Interesting viewpoint.
As a Catholic convert myself, I am a world apart in opinions. And I’m very much younger (not yet twenty). My Catholic friend convinced me to become Catholic. I went to a priest, and he told me to go to RCIA. I did, and was baptized, confirmed, and received first communion. All the while I was attending mass as a non-Catholic, and I was absolutely stricken with profound horror at how Protestant-like much of the masses were. I was so confused. I was confused that English was spoken. I didn’t want that. I wanted so very badly to be part of the Catholic identity, and I was confused that it seemed that Hollywood directors managed to capture more of a traditionally Catholic identity than the church I attended did. I was craving an absolutely pious environment. I was craving for the Catholic IDENTITY. What I found was a watered-down, sorry-state local Catholic “community” (not “parish”) that was more concerned about the upcoming little league games than preserving liturgical excellence and integrity. I’ll be honest, I was absolutely disgusted and horrified. But I stuck with it. I experienced little morsels of Catholic identity here and there, and I loved when that would happen. I learned absolutely nothing at RCIA past calling the priest “Father.” Everything else, I had to do on my own. Catechesis is really in shambles in our Church today.
The thing about Catholicism is that it’s such an outward religion. The richness of the faith itself lends to natural outward, physical expression, such as beautiful vestments, captivating church architecture, art, etc. These were the things that I thought I would see. But I didn’t. I thought about it for a while, and my natural conclusion was that if these things weren’t the norm anymore (and they certainly are not), then what does this mean has happened to the faith itself? A crumbling exterior is a sign of… you guessed it, a crumbling interior.
I personally abhor modernism in how it pervades the church. It more than makes me sad and disgusted, it makes me quite mad, because I feel like I can’t do anything to stop it. To preserve the faith, where can we most easily start? Answer: those tangible, changeable parts of the Church. We can start with vestments, architecture, adding statues back to Catholic churches that were horrifically stripped of them. But what’s quicker than all that? Restoring the language of the Church to its rightful place. **Our language is what defines us as a faith. ** The outward is representative of the inward. Destroy our outward bonds by removing the language that connects us, then might as well destroy our inward, faith bonds.
Is it more convenient to have three hundred (not sure of the exact number) missals so that they fit our local languages? Absolutely. But is it better for the faith? Absolutely not. Our sacral language is best suited for that.
Boldface above is mine.
Much of your post I accept as your personal preference and have no objection to.
But are you serious? Our LANGUAGE is what defines us as a faith??!!
I thought it was Jesus Christ, Truly Present, in the Eucharist, and our entire commitment of ourselves to Him.
And what’s this “Catholic Identity?” To me, this sounds “New Age” and Hollywood."
Isn’t the “Catholic Identity” receiving Jesus Christ, Truly Present, in the Eucharist, as often as possible, and then living a life of holiness and charity outside of the church building among a world of sinners and scoffers, to whom we appear as a Light to help them find their way to Jesus and His Church?
All the rest–the Latin, the vestments, the music, the architecture–this is just the earthly trappings, the “costumes” and the “sets” and the “script,” and it will all pass away. But the good works that we do in Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit will have eternal repercussions–we will actually help bring people into the Kingdom of God by our love for Christ and each other.
Also, please try to see that you have a preference for a certain architecture or music, and others have different preferences. The Church does not specify certain architectures.
The Church does state that Gregorian chant should be done in the Mass, but it does not forbid many other styles of music in Mass (secular music is forbidden).
It seems to me that when we blame the decline in the Catholic Church (less people, less reverence, less monies, less vocations, etc.) on externals like language, architecture, music, etc.–we conveniently dismiss our own personal fault.
Isn’t it possible that the Church has declined in many ways because Catholics, including myself, sin in their/my thoughts, in their/my words, and in what they/I have done and failed to do?
When the world sees us, do they see anything different about us? Vestments, Latin, and chant don’t count, unless you walk around the schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods wearing vestments, speaking in Latin, and singing chant! These things are part of “church,” and the world never sees “church” and they’re not likely to walk into “church”.
Instead, what the world sees is us in our everyday routine lives, out in the world, and all too often, they see NOTHING different about us Catholics, nothing that would draw them to Jesus Christ.
Instead, they see the same weaknesses and sins that they themselves experience, and we don’t have any answers for them. No wonder people are not interested in the Catholic Church–we don’t give them any reason in everyday life to become interested. I confess that in my everyday life, I have failed constantly to glorify God and light the way for others to find Him. May God have mercy on me and help me to do better.
