Is not liking the reforms in the 1960s a valid reason to not go to mass?

[ProVobis]

He’s a protestant denomination of one.

Aren’t there like 75% who don’t go?

 

[CRV]

I think that many Catholics stopped attending Mass for the same reason many Protestants stopped attending church in the 1960s–they got caught up in the turmoil of the 1960s world; e.g., Viet Nam war, “Don’t Trust Anyone Over 30,” “Free Love,” the Cold War, the struggles for Civil Rights, rock music, rebellion, and drugs.

The 1960s were called “the Sick 60s” by many people, including my parents, who were appalled at how societal norms crumbled and were replaced with protests, violence, civil unrest, addictions, and disrespect for parents, country, church, and any kind of authority.

I think a lot of Christians fell away from their churches back then …

Peeps:

while the rest of the country is burning bras, throwing molotov cocktails at cops, and “tuning in, turning on,

Agreed.

I also think that the changes to the Mass did have unintended consequences - where many did leave because of the changes. I see the same in parishes where the EF is introduced and the vehement backlash that results from this being introduced. Humans get attached to their parish Mass and do not want changes. You only have to look online and read the negative comments concerning the EF.

I also think Humanae Vitae in 1968 also played a big part, with the pill being available, & people financially struggling and not being able to reconcile this Encyclical from the Pope with not being able to financially raise lots of children when on a fixed low income - in my opinion.

Simply if for whatever reason contraceptives were used, then communion was not possible as confession was not possible as the intention was to continue to use contraception and so rather than sit in the pew week after week (with neighbours gossiping as all parishoners were local and their kids went to the same schools etc), many stopped going to Mass.

 

[Prodigal1984]

At what point in history, and I’m assuming it was in the 60s or 70s did going to Church on Sundays even become a debate? It seems it used to just be what people did.

 

[CRV]

I assume it was/is the same - loss of faith/disagreement with the Churchs teaching/the direction the Church seems/appeared to be going/life for whatever became/becomes too difficult. It was for the same reasons then as it has been since in my opinion - many and varied.

Whilst it was “just what people did” could be said the same for now - “Just what I do on Sundays” (hopefully not for such shallow reasons) but there are for some just a habit.

Example:- One relative only went to Mass so their parent didn’t have to go on their own, and once the parent was aware of this, this peson (adult living at home) stopped going to Mass altogether.

 

[Loud-living-dogma]

Finn:

Judging by the precipitous drop off in weekly Mass attendance since the reforms, a lot of Catholics feel the same way - perhaps the proportional majority.

Have you ever been involved with an Evangelical Protestant church? If so, you would know that a large percentage of Evangelical Protestants are ex-Catholics. In the churches that we attended before converting to Catholicism, at least 25% of the attendees and members were ex-Catholics.

I doubt very much that these Christians left the Catholic Church after Vatican II because they missed the Latin Mass, and then started attending a Protestant Church where Latin is non-existent and any kind of liturgy is considered “Catholic” and “not in the Bible.”

Also, I think that many Catholics stopped attending Mass for the same reason many Protestants stopped attending church in the 1960s–they got caught up in the turmoil of the 1960s world; e.g., Viet Nam war, “Don’t Trust Anyone Over 30,” “Free Love,” the Cold War, the struggles for Civil Rights, rock music, rebellion, and drugs.

The 1960s were called “the Sick 60s” by many people, including my parents, who were appalled at how societal norms crumbled and were replaced with protests, violence, civil unrest, addictions, and disrespect for parents, country, church, and any kind of authority.

I think a lot of Christians fell away from their churches back then and have never come back. It’s hard to sit in a church that had rules like “No blacks, no slacks, no tracks” and “Women must wear head coverings,” while the rest of the country is burning bras, throwing molotov cocktails at cops, and “tuning in, turning on, and dropping out.”

Maybe it’s just me, but I suspect that to say “the rest of the country” was throwing Molotov cocktails, burning bras, etc might be a tiny exaggeration. The media would like us to think that though!

 

[Peeps]

Maybe it’s just me, but I suspect that to say “the rest of the country” was throwing Molotov cocktails, burning bras, etc might be a tiny exaggeration. The media would like us to think that though!

Oh, definitely, you’re right–most people were not protesting with violence or street drugs.

But many people saw what was happening, saw their kids or other kids getting drafted to go to a war that made no sense to most Americans (and still doesn’t), heard the loud rock music on their radios and even on Ed Sullivan, watched their daughters’ skirts get shorter and shorter, grieved over the assassinations of Pres. Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, stayed away from Chicago during the race riots (I grew up in Northern Illinois, only 65 miles outside of Chicago)…

And there were the drugs–LSD, pot, uppers, downers, etc.–and pop stars and professors were telling everyone to get high.

And even our diets were changing. The “soda shoppe” was gone, replaced by chrome buildings with food wrapped in paper served immediately across a counter.

…and then they watched their churches turn “liberal”–bringing TM into the church, or introducing homosexual pastors, or teaching that the Bible should not be taken literally, and of course, seeing guitars and drum sets–oh, yes! The music wars in the Protestant churches were truly WARS, making our little music brouhahas here on CAF look like toddler tantrums! I’ve seen musicians have their sound system shut off, and the deacons or elders in the church march the musicians out the church doors. I’ve seen young men with long hair stopped at the church entrance and told that they couldn’t enter the church until they “cleaned up”–long hair on men was considered obscene by many Protestants (who were often questioned about Jesus and His Hair!).

It was an awful, awful time of collapsing society. I remember during the Chicago riots when my parents were talking in whispers about “the end of the world” and “what on earth are we going to do?” The family structure was collapsing. Many of the men who had fought in WWII and the Korean war watched their children become rebellious and there wasn’t anything these brave men could do to stop it. And many of the mothers were beginning to question why they were at home instead of out working.

So it’s no wonder that so many people stopped going to church because the church couldn’t give them answers or comfort to this upheaval in daily life.

 

[F_Marturana]

And there were the drugs–LSD, pot, uppers, downers, etc.–and pop stars and professors were telling everyone to get high.

Even Cary Grant.

 

[YourNameHere]

This is the argument that some Catholics use when they do not like the personality of a new priest or the way that priest gives sermons or something.

 

[Bataar]

After attending the Latin mass at a Fssp church for the past couple of months, I would find it very hard to return to the Novus Ordo mass. The Latin Mass just feels so much more holy and focused on God rather than the people it’s sad. Granted, regions are different and some areas do have good, holy, Novus Ordo masses, but others aren’t so lucky. Many Novus Ordo masses feel like a stage show that the priest is putting on as the director trying to get the most entertainment out of it.

 

[Prodigal1984]

What are you talking about a dragon sliding through the pews?
That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of.

 

[DiscerningCatholic02]

Not going to Mass on Sunday is always a sin. Luckily, there are several parishes that still celebrate the Tridentine Mass. Orders like the FSSP celebrate in this form exclusively and their masses count for Sunday obligation. But please don’t skip Mass

Christ’s Peace,

Joshua S.

 

[JMMJ]

Not going to Mass on Sunday is always a sin.

This isn’t true though. There are often times when it is fine to miss Mass. The biggest one that comes to my mind is when somebody is ill. I hope you didn’t mean that you think it is sinful under circumstances like that to miss. I see threads about this here at caf sometimes, so just thought we should be really clear about it.

 

[DiscerningCatholic02]

Oh yeah my bad sorry I meant when someone purposely doesn’t attend Mass. Ik there are some exceptions to the rule