S
Super_Grover
Guest
I have attended a few Latin Masses. I am interested in learning more. There is a strange familiarity to it, which does not make sense because I am in my early 40’s and was denied this Mass growing up. But it is also strange in some respects and difficult to fully appreciate everything that is occurring. I love how transcendent it is, with an orientation toward God, not humans. It seems that if you are oriented toward God, Jesus’ first command, you naturally will tend to follow the second. So, it seems to be properly ordered, rather than the improper inverse that I am quite aware of at some OF masses.
We have no TLM near us. I would stay in a nearby church that does the OF if I could find one nearby that was even just mediocre and played it straight. My two nearby options are, 1) go to a church that thinks it is its own mini-Magisterium, or 2) go to the one that dabbles in the New Age.
The church outside our doorstep has decent liturgy, but is often heterodox, with pastor and parish leaders very bitter about the Church, there is grievance-nurturing about the Church’s injustice to women, and very disrespectful of church authority. I have gotten so angry during homilies that I really wondered whether I was worthy to receive communion. But the parish is wealthy and overflowing and everyone seems to love the priest, in part, because I think he’s convinced them that the parish is an oasis of safety from the rest of that big, bad Church. This priest and leadership is the reason that I don’t send my kids to the Catholic School. This parish is associated with the school and I really don’t know how much of that bleeds into the school. I’d rather only have to filter what my kids get for one hour at religion class they are required to go to (if they are going to receive the Sacraments) than have to try to undo only God knows what they will hear at Catholic school all day, five days a week.
Then there is the other parish option a little further away. The priest is seemingly orthodox in his beliefs, his homilies are orthodox and inspiring, but the liturgy is very distracting. Guitars, altar girls in two-inch heels, a horseshoe configuration of pews in semi-circle around the altar. And despite the priest’s seeming orthodoxy, they used to have yoga on the calendar all the time (although that seems to have gone away) and they have centering pray Fr. Keating followers coming in (which I’m thoroughly convinced is dangerous), and they have Taize Prayer (which I have little knowledge about). Liturgical dance practice is on the calendar, but I’ve never seen it actually performed. So, yeah, it has got its issues too. Of the two, I’d rather go here where my kids won’t hear something contrary to doctrine or be exposed to bitterness, and I can just keep them away from the New Age stuff. But this is hardly satisfactory.
I am considering finding a parish that may be a long drive away and maybe even in another diocese. I don’t know yet if I’m allowed to do that or not, but I am considering looking into it. It will be a hugely inconvenient with religion classes and an overall large investment of time and effort – and I will have to get my wife on board. But the proper development of the faith of your children is no small thing. I know how bad it can be when you’re not properly formed. I went to Catholic school and university but, as I said, I’m in my early 40’s so I was born after V2 and was not taught my faith in school, and was actually taught to not believe when I attended a Benedictine university. I’ve learned the faith mostly from the internet and books beginning in my mid to late 30’s, and a huge supernatural push from the Holy Spirit (but that’s another story).
I imagine that if I had a parish that celebrated TLM, the issues of heterodoxy, contempt for authority, and New Age intrusion would be non-existent. So, I may look at trying to find a TLM parish.
I have a couple questions. Has anyone faced similar issues and how did you handle it? What about asking to have an FSSP priest come in? What is involved with that? I would be willing to start a blog in my area to see if there is enough interest, but I think my bishop would be resistant. Any ideas there?
No matter what we do, I definitely want to learn more about the Latin Mass. It is beautiful, mysterious, but I am just trying to stay where I’m supposed to be in the book. I would like to understand it more. I would like to find a user-friendly orientation to the Latin Mass that will break it down and help someone new to the Mass understand it. This would be good for me, but also for family members. Something on DVD, or video on the internet would be ideal.
Thank you for any help.
We have no TLM near us. I would stay in a nearby church that does the OF if I could find one nearby that was even just mediocre and played it straight. My two nearby options are, 1) go to a church that thinks it is its own mini-Magisterium, or 2) go to the one that dabbles in the New Age.
The church outside our doorstep has decent liturgy, but is often heterodox, with pastor and parish leaders very bitter about the Church, there is grievance-nurturing about the Church’s injustice to women, and very disrespectful of church authority. I have gotten so angry during homilies that I really wondered whether I was worthy to receive communion. But the parish is wealthy and overflowing and everyone seems to love the priest, in part, because I think he’s convinced them that the parish is an oasis of safety from the rest of that big, bad Church. This priest and leadership is the reason that I don’t send my kids to the Catholic School. This parish is associated with the school and I really don’t know how much of that bleeds into the school. I’d rather only have to filter what my kids get for one hour at religion class they are required to go to (if they are going to receive the Sacraments) than have to try to undo only God knows what they will hear at Catholic school all day, five days a week.
Then there is the other parish option a little further away. The priest is seemingly orthodox in his beliefs, his homilies are orthodox and inspiring, but the liturgy is very distracting. Guitars, altar girls in two-inch heels, a horseshoe configuration of pews in semi-circle around the altar. And despite the priest’s seeming orthodoxy, they used to have yoga on the calendar all the time (although that seems to have gone away) and they have centering pray Fr. Keating followers coming in (which I’m thoroughly convinced is dangerous), and they have Taize Prayer (which I have little knowledge about). Liturgical dance practice is on the calendar, but I’ve never seen it actually performed. So, yeah, it has got its issues too. Of the two, I’d rather go here where my kids won’t hear something contrary to doctrine or be exposed to bitterness, and I can just keep them away from the New Age stuff. But this is hardly satisfactory.
I am considering finding a parish that may be a long drive away and maybe even in another diocese. I don’t know yet if I’m allowed to do that or not, but I am considering looking into it. It will be a hugely inconvenient with religion classes and an overall large investment of time and effort – and I will have to get my wife on board. But the proper development of the faith of your children is no small thing. I know how bad it can be when you’re not properly formed. I went to Catholic school and university but, as I said, I’m in my early 40’s so I was born after V2 and was not taught my faith in school, and was actually taught to not believe when I attended a Benedictine university. I’ve learned the faith mostly from the internet and books beginning in my mid to late 30’s, and a huge supernatural push from the Holy Spirit (but that’s another story).
I imagine that if I had a parish that celebrated TLM, the issues of heterodoxy, contempt for authority, and New Age intrusion would be non-existent. So, I may look at trying to find a TLM parish.
I have a couple questions. Has anyone faced similar issues and how did you handle it? What about asking to have an FSSP priest come in? What is involved with that? I would be willing to start a blog in my area to see if there is enough interest, but I think my bishop would be resistant. Any ideas there?
No matter what we do, I definitely want to learn more about the Latin Mass. It is beautiful, mysterious, but I am just trying to stay where I’m supposed to be in the book. I would like to understand it more. I would like to find a user-friendly orientation to the Latin Mass that will break it down and help someone new to the Mass understand it. This would be good for me, but also for family members. Something on DVD, or video on the internet would be ideal.
Thank you for any help.
