Monday, February 02, 2009

Youth Mass


Our youth are a bit different from most, people tend to move out of "down town" Brighton when they have children, those who attend our Primary School tend to be the children of parents who work in the parish rather than live here. Are "you


When I was a seminarian lots of my confreres used to dash of the Taize to sit in silence, singing things in a language they didn't know very well. I remember a liturgical directive from one of their manuals, thirty years ago (gasp!) stressing the importance of everyone facing the same direction!


One thing I have noticed with Masses I have celebrated according to the Missal of the Blessed John XXIII is the number of young men under thirty who come. I know other priests have noticed on this.


Why?

13 comments:

gemoftheocean said...

I think men tend to be less verbal. Also those masses are quicker and they can get home sooner to wwatch football on TV. Don't over complicate it. :-D

romaha said...

I attend Mass offered according to the Missal of Bl. John XXIII or the missal of 1962. It is counter cultural and always relevant. The mass, known as Traditional Latin Mass or TLM can assist in elevating the soul to the very Throne of God. The participation called for in the Second Vatican Council is the participation of prayer united with the priest victim offering to the Father Our Lord Jesus Christ. His True Presence is unmistakable. His Sacrificial Offering is unmistakable. It is an appropriate orientation turned toward God, whom we worship, instead of man.

R. A. Crotty

Anonymous said...

To ask yourself that question is to have answered it.

Dilly said...

I haven't really thought about it, and as a middle-aged female, I have no particular insight. The TLM appears to me more masculine - more "no-nonsense", and less "touchy feely" than the OF. Also it might be at a more convenient time for them. It is a great thing for the Church - perhaps you could ask a couple of them and post your findings. Could I put in a plea, while I am here, for Mass booklets which are more explicit about when to stand, kneel etc. (You may have them - but quite a few churches do not - I mean a real "Noddy Guide" - the LMS ones I have seen are very basic,and my 1955 missal doesn't say when to kneel etc, though the explanations of the significance of the actions of the priest are fine.)I just go for it, and have perfected the half-sit half-kneel for when I'm not sure. I have the feeling that more ordinary mass goers would enjoy the experience and come back more often to Sunday TLMs if they had confidence they were doing the right thing at any given time....

Anonymous said...

Yes the attendance at TLMs seems to be directly opposite to that of a weekly NO. I particularly noticed it last Friday when, looking at those in front of me, I noticed that as a woman I was in the minority and as a considerably over 30 I was also in the minority.

I think gem has a point in thinking it may be because men tend to be less verbal and they do not wish to 'join in.' It is certainly very encouraging to see young people there.

I was so hoping to be able to attend the Missa Cantata for Candlemas tonight but sadly the arrival of the snow has made it impossible . I do hope that many are able to make it and that more young men and women will experience the beauty of the Sung Mass.

Anonymous said...

any excuse us better rhan none

Anonymous said...

Here are some possible reasons:
No yackety-yak before Mass
No Father saying “Good morning, everyone”
No everyone saying “Good morning, Father”
No ad lib liturgy
No hair-flicking altar girls
No verbose bidding prayers
No processing to the altar with Offertory gifts
No toe-curling tunes
No mandatory bonhomie
No chewing the Host
No yackety-yak during the post-Communion
No rising yackety-yak decibels as the priest leaves the sanctuary
In other words, the Mass straight.

Afraid I am another no-show for Candlemas. The spirit was willing but the transport was weak and I‘m marooned. I do hope there’s a good turnout.

Anonymous said...

It's simple. It's more masculine and more manly. Ask any bloke - they'll all tell you the same thing. No bloke wants to sit through some cringing NO mass. That's why I all but left the Church as a teenager - I simply couldn't stand it any more. I never would have lapsed if I had been able to go to the Old Rite. It looks like religion and feels like religion.

It's no coincidence to me that the priests who prefer the Old Rite and NO are like chalk and cheese. The Old Rite priests look strong jawed manly, and have presence and character, the NO priests look weak, indecisive, soft and unmanly if not effeminate.

At the EF mass that Cardinal Hoyos gave in support of the MP recently in London the difference between the two sets of priests couldn't have been more clear. It was like being with the priests I remember from school. Most of them were knocking on 50-60 then but their character shone through. It shone through with these guys too.

Volpius Leonius said...

Because it is so nice to just be able to BE with God, without been required to perform.

We spend all day at work performing, it is just so lovely to peacefully and prayerfully be with God.

You can really focus, really contemplate, you have true sense of something supernatural, something that you have never experienced in any other part of your life.

People speaking in unison is what happens at the football, people gazing in wonder in silence however happens nowhere else. And that is the thing that feels right to men when they come to be before there God. Just as silent attentiveness is how you behave to your superior officer or to the monarch so it makes sense to be this way with God, it is how a man acts when he respects somebody.

I am just typing without thinking here so I hope that isn't all complete nonsense lol

Anonymous said...

r they bored?

Chateaubriand said...

Mysterium tremens et fascinans.

Anonymous said...

Simple answer from this 22-year old.

I will worship as my ancestors worshipped before me; from my parents back to those first Englishmen who saw St. Augustine celebrate the already ancient liturgy he brought from Rome when he arrived on these shores.

I will worship according to the rite which transmits the whole faith and not that in which those aspects of the faith which were displeasing to 60s progressives have been reduced. (See Chrism Mass: old rite: 6 mentions of the devil/demons including 4 exorcisms, new rite: 0)

I will worship as the saints worshipped, and not as a few progressive liturgists thought they should have done!

Joe of St. Thérèse said...

georgem says:

No yackety-yak before Mass
No Father saying “Good morning, everyone”
No everyone saying “Good morning, Father”
No ad lib liturgy
No hair-flicking altar girls
No verbose bidding prayers
No processing to the altar with Offertory gifts
No toe-curling tunes
No mandatory bonhomie
No chewing the Host
No yackety-yak during the post-Communion
No rising yackety-yak decibels as the priest leaves the sanctuary

pretty much right on!

I might add, the TLM, allows me to be my natural introverted self. I don't need to be a "people" person at Mass...the less speaking I do the better it is.

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