Do you think that the average Catholic would care at all about the stuff we talk about in here?

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Lepanto

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Most of the regulars in here are liturgy wonks. Ritual geeks. Mass nerds. We may or may not know proper liturgical principles, norms, or terminology. We may not be familiar with the Church’s liturgical documents. Some of what we think we know may actually be incorrect.

But one thing that we have in common is that we CARE about liturgy. There is no shortage of ardor in here.

But what about the average Catholic? The 99.9999999999999% of Catholics who have never even heard of this forum. Some attend Mass regularly and live lives full of prayerful devotions, whereas some only attend Mass on Christmans and Easter and wouldn’t know a rosary if they saw one…

What about them? Do you think that the average Catholic would care at all about the stuff we talk about in here?

What would they think if some of them accidentally googled their way into here?
 
Lepanto said:
Most of the regulars in here are liturgy wonks. Ritual geeks. Mass nerds. We may or may not know proper liturgical principles, norms, or terminology. We may not be familiar with the Church’s liturgical documents. Some of what we think we know may actually be incorrect.

But one thing that we have in common is that we CARE about liturgy. There is no shortage of ardor in here.

But what about the average Catholic? The 99.9999999999999% of Catholics who have never even heard of this forum. Some attend Mass regularly and live lives full of prayerful devotions, whereas some only attend Mass on Christmans and Easter and wouldn’t know a rosary if they saw one…

What about them? Do you think that the average Catholic would care at all about the stuff we talk about in here?

What would they think if some of them accidentally googled their way into here?
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I don’t think the overwhelming majority would even know what we are talking about most of the time, and probably would care less.
 
Well, I can tell you! I was pretty durn lax and I did Google my way in here a few years ago. I had some question about something, can’t even remember what. CAF was a little nerdy for my taste at the time, but I got hooked after a few visits over a year or so period.

I can’t say CAF brought me back to the Church, but it helped! Now I am a good deal more nerdy about all things Catholic than “average”, I suppose.
 
I didn’t know about many of these issues until I came here. I never hear people talk about it much, except for a few who have voiced dislike for holding hands, plus one fervent woman who doesn’t like Eucharistic ministers.

I had no idea that communion in the hand was frowned on so harshly, or that the standard Mass was considered so bad. This forum has been a real eye opener for me, not in an entirely positive way. The fervent zeal seems to cross the line into anger and intolerance frequently here.
 
I don’t think so. The average catholic probably thinks that “rubrics” was a cube that was nearly impossible to solve back in the 80’s.
 
palmas85 said:
I don’t think the overwhelming majority would even know what we are talking about most of the time, and probably would care less.
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I doubt that the majority of Catholics have any clue what the GIRM is.
pprimeau1976 said:
I don’t think so. The average catholic probably thinks that “rubrics” was a cube that was nearly impossible to solve back in the 80’s.
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😃
 
Lepanto said:
Most of the regulars in here are liturgy wonks. Ritual geeks. Mass nerds. We may or may not know proper liturgical principles, norms, or terminology. We may not be familiar with the Church’s liturgical documents. Some of what we think we know may actually be incorrect.

But one thing that we have in common is that we CARE about liturgy. There is no shortage of ardor in here.

But what about the average Catholic? The 99.9999999999999% of Catholics who have never even heard of this forum. Some attend Mass regularly and live lives full of prayerful devotions, whereas some only attend Mass on Christmans and Easter and wouldn’t know a rosary if they saw one…

What about them? Do you think that the average Catholic would care at all about the stuff we talk about in here?

What would they think if some of them accidentally googled their way into here?
Click to expand...
lepanto,
I would hope that there are catholics here, but, I think your right.
I have been told catholics aren’t big one reading the bible. They do not seem to have knowledge of the basics. On the positive side, I do believe they know what the sacrament of Holy Communion means. I wonder how often they go to confession before receiving the true body and blood of Christ.

God bless,
jean8
 
I’m sure if you asked some, they’d tell you that there’s a rule somewhere that says that Mass is optional once you get Confirmed but until you have children.
 
I think the “average” Catholic cares about the stuff we talk about here. And there will be plenty of Catholics on both ends of the ‘liturgical spectrum’. Some will want a very traditional liturgy and some will want the liturgical dancing scene.

But I don’t think the average Catholic wants to have anything to do with having *discussions *about liturgy. They just want what they want to be done (or not done) at Mass.
 
My parish has a huge daily Mass attendance. They would care. But they also are very forgiving, especially the older members. Maybe it is having lived through so much, they just can not be too fussy about anything or feel like they have seen so many changes they don’t expect anything to stay the same.
I can tell you there are a few who know their way around a GIRM and HAVE absolutely pointed out mistakes, and our pastor DOES NOT take kindly to that type of conversation.

Now if you are talking about the Sunday crowd or better yet the Easter/Christmas crowd, my guess is they don’t care or don’t want to know. I guess Mass might be more of a social thing they fit into their lives, rather than their lives fitting around Mass. I also know it is probably pretty hard to be a pastor these days and keep things moving, so when it comes to who performs functions, what music is played, etc, the pastor makes calls that make his life easier because finances, schedules and other things are on his mind.
 
Lepanto said:
Most of the regulars in here are liturgy wonks. Ritual geeks. Mass nerds. We may or may not know proper liturgical principles, norms, or terminology. We may not be familiar with the Church’s liturgical documents. Some of what we think we know may actually be incorrect.

But one thing that we have in common is that we CARE about liturgy. There is no shortage of ardor in here.

But what about the average Catholic? The 99.9999999999999% of Catholics who have never even heard of this forum. Some attend Mass regularly and live lives full of prayerful devotions, whereas some only attend Mass on Christmans and Easter and wouldn’t know a rosary if they saw one…

What about them? Do you think that the average Catholic would care at all about the stuff we talk about in here?

What would they think if some of them accidentally googled their way into here?
Click to expand...
I would guess that 85-90% do not. I would guess roughly that same number are regularly offended by some people like us who tend to take a “know-it-all” attitude after reading some documents. At the same time, within that number, maybe 10-15% account for many of the liturgical problems we are routinely subjected to – at least in the USA.
 
Lepanto said:
What about them? Do you think that the average Catholic would care at all about the stuff we talk about in here?
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No, and I think a lot of them are much better off. They go to Mass, the receive our Lord in communion, and they are happy.

Many of the people here get so tied up in knots over trivial matters that they lose sight of what really matters. And instead of walking out of Mass happy – like those average Catholics – they walk out angry and upset.

Who is better off?
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
No, and I think a lot of them are much better off. They go to Mass, the receive our Lord in communion, and they are happy.

Many of the people here get so tied up in knots over trivial matters that they lose sight of what really matters. And instead of walking out of Mass happy – like those average Catholics – they walk out angry and upset.

Who is better off?
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TRUE!!!
 
I don’t know, but in CAF, there are a lot more lookers than posters, it seems. Not sure why that is.

There is some pretty weird stuff said on here, but most of it seems pretty balanced to me. Sometimes when I think some thread is nothing but a bunch of angry wackos, it seems somebody with a good head comes along and says something wise.

The one thing I regret is that CAF seems to be increasingly assailed by political or theological idologues who come in here in attack mode with all sorts of prepared “sources” and try to persuade people that Catholics should vote pro-choice or that the Catholic Church is the devil’s own club. I shudder to think what some of the less firm Catholics I know would think of some of that. I’m not a moderator, but if I was, I think I would shut down a lot more threads than do get shut down, and for that reason.
 
The Catholic.com internet address was available to Mr. Keating for a reason. You, I and everyone here do not live in a vacuum. We contact others, we exchange ideas. We cause other Catholics, non-Catholics and even non-Christians to question and search for answers, even when our ideas are incorrect. This is a benefit to all. Between listening to Catholic radio as I type, and perusing the threads here, my personal knowledge and practice of my faith has accelerated substantially. I have had to dig into scripture and learn history to be able to respond even marginally to the conversations that occur here. For the foregoing reasons, this site and these fora reach far beyond our perception.

Christ’s peace.
 
I think most Catholics are like I was 9 years ago: they go to Church - some more regularly than others - do what they’ve always done and have no knowledge of documents. They think Fr. does everything the way he’s supposed to and they think he learned ‘what he’s supposed to do’ in the seminary. They know that Popes write encyclicals but they’re not totally sure exactly what that is. And Church documents probably mean their parish bulletin & the diocesan newspaper.

They have one distinct advantage over those of us who come here: they attend Mass and are able to focus on what’s happening rather than on ‘what should be happening’ and ‘what should not be happening’. There is no chance that they’ll ever feel that Father’s homily about the Pharisees is directed straight at them.

Sometimes I rue the day I first laid my hands on a copy of the GIRM.
 
I think they would be interested in discussing many of these issues, but in real-life, not online.

Most of my acquaintances and friends do not spend any time online, other than to check out the weather. Occasionally they google something for work.

But surfing the web and spending time on forums and in chat rooms–that is a “young” hobby.

And many many people just don’t feel comfortable writing. They prefer to talk in person. I, on the other hand, would much rather write than talk.

And many people just don’t type at all. To do this kind of forum with one finger is kind of frustrating!

Like I said, I think that many of the Catholics in my city would be interested in many of these issues, especially the apologetics, but we’re very lucky that our bishop is orthodox and conservative, and there don’t seem to be the controversies flying around the diocese that many of the rest of you suffer through. We actually trust our bishop and our priests, and their staff, to take good care of us and provide us with good Masses and other good catechesis and recreation. Before I came to this website, I had no idea that there was any kind of controversy surrounding the Latin Mass, Communion in the hand, veiling, modest dress, and especially the music. Everyone seemed so happy. I’m really thankful that I live in such a thriving Catholic area.
 
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