Eastern Catholics First Visit To A Latin Rite Cathedral/Questions About Certain Traditions

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Hello dear friends, last Sunday I got the chance to visit the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston which is a Latin Catholic Cathedral. As an Eastern Catholic this was my first ever Holy Mass celebrated in a Latin Rite Cathedral. It was a very beautiful experience but I noticed a few differences as well as customs I had never seen before at my local Latin Rite parish. It should be noted that this was a regular 5 P.M Sunday Mass at the cathedral, it was not a feast day or a day of special obligation.

The first thing that I noticed was the change in music/vocals/instrumentation, my local Latin parishes are very modern and use the whole guitar-youth-tune with very live and loud liturgical music. I have never minded this but I noticed that the cathedral had an exceptionally traditional setup in regards to liturgical music. The Holy Mass was accompanied by only the organ and the liturgical hymns were chanted more than sung. Is this the norm for a diocese’ cathedral? It was very interesting to hear the hymns chanted in such a manner, it was unfamiliar but highly divine. I had goosebumps at many parts of the Holy Mass :p.

The second major difference I noticed was the tradition of incensing. My local Latin parishes seldom to almost never seem to use incense but the use of incense was very prominent at the cathedral. The incensing tradition here was like I had never seen before in any Latin church. I remember I was very intrigued when I saw the cathedrals priest swing the thurible in a circle (thrice or twice, I cant remember) around the host when it was being consecrated and the same for the wine. There were also numerous other parts of the celebration when the deacon incensed, in example during the apostles creed.

Is it the norm for cathedrals to be considerably more traditional than local parishes? Whatever the case, I found my experience to be very moving and I had a very divine feeling during and after the Holy Mass.

P.S: The priest accidentally gave me two pieces of the host, he noticed but told me to continue on, is this okay?
 
Greetings Thomas and welcome to a Latin Rite Mass!
I am not in a position to speak to the norms for cathedral Masses as I have only been to my local cathedral for Mass. However, the FSSP parishes have the traditional music and incensing which you describe.
I noticed that you are from Houston and thought you might be interested in the location of the FSSP parish in that area, to which I am linking below.

fssp.com/press/locations/archdiocese-of-galveston-houston-texas/

We are blessed with an Eastern Catholic church in my area and I’m looking forward to assisting at Mass there soon.

May God bless us all and bring us ever closer to Him.
Amen.
 
Yes, often cathedrals are more traditional than the typical suburban parish. Of course, there are also non-cathedral parishes that are very traditional.
My cathedral in Vancouver is quite traditional and a very active parish (4 masses every week day and 7 on Sunday - all well attended - as well as 14 scheduled confession times every week with regular long line ups…plus daily lauds, Sunday Vespers, public Rosary twice a day, divine mercy on Fridays…). Latin polyphony is often employed by the choir, accompanied by the pipe organ, during more solemn masses (such as the 11 am mass on Sundays). The priests often chant the propers (in English). Only more traditional hymns are sung by the congregation. Incense is regularly used. Lay extaordinary ministers of Holy Communion are almost unknown as the multiple priests in residence will come back for each mass, at the appropriate time, to help distribute holy communion. Best of all…the majority of the faithful receive kneeling at the altar rail! Vancouver has always been far more traditional than most Canadian dioceses. Outside of Vancouver, some Catholics mumble about the long succession of “conservative” archbishops in Vancouver.
 
Thanks for the replies, in your opinions do you find yourself turning more interest towards the traditional or modern Holy Masses?
 
I love assisting at my E.F. Latin Mass, which many might describe as traditional.
I also look forward to assisting at a local O.F. Mass which is very reverent and has more traditional music or a local Spanish Mass which is also very reverent.
 
Thomas48 said:
Thanks for the replies, in your opinions do you find yourself turning more interest towards the traditional or modern Holy Masses?
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Some on this board will strongly disagree with me, but I am of the opinion that what passes for liturgical music in many parishes is extremely inappropriate for the holy sacrifice of the mass. There is a lack of a that prevailing sense of reverence, transcendence, and other worldness that one finds in more traditional liturgies. The Church teaches that the mass is a mystical taste of the heavenly liturgy. Pope Benedict, among others, taught that there must be a clear distinction between the profane and the sacred and this also applies to music. The Church has always taught that some styles of music are not appropriate for sacred use, but there is still significant room for interpretation. Regardless, the Second Vatican Council taught that Gregorian chant is to retain primacy in our worship.

In my experience, more traditional parishes tend to generate a lot more vocations. I think that says something. I’m not personally an EF traditionalist (though I do enjoy worshiping according to the Extraordinary Form from time to time), but I think my cathedral (described in my earlier post) finds a good balance.
 
twf said:
Some on this board will strongly disagree with me, but I am of the opinion that what passes for liturgical music in many parishes is extremely inappropriate for the holy sacrifice of the mass. There is a lack of a that prevailing sense of reverence, transcendence, and other worldness that one finds in more traditional liturgies. The Church teaches that the mass is a mystical taste of the heavenly liturgy. Pope Benedict, among others, taught that there must be a clear distinction between the profane and the sacred and this also applies to music. The Church has always taught that some styles of music are not appropriate for sacred use, but there is still significant room for interpretation. Regardless, the Second Vatican Council taught that Gregorian chant is to retain primacy in our worship.

In my experience, more traditional parishes tend to generate a lot more vocations. I think that says something. I’m not personally an EF traditionalist (though I do enjoy worshiping according to the Extraordinary Form from time to time), but I think my cathedral (described in my earlier post) finds a good balance.
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I guess this really depends on the individual, for example in my personal experience at the cathedral I had gone with two family members who also had never taken part in a cathedral celebration. I was very amazed at the beauty and traditional form yet my cousins did not find it as rich. At the end of the Holy Mass, I who has a very traditionalist mind (at least when it comes to the church and customs) conversed how amazed I was but my cousins, however finding the cathedral beautiful, said that the Holy Mass was making them sleepy compared to our local parish which is extremely modern.
 
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