You’re trying to sell the false dichotomy that there can either be the Mass OR community. That’s the problem. One’s “Sunday experience” should include BOTH – and then some.For many Protestants worship is about community. For many modern Catholics this may also be true. But Catholic Mass should be focused on God. Fellowship is good but it should take place outside the context of Mass. If fellowship is what primarily brings someone to church then they are missing the point. A man should want to worship God despite a lack of fellowship.
If a parish offers little more each Sunday than a string of 47 minutes Masses, I would question the overall quality and commitment of said parish.If the only reason you go to church is to sing and dance and be entertained, I’d question your sincerity.
Run 'em through like a factory each Sunday! My parish is the same way – we have 7 Masses each Sunday. Unlike our Protestant brethren, we never invested in enough church (at least around here) and of course the “priest shortage.”The parish I go to has 4,000 people. If it was a Protestant Church it would be a megachurch. The difference is we have six Masses. You have thirty minutes between Sunday Masses. This makes it harder to have community.
Yeah, the .09% of “traditional converts” that make up the Church.Joe Pewsitter is unlikely to raise his kids to be lifelong Catholics. Young enthusiastic, traditional converts are. And the numbers of this latter group are growing.
Malarkey. Such comments kill one’s credibility. All it amounts to is a subtle attack on the OF Mass.Young Catholics tend to fall into two groups - those who hold all church teaching to be true and want s return to tradition, and those who want the church to change its major teachings and who go to ordinary form masses. The latter group is unlikely to persist in the church for many more generations. Also note that those most zealous for the traditional Latin mass also tend to be converts.
Thankfully they haven’t invested much in churches in my area. Had they it would have been during the seventies, eighties and nineties where Catholic Church’s were constructed devoid of anything Catholic.Run 'em through like a factory each Sunday! My parish is the same way – we have 7 Masses each Sunday. Unlike our Protestant brethren, we never invested in enough church (at least around here) and of course the “priest shortage.”
Oh, yes, and the need to “clear the parking lot” of course. LOL!
#1 – The Mass is not a “service”, it is a sacrifice.I was told by a priest that participating in any other service besides Catholic Worship would be like committing adultery. Think about it we are baptized into the real body of Christ. Christ is the bridegroom and the church meaning his mother Mary is the bride. So if we seek relations with another church that is the same thing as adultery. You need to pick one or the other.
Wow. Just wow. I’m 24. I have a ton of Catholic friends around my age, and most of them would detest what you said, including those who like the EF. I studied Latin. I like Latin, as a language. It’s a nice language. And the grammar makes more sense than many English rules. Having said that, Latin is dead. No one speaks it. No one understands it. And don’t pretend my generation can instantly translate Latin prayers in their head. They can’t. I’ve studied Latin for 4 years with a handful of fellow students and none of us were that good. Translating took time, and a lot of studying. Sure, it gets easier, but I don’t know anyone except for certain priests who are remotely that skilled.Young Catholics tend to fall into two groups - those who hold all church teaching to be true and want s return to tradition, and those who want the church to change its major teachings and who go to ordinary form masses. The latter group is unlikely to persist in the church for many more generations. Also note that those most zealous for the traditional Latin mass also tend to be converts.
just what do you consider a ‘deleterious constraint’?then to consider just how much some Catholic parishes could improve if terribly deleterious constraints could be removed
what it takes is Evangelization. It’s not about what flavor of Mass you like it’s about knowing what Mass is about. If you aren’t there for what Mass is about then you really aren’t there at all, even if you are in the pew.I actually don’t take America Magazine too seriously, but I really do wonder if the Church knows how to attract Catholics back to Mass?
How clergy is chosen/formed – and no, I am not advocating for 21 year old pastors.just what do you consider a ‘deleterious constraint’?
in our case we are constrained to an hour since our priest has two small rural parishes. So yes, he has an hour to say Mass and then leave to go to the next parish.“Mass cannot run over an hour at most!”
“We need to clear out the parking lot between Masses!”
But Protestant churches don’t provide things that Catholic Church does. For instance they are missing most sacraments. As a result they focus on these things you like. There is nothing wrong with those things, but there is no reason those couldn’t be organized by laypeople in a parish.I also attend a Protestant service on Sunday evenings. This service is not the Mass, but it provides a great deal that local Catholic parishes do not – a chance to sing great/classic hymns surrounded by others who also love to sing, wonderful pipe organ accompaniment, a typically great sermon and great fellowship – including sitting at table with other Christians and sharing a post-service meal.