How common is the Latin Mass in the US?

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I’ve never met any personally, but i heard some Catholics in the US are really passionate about the latin mass. I’ve never come across any Catholic Churches that celebrate it, but I don’t deny they exist. How common is it?
 
pragmatist91 said:
I’ve never met any personally, but i heard some Catholics in the US are really passionate about the latin mass. I’ve never come across any Catholic Churches that celebrate it, but I don’t deny they exist. How common is it?
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Saint Mary Help Of Christians Aiken South Carolina not too far from where I live has it every first Friday of the month. And sometimes for other other things like I went to one for all souls a few years ago. Do you live in a heavily Catholic area? Because I do not although we are growing. I think most of where you will find Latin Mass is places where there is a demand for it
 
Let’s put it this way. It is much more common than it was 30 years ago.
 
I made a quick count from what appears to be reliable information, and there appear to be about 507 churches (parishes and missions) which have the EF. Some of those may be once a month; many are not celebrated on a Sunday or a Saturday evening, but rather some time during the week, and not all of those are weekly. For example, there may be an EF on a Saturday morning or early afternoon.

As there are about 17,337 parishes, that puts it at a little over 2.9% of parishes nationwide which have an EF celebrated at least once a month - with many weekly.

Some dioceses and archdioceses may have a greater percentage than that, which of course means that others have less, or none.
 
otjm said:
I made a quick count from what appears to be reliable information, and there appear to be about 507 churches (parishes and missions) which have the EF. Some of those may be once a month; many are not celebrated on a Sunday or a Saturday evening, but rather some time during the week, and not all of those are weekly. For example, there may be an EF on a Saturday morning or early afternoon.

As there are about 17,337 parishes, that puts it at a little over 2.9% of parishes nationwide which have an EF celebrated at least once a month - with many weekly.

Some dioceses and archdioceses may have a greater percentage than that, which of course means that others have less, or none.
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I would say those numbers are correct.
From the CAF members who regularly post, you would think it’s all over the place. 🤷
But our Archdiocese has one parish run by the FSSP that offers it. But they do have 2 masses daily and 3 on Sunday.
 
There is a Parish in my area that celebrates a Sunday EF Mass once a month. We have a local Latin Liturgy Association in my area.
 
otjm said:
As there are about 17,337 parishes, that puts it at a little over 2.9% of parishes nationwide which have an EF celebrated at least once a month - with many weekly.
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It would also be interesting to calculate the distance that Catholics who attend the TLM travel on average every Sunday. Before I moved to a large city, I had to drive 45 minutes to the closest FSSP parish. I knew of people who would come from much further away. It is sad that even after Summorum Pontificum the TLM remains a secret kept from most Catholics. Many only have a vague notion of it. However, I believe that while there is a negative connonation attached to the old Mass by some in the Church who view its revival as a step backwards, there also seems to be many who would fall in love with the Mass if it were more widely available.
 
It depends on where you live. I wouldn’t say it’s overwhelmingly prevalent, but it is certainly growing in my area. I could reach 3 parishes that offer the TLM/EF exclusively within a 45 minute drive. Those three offer the Mass in the extraordinary form something like 7 or 8 times every Sunday between them. There is also a strong push to add at least one or two more FSSP parishes. If I lived on the west side of Colorado there would be none without several hours travel. I think the local bishop’s stance on the TLM can also have an impact.it can be harder to form a stable community if the local ordinary is opposed to the TLM in his diocese.

I also find that the visibility of the TLM can be tied to the people and groups you associate with. Both the FSSP parishes around me have a large number of home schooling families so our introduction to the FSSP was through those connections. It is always possible that there is a thriving TLM community in your backyard, but you don’t move in the same circles so are completely unaware it exists.
 
I learned that the Latin Mass resurrected in my diocese in 1985 and bounced around from a college campus chapel to two different parishes before it found a permanent home in the diocese Cathedral. It’s every week, once a month its a high Mass. The diocese to the south of me just lost the priest who offered the Latin Mass, he was reassigned. But it is offered once a month by the Anglican-Catholic parish. Statistics for both diocese combined there are about 300 parishes that serve approximately a million Catholics. So its rare in my area. I would have to travel 3-4 hours to an FSSP parish.

I have to agree with RH Benson, there is an animus towards the Latin Mass which I can only attribute to the devil himself.
 
Our parish has latin Mass 2nd,4th,and 5th Sundays. I have wanted to go but am afraid i would be lost and look like an idiot. So i keep chickening out.
 
R_H_Benson said:
It would also be interesting to calculate the distance that Catholics who attend the TLM travel on average every Sunday. Before I moved to a large city, I had to drive 45 minutes to the closest FSSP parish. I knew of people who would come from much further away. It is sad that even after Summorum Pontificum the TLM remains a secret kept from most Catholics. Many only have a vague notion of it. However, I believe that while there is a negative connonation attached to the old Mass by some in the Church who view its revival as a step backwards, there also seems to be many who would fall in love with the Mass if it were more widely available.
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Well, in our case, a huge metropolitan area, this church is in a rural place. Of course people are going to drive far.
I know people who drive really far to the farmer’s market to buy goat’s milk.
What’s your point?
 
pragmatist91 said:
I’ve never met any personally, but i heard some Catholics in the US are really passionate about the latin mass. I’ve never come across any Catholic Churches that celebrate it, but I don’t deny they exist. How common is it?
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Growing in popularity for sure. As a previous poster said, somewhere between 2-3% of US parishes celebrate the Traditional Mass regularly. Considering its extensive post-conciliar suppression, that is a very good number (but not good enough!) 👍

In time, the Mass of Ages will replace the Novus Ordo.
 
pianistclare said:
Well, in our case, a huge metropolitan area, this church is in a rural place. Of course people are going to drive far.
I know people who drive really far to the farmer’s market to buy goat’s milk.
What’s your point?
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Raw goats’s milk is healthier 😃
 
pianistclare said:
Well, in our case, a huge metropolitan area, this church is in a rural place. Of course people are going to drive far.
I know people who drive really far to the farmer’s market to buy goat’s milk.
What’s your point?
Click to expand...
Just contributing to the thread by making an observation.

The availability really depends on the friendliness of the local bishop towards the TLM. Ideally, people shouldn’t have to seek out the ancient form of the Mass, it should be offered to them readily.
 
smead2942 said:
In time, the Mass of Ages will replace the Novus Ordo.
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I wouldn’t hold my breath.

I can’t imagine why in the future Catholics would opt for something that is so foreign and unknown to so much of the laity, religious, priests and bishops, especially taking into consideration that most priestly formation does not even require the learning of Latin. Why would the Church turn everything upside down simply to go back to something that has such a minuscule demand?
 
dee_burk said:
Our parish has latin Mass 2nd,4th,and 5th Sundays. I have wanted to go but am afraid i would be lost and look like an idiot. So i keep chickening out.
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I would suspect a lot of people do. Where I now regularly attend an FSSP Mass, there are probably between 100-150 people each week. The only spike I’ve seen there was on Jan 1st. (Holy Days almost always have a reduced OF schedule but that’s another discussion.)

Even though there are seemingly low numbers attendance-wise, they contribute enough to support the existing Mass AND pay the choir. I believe this is the key. It is true there are more and more young people coming out to these Latin Masses, but they don’t come out every week and I don’t think they have the deep pockets of cash necessary to keep the parish afloat by themselves. I hope going forward they teach more Latin in the schools and more people realize the value of contemplative prayer, something that they’re probably not used to right now.
 
pianistclare said:
I know people who drive really far to the farmer’s market to buy goat’s milk.
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If the price of gasoline gets high enough, one would think they would probably do better buying and feeding their own goats. 🙂
 
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