Masses back east seem just fine, no?

[thunderballs75]

I just got back east from a long vacation I took this whole past month. I noticed one thing: Every Mass I went to was reverent! In the Ordinary Form! Maybe it was just because I went to cathedrals. But honestly, the Masses celebrated this way seemed perfectly fine to me. The only instrument I ever heard there was organ. The solemnity was kept. Silence in the Churches. No clapping, hand-holding, laughing, anything like that.

Although I am a big Latin Mass guy, this has changed my perspective a little bit. Of course it was a step down to come back to the hippie Mass today, and I’d just as much love to see a Latin Mass everywhere. But I think that the OF is just fine when celebrated in such a solemn manner as I’ve seen. What do you guys think?

 

[Blessed_Karl]

Agreed with much of what you say.
But I just love the prayers and stuff that are not really seen in the OF. Also the fact that ad orientem, communion while kneeling, and other things are usually left out is something that I wish was not so. Mass is always beautiful because the Lord is present there. But I think that mass must always strive for a sense of the sacred. I have been to OF masses with a sense of hte sacred. But nevertheless I tend to move towards the EF anyway for alot of the above reasons. But I am glad you hasd a beautiful experience when you were away from home and felt a senese of the sacred where you were.

 

[Timothysis]

Your experience seems to reflect that of many here. While there are some celebrations that are lacking, many are just fine. The “clown Mass” and “polka Mass” experiences that we read about here are much more urban myth than truth. Believe it or not, the bishops of today are a much better lot than those of the 80’s; I really think that we are seeing a turn of the wheel.

 

[Corki]

I think it is a matter of saturation. I too, just came back from a vacation back east. I attended Mass in regular parish Churches, not cathedrals. The Masses, with one small exception, were GIRM perfect.

But here in my part of the diocese, it seems that every parish has it’s own rebellious nature and it is hard to find a Mass that hasn’t incorporated some novelty if not outright abuse. The only GIRM perfect Masses I have seen here at “home” were ones with the Cardinal as celebrant.

I think good, reverent Masses exist almost everywhere but while they are common in some vicinities, they are scarce in others.

 

[tcraig]

Isn’t it ironic how every parish except your own seems to have a reverent, orthodox liturgy?

We were in San Diego in May. I was expecting the goofy, hippy-style NO/OF masses that I’ve heard so much about. Instead the church we attended (chosen at random for its proximity) was orthodox and reverent. The music was incredible, beautiful organ and choir and sacred hymns. The priest gave a wonderful homily.

Now, I’m “east” of California, in Georgia, and the local masses around me are a mess. Rock music, ad-libbed liturgies, clapping for everything, etc. It’s so bad that we drive an hour each way to attend the TLM/EF.

To me right now, California looks pretty good!

 

[thunderballs75]

To me right now, California looks pretty good!

Haha, not if you live in my diocese. Even the enormous archdiocese of Los Angeles is terrible, which is run by a Cardinal (who isn’t exactly the most morally rigid man either). I’m surprised that San Diego was good.

 

[brigid12]

I entered the Church in San Diego area and went to a number of parishes there to “evaluate”. From the ones I visited, the San Diego diocese seemed one of the more liturgically reverent (and even doctrinally) correct on this coast. As I traveled north (both within and outside of California)…