Lifeteen Mass - Why Are They Given A Pass on Reverence?

[Chris-WA]

I try to avoid Lifeteen Mass on Sunday night if at all possible, but sometimes it’s my only option when my kids have soccer games on Sunday mornings/afternoons. I actually feel embarrassed when I’m at a Lifeteen Mass with my wife and kids. The music is like going to a rock concert–very loud, totally irreverent (my 10 year old twins were covering their ears with their hands during the music it was so loud). Almost all the teens show up dressed as if they are going to the movies or a fast food joint. There was no kneeling during the consecration–everyone stands. During the consecration the priest invites all the teens to stand in front of the altar. I’ve never seen this done at any other Mass.

It appears to me that in some misguided effort to make the Mass more appealing to teens, we have cheapened and scrapped reverence in favor of entertainment. We have a standard in our family that because Mass is important and because we actually encounter Christ there, we treat it as important by dressing up a little–no jeans or flip flops or tennis shoes. My daughters are probably the only girls there wearing dresses. My sons are pretty much the only boys there wearing collared shirts and slacks. My kids actually feel uncomfortable at Lifeteen Mass because they are the only kids dressed like this. Am I going nuts or does nobody care about this kind of stuff anymore?

Overall I would say that Lifeteen takes great liberties that were never intended for the Mass. It feels cheap, dumbed down, and irreverent. I really can’t believe that our Chruch allows this to happen. What is going on?

 

[Melchior_1]

I try to avoid Lifeteen Mass on Sunday night if at all possible, but sometimes it’s my only option when my kids have soccer games on Sunday mornings/afternoons. I actually feel embarrassed when I’m at a Lifeteen Mass with my wife and kids. The music is like going to a rock concert–very loud, totally irreverent (my 10 year old twins were covering their ears with their hands during the music it was so loud). Almost all the teens show up dressed as if they are going to the movies or a fast food joint. There was no kneeling during the consecration–everyone stands. During the consecration the priest invites all the teens to stand in front of the altar. I’ve never seen this done at any other Mass.

It appears to me that in some misguided effort to make the Mass more appealing to teens, we have cheapened and scrapped reverence in favor of entertainment. We have a standard in our family that because Mass is important and because we actually encounter Christ there, we treat it as important by dressing up a little–no jeans or flip flops or tennis shoes. My daughters are probably the only girls there wearing dresses. My sons are pretty much the only boys there wearing collared shirts and slacks. My kids actually feel uncomfortable at Lifeteen Mass because they are the only kids dressed like this. Am I going nuts or does nobody care about this kind of stuff anymore?

Overall I would say that Lifeteen takes great liberties that were never intended for the Mass. It feels cheap, dumbed down, and irreverent. I really can’t believe that our Chruch allows this to happen. What is going on?

Because all Life Teen Masses are like this ALL THE TIME! Just like all Masses are clown Masses thanks to that youtube video!

Actually, they aren’t. At my Church the volume is reasonable, the priests are solid, the teens are reverent and modestly dressed. People kneel when they’re supposed to. It’s like any other Mass, just with different music.

It’s been that way for a few years now.

 

[BigFellaMick]

That’s the problem with trying to change the Mass from divine tradition to a worldy presence. The more they make a concert of it, the more it makes mockery of the Lord. If they want a rock concert instead of worshiping our Lord and Savior than they can go to a protestant service

 

[purplesunshine]

Most of the churches that do this had a problem with obedience FAR before any Lifeteen program was put in place.

If your local LT program is still gathering on the alter please contact LT headquarters in Mesa, AZ. Lifeteen hq has been extremely obedint to the rules from the magesterium. Going near/around the alter was explicitaly banned in 2003 and LT issued a statment in 2004 that any parish doing it could automatically loose their LT status.

Same with ANY irreverance during peace/communion/consecration. Lt hq has sent many letters and made it very clear at CORE training that anything but deep devotion will not be tolerated.

Music shouldn’t be overly loud…but that should be a parisoner feedback thing. As far as dress…well, as long as its not scandlous then tough. Atleast the teens are attending Mass.

 

[Chris-WA]

Actually, they aren’t. At my Church the volume is reasonable, the priests are solid, the teens are reverent and modestly dressed. People kneel when they’re supposed to. It’s like any other Mass, just with different music.

It’s been that way for a few years now.

You’re lucky! If we had that going on in our parish I would actually feel comfortable taking my kids to a Lifeteen mass.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Just a question.

Who defines “reverence”?

 

[ConstantineTG]

Just a question.

Who defines “reverence”?

You beat me to asking the question, Bro. David.

 

[Melchior_1]

You’re lucky! If we had that going on in our parish I would actually feel comfortable taking my kids to a Lifeteen mass.

It’s not luck, it’s because we have good people who run the program and a great parish. God works through Life Teen to do great things, but it’s still up to the people that run it.

Talk to your priest, and contact LT HQ. I contacted them a couple of times myself with some questions, and they answered them fine.

 

[YoungTradCath]

It doesn’t happen at my parish, but I’m sure it’s frustrating to people whose parishes it does happen at. I really don’t understand how we here at CAF can just ask, “Who defines reverence?” Reverence means to treat with or show respect for. Many people on this board say, “Oh, be charitable!” That gets to me, because it shows that people think that “charity” means “giving the benefit of the doubt,” which it does not. It’s more charitable, in my opinion, to correct obvious acts of and situations of irreverence than it is to just put up with them due to a sense of pseudo-charity. I really think it’s time to put a foot down… charitably, of course.

 

[Chris-WA]

That’s the problem with trying to change the Mass from divine tradition to a worldy presence. The more they make a concert of it, the more it makes mockery of the Lord. If they want a rock concert instead of worshiping our Lord and Savior than they can go to a protestant service

I would say that one of the aims of worship at the Mass is to take the spiritual out into the world to transform it. I guess you could say that a poorly done Lifeteen Mass does just the opposite–it brings the secular from the world into the Mass in an attempt to make the Mass more worldly and thus more palatable to secular tastes.

 

[Pope_Pius_X]

I try to avoid Lifeteen Mass on Sunday night if at all possible, but sometimes it’s my only option when my kids have soccer games on Sunday mornings/afternoons. I actually feel embarrassed when I’m at a Lifeteen Mass with my wife and kids. The music is like going to a rock concert–very loud, totally irreverent (my 10 year old twins were covering their ears with their hands during the music it was so loud). Almost all the teens show up dressed as if they are going to the movies or a fast food joint. There was no kneeling during the consecration–everyone stands. During the consecration the priest invites all the teens to stand in front of the altar. I’ve never seen this done at any other Mass.

It appears to me that in some misguided effort to make the Mass more appealing to teens, we have cheapened and scrapped reverence in favor of entertainment. We have a standard in our family that because Mass is important and because we actually encounter Christ there, we treat it as important by dressing up a little–no jeans or flip flops or tennis shoes. My daughters are probably the only girls there wearing dresses. My sons are pretty much the only boys there wearing collared shirts and slacks. My kids actually feel uncomfortable at Lifeteen Mass because they are the only kids dressed like this. Am I going nuts or does nobody care about this kind of stuff anymore?

Overall I would say that Lifeteen takes great liberties that were never intended for the Mass. It feels cheap, dumbed down, and irreverent. I really can’t believe that our Chruch allows this to happen. What is going on?

Dear Chris-WA,

Cordial and Blessed greetings!

Your question is a good one, and I agree with your assesment. Many of the Lifeteen masses are done poorly, and this one is quite like the one at my church. The same feeling of irreverence and novelty, as well as cheapness, is present. I attribute this to the attitude present, which seems to be that we are “making Catholicism appeling to the youth”. However, this is a modernist understanding of the issue (modernism has infected the ‘Lifeteen’ program emencly), as the true religion is not based on our feelings, but on the reality of the Headship of Christ through His Church. Thus, it is us that must make ourselves appeling to Christ by making sure the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is said properly, keeping free from it all the liturgicle abuse that infects it and by living our lives according to the will of God…This is what attracts young people to Catholicism. Not to mention the sometimes less than revrent music, which is mostly writen with an overly simplistic view of theology, or is just plain bad (and sometimes funny bad, lol).

Beause many young people and young adults are caught up in the novelty and modernism of the concilular Church, these examples of irreverence and indifference will continue to occur. Lifeteen is not all bad, in fact I have had some good experences with it, however it is a being sick with the modernistic flu. Prayer for an end to crimes against the Eucharist would sufice.

BTW, have you ever thought of attending a TLM with your faimly? If you love the Eucharist and revrence for Our Lord, you will feel right at home…

God Bless & Salve Regina!

In Christ,
-Pope Pius X

 

[Pope_Pius_X]

It doesn’t happen at my parish, but I’m sure it’s frustrating to people whose parishes it does happen at. I really don’t understand how we here at CAF can just ask, “Who defines reverence?” Reverence means to treat with or show respect for. Many people on this board say, “Oh, be charitable!” That gets to me, because it shows that people think that “charity” means “giving the benefit of the doubt,” which it does not. It’s more charitable, in my opinion, to correct obvious acts of and situations of irreverence than it is to just put up with them due to a sense of pseudo-charity. I really think it’s time to put a foot down… charitably, of course.

Right on! To charitably correct your brother is to do an act of charity…All fedelity toward Christ! Even if it means sometimes having to not be so nice, and having to step on some toes to fight modernism!

God Bless & Salve Regina!

 

[Chris-WA]

It doesn’t happen at my parish, but I’m sure it’s frustrating to people whose parishes it does happen at. I really don’t understand how we here at CAF can just ask, “Who defines reverence?” Reverence means to treat with or show respect for. Many people on this board say, “Oh, be charitable!” That gets to me, because it shows that people think that “charity” means “giving the benefit of the doubt,” which it does not. It’s more charitable, in my opinion, to correct obvious acts of and situations of irreverence than it is to just put up with them due to a sense of pseudo-charity. I really think it’s time to put a foot down… charitably, of course.

Thanks for saying that. I doubt the Church sees reverence as relative, even though many Catholics do. I do think we have allowed a lack of reverence to creep into our liturgies, which is probably a result of badly enacted reforms from Vatican II. Many people interpreted the reforms of Vatican II to open the flood gates on what is acceptable for liturgy, but this was never the intention of those reforms, as evidenced by the GIRM which seeks to clarify norms and correct widespread abuses. Some parishes, though, haven’t gotten the message yet, or simply choose to ignore it. It all comes down to education, respect, and a sense of humility, all of which often seem to be lacking in these cases.

 

[ConstantineTG]

It doesn’t happen at my parish, but I’m sure it’s frustrating to people whose parishes it does happen at. I really don’t understand how we here at CAF can just ask, “Who defines reverence?” Reverence means to treat with or show respect for. Many people on this board say, “Oh, be charitable!” That gets to me, because it shows that people think that “charity” means “giving the benefit of the doubt,” which it does not. It’s more charitable, in my opinion, to correct obvious acts of and situations of irreverence than it is to just put up with them due to a sense of pseudo-charity. I really think it’s time to put a foot down… charitably, of course.

But again, who defines reverence? Is one act by itself reverent?

 

[ConstantineTG]

Thanks for saying that. I doubt the Church sees reverence as relative, even though many Catholics do. I do think we have allowed a lack of reverence to creep into our liturgies, which is probably a result of badly enacted reforms from Vatican II. Many people interpreted the reforms of Vatican II to open the flood gates on what is acceptable for liturgy, but this was never the intention of those reforms, as evidenced by the GIRM which seeks to clarify norms and correct widespread abuses. Some parishes, though, haven’t gotten the message yet, or simply choose to ignore it. It all comes down to education, respect, and a sense of humility, all of which often seem to be lacking in these cases.

Reverence is actually relative.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Right on! To charitably correct your brother is to do an act of charity…All fedelity toward Christ! Even if it means sometimes having to not be so nice, and having to step on some toes to fight modernism!

God Bless & Salve Regina!

Again, wrong. When correcting someone we should do so in the love of God. Rubbing someone in their face with their error not only is wrong, it doesn’t accomplish the correction you intend to happen. Because they are offended by your “not so nice” action, the more likely they will reject your efforts at correction.

 

[YoungTradCath]

But again, who defines reverence? Is one act by itself reverent?

If I bow to you, that’s reverence. If I kneel to you, that’s reverence. So yes.

Reverence is actually relative.

I disagree.

 

[YoungTradCath]

Again, wrong. When correcting someone we should do so in the love of God. Rubbing someone in their face with their error not only is wrong, it doesn’t accomplish the correction you intend to happen. Because they are offended by your “not so nice” action, the more likely they will reject your efforts at correction.

While I disagree with the poster as well in the sense that we should not be nice, I do agree that “stepping on some toes” is needed.

 

[ConstantineTG]

If I bow to you, that’s reverence. If I kneel to you, that’s reverence. So yes.

No. People can bow in mockery. Also, when I’m making bread and reaching for the flour at the bottom of the pantry, I kneel on the floor. Am I giving reverence to the flour?

I disagree.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But fact is, relevance is relative. One act can mean something to someone whereas the same act can mean another thing to someone else. Just think of cultural norms and see that things that might be viewed as respectful or polite in American culture may not necessarily be respectful or polite in another culture.

While I disagree with the poster as well in the sense that we should not be nice, I do agree that “stepping on some toes” is needed.

No, it is not. It is important to look in your heart and see what your intention. Jesus, for example, never sought to step on other people’s toes. They were offended not because Jesus sought to offend them, but because they cannot accept the truth of Christ. Some people just love rubbing it in the face of others. Or some would think, “it doesn’t matter if you get hurt, its the truth.” If we act accordingly with the love of God, which is the love of others, then that is how we should act. If in spite of this others get hurt, then its their problem. Its not because we thought of stepping on other people’s toes.

 

[Chris-WA]

BTW, have you ever thought of attending a TLM with your faimly? If you love the Eucharist and revrence for Our Lord, you will feel right at home…

I’m sure I would appreciate a TLM very much, but I also feel that I should be able to attend any Mass at my local parish without having to be subjected to loud, obnoxious music, liturgical abuses, etc. (If I wanted to shop around for churches that meet my personal tastes I would be Protestant). Overall I think my parish has a mostly reverent attitude towards the Mass. It’s just the Lifeteen Mass that seems to be off the reservation. What I don’t understand is how our priests can stand it.

There is an attitude of compromise out there that says, “Well, at least the teenagers are coming to Mass.” I find that a bit sad. If we have found ourselves in a situation where teens will only come to Mass if we change the Mass to suit their need to be entertained, then there is something seriously wrong going on. My personal opinion is that families should attend Mass together whenever physically possible, and therefore there should be no need for special Masses for teens. I guess if parents don’t set the expectation early on, and reinforce it by their own example that going to Mass every week is more important than the football game or shopping, then they are more likely to experience problems with this later on. Maybe all of this is a result of setting the bar so low that now we need some sort of special enticement to get teens to go to church.

I have six kids (two of them teenagers). They know that going to church on Sunday is just expected (always has been). Like any teenager, they don’t always like it, but they know it’s non-negotiable. Not only that, but we also set the expectation from the very beginning that we dress up a little for Mass as a way of showing respect and acknowleding the importance of the Sabbath and keeping it holy. We’ve been doing this so long that it’s just accepted now.