Oh, oh, oh. Oh, my. :nope:
Cat, I think there would be a lot more edification if our brothers & sisters would step down rather than up. The “laicization” of the Sanctuary has been the primary cause of the steep decline in reverence at Mass, in my opinion.
Perhaps those aisle-stomping, noise-making children are good in a general sense, but their parents aren’t trying very hard to teach them a sense of what the Mass is. Future-vocations or no, they won’t get anywhere if they’re not raised to have respect for the Sacrifice. Naturally, if you have a less “cathedral/monastic”-vision of what Church is, and more of a “family/community” vision of what Church is, then you’ll certainly disagree.
What a terrible, anti-family thing for you to say! How on earth do you KNOW what parents are trying to teach their children?! This is awful!
If you were lucky to have children who were compliant by nature and quiet in their approach to life, that’s great. Many parents, especially those with multiple children, have lively children who are not so easily calmed. I had one of each, and I know it has NOTHING to do with how they are raised. A high-spirited child is a challenge for ALL parents, including good, “reverent” “cathedral’/monastic” Catholic parents.
A LITTLE ONE who is “noise-making” and “aisle-stomping” is NOT "irreverent! He/she is being a CHILD, which is what God made him/her to be!
One of the core unpleasant experiences of parish life is the choir and its politics. I’ve never been in one, but the clamour for the solo is really extraordinary. The choice of sappy music is an inevitability.
You have never been in a choir, and yet you know all about choirs? This is arrogance.
I am the hired accompanist for several choirs, and I have accompanied for choirs in churches (Protestant and Catholic), schools, music clubs, and community organizations. I have worked for hundreds of directors in my 57 years (I accompanied for my first choir when I was in 7th grade.)
I am also friends with hundreds of professional musicians, and I work as a volunteer with the oldest community music club in the United States.
"The “clamor for the solo” is something that you are imagining, or perhaps have gleaned out of movies/television. In some of the big “professional” choirs, there are those who try hard to earn the solos, but in parish and community choirs, as well as student choirs, there is no “clamor.” An assignment to take the solo is added pressure, not an ego boost.
The choice of music is not determined by the choir, but by the choir director, who is on the staff of the Church (either paid or volunteer), and therefore is acting under the authority of the priest, who is acting under the authority of the bishop, who is the apostle of the Lord Jesus appointed by Jesus Christ Himself. If you don’t like the “sappy” songs,’ take it up with The Lord Jesus.
As for the altar-servers, we must have different experiences. If we’d just have sub-deacons again we wouldn’t need this proliferation of laity.
But we DON’T have “sub-deacons” do we? This is another example of pining and whining for the past.
Holy Mother Church has approved of altar servers, and in the United States, it is acceptable to use female altar servers with the approval of the bishop, who, again, is the APOSTLE of the Lord Jesus Christ and thus deserves our respect.
I’m not really pro-Extraordinary Form. I just want the Ordinary Form to be a quiet, sober Roman Mass. We really were good at it for 1500 years, then suddenly we became hippies overnight. I’m very happy that I wasn’t actually alive in the 70s. Times are getting better, aging-choir-directors-and-sanctuary-trampling-spinsters not withstanding.
Once again, I ask you to stop with the hyperbolic language. It is uncharitable–actually, it is mean-spirited–to use descriptions like “sanctuary-tramping spinsters.” It’s mean, and I’m calling you out for it.
The New Testament makes it clear that the Holy Spirit can be quenched. I Thess. 5: 15-19 says, “…always seek after that which is good for one another and for all men. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit…”
To me, this is the answer to the OP: Seek after what’s good for all Christians, not just ourselves. REJOICE! Pray! In EVERYTHING (that includes a Mass form or practices that you don’t personally like!) give thanks. And don’t quench the Spirit (by pining for what you cannot have).
Look, of course I’m being nasty. I’m irritated by the fact that the internet Latin Mass I saw as a clueless atheist turned out to be very far from the reality. Sometimes we need critics. I certainly don’t confine my critiques to the back-pews and internet forums. I hope that makes me less of a hypocrite.
We need workers more than we need critics. Stop complaining and start volunteering.
Learn to accept that what you see on the internet is not real life. Get involved with real life and stop wishing for something that probably will never come to pass. Or if you truly want to make something different happen in the Masses, get involved with your local parish and become a lay person who is trusted and loved in your diocese. Then and only then will you be able to try to bring about changes in Mass practices. But by just sitting in the pew and “being a critic,” you are changing NOTHING except your own soul, which you are making more and more bitter and dark.
Oh…and JOIN the choir and get to know the people who you are so ready to despise and insult.
