Question for families who attend the Tridentine Mass

[maryceleste]

We’re thinking about attending the Traditional Latin Mass more often, but it would require travelling to another diocese – so we probably wouldn’t be able to do so every Sunday, let alone weekdays.

If your family is in this situation – sometimes attending the TLM, and sometimes the “Novus Ordo” – how do you deal with the differences when you’re teaching your little ones about the mass? Do you have two sets of mass books, etc.? Do you think they find this confusing?

Also, when you celebrate saints’ feast days, etc., at home, do you go by the traditional calendar, or the modern one, or a combination of the two?

Please help… this is making my head hurt! :whacky:

 

[Consecrated]

I, too, have pondered this questions, but since we are no longer able to go to TLM, the question, for now, is moot…
BUT, i think that children are smarter than we give them credit for. I think that if they are old enough to follow a simple children’s missal, they will do just fine, even switching between the two Masses, ya know? After all, even adults do much better at following a TLM if they have a missal. I think even (or maybe especially) children will be able to see how the two Masses have the same Sacrament. SO the question is where to find a TLM children’s missal. I found these two websites:
promultis.com/missals.php
sacramentals.com/Latin%20Mass%20Missals.htm
(To find the listings you’re looking for, do a page search for “children’s”)

I have to write to the suppliers to get more information on exactly what age the books are geared to, but they look beautiful, and a good thing!

Anyway, sorry I don’t have more concrete advice for you… just wanted you to know you’re not alone in your :whacky: !

 

[maryceleste]

Thanks, Consecrated! I’ll be sure to check those out. Our oldest child is only 2, so I’m inclined to think that growing up with both masses would make her “fluently bilingual,” so to speak. (I’m sure Latin/Byzantine families do just fine.)

I’m still not sure what to do about celebrating the liturgical year in the home, though. It would seem sensible to celebrate saints’ feast days according to the modern calendar, since that would reflect what we’d see at daily mass, and what most of our friends and family would be doing. On the other hand, we don’t want to miss out on the lovely traditional customs, like rogation days, etc. But I guess we could work most of those into the modern calendar, without causing confusion to the children. (As for causing confusion to the parents, that’s another matter entirely! )

It does seem to depend mainly on how much of our family’s social life revolves around the TLM parish, vs. the local one. Right now, geography is the deciding factor there.

I guess the best thing to do is to pray for a more generous application of the Indult, and for reconciliation between the SSPX and Rome. It looks like both of those might be happening fairly soon.

 

[Ray_Scheel]

maryceleste:

how do you deal with the differences when you’re teaching your little ones about the mass? …snip…]

Also, when you celebrate saints’ feast days, etc., at home, do you go by the traditional calendar, or the modern one, or a combination of the two?

We used to hit both TLM and Byzantine liturgies fairly often, and the kdis didn’t have a problem switching. On the calendar, we used a combination of sorts, driving to attend at the Byzantine liturgy on days where Rome dispensed with a holy day we were attached to and attending either the TLM or the Byzantine the following Sunday to avoid a repeat of the celebrated day. More recently we haven’t been able to travel to hit the other liturgies.