayers: “Hey, this isn’t part of the world that bombards you with noise and ugliness, that constantly seeks to entertain you, this is heaven!”
Jesus Christ came to give the hungry world that which they were so long deprived of. He came to give meaning, to give mystery, to give us the awesome presence and tender love which is God. Jesus didn’t say “Let’s get the young people interested.” He said “Feed my Lambs.” So, I sincerely ask our pastors, youth pastors, deacons and music directors to give young Catholics a taste of heaven, give us mystery, give us that presence and awesome love of God. Hit us with a meaty Catholicism that makes us stop and think, that makes us truly perceive the miraculous thing that is happening at every Eucharist, and causes us to bow down and say “Truly this is the Son of God” “Truly this is the New Covenant” “Truly this is the Promised Land- our heavenly home”!
“O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusts in him.”
-Psalm 34:8
Awesome. Totally sharing this. 🙂
Firstly, I want to say that as a Chatechist, Sacristan and one who is discerning my vocation, I fully agree with you. In my Parish, the choices made by the musical director have left me uneasy to say the least, I remember mass just twenty years ago, and the spirituality was of what is now a bygone era.
We do need to have a difference between the House of God and the world, as you quite rightly say, what is the point if there is no difference. It is important that voices such as yours are heard by the authorities of the church, especially as the Holy Father himself desires these things.
As a person that teaches within and outside the church, I always maintain traditional teaching and spirituality, as if there is no one to teach…how will they learn?
I want to thank you for what you have written, and I pray that your voice will be heard around the world, even to the highest authority.
Merry Christmas and God Bless
Thank you so much. I am printing copies as I write this to give to our priest and music director who have been less than receptive. Please keep praying! I appreciate it greatly.
I understand , I don’t like what I have been seeing recently . I have been a catechist for over 30yrs. Too many people (DRE’s ) see the ministry as a job instead . Catechisis is not there unfortunately . We are losing the kids because the people that supposed to sharing are faith could care less and the people that do care are not being used for one reason or another, usually because when we try to bring God back in the center , where He should be. We are told to leave. We continue to pray for ALL concerned . It is only by the Grace of God + the Holy Spirit that the youth Loves Our Lord. I Bless all those who have the zealousness to want to know Our Lord , Our Father , who love ALL of us!
Yours in Christ,
Mary elizabeth
Amen and Amen! When I step into Church, I want to step out of the world, out of time and into eternity. I want my liturgy to reflect the liturgy of heaven. Too many masses I’ve attended had all the solemnity of a Rotary club dinner. And don’t get me started on the music. These so-called “experts” in Liturgy think they know what we want better than we do. They’re doomed to fail, because Jesus had the same problem with the “experts” of His day. So He chose fishermen – the foolish things of earth to confound the wise.
Worship comes from the depth of your heart. , not from any building, statue ,icon, or presider dressed in icon robes.
You need to stop spamming my blog with your empty comments. If you do not agree with the opinions expressed here, just leave.
Oh my gosh!! This is awesome. You have totally nailed it! Sharing this for sure!
I love this disortation, I have felt it often, especially the ‘silence’ part. I am 69 and have said for at least 52 years (maybe more) that adults short change children and youth by ignoring their comments and voiced opinions. Yes, many stem from an unlived life with wisdom yet to come, but many have the wisdom of the uncorruption of inexperience. Also, I would like to see a “Print this article” link at this site. I would LOVE to share this araticle with countless people but it would print too small & use too much background ink. Could you send me a printer friendly copy?
You could copy it onto a word document then print it. Let me know if this doesn’t work.
Let’s be honest here. The great Mass of the Beatific Vision while infinitely beyond human comprehension, will be closer to the Tridentine Mass style of reverence and worship, than the Novus Ordo watered down for the sake of protestants and lazy Catholics style Mass.
I’m 48 and I want all this, too! We found the traditional Mass 8 years ago and haven’t looked back. Love the incense. Love being taken out of the everydayness of the other Mass we attended. We want reverence. We want silence. We want beauty. We want the whole, entire, Catholic faith fully taught. Even my daughter, at the time 7 years old, said, “mom, can we not go back to that noisy Mass?” It’s not rocket science. Preach it and they will come.
YES!!
Lucy, you’re living my life. 😉 AMEN!
Me too!! I am even older, 56, but for 2 years now have been enjoying and reveling in the Latin Mass and can not believe how blessed I am! I hope my son, who is a young 17, will one day share my enthusiasm as he prefers the quick in and out mass! Pray for him!! THANKS
Excellent excellent excellent!!!
You don’t have to convince me as a pastor. I’m trying to do this, plus ad orientem worship, but it is really difficult to get middle-aged Catholics to accept stuff that is counter-intuitive and “contrary to Vatican II.”
ironically, these things are not contrary to Vatican II at all. The Council Fathers envisioned the Novus Ordo to retain Latin prayers and chants- and they never told anyone to turn the priest around. Sadly, very few even read the documents.
Just listening to the amazing Dr. Peter Kreeft on YouTube today. He said that for those who complain that something is pre-Vatican II meaning that it is old-fashioned, remind them that the Mass is pre-Vatican II, as is the Eucharist, Confession, the stories of the saints, the rosary, and the universe. Heck, even Jesus is pre-Vatican II.
Great article! I am 56 and my daughter forwarded this to me. I am our parish’s secretary and always include heavy catechesis in our bulletins, as well as up-to-the-minute articles regarding the latest attacks on our religious freedom and what we can do about it. I also love to include devotional items from our amazing saints. So glad that our parish has an amazing, reverent priest – and, yes, we do have Latin in our Masses. Our parish is so amazing that my oldest son became a priest for the Apostles of the Interior Life and lives in Rome!
May God richly bless you-and your son!
Oh, I forgot to say that we found our old altar rail and re-installed it. We put the color back in our church after some over-zealous nun from the diocese made us monochrome our church, including our statues. We have had new murals painted and installed after the post-Vatican II wrongly had us paint over them, ruining these beautiful works of art. We repaired our bell and have repaired all of our stained glass windows. Also removed the awful 70’s naugahyde padded veneer pews, with renovated ones from (sadly for them) the Louisville, KY cathedral. Our attendance has grown 32% this year. There is hope.
Keep it up! My parish priest is trying to do the same. My family loves him for it. He is making great changes to our church which do not quite make it look or sound like a church yet, but have greatly improved the situation since when we first arrived at the parish three years ago. It might be my imagination, but I think there are more people staying after Mass to pray now. May God bless you and help you, Father. I am sure good fruits will come from your efforts. Know that you are in my prayers.
I have a very difficult time connecting an ‘old fashioned communion rail’, with reverence. All it shows me ,as a life long Catholic, that I am not an equal ,in he eyes of the Church… Come to the Alter, and share….
We are all equal and we do all come to communion to share. The altar rail shows us kneeling down EQUALLY, (no one gets to stand) as human beings before God. We bow down because of God. Should we not? Are we going to assume we are equal to God?
Hang in there, Father. There are lots of us middle-aged Catholics (I’m 48) who would love more reverence at Mass. Maybe it would help you to publish bite-sized catechetical pieces in the bulletin, or have meetings/classes to help explain the things you are trying to change.
The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love. Zephaniah 3:17. God bless you and your ministry!
Hello, and congrats for the beautiful blog! I completely agree with this post. Many people do not get enchanted with the Catholic Faith because they get the opaque, weak, watered-down, clappy and idiotically-touchy version of it. But what young people want is to feel the difference, to perceive an atmosphere of eternal love that is in contrast with the world outside!
I am Italian, and even here I see how the large churches run by progressive priests became empty, while small, modest and yet magnificently traditionalist churches run by faithful priests are still packed, and packed with young people, who seek Christ, who boldly search for Truth!
As a young Catholic myself, I find the Tridentine Mass difficult to understand and the focus on ritual distracting. That preference for simplicity is precisely why I don’t attend Orthodox services. It’s not because I’m lazy and don’t want to learn the Latin, but I will say that it doesn’t resonate with me.
I tend to agree with the Holy Father on this matter. Writing in the aftermath of Vatican II, he said that “The solemn baroque mass, through the splendor of the orchestra’s performance, became a kind of sacred opera, in which the songs of the priest had their role as did the alternating recitals.”
I want to feast on the living Christ, not the Christ of the Middle Ages. Not only did Jesus never touch incense, but he didn’t speak in Latin either.
actually as a devout Jew, he was around incense quite often. I think you are missing the point. This post is not about Latin or the Tridentine Mass, it is about attitudes. The precise attitude that we must embrace the modern world and throw away everything old. The attitude of simplifying the faith for the sake of simplifying, for the sake of stripping everything bare.
But if you want to talk about Latin, it would help to know that the Second Vatican Council that says that the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin Catholic rite and that chant and Latin hymns should also be preserved.
On another note, Jesus didn’t speak English either. Christ does not belong to the Middle Ages or to today, you can’t put him in any time frame. He lives on just as much in the Tridentine Mass as he does in the Novus Ordo Mass or as much as he did in the ancient Greek Masses.
Well said! I like the part about Jesus not speaking English. 🙂
Jesus was multi-lingual, and was known for speaking three major languages of that era: Aramaic, Greek, AND Latin. Living and traveling in a diverse region of the world, you were almost expected to be able to communicate with people of many nations.
No one is disagreeing with you. Of course we must be able to communicate with different people. (But I honestly have no idea where you heard Jesus was multilingual: he spoke Aramaic and some Hebrew for the Jewish liturgies) Each Rite of the Church has its own traditions and some do use Greek or Aramaic. Even the Jews used Hebrew for their ritual functions. The Latin Rite was known for Latin. Vatican II even said that in this Rite, this language should be preserved. There must be a balance between communicating with other cultures and keeping our own liturgical authenticity.
There are many free, online resources for becoming familiar with the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. Becoming familiar with the EF does not take you back to the Middle Ages, of course. We are still solidly in the 21st Century, but the liturgical hermeneutic of continuity connects us to our Faith and the Faithful past, present, and future. As a convert, the ‘simplicity’ you seem to speak of can quickly devolve into a loss of the sacraments–ask the Protestants.
I would also hesitate to quote Pope Benedict XVI couched in the context you present. He has written and spoken openly about the “aftermath of Vatican II” and his guidance and direction in the past few years speak for themselves.
And regarding whether Jesus ever touched incense, I would be extremely hesitant to avow that! First, the Wise Men presented the baby Jesus with Frankincense. As a faithful Jew, he no doubt experienced incense on an ongoing basis when he visited the Temple. Second, in Luke, chapter one, beginning with verse five, there is a description of John the Baptist’s father, a temple priest, whose duty it was to burn incense in the Temple for the Hour of Prayer. Thirdly, in Acts 3:1 we find we find Peter and John going up to the Temple at the Hour of Prayer when incense was burned. Lastly, the book of ReveIation, chapters four and five describe incense used extensively, being offered up with the prayers of the saints.
AMEN
amen! We’re blessed to attend two beautiful parishes with gorgeous muisc, plenty of Latin, incense. One even has–and uses!–its original altar rail. We just hit 30, so maybe we’re too “old” to be the young people anymore, but I’m with you in spirit. Alas, we have to move to a veritable Catholic wasteland of suburbia in another state…so I guess I’ll have to learn the new Gloria in English now and hope for the best.
yes! exactly!
Amen! Well said.
Great article! I agree 100%! I’m sorta dealing with the same situations, but our parish just got a new pastor and he seems more conservative, which the church needed. I ‘m hoping to help this new pastor whatever I can. I have knowledge and experience in Altar serving because these servers don’t know what there doing and I will make it more traditional mass out of it and hopfully the new pastor will be on board with me helping out. Also I’m a firm believer of only male servers and would suggest that as well! We need to bring the Orthodoxy within the Catholic Church!
I agree with you. I’ve noticed that the altar servers barely do anything anymore. The priest or the Extraordinary ministers do it all. I was so grateful when our priest stopped allowing the eucharistic ministers to do the altar-servers and deacons’ job! I am only in support of female altar servers when there is a lack of boys. However boys should have priority. There is a vocation shortage going on, we need to start them young.
All are equal in Gods eyes. Female and Male quit building barriers around the alter of the Lord.
No one is building barriers, it is you who are being judgmental.
This is a great post and so true! Keep up the great work! God Bless!
I myself an sick and tired of hearing certain Catholics who complain that they don’t “get” anything out of either facing East or using the 1962 Missal. The Holy Mass is the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary so our “feelings” or “tastes” or “preferences” do not matter. This is matter of WORSHIP and ADORATION not being entertained. I also agree that the Vatican II Documents have to be read instead of the false “spirit” that says that everything before 1965 was a mistake and everything including the Mass had to be new. I am 50 years old and I remember the “folk” guitar masses of the 1970’s. I saw just a couple of days ago a article that said that Traditional Catholicism is the new thing in vogue that is causing any growth. Like Father Z says “SAVE THE WORLD BY SAVING THE LITURGY. It is about God not about US (the congregation).
I absolutely agree that many Catholics today, especially the younger generation and converts (I’m a recent grad and went through RCIA five years ago) desperately want the traditions of the church to continue, whether through devotions, smells&bells, etc, but we are simply not given the necessary tools to live out our faith. Take days of obligation, for example: even in the most traditional parish I have attended, outside of Ash Wednesday (which is not a DoO), there is never more than one mass, usually at a time when I and most of the parish are at work or in school. I take my responsibility to attend mass seriously, but it becomes logistically impossible, and if the reason why priests won’t offer more masses is because people don’t show up, maybe they should consider the reasons why.
I recently moved to another state and am trying to find a new parish. The closest parish to my house touts on its website that it’s a “traditional kind of parish”. Oh happy day! Except it turns out that they mean the stuff they did in the 70s. The closing hymn was one I’ve heard many times…growing up in a pentecostal church. I was blessed to live near a couple of wonderful parishes when I converted, but traveling has made it very clear to me that they were the minority, at least in this region (the southern US). I tried to go to a first Friday mass and Eucharistic adoration last week, but there was only one parish with a mass at a workable time, the historical church downtown with severely limited access and no Eucharistic adoration at all. My former parish struggled and failed to implement perpetual adoration, but three days is a far cry better than an hour the first Wednesday of the month.
Wow. As the pastor of a more or less ordinary parish in the western United States, I have to admit that all my experience working with young Catholics in their twenties and thirties absolutely confirms the points you’ve made so well in this post. There is, however, a tremendous amount of resistance to the recommendations you’ve suggested, especially among Catholics my age and a bit older. Bear in mind that we were reared in a Church reeling from enthusiastic, but entirely misunderstood, applications of the liturgical spirit of the Vatican II. Oftentimes, the liturgical formation we received came as stern lectures about how traditional liturgy was no longer meaningful to the vast majority of modern people and too much affection for Latin, or even for reverence and piety, actually put us in danger of Lefebvrist schism. Instead of cultivating dispositions of awe and wonder in the presence of Christ, priests would (and still do) urge congregations to clap and keep the beat and loosen up and hoot and holler. Priests will often make eye-contact with the congregation while reciting the Eucharistic Prayer, as if the anaphora were addressed to the people and not to Almighty God. Priests will preach insipid homilies based more on anecdotal experience than on serious exegesis of the Biblical text or compassionate engagement with social and moral problems that the congregation faces. Please be patient with us as we try to learn from our mistakes and attempt to recover the beauty, sobriety, wonder, awe, truth and beauty of the Sacred Mysteries we celebrate.
Thank you so much for your comments. One thing we young people aren’t good at is patience but I will try. I have found that some of the older people in the church and even the deacons agree with me that the clapping and cheesy hymns have got to stop. Unfortunately the pastor more often than not assumes a dictatorship all too similar to what I knew growing up as a Protestant. Is it wrong for me to blame the bishops for not being stern enough with these priests and for refusing to mandate liturgical correctness? I always was under the impression that the Catholic Church was a “from the top to the bottom” kind of church. I see priests left and right ignoring the instructions of the GIRM. Their superiors could do something about it, couldn’t they?
Yes, the bishops could. They need prayers to see what is right and to have the strength to do it. My pastor is consistently bombarded with “charitable organisation” promoting “charities” contrary to the the Catholic fatih trying to get permission to try and get donations at the parish among other things. I’m sure the bishops have more to deal with. Keep praying for our priests, espesually the bishops and the Holy Father. Perhaps for encouragement you can read Revelations in view of the good conservative Catholic parishes you have attended in the past, especially the extraordinary form of the Latin rite. As one priest pointed out to a group of us younger Catholics once, there seems to be a resemblance between Revelations and the conservative Catholic Masses. Someday, we will return to more reverence at Mass.
Keep trying, Father. You will be in my prayers.
As a young Catholic convert from Protestantism, I have to agree. Solemn Pontifical High youth Masses ftw (I wish!).
As a 40 year old Episcopalian whose church has been turning more evangelical, I visited the Roman church across the street and have never been more disappointed in a worship service. I have been to community churches with a more reverent service. They played an organ but the hymns, including the gloria setting, were horrendous.Everything was hurried, including distribution of communion (I abstained, of course) which was more like a school lunch line than receiving the sacrement. There is a great hunger for worship, and sadly, the Roman church has given up on it.
Even thought your experience is frequent, it wouldn’t be fair to say the Roman Catholic Church has given up on it, just alot of churches. There are traditional parishes and communities that are making a huge comeback and the traditional seminaries are overflowing with vocations. Plus, the current pope is a champion of reverent worship. His Masses are never disappointing.
Though it may seem hope is lost, this next generation, by the grace of God, will turn things around.
NO….The TRUE Roman Church hasn’t given up on anything…….You just need to get to a better Parish!!!! Unfortunately, there are some parish communities that have lost Focus and Scope……but the sign of Good Bishops are to weed them out, and re-instruct them in the True faith which IS the Holy Catholic Church. This is WHY the Holy Father has called for a re-examination of the documents of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) The Reform of the Reform so to speak!!……You should look into the Traditional Anglican Church in America, and join them in accepting the Ordinarate process which are bringing back into the fullness of the faith with the Catholic Church. You sound like someone who can teach these lukewarm cradle Catholics a thing or two about reverence !!
+God Bless You Now and Always!!
Rev. Br Francis Anthony Joseph Mary Marchese; sfcjm
I agree. It is a parish problem. They need to start heeding the Holy Father more. The Anglican Ordinarate is a wonderful thing!
Reblogged this on Commerce & Arts and commented:
Everyone involved with a church should read this. This passionate argument for liturgical, traditional worship is more powerful than many intellectual arguments. Thanks for Charlie Jordan for sending me the link.
Thank you for reading!
Reblogged this on The Ruminations of an Orthodox Catechumen and commented:
I hope Evangelicals will listen to the young ones as well…
Reblogged this on Words I Never Said and commented:
Great post about what the Youth truly desire from the Faith and the Church. I can echo the same sentiments. Check it out.
I can attest to the younger generation wanting more. I’m in my early 30’s and came to the Catholic Church through RCIA about 5 years ago. Part of what inspired me was the 2,000 year old history of the Traditions of the Church. This is the REAL Church. It doesn’t change for time. It doesn’t change for opinion. It doesn’t change for media, etc. Having come from an Evangelical background I suddenly realized how EMPTY Sunday services were when I sat through a Catholic Mass. I was stunned at how much Truth, Scripture, Depth, and Honor there was in a single Mass. This was REAL.
However, what scares me is that the Church as a whole may be missing the boat with young people. The older generations, let’s face it, are aging and will be dying off. We need to get young folks involved in the daily workings of the Church right now so they’re equipped to take over in the future. Part of that means the older generation needs to get back to the basics.
I saw a nun a couple weeks ago. I was shocked. She actually wore a habit. Seriously black and white habit. I’d never seen one in person after 5 years in the Church. She might as well be the only nun in my diocese for all I know. Where are all the sisters?? Why doesn’t my Parish have it’s own permanent Deacon? Why did our Bishop expense the Feast of the Immaculate Conception? Why weren’t we required to attend Mass on this Holy Day of Obligation?
I became Catholic because of what the Catholic Church was (not because of what I hope it’ll morph into). I joined the Catholic Faith because it IS, WAS, and EVER SHALL BE the Holy Body of Christ. I want the hardcore tradition. Why? Because it’s not of this world. Because it’s the last bastion between the world and the gates of Hell.
I used to listen to hip hop, metal, country, Evangelical Christian music, you name it. Honestly, some of the best stuff in my opinion these days are old, old traditional songs like Ave Maria.
i really also appreciate latin mass but there is no latin mass services in our diocese.i hope i could experience a traditional tredentine mass.philippines
My wife and I drove 3 1/2 hours one Sunday across the state just to attend a Latin Mass. But so far as I know that’s the closest routine Latin Mass to us.
Reblogged this on 3pm Catholic and commented:
Pretty accurate!
Totally agree with you. For awhile in the summer a friend of mine did a youth-group sort of thing. We met once a week, talked about faith or apologetics or personal experiences or whatever, but then we went over to the church and had Eucharistic Adoration for an hour. Maybe some of the other kids thought it was boring (there was usually only five or six of us), but for me it was better than all the other youth thingies I’ve ever been involved in. If you want us kids to be interested in our faith, give us stuff related to the faith, not a bunch of kids playing games with almost-religious undertones. And there’s nothing like being in a candle-lit chapel, chanting in Latin as the priest processes toward the alter with the monstrance held high; it’s straight out of those fantasy books that kids love so much these days. You want us kids to say our prayers? Teach us to say them in Latin, it makes them that much more special, makes you think about them that much more… Anyways, great post!
Reblogged this on Mgr Alban’s Notebook and commented:
“Our generation is immensely attracted to the statements of Pope Benedict XVI that ask for a return to tradition in liturgy. I hear countless, young Catholic college students, facebook-ers and bloggers begging: “Please, give this back to us.” ” – well said,
Copy/Pasting to my Pastor!!!
thank you!
I copy/paste this to my pastor as well and I am writing a proposal (suggestion) to my bishop on his request actually, in which I elaborated on the need for more silence and reverence in order to encourage a deeper faith and participation in the divine liturgy among other things, I also will include the need for sacred music as you so beautiful described above. Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi ❤
I am going to print this out and give it to our bishop.
Just discovered your web site thanks to that thing called “Mass for Life with Young People” from the Verizon Center (!) in Washington DC today. I just saw it on EWTN and regret losing my dinner over it. All those wasted drums and electric guitars – at least they could have blasted them with the Electric Prunes version of Mass in F Minor. That was smart enough to be in Latin. All these self-centered Praise and Worship mantras echoing through this vast pro-abortion sponsored cavern–and then applause after the communion song. This “Mass” was all about the band. And the homilist has the nerve to say that “the battle for soul of our culture is up to you!” How long, O Lord, must we endure this shameless pandering?
Well said! As a 22 year old Irish Catholic, I firmly believe that our generation will be the generation to reform the reform! And it couldn’t come sooner, here in Ireland there is this group of priests that have formed a form of trade union that is frankly heretical, dangerous to the faith and bereft of sense. The Association of Catholic Priests is symptomatic of the Irish Church- Vatican II gone wild. Bishops here will literally do anything to prevent the traditional mass, my own bishop after receiving a petition of 100 signatories for a monthly traditional Mass offered us, after 8 months delaying and procrastinating, to have Mass at 10.30pm on a Wednesday night in a mental hospital chapel! He then went on demanding extra royalties and collections from the Mass ‘for the privilege’. Never mind the liturgy that he celebrates or the sacred music, he was asked at Christmas if the choir could sing Adeste Fidelis, he replied “No Latin, absolutely no Latin”. Sadly, he is quite typical of the Irish bishops. They are ruining the faith and are encouraging dissent openly from Church teachings and last year one said that he “understood and sympathized” with an article in the leading ‘Catholic’ newspaper calling for the Irish Church to withdraw its loyalty to Rome!!!! We need to pray for the deliverance of the Church from such prelates and for a root and branch reform of the Church in every aspect of its being to return to it the dignity and reverence that it owes to Christ and the whole Church.
These priests and bishops who keep trying to stop Latin hymns and Latin prayers during Mass are DISOBEYING Vatican II, which says these things ought to be included in the Mass. I think that a reading of the Vatican II document, Sacrosanctum Concilium, should be mandatory for all priests and parish conferences- and especially choir directors! They are the worst offenders.
I agree with you but I think we need to go further now, Its gone too far. The Church needs reform with a council similar to Trent, It needs to reaffirm its teachings, demand a certain standard of clerics and religious and reform the liturgy, then it needs to demand obedience to the reforms for the good of the church. Then we can finally put to bed the confusion and controversy that has defined Vatican II
I agree there.
Faced with a similar dilemma (ie watered down Masses with drum kits etc) my family began searching for a parish we could call home. My husband, a convert and former seminarian longed for tradition but we were also hesitant to go all the way to the Tridentine Mass since we have very young children that would struggle with the Latin. The Holy Spirit led us to the Byzantine Catholic Church. Yes, I said Catholic. We are in communion with the Pope of Rome, our sacraments are valid, and our Divine Liturgy is absolutely beautiful. My very young children LOVE going to the beautiful church, we love the 4th century liturgy, it’s in English, it’s chanted/sung (even the readings). I’d encourage anyone reading this blog and comments to look for an eastern Catholic Church to try out some time. Blessed Pope John Paul II talked about how we need both lungs of the Catholic Church to truly breathe our faith into the world (the eastern and western/roman lungs). Our parish is full of young families, most likely for the reasons mentioned in this blog. It is such a blessing to have this option close to us.
I’d also like to note that we know MANY young new priests and seminarians that are on fire for tradition. As they become pastors they have a hard road ahead of them to bring back the tradition and beauty that the Roman Catholic Church once had as her norm. They are always in my prayers that their joy in traditional faith will bring the about the the change if heart in Catholics here and abroad.
I do intend on visiting a Byzantine Church soon but my heart is with the Latin Rite. If you read my conversion story on this blog, you’ll see why 🙂
I have been directed here from this site, http://www.tunbridgewells-ordinariate.com/blog/ and I have read your words with interest. Whilst I do think its very important to listen, I am provoked to ask to how important is it to give people young or old what they want?
It is not only what people want, these are things explicitly stated in the Second Vatican Council that the documents say should be happening.
Why use ‘want’ at all? But thats by the by, your response makes things clearer.
For simplicity I guess.
I have in my mind a very devout Catholic of my acquaintance. He is nearly eighty, I would not call him a liberal or progressive in any shape or form. Neither is he a reactionary conservative. He has just been accepting and been faithful for all his 80 years, through all the changes back and forth since the 1930s. He has approved of some changes and some not. But he has kept the faith.
Think about the those words, ‘Sursum corda’, εὐχαριστία and ‘Dignum et iustum est’
BINGO! Extraordinarily said!
Right on. Why don’t people understand that crappy music is still crappy even if it’s inside a church? It’s lame, corny,and cheesy- irrespective of where it takes place. Like you said, life is noisy enough, I don’t need more banging and strumming when I am trying to pray. That’s why I like the EF so much; you can ACTUALLY PRAY and not be distracted by loud guitars or worried about whose hand you’re going to shake at the sign of peace. Young people know what’s cheesy, and they aren’t attracted to it . . .
Crappy music is not only crappy, lame, corny, and cheesy, but arguably a stumbling block precisely when it’s played at Mass: because it distracts from the spiritual reality of the Mass.
By the way, I love the EF, too. But I’m the only EF lover in my family. I can’t get to the EF all the time, which is probably a good thing, because it’s taught me a lot of patience and humility. I will say this, though: having EF-honed sensibilities allows me to tune out an awful lot, even though I would never deny that they’re problematic, because they are.
I don’t doubt the sincerity of the musicians playing crappy music. But it’s still crappy music, and shame on us for trashing the Church’s tradition by allowing crappy music to be the status quo. The musicians may be sincere, well-meaning, and devout, but the fact is that all the strumming and banging actually breaks up the cohesion of the Mass.
You are right. It does have a destructive influence, especially when due silence is not allowed after we take Communion. Mass is a holy sacrifice, THE Holy Sacrifice which won our salvation, with the angels and saints present, more than just a concert. I was just talking to my priest yesterday and he said that so many people are uncomfortable with the idea of Mass as sacrifice and that the language is seen as outdated (even though we both acknowledged that is what Vatican II calls it as well) This has a large part of it. When the aspect of sacrifice is removed, we tend to replace it with something else.
I entered the scene as a 21-year-old “young Catholic” in 1999. Other young friends and I attempted to volunteer in a variety of positions at our parishes throughout the years. However, when it was identified that we represented a different brand of Catholicism than that by those who were on top, we were smiled at and told to look elsewhere to channel our energies. It is a convenient excuse to say that young people are not interested in helping out, to then turn around and try to tell others what young Catholics really want, when in reality it is not what they really want. In reality, these people’s versions of “what young Catholics really want” are what those people really want, and which they have been able to shove down people’s throats the past few decades with the excuse that it is what young people really want.
I know that many young people do try to get into the church’s activities and are turned down. It is sad. Unless they want to play drums in the church choir (ick) they get pushed aside. The only reason why I’m allowed to volunteer at the library is because the deacon who once did the library likes me. God bless him, he was one of the first people at that parish to reach out to me.
I enjoyed reading this. I was a Director of Music/Organist at a large Catholic church and just recently was the Assistant Dir. of Music/Organist at a 5000 family parish! I’m also only 27 years old and totally agree with you about wanting more traditional liturgy. Since I was in charge of a lot of things, I was able to steer things in that direction, use Latin and traditional choral and organ repertoire at Mass. However, someone recently found out that I support marriage equality and I was terminated. I was great at my job and didn’t ever let my homosexuality get in the way of me doing my job. I was stripped of my ability to serve the church I grew up with and love. I find it unfortunate, since I was one of the music directors that agrees with you.
This is a very honest and beautiful article! I am 19 years old and do have a longing for these things as well! I want to UNDERSTAND my Catholic tradition and to grow in it and have a vibrant community around me which is on fire for God!! Keep writing and sharing!
Amazing. Simply amazing.
Great information! Thanks for sharing. Young people are thirsting for what is real!
Wonderfil
I’m not a young Catholic anymore, but I was when I began advocating for the things you are talking about, and they have mostly fallen on deaf ears over the years. I thought that the new English translation of the Missal would correct a lot of things, but it hasn’t. Mostly because they adapted the same saccharine Mass settings and hymns from Schutte, Haas, Haugen, et. al. and the music chosen for Mass is the biggest factor in reverence. I suggested the brilliant new Lumen Christi Missal which was published under the creative commons, and the only response was that it would be great for a religious community, not a parish. The reason priests and music and liturgical ministers don’t want to hear what you have to say is because it would require their taking a stand, and they don’t want to be shot down…just human nature I guess. I praise God for those who are taking a stand. Just wish there were more of them.
Hold on young people. We are coming.
Excellent post!!!!! Love it and agree 100 percent! I have a question though. I am 14 and very few people in my parish want this change. They all want better bigger games at youth group and the louder and louder music and they think that will attract youth. but the youth in my diocese are so desolate, it clearly isnt working. They have lots of meetings with adults, looking for great ways and ideas to give the gospel, but when I a 14 year old, told them what youth need, they shot me down. What should I do? is there anything to do?
I am sorry to hear you feel your voice isn’t heard. Many share your experience. Is there any possibility of talking to your pastor and letting him know your concerns. Do any of the other youth have complaints? if so maybe schedule a meeting where you can all speak with the pastor. In the meantime, try your best to study, keep your faith alive and share the experience of authentic faith with your fellow youth. So many do feel desolate. Maybe there is some way you can help expose them to beauty? I hope this advice helps.
I am sorry to hear you feel your voice isn’t heard. Many share your experience. Is there any possibility of talking to your pastor and letting him know your concerns. Do any of the other youth have complaints? if so maybe schedule a meeting where you can all speak with the pastor. In the meantime, try your best to study, keep your faith alive and share the experience of authentic faith with your fellow youth. So many do feel desolate. Maybe there is some way you can help expose them to beauty? I hope this advice helps.
You all said what is true. They turned our Church into a freak show just to attract young people including myself two decades ago.
YESSSSSS to everything you said. I am 20 and I feel the same way. The only place I can get a truly riveting Mass is at my college’s Catholic Center — Latin hymns, greater reverence, a more intentional seeming Mass…
Reblogged this on Life Doesn't Get Much Better Than This and commented:
Great article from “Catholic with a Vengeance”
Amen sister!