Ok, so, I have decided to attend mass next Sunday...need more advice

[fmagill]

I mean, doing that much couldnt hurt right? If my parents find out I’m just going to say i “want to see what its about”. My mom certainly won’t mind that, in fact she was saying she’d like to go to a Russian Orthodox service sometime (“Just to see what it is about” lol)

Anyway here’s the deal, sometimes we would attend mass in my Dad’s parents town during Christmastime (where everyone is catholic), but its been like a few years since Ive been to one. All I really remember was that presenting youself for communion as a non catholic is a no-no, as is reciting the Nicene creed? idk, I do remember kneeling down a lot for a long time, and how beautiful the church looked., and wondering why our church wasnt elaborate like that

So yea, what if any, directions/advice should I get before going to mass?

Praise the Lord for inspiring you to do this! Everyone has given good advice, nothing I can add except to say, as a convert and therefore only a 4-year old Catholic (despite 55 years on the calendar), any Mass you attend is going to be a good experience for you, given your motivation. Try all three, TLM, Eastern and Latin rites. As others have said, once you understand what’s going on, you’ll be ready to go from there.

 

[paperwight]

See post #25

i have done so, but unfortunately am none the wiser.

Can you explain what’s the ‘huge difference’ you believe exists between ‘and also with you’ versus ‘and with thy spirit’ please?. If it’s to do with the priest being in persona Christi, shouldn’t ‘thy’ be ‘Thy’, by the way?

And also enlarge on your assertion ‘can lead to ignorance of Doctrine’. What doctrine, exactly? I don’t find an explanation in post 25.

 

[jmcrae]

Before Vatican II the Roman rite Mass was the same everywhere in the world, thus it shared the mark “one”.

You still had the Melkites and the Byzantines, didn’t you? Or were they not to be considered members of the Church, at that time?

We are “one” because we are in communion with the Pope; not because we all celebrate the Mass in the same language. (However, if everyone in the world celebrated the OF in English, we would, once again, be “one” according to that particular standard. )

 

[shuzo1189]

You still had the Melkites and the Byzantines, didn’t you? Or were they not to be considered members of the Church, at that time?

We are “one” because we are in communion with the Pope; not because we all celebrate the Mass in the same language. (However, if everyone in the world celebrated the OF in English, we would, once again, be “one” according to that particular standard. )

I think he was alluding to the fact that Pre-Vatican II a Latin Rite Catholic could Attend a Mass in Vietnam, Kenya, The Netherlands and the USA and would still know exactly what was going on by being united in a non vernacular language that knows no border or country, and was regulated by very strict Rubrics to help reduce liturgical abuses.

That being said i would encourage the OP to go to a mass where there is reverence. And since the OP comes from an Orthodox Background I would hope that a Ukrainian Catholic Church would be in the area close to where the OP lives.

 

[jmcrae]

I think he was alluding to the fact that Pre-Vatican II a Latin Rite Catholic could Attend a Mass in Vietnam, Kenya, The Netherlands and the USA and would still know exactly what was going on by being united in a non vernacular language that knows no border or country, and was regulated by very strict Rubrics to help reduce liturgical abuses.

That being said i would encourage the OP to go to a mass where there is reverence. And since the OP comes from an Orthodox Background I would hope that a Ukrainian Catholic Church would be in the area close to where the OP lives.

I have attended OF Masses in languages I didn’t understand, and because of the common liturgy, I was able to know what prayers were being said, without having to understand the language. I still knew exactly when to kneel, sit, and stand, because I know the Mass - not because I know the language.

 

[Tezza]

I hope this poor guy still wants to go to Mass after all of this.

 

[ProVobis]

He might also be speaking complete nonsense, if he doesn’t know Latin very well. There are people who think that the terms “abra-cadabra” and “hocus-pocus” come from people listening to priests who didn’t know enough Latin to say the Mass correctly.

Right. And they bring in their magic wands to perform consecrations too.

 

[ProVobis]

ProVobis;5103031:

Meanwhile the people attending the OF upstairs were responding “and also with you” without a clue as to what they were saying.

QUOTE.

Oh yes? And how do you know that, then? Bit of a sneer, wasn’t it?

No more of a sneer than to what I was responding.

 

[ProVobis]

paperwight;5110049:

No, the accurate translation is NOT “and also with you”, it’s “and with thy spirit”. Huge difference, and can lead to ignorance of Doctrine.

Precisely my point.

 

[ProVobis]

(However, if everyone in the world celebrated the OF in English, we would, once again, be “one” according to that particular standard. )

Why not Italian, as the Pope frequently uses?

 

[I_Believe]

i have done so, but unfortunately am none the wiser.

Can you explain what’s the ‘huge difference’ you believe exists between ‘and also with you’ versus ‘and with thy spirit’ please?. If it’s to do with the priest being in persona Christi, shouldn’t ‘thy’ be ‘Thy’, by the way?

And also enlarge on your assertion ‘can lead to ignorance of Doctrine’. What doctrine, exactly? I don’t find an explanation in post 25.

I used Thy the first time, the second was a typo. Just as yours was ? Usually Doctrine is capitalized.

Yes, In persona Christi is what I meant as explained in the post. It’s Doctrine.

 

[I_Believe]

Well congratulations to everyone who is bickering in here. You just set a fine example of christian charity. If I was the one who made up my mind to go to mass and asked for some advice and came back & read this I would say forget it. What was I thinking? This young person came for some support and gentle guidance. Don’t exstinguish the fire that God has lit in this person’s soul. Whether you realize or not that is exactly what is being done. The only thing that is being accomplished right now is that you are adding confusion-let God do His work…In God’s time & God’s way. Whether one has more affection for the TLM or the NO is irrevelant…both are available to us and are in accordance with Rome. And if you do not recognize Pope Benedict as the Holy Father of the Catholic church, then quite simply you are not catholic.

I see your point, but you see, starting with post 8, the misleading info started rolling in. I have to wonder if the author of post 8 has ever attended a single TLM after reading the post. Yet as so often happens here, those who have not attended one, feel free to steer some away from it. Another form of suppression of the Gregorian Rite.

We also have those here that pop in on a Traditional Catholicism forum and attempt to steer the OP away from the Latin Rite, which the OP clearly indicated was what he was inquiring about. Again, suppression.

As far as my initial post, I mentioned what to expect here on this forum. I don’t feel dispelling myths is uncharitable. Like I said, I saw what was coming after reading post # 8. The author of that post has unceasingly promoted the idea that the TLM is theatrical, and choreographed. The TLM is not a production, it is the Highest Prayer of Holy Mother Church, and it’s prayed while adhering to strict rubrics. When the TLM is insulted, I won’t remain silent.

 

[I_Believe]

I_Believe;5110086:

Precisely my point.

You messed up the quote, attributing my words to paperweight, but noted anyway

 

[paperwight]

I used Thy the first time, the second was a typo. Just as yours was ? Usually Doctrine is capitalized.

Yes, In persona Christi is what I meant as explained in the post. It’s Doctrine.

Sorry, I seem to have caused some confusion here. I ought to have made my irony clearer.
My point was, if we are addressing the priest as in persona Christi at the points at which we ‘greet’ the priest by responding to his ‘the Lord be with you’, (as opposed to when he is pronouncing the words of consecration), then our response should be ‘and with Thy spirit’, or ‘cum spiritu Tuo’ . But it is not written like that. It is lower-case ‘tuo’. So we are addressing/greeting the priest as human, not divine, are we not?

And I don’t think it’s correct to say that ‘doctrine’ is usally capitalised. It’s not in my Catholic Dictionary published with Nihil obstat and Imprimatur in 1950, so presumably quite orthodox (with lower-case ‘o’).

 

[I_Believe]

Sorry, I seem to have caused some confusion here. I ought to have made my irony clearer.
My point was, if we are addressing the priest as in persona Christi at the points at which we ‘greet’ the priest by responding to his ‘the Lord be with you’, (as opposed to when he is pronouncing the words of consecration), then our response should be ‘and with Thy spirit’, or ‘cum spiritu Tuo’ . But it is not written like that. It is lower-case ‘tuo’. So we are addressing/greeting the priest as human, not divine, are we not?

And I don’t think it’s correct to say that ‘doctrine’ is usally capitalised. It’s not in my Catholic Dictionary published with Nihil obstat and Imprimatur in 1950, so presumably quite orthodox (with lower-case ‘o’).

Well, let’s agree it’s a bad translation. The Church does too, and is going to change it.

 

[Jenny_Z]

I hope this poor guy still wants to go to Mass after all of this.

Yeah I had a PM chat going with him, but haven’t had an answer in a few days… I think you guys scared him off. Hopefully he took my advice to take this forum with a grain for salt for exactly the stuff going on in this thread.

 

[rosepetals]

I was baptized a Catholic, but not brought up with any religious training. I have recently come to the Catholic Church, am attending mass, and I find it all very wonderful and mysterious the way I am being led by the Lord.

I joined this forum, and spent most of my time in the ‘Apologist’ section. Many questions that I have were already asked and answered there. I then came across this thread, and found the first page to be very uplifting, but the rest of the thread wasn’t very helpful to us newbies.

I would like to thank Lainey63 for post #6, you mention that God inspires us to go to Church, we should graciously accept, and thank Him for the invite when we leave. This brought tears to my eyes, for I finally feel I have a home in the RCC. I would also like to thank Cazayoux for post #15 for the link to The Mass. I get confused during Mass, and I have printed this out. I will be atttending the RCIA soon.

I understand there is much to debate when people know alot, but it is overwhelming to new folks like us.

God Bless,
Angie

 

[ConflictedBoy]

Yeah I had a PM chat going with him, but haven’t had an answer in a few days… I think you guys scared him off. Hopefully he took my advice to take this forum with a grain for salt for exactly the stuff going on in this thread.

Hi everyone, its ok, i am very serious about this so no, no one scared me off. I’ve read enough to be well aware that the changes brought about by Vatican II are quite controversial for a number of reasons. If anything you’re all helping me because these are things I think I should know. Thank you all for being concerned with this.

 

[Lainey63]

That’s a relief to know conflictedboy. If you don’t mind come back and tell us what your thoughts are after you go to mass. Also, you don’t sound frazzled at all by this “lively debate” that has been going on, have you been doing any research on your own about the Catholic Church, the history etc?

 

[ConflictedBoy]

That’s a relief to know conflictedboy. If you don’t mind come back and tell us what your thoughts are after you go to mass. Also, you don’t sound frazzled at all by this “lively debate” that has been going on, have you been doing any research on your own about the Catholic Church, the history etc?

Quite a bit acually, its all too fascinating to ignore.