How Many Here Would Attend The Traditional Latin Mass If It Were Available ?

[CDNowak]

My church sometimes sings the Agnus Dei partially in Latin. It is not a huge deal. It is the same Mass regardless, just with a correct wording when done in Latin.

Actually there are a few more differences than just the language (either form of the Mass can be offered in Latin).

 

[mickeycz]

It’s available in my church on the 4th Sunday of each month.
I went once because I’d heard so many wonderful things about it.
It WAS beautiful but I could not really participate because of the language barrier. (Latin, of course.)
It was a nice experience but I will stick with the one I understand and can wholly be a part of.

The thing is, it is the same Mass, so you do understand, but want to erect a barrier of some sort.“Forever and ever” is saecula saeculorum, and the response is “Amen”

“Oremus” is let us pray.

After the 20 minute or so of kneeling, there finally comes “Ite, missa est.” The Mass is ended. Deo gratias is the response.

 

[choy]

Maybe because they carry a lot more baggage than the younger ones? Learning something is much easier than trying to relearn it 40 years later, unless there is motivation, of course.

they just like hearing the mass in their own language

 

[ProVobis]

they just like hearing the mass in their own language

Like or not like, you take what’s offered. The Church already offers many Eastern Rite liturgies, some of them in Greek and Aramaic, the Anglican Use in English, the OF in many hundreds of vernaculars, and the EF in Latin. If you want something more, then it’s got to be nothing other than a self-serving desire.

 

[Viceroy]

I heard one observation about the vernacular liturgy that I thought was significant, that some parishes offer masses in, say, English and another in Spanish, and so are divided the congregation along ethnic lines, which is in a way in working against the unity of the Church.

 

[JMJ_coder]

I heard one observation about the vernacular liturgy that I thought was significant, that some parishes offer masses in, say, English and another in Spanish, and so are divided the congregation along ethnic lines, which is in a way in working against the unity of the Church.

“We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God” (Acts 2:11)

It’s the message, not the language that unites.

 

[ProVobis]

I heard one observation about the vernacular liturgy that I thought was significant, that some parishes offer masses in, say, English and another in Spanish, and so are divided the congregation along ethnic lines, which is in a way in working against the unity of the Church.

Good point. I believe they call this the “unintended consequences” of vernacularizing. The archdiocese of Chicago alone has over 130 liturgical vernaculars to have to keep track of.

 

[JMJ_coder]

Good point. I believe they call this the “unintended consequences” of vernacularizing. The archdiocese of Chicago alone has over 130 liturgical vernaculars to have to keep track of.

Do you have any evidence to support a claim of “130 liturgical vernaculars” in the Chicago area?

 

[MarkThompson]

Do you have any evidence to support a claim of “130 liturgical vernaculars” in the Chicago area?

I count 26 non-English languages in which we have regularly-scheduled Sunday Masses.

 

[ProVobis]

“We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God” (Acts 2:11)

The sermons are in the vernacular. No problem.

 

[JMJ_coder]

I count 26 non-English languages in which we have regularly-scheduled Sunday Masses.

26 is a far cry from 130! And not all of those 26 are of the Latin Rite. For instance, the one listed in the Ge’ez language is actually the Ge’ez (Ethiopian) Rite (see here).

 

[ProVobis]

I count 26 non-English languages in which we have regularly-scheduled Sunday Masses.

I should have saved the website. I just remember the number. Give me time and I’ll provide the full list of the vernaculars, although many of them aren’t probably used anymore.

But if you use the very common 20/80 statistical distribution rule here, 20% of the total vernaculars of 130 is 26, which seems to fit here. This would be the 80% of all the liturgies said, but I don’t have the exact distribution and this is not fact.

 

[Viceroy]

I don’t think the issue here is how many groups the congregations are divided into, the issue is that the division has entered into the mass, the one place where our unity is maintained.

 

[sinner123]

I don’t think the issue here is how many groups the congregations are divided into, the issue is that the division has entered into the mass, the one place where our unity is maintained.

Indeed Sir…for it is written “There will be one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:16)

 

[JMJ_coder]

I don’t think the issue here is how many groups the congregations are divided into, the issue is that the division has entered into the mass, the one place where our unity is maintained.

Our unity in the Liturgy is expressed in our partaking of the one bread. There has never been liturgical unity in the Church in the sense of one language, one set of prayers, one collection of gestures, etc. Even when in the West this was almost the case (even in the post-Trent Western Church there was not complete unity, for there were religious orders and certain cities that maintained their own rites and even some who were permitted the use of the Missal of Pius V in the vernacular, like the Croatians), the Eastern Churches have always celebrated the Liturgy in the local vernacular for the most part, and there are within the Church several different rites (such as the Ge’ez and the Chaldean).

 

[ProVobis]

Our unity in the Liturgy is expressed in our partaking of the one bread.

Partly true. A sharing of the Holy Sacrifice.

There has never been liturgical unity in the Church in the sense of one language,

You can throw in 5000 vernaculars for normative and missionary work but the official language of the Western Church and the basis of its theology is (in) Latin.

 

[JMJ_coder]

You can throw in 5000 vernaculars for normative and missionary work but the official language of the Western Church and the basis of its theology is (in) Latin.

No one is denying that the official language of the Latin Church is Latin. And the official language of the Syriac Churches is Syriac, and the official language of the Coptic Church is Coptic, etc., etc.

 

[Onyx88]

i watch the latin mass all the time on ewtn ~ it’s easy to follow along

 

[choy]

i agree with JMJ
if we say that Latin is a unifying factor in the universality of our Church, then we just threw out all the Eastern Churches

also, saying that people can be taught and they can strive to learn Latin also throws out all the poor and illiterate people out there. many of these people don’t even know how to read or write in their own language. they appreciate the mass in the venacular because they grew up with this language and would not need to read or write to understand it in its spoken form. as for the poor, they may not have the resources, nor would have the time to learn another langauge. in many third world nations, the poor live in $10 a week or less, they scavange for garbage as a livelihood. do you think they would bother to learn Latin?

 

[elts1956]

I grew up going to TLM every day first through eighth grade. I attended TLM every Sunday and every Holy Day during High School and young adult years. Then in the sixties came the NO. I haven’t known what I miss til recently. The TLM Mass in Latin. I love languages even if I can’t understand them. If one is afraid they won’t understand the Latin, there are Latin to English translations in the missal. I would still attend a NO Mass, but would really like to hear the language of my youth at Mass once in awhile.