How to suggest to pastor/parish board we should have a solemn Mass once a month at least

[bobballen_18]

I’m sorry, I’m cracking up reading this thread, because no one seems to know whether the OP is talking about OF or EF. As a result, there is a bunch of (good) information on this thread to process.

Sorry, not much to contribute. When I read the OP, for some reason I just assumed that he meant OF Mass. I only have one comment to add - if the OP did indeed mean a Solemn High Mass (i.e. EF), then that is a bit of an unreasonable request, unless at least one of the pastors at the parish is already fairly knowledgeable about and comfortable with saying the EF Low Mass.

Oh, and one more thing - I don’t think there’s any real distinction between Low/High/Solemn High in the OF. I suppose you could draw parallels though, and in that case, the vast majority of (all?) OF Masses, including Sundays, would be considered Low Masses. In the OF, you have the option of singing nothing, singing some things and not singing some things, or just singing everything (which, rarely, if ever, happens, unfortunately). In the EF, the correct way for it to be done is, you either sing nothing or you sing everything (in terms of the actual Liturgical texts). Or at least, if for whatever reason something is not sung at an EF Mass while other things are, it is officially a Low Mass, because there’s no term to describe what we do in the OF today, with singing a few Mass parts but saying everything else. OK, I’m done.

 

[Cat]

I think the OP should know what he/she is asking for before asking for it.

Perhaps the best approach would be to go to his/her parish priest and say something like this: “I’ve visited _____ church and attended their Mass, and it’s very different than ours because they do _____. Could you please explain the differences in the all the different kinds of Masses in the Catholic Church? Thanks! BTW, I really liked ______ about that other Mass, and would love to see it done in the Masses here in my own parish–would that ever be possible? Would I be able to help in any way to help make ____ happen in our Masses–I’m willing to put in the work!”

This approach would make it obvious that the OP isn’t criticizing his/her parish priest, but asking for help and guidance instead, and volunteering to help. And it would assure the parish priest that the OP isn’t considering leaving the parish to attend another parish–this is never pleasant for any pastor to here.

OP, if you’re asking about making changes in the music in your Masses, chances are good that your parish priest will tell you it’s not likely. The style of Mass music depends on the education and experience of your parish musicians, and of course, the Music Director if you have one.

If someone has no training in a certain style of music, they will have to get the training first, and that may not be possible depending on how much money and TIME is available to the musician(s) for education. Due to the extremely low pay in many Catholic dioceses, many Catholic church musicians keep secular jobs in order to pay their bills, and the music is a secondary job. One of the posters above mentioned that it takes a YEAR for a schola to train thoroughly enough to be ready to sing–I’d say that’s realistic. What’s NOT realistic is to expect the Music Director to start doing Gregorian Chant THIS week, Right Now! Not going to happen.

 

[johnnyc176]

I have been leaving my home parish to go downtown and attend a much more beautiful (in architecture and liturgy) parish that offers a Tridentine Mass every week. (forgive me if solemn and Tridentine are not interchangeable terms)
**
I have been reading online that some parishes across the country are slowly incorporating one of these more traditional Masses into their schedule every week or month because of the growing demand by young people seeking a more intimate encounter with the liturgy of their faith.**

My parish is a round church (getting a new building soon though actually, not sure what new blueprint looks like). Members are typically older, it’s in an affluent area, and we have 2 pastors and 1 help-out priest because of the large parishioner base…however the base is mostly old and will not be around forever. The main pastor is a pretty vanilla guy. Liturgy is not orthodox (but not super weird or progressive either). He’s just very low-kewy kinda socially awkward, quiet, doesn’t rock the boat. His homilies are typically feelgoodism or videos showing how they need more money for the upcoming church building project (which drives me nuts).

I want to approach them and ask if this is something they would consider. I don’t know who to approach first though. I assume there’s some parish board that makes these decisions, but would it make more sense to contact the pastor directly? What should I say? He and others there know me because I have brought up my opinion on various things before. I fear that I will just be looked at as some nit-picky parishioner and not have any real effect.

Thoughts?

I would just say what you said in the second paragraph and add that these parishes are not replacing the OF with the EF but that they are both being celebrated. Give as examples those parishes that you found.

Also there is a very good book about the TLM called Treasure and Tradition by Lisa Bergman…

newliturgicalmovement.org/2014/11/review-of-treasure-and-tradition.html#.VRPmlfnF_DI