How was Christmas Mass?

  • Thread starter Thread starter YoungTradCath
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
After reading these posts, I m glad that the Chreasters at my parish are reverent! Before Mass at Midnight and 8:30 a.m., everyone was so quiet. I was so happy!

Being at both Masses had a special feel to them. The Catholic Church just feels like “home.” 🙂
 
YoungTradCath said:
Well, mine was okay. I forgot what the first song was but it was half in Latin, which was an extremely unexpected but welcome surprise. The Chreasters were drowned out by the choir and the congregation, thankfully. The homily left a lot to be wanted, but I can’t expect a whole lot of the poor 83 year-old deacon. I was so looking forward to the Roman Canon, but, alas, EP 3 was used. I don’t know why, but this makes me immensely sad. Father invariably botched the Ecce Agnus Dei, he said something like, “This is the Son of Mary, the Son of God, be happy,” or something, at which I fantastically cringed. The recessional was Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Incense was used :D, real frankincense! but only for venerating the altar at the beginning 😦 :confused: The worst part was that Father spoke so softly. It was halfway between an EF secreto and an OF loud voice. One or the other please, but not halfway.

So, kind of meh. Not inspiring. It does, however, give me confidence to join the choir to expand their Latin repertoire! You?
Click to expand...
Didn’t feel like Christmas mass this year with our new priest. He watered the whole mass down. Only used incense during the blessing of the nativity. I was disappointed big time
 
TrueLight said:
Funny you asked. I was telling someone else that my two daughters were stone-faced throughout the whole thing. They kept stressing that they are not Catholic.

There were two services offered at their Protestant church, but they didn’t tell me they wanted to attend those services. So I told them since they had no intention of going to church anyway, I wanted us to go as a family.

They hate the incense, they hate the genuflections, they found the polyphonic music boring and they snoozed during the homily.

My son was much more reasonable. He goes to an Evangelical church. Even though he is over 18, he did not protest, but just seemed confused as to why I would attend this mass “thing”.

I know that I “flipped” on them, by converting, so I am mindful of that.

Out of my two daughters, I think the 14 year old is more open to Catholicism, because she has this fear of death. Sounds strange, but I think I can make more leeway in speaking to her about the state of her soul. She is also the one who says she will continue to attend her liberal church, when she is an adult.

I am concerned the 17 year old will stop attending church when she goes to college.

The 19 year old is pretty serious about God.
Click to expand...
I will pray for you. I had to teenagers(son and daughter) when I “flipped”. It was hard for a few years, but both ended up Catholic, albeit one has lapsed for a while.
 
pnewton said:
I will pray for you. I had to teenagers(son and daughter) when I “flipped”. It was hard for a few years, but both ended up Catholic, albeit one has lapsed for a while.
Click to expand...
Wow. That is so encouraging. 🙂

Did you bring them to mass with you from the beginning or did they continue to attend their church (if you were previously another religion). I might have to start a new thread.

Edited: So as to not derail the thread, I started a new thread on converts and their children.
 
Lovely, moving, lit by candle light and full of joy! We went to the 11pm Lessons and Carols and then attended the Midnight Mass. Hoping everyone here enjoyed their Christmas.
Blessings!
 
It was nice. I went at 9:30 Christmas morning. I got in right after the sign of the cross so I missed the opening hymn. We sung Silent Night, Away in a Manger, Nativity Carol (I think is what it was called), and Joy to the World as the recessional. I don’t remember what we sang during the collection. We just have a piano to accompany. I thought they all sounded nice. But I am not super picky about music.

We had incense which I like a lot. The homily was good.

This is my first Christmas as a Catholic and I am just happy to receive our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Music and such doesn’t matter a great deal to me.

Merry Christmas everyone!
 
Overall, quite good. What really stood out was the Choir. Previous years had us subjected to “Mary Did You Know?” and a lot of Haugen-Haas. This time though, a music professor from the nearby university led the choir through some outstanding works. Very pleased!

The Mass itself showed the continuing struggle in
Our parish between the old translation and the new. The good Monsignor resorted to using Eucharistic Prayer 2, which was disappointing. The Deacon gave an adequate, decent homily. surprisingly, the church was not completely full.

The best part was being with my family. Since my diagnosis with myasthenia gravis two years ago and the near-death last year, I cherish such times. Thank you, God.
 
There’s nothing like starting off Christmas Mass with anything other than “O Come, All Ye Faithful”. 🙂
 
was beautiful & for all you “critics” of homilies, give it a try preparing them then giving them to a congregation filled with critics, yawners, sleepers … maybe you’ll be a bit kinder, gentler.
oh, I forgot Christmas wishes are over, well lets hope the new year brings a bunch of supporters…
 
YoungTradCath said:
I’m sorry. The priest has good intention, but it is very wrong and backwards to vest an non-ordained man or boy in a vestment proper to an ordained man. That creates confusion in the congregation and inevitably leads to false assumptions, such as more of that, “I didn’t know Vatican II changed…” or, “That deacon looks young.”
Click to expand...
Perhaps the good pastor had in mind the notion of a
“straw-subdeacon”. Though a tunicle would have been better, the dalmatic may have been the only garment on hand.

wdtprs.com/blog/2011/01/quaeritur-of-subdeacons-and-tunics/#
 
I was pleasantly surprised with the midnight Mass I attended at my cousins parish, which is about 80 miles from me. He and his wife hosted the Christmas Eve family event so we all decided to go his parish for Mass. (They are both “hit and miss Catholics” and don’t attend regularly.) My previous visits to this church left me dismayed as the masses were always waaaaaaaaaay too modern for me, too much guitar music, very little reverence, etc. etc.

It’s as if the parish had done a 180* turn around since the last time I was there 2 or 3 years ago:
The communion rail is BACK in place. All MALE servers. Traditional organ music and hymns/carols. The clutter in the sanctuary is all gone. It was 99% silence before the Mass began. People were appropriately dressed. The decorations were simple and tasteful. An overwhelming amount of people followed the new responses. The reverence is back. The flow during communioun was brilliantly directed by the ushers.

Everything about the Mass was exceptional…from the entrance of placing the Child in the crib to the very last verse of Hark! The Hearld Angels Sing." as the recessional. Very poignant homily and exceptional “Prayers of the Faithful”.

They have a NEW PASTOR who has (evidently!) restored sanity and reverence in the past few years. BRAVO !!!

I’m still in shock.
 
mozier said:
Perhaps the good pastor had in mind the notion of a
“straw-subdeacon”. Though a tunicle would have been better, the dalmatic may have been the only garment on hand.

wdtprs.com/blog/2011/01/quaeritur-of-subdeacons-and-tunics/#
Click to expand...
Yeah but subdeacons are only used in EF masses. And a subdeacon is always ordained. A non-ordained man cannot step in for a subdeacon. If there is no subdeacon, then a deacon or a priest steps in in his place.
 
YoungTradCath said:
Yeah but subdeacons are only used in EF masses. And a subdeacon is always ordained. A non-ordained man cannot step in for a subdeacon. If there is no subdeacon, then a deacon or a priest steps in in his place.
Click to expand...
Well yes, but that is what a straw-subdeacon is, a non-ordained man filling in the position. And though they are only used in the EF Mass, I could not help but consider their use in the OF as well. Since the position has aleays been the exception rather than the norm, I would not see it as a serious liturgical abuse if use in such a Mass as one done at Christmas, just one that has some precedent with roots in the EF, and leave it at that. But that is my take on it.

wdtprs.com/blog/2011/04/quaeritur-tlm-straw-subdeacon/
 
mozier said:
Well yes, but that is what a straw-subdeacon is, a non-ordained man filling in the position. And though they are only used in the EF Mass, I could not help but consider their use in the OF as well. Since the position has aleays been the exception rather than the norm, I would not see it as a serious liturgical abuse if use in such a Mass as one done at Christmas, just one that has some precedent with roots in the EF, and leave it at that. But that is my take on it.

wdtprs.com/blog/2011/04/quaeritur-tlm-straw-subdeacon/
Click to expand...
Hm. Touche (at least about using them in the EF).

But even if we accept this, it is still not right to vest an altar boy in a dalmatic, unless he is substituting for a subdeacon in the EF. In this situation he was not. He was simply acting as an altar boy, a special one as it were, but an altar boy nonetheless. The mass was an OF mass, which never uses subdeacons in the first place. In neither Form do acolytes, or whatever they shall be called, vest in dalmatics, unless, as I concede, in the EF an acolyte substitutes for a subdeacon. They wear cassocks and surplices or, failing that, albs and cinctures.

The only time I can possibly see an altar boy wearing a dalmatic is when, as in the EF, he substitutes for the acolyte who substitutes for the subdeacon. That’s all I get from that WDTPRS article. This would never happen in the OF because there are no subdeacons in the OF so there is no reason to have someone substitute for a subdeacon or, as we are talking about here, substitute for the substitute for the subdeacon.

I really can’t grasp this concept of an altar boy wearing a dalmatic in the OF, because there is no possible way that an altar boy can act in the place of an ordained minster in the OF. The article talks about a Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei letter from 1993 that says that a non-ordained non-instituted-acolyte altar boy may substitute for a non-ordained instituted acolyte who may substitute for an ordained subdeacon in a Solemn Mass, and it is therefore reasonable to assume that if this happens then the altar boy wears a dalmatic. However, this only pertains to the EF, not the OF, as there exists no such thing as a Solemn Mass or anyone called a subdeacon to have to substitute for in the first place in the OF.

So it is therefore impossible for an altar boy to ever wear a dalmatic in the OF. Even instituted acolytes only wear albs.

Excuse my word jumble.
 
TrueLight said:
Okay, I’m going to say something that might rub some people wrong.

My son sort of has OCD and scrupolosity, if they can be differentiated.

I have thought about witnessing more to him about Catholicism. But I believe it will encourage his scrupulosity. From what I have seen on here, it is very easy to be scrupulous as a Catholic.

At this stage, I more prefer that he be at peace, trying to serve God the best that he can, than to be worried that everything is a sin.
Click to expand...
TL: I also suffer from OCD/scrupulosity and had suffered with it for years before I became Catholic–when I entered the Catholic Church I brought the disorder with me, of course.
But being Catholic has actually helped free me from this disorder: for one thing, the Catholic Church has a pretty good understanding of how this disorder manifests itself , and many, if not most priests, can recognize it when it shows its face in the confessional.

The great thing about Catholicism is that it has a long tradition of spiritual direction–and for the person who suffers from scrupulosity/OCD, having a competent spiritual director/confessor can be one of the most powerful ways of untangling the mess this makes in a person’s head…

having said all that, I think you are wise to allow your son the space he needs to find his own way–you are right that the change to Catholicism can intensify the problem if the person doesn’t understand the disorder or how to live with it…
 
martininthefiel said:
The subdeacon’s vestment is called a tunicle not a dalmatic.
Click to expand...
Though the two are nearly identical, and in some cases, they are the same vestment, just serving two different purposes. (The deacon puts on one, and it becomes a dalmatic for that Mass. The Subdeacon put on the other one just like it, and voila! It’s a tunicle!)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top