Disturbing Night At Youth Mass! Please Read

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Sounds like the MOD SQUAD has struck again !
The gates of hell have been open. Goodbye good church.
 
oat soda:
i don’t think it is the holy spirit bringing you to tears but your feelings. it’s the same thing that makes mormons believe in the book of mormon dispite all the evidence. if the teen mass is bringing teens to frequent confession, corporal works of mercy, eucharistic adoration, marian devotion, and vocations, then it is the holy spirit. going to church on sunday is the bare minimum and last election 43% of church going catholics voted for kerry.
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***I know where you are coming from and I totally agree but in defense of the youth of our parish - what happens in our Life Teen Masses can not be compared to the same thing that brings mormons to believe what they believe - please. You’ve never been to our parish and you don’t know these kids. ***
They do all that you’ve stated above that they need to be doing. We have frequent missions to Saltillo - it’s our mission parish and the kids love going to help those less fortunate. The are frequently doing the corporal works of mercy (I know because I’m in charge of Youth Formation at our parish). They go to Eucharistic Adoration frequently.
These young prople are not haphazardly going to Mass. They are very reverent towards the Eucharist and participate in Mass from start to finish. My son (17 yrs. old) actually likes going to Mass! He understands why he is there and he is drawn to it. Some go to Mass with friends and some go with their families - parents are involved. We have a very dynamic, capable and orthodox Youth Minister and the kids respond to him. His wife is in the band that plays at Mass and all the songs are Christ centered (she is the one with the angelic voice). Our parish does not change anything in the Mass, it is the same Mass as 9:00 am except for the music. And as far as “my emotions” being mistaken for the Holy Spirit during this Mass - I’ll admit maybe sometimes - but I’ve been touched by the Holy Spirit and I know Him when He visits me.
I think we are fortunate to have Life Teen provide the service it was designed to provide - to bring the young people of our parish closer to the Eucharist and have more young people participate in the life of the parish.
***I, myself, am pretty orthodox. I was brought up Pre and post Vatican II and there are just things that are to be respected and revered. As I also teach CCD (10th grade), I make sure those things are passed on to the young people. ***
I do think it’s a shame that these youth masses have been abused in some parishes. It does a great disservice to our youth and to the other members of the parish and it causes others (as in this thread) to very strongly dislike the youth masses. These abuses should be addressed and changed so that they can do what was originally intended. We are fortunate.
So, not ALL youth masses are bad and abusive. I hate that the Mass that was attended by the original poster was such an abuse. Just know that they are not all bad.
 
Adam S:
Who are the MOD squad, this sounds like an interesting phrase?
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The Modernist who have taken over the church in North America under the guise of V2.
 
AAh, fair enough. We havent really had that i dont think in England, V2 seems to have slipped in quite nicely, and ive not seen any of this crazy youth stuff slipping in.Seems like over there you have a real problem with it! Good luck
 
I have decided to contact the head priest of that church I want to meet with him to discuss this, but it may have to be over the phone. Quick question is changing the profession of faith stirctly prohibited?
 
Yes, I “relate” to your concern of lack of reverence. I am a catechism teacher, this year, for 4th and 5th graders. Would you believe all of my students do not appreciate the teen masses? They have indicated to me they do not understand the “homily” of the Sunday readings prior. They have indicated to me that the homilies from the teen masses are “always” about other “stuff” and not about the gospel. I’ve only attended two teen masses. It was “mass” confusion. If it wasn’t for the pop music, IMHO, I have doubts that teens would attend. Both instances (teen mass attendance) I did not leave, I wanted to…I wanted to run out! However, my desire to receive our Lord kept me firmly seated. I also prayed A LOT. The liturgical abuses were popping out all over! After mass, I did try to speak to the priest, to know avail, too many hi’5’s going on couldn’t quite get to him. It was obvious the “kids” love this priest and the priest loved these teens. However, I did email my concerns to this particular parish. I am simply attending another parish. Blessings always and thank you for sharing your experience.

Betty J. Gonzales
 
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Gregory24:
I have decided to contact the head priest of that church I want to meet with him to discuss this, but it may have to be over the phone. Quick question is changing the profession of faith stirctly prohibited?
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Let us review:
  1. You stated you “attended a youth mass tonight because I didn’t attend my normal church.” So you seem to be saying you are not a member of this parish.
  2. You have objections to the volume of the music.
  3. people were talking before Mass
  4. The Mass started 15 minutes late.
  5. You mention the hymns were not from the missal.
    (I don’t think the Roman Missal has hymns in it, and it is rare to find a parish that has the actually Missal for congregational use. I take it you mean those little newsprint things some parishes use).
  6. The profession of faith was completely different. You have not clarified that the difference was not that the Apostles’ Creed was used, a perfectly permissable option for Masses with Children as it is part of their catechecial formation.
Gregory, I am sure that you are a reverent and sincere young man. But I think if the above caused you to leave Mass early and break down in tears, you may have some matters you need to calmly reflect on.

I would recommend that you not telepehone but meet personally with this priest from otuside your parish and see if he can help you grow in the faith. Best of luck and you have my prayers.
 
First off to clarify it was not the Apostle’s Creed I know what that is. It was the Profession of Faith, however it was a shortened version with some interjections in between. I can not understand why they wouldn’t want to recite the full version. The loud music played after each reading was not my concern. It was the loud music played before the mass not 10 feet from the tabernacle when we were entering the presence of our lord and preparing ourselves for mass What effected me was the total lack of reverence shown to our lord, present in the eucharist. “Katherine2” as a convert the “real presence” of our lord in the eucharist is one of the most wonderful gifts I have found in the church, and when I see people disrespecting that it hurts greatly, if that means I have some issues than so be it. Secondly I mispoke when I said hymns from the missal I mean the response songs after the readings, I don’t know the name for them. But to tell you the truth I hope I never not cry when I experience something like this and I believe that a lot of other people feel just as strongly as I do. But believe me I do feel bad about not sticking it out for communion. I guess that is something I will talk with the priest about .
 
One thing to consider in defense of these youth:

In my daughter’s Lifeteen group, many of those who attend are not yet Catholic, or are new to their faith, either from being raised “Catholic” and not catechised or through conversion. They may not have obtained the level of spiritual awareness that you have, or even be aware of the presence of Christ in the tabernacle.

As far as the words of the creed, that was one abuse that is supposed to be corrected in these Masses. If you have a physical copy of the creed they used, I think it would be worth forwarding to the bishop.
 
As no one else has answered this yet, it is indeed absolutely forbidden for a priest/liturgist/youth “Mass coordinator” to change the Creed.

There are 2 options for the Profession of Faith:
  1. The Nicene Creed (or, in children’s Masses, the Apostle’s Creed)
  2. If there is a baptism taking place during the Mass, I believe the baptism rite takes the place of the Creed (since the congregation participates in the responses to the baptism rite with the parents and godparents).
In no way can anyone try to keep the Creed but change parts of it around or add things in.

+veritas+
 
Adam S:
Thats absolutely horrendous. Lack of reverence is one of the reasons why i didnt go to Protestantism, and i think the reverence in a Catholic church is so beautiful. To hear of it being abused is horrific.

Ive never been to a youth Mass although i am 20 (but i dont think we really have them in England) but if there was one i probably wouldnt go because from my experience the word ‘youth’ translates as ‘liberal/abuse’ - not to say young people are liberal, but most of the young people i know dont need a ‘youth’ mass so i would be suspicous of why one was needed.
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I know of many which are both reverent and orthodox, as well as being youth masses 🙂​

Unless we mean different things by youth Mass.

Some Catholic liturgies are less outwardly reverent than some Protestant ones - it’s impossible really to make useful generalisations. ##
 
I don’t want to turn this into an arguement, but your reasoning in my mind is flawed. First off I hope you were not comparing me to some sort of a modern day Pharisee,

That would be most uncharitable.
Now to consider all irreverence at Mass as being not good is only reasonable, don’t you think. You said it is uncharitable to consider all irreverence as bad.
Could you please give me a time when being irreverent at Mass would be a good thing?
I am glad you are a teacher because you see this as a teaching oppurtunity,very good. I also believe this is a problem of lack of knowledge of what is going on during Mass, by the way who said anything about snide glances? we all are sinners and need to conform are lives to the teachings of Holy Mother Church, myself probably more than most, but please I mean this with all good will
your statement is not logical.

God Bless Matt Cauthorn
 
Hi Gregory24,

I’m sure this was a Life Teen Mass. I had the same reaction. I am very traditional attending the Latin Mass as often as I can. I like the Novus Ordo too but I prefer the Latin Mass. I say this because I spoke to some of the people involved in Life Teen after their Mass and they say this Mass is necessary to keep the youth interested in going to Mass. In other situations, I’ve gone on attack with the so-called liberal views in the Church but, as bad as it looks, in all honesty, these people I found out are truly good Catholics seeking the truth and practice of the Catholic Church with the exception of the way Mass is done. For example, the Life Teen group in my town goes to Franciscan University for the youth conferences every year and they teach abstinence to the teens. I found all the young adults who oversee the youths are good solid Catholics.

This is the only exception I’ve ever found in the Church where, on one hand, a group does something radical and , on the other hand, are truly good Catholics. Some may disagree but this is what I found.

May God bless,

James224
 
I’m of the opinion that if parents were doing proper catechesis from the beginning, this need of these “youth masses” would not be perceived. Why take away from the beauty of the mass just to make it more entertaining for the youth? The Church seems to have thrived for over 2,000 years without them. I would talk to the pastor of that parish and if you didn’t get a reasonable response, then take it the Bishop of your diocese.
 
I, personally have never been a big fan of youth masses and more “charismatic” services. I grew up protestant and in very charismatic settings, and it just annoys me. Why do churches feel the need to change and become more worldly to get their youths attention. I think that the masses need to stay reverant and more traditional, and let God do the work. I don’t mean leave it all to him, parents need to show their kids the beauty of the mass, and help them to see how wonderful it is that we have such a thing to go to. Leave youth groups and youth events to entertain the youth, not mass. It’s like churches are trying to pull the wool over kids eyes and trick them into worship.
 
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jimmy:
I have been to a few of these teen masses and I will never go back. I am 22 years old, so I know what a teen thinks about this kind of mass. This is the worst thing that could happen. They try to dunb down the mass to attract teens, but to tell the truth, they are turning them away. It is not true to what the church is.

By having this irreverence in the mass it is irreverent to God. They are disrespecting God. It is not supposed to be a social event as it is at the teen masses. It is supposed to be a time to worship God and to pray.

I don’t think I would have left mass ealry because the Eucharist is still there, but I can see why you did.
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I agree with this. I am 19 years old, and I dislike youth masses, too. I want to hear what everyone else is hearing, I want to take a homily that’s aimed at all people and real life as opposed to youth and real life watered down. It’s not that I’m super-traditional either. Growing up, we attended several different churches, as we moved around a lot, and most had guitars and cymbals in the band. One now has a sax and drums and tambourine. Even with those additions, though, the music was still respectful and so were the kids. You don’t necessarily need a youth mass to appeal to younger people.Adding the instruments and maintaining the respect, as in these churches, works for most everybody.

~Kristi
 
We have a Youth Mass at our church. It is monthy and a good attendence, each collection is given to a different charity. To this date the youth mass has raised over $12,000 for many charites, too many to list. The mass is for the young and young at heart. There is praise music for 30 minutes before the service, and words are displayed on the back wall. The projector also displays the readings, and during the consecration only the altar is has a light on it and on the wall behind it the words simply say, “this is Jesus” and following the service, there is free food in the parish hall. The mass is not irreverent. The music is more lively, but does not take the focus off the mass. “The mission of the Youth Mass is to include youth and their families in a celebration of the Eucharist, which reflects the energy and zeal of young adulthood, while emphasizing the sanctity and miracle of the Mass.”

I feel that some are very closed minded about the mass and fail to recognize how many changes the catholic church has endured. There was no organ when Jesus walked on the earth, and He was one of us as He celebrated life with us. These young people need something positive in their life. and if its lively music and free food that bring them closer to Jesus then so be it.
 
matt_cauthorn said:
I don’t want to turn this into an arguement, but your reasoning in my mind is flawed. First off I hope you were not comparing me to some sort of a modern day Pharisee,

That would be most uncharitable.
Now to consider all irreverence at Mass as being not good is only reasonable, don’t you think. You said it is uncharitable to consider all irreverence as bad.
Could you please give me a time when being irreverent at Mass would be a good thing?
I am glad you are a teacher because you see this as a teaching oppurtunity,very good. I also believe this is a problem of lack of knowledge of what is going on during Mass, by the way who said anything about snide glances? we all are sinners and need to conform are lives to the teachings of Holy Mother Church, myself probably more than most, but please I mean this with all good will
your statement is not logical.

God Bless Matt Cauthorn
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I believe the person is confusing objective irreverence for the motivations for that irreverence. Yes, it is possible they were irreverent out of ignorance and that has to be considered, but irreverence is irreverence is irreverence. It’s always forgiveable, rarely excusable, and NEVER acceptable.

As far as the there being no organ in Jesus time by another poster, this is a non-objection. All of Protestantism and even Islam are all born out of the lie that they are simplifying or getting back to the authentic Christ. The fact is that the youth mass is a complete capitulation to the modern therapeutic consumer culture which we have been doped up on for so long we don’t even recognize it anymore. Now that’s where the closed minds are.
 
Gregory24 said:
I attended a “youth mass” tonight because I didn’t attend my normal church in the morning. I am 24 years old and converted 3 years ago and am in love with the catholic church. However I was greatly upset tonight. I walked into this 6 pm mass. And there was very loud music playing by in the front of the church. When I attempted to pray I couldn’t even hear myself think and this started things badly. The sanctuary was louder and people were talking more than I have ever seen at a church it was very distracting. Most of the people there were teenagers. I noticed they were high fiving each other and even sitting on top of the pews while talking. I couldn’t believe the lack of reverence in the presence of the eucharist. The mass was supposed to start at 6 pm however we practiced all these songs until 6:15. I noticed that they didn’t follow the music in the missal but had there own, and the profession of faith was completely different. I went to church tonight w/ my wife and sister both non-catholics and I decided to leave after the second reading. I was so upset at the lack of reverence I felt was in the church. The one thing that I love about the church since I have joined is the sameness of it. No matter where I go I get the same thing. As soon as we exited the church my sister and wife asked me what was wrong and I was overwhelmed by tears, and believe me I don’t cry very often. I can’t tell you exactly what overcame of me. But I was saddened by the whole scene tonight. On the way home I tried to explain to my sister how I believe that christ is truely present in the eucharist which is located in the tabernacle and that is why I was so disturbbed to see what I saw. I don’t know if I should have left mass or not but I did. Can anyone relate to this? What do you think?
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Write a letter to the Pastor of that church and tell him what you told us.
 
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