Student Masses

[Domer1997]

I just came across this story which aired this year on the Hallmark Channel “America at Worship”. It is a neat documentary of the Masses in the University of Notre Dame residence halls. It’s nice to see such large number of young adults actively participating in our most precious and sacred gift, the Eucharist.

To see the short five-minute clip, check out this website and the click on the first documentary called “the ways we worship”.

I just thought this was really nice and I thought it would be neat to share this with you.

Here is the site if you’re interested:

nd.edu/aboutnd/about/sights/videogallery.shtml

 

[Titus]

While it is great to see so many participating in the life of the Church: it is a quintessential liberal student-type mass: tambourines, flagons for the wine, students in casual clothes.

So good, but not perfect!

 

[Saoirse]

While it is great to see so many participating in the life of the Church: it is a quintessential liberal student-type mass: tambourines, flagons for the wine, students in casual clothes.

So good, but not perfect!

I’m sorry, but I see nothing wrong with students dressing comfortably to worship God! I personally would rather be focused on the MASS than on how uncomfortable I am in formal attire like slacks or worse still, a skirt, or in a head covering or whatever else!

I personally think that this is a beautiful testimony to the faith of these young people, and to the fact that there is hope for my generation, hope that we will indeed be spiritual and religious and grow in our love of God for all of our days.

love,
Saoirse

 

[Andreas_Hofer]

Having been an undergrad and now a grad student at ND, I would attest that the liturgical life here is definitely a mixed bag. There are a great number of devout students who take full advantage of daily Masses all over campus. Yet when they attend anywhere other than the basilica they are subjected to myriad abuses. The Sunday Masses are always packed full (many male dorms, which have a richer liturgical life due to priests in residence, consistently standing room only), but many of the students are only attending because special conditions have been created. If the Masses in the dorms were Sunday morning at 10:00 and actually reverent and licit I can almost assure you the attendance would plummet compared to the current 10:00 pm extravaganzas. Most students are either unaware of or simply disregard the most basic rules of reverence, such as not making the chapel a roaring conversation hall before and after Mass, and the clergy here make no effort to educate on such things. They even foster the irreverence. This university is where I was able to really foster a love for the Mass and liturgy in general, but the more deeply I’ve come to know (and know about) the liturgy, the more disturbing much of campus liturgical life becomes.

 

[Titus]

I’m sorry, but I see nothing wrong with students dressing comfortably to worship God! I personally would rather be focused on the MASS than on how **uncomfortable **I am in formal attire like slacks or worse still, a skirt, or in a head covering or whatever else!

I personally think that this is a beautiful testimony to the faith of these young people, and to the fact that there is hope for my generation, hope that we will indeed be spiritual and religious and grow in our love of God for all of our days.

love,
Saoirse

Hmm, different issues to adress—

1. We go to mass to worship God and to show respect for him we ought to dress smartly and modestly. I’m not suggesting they wear chain mail and a straightjacket to mass - how uncomfortable is a pair of nice trousers and a shirt for guys and a dress (and a headcovering in dreamworld- or TLM-world ) for girls? But this is really not that big a deal- however-
2. You didn’t even address the more telling issues like tambourines & flagons- which are reminiscent of many a happy-clappy Protestant service- and rather unlike the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, as intended.
3. While it is great that students are participating in the church, we do not want to find ourselves with **another **generation with a proclivity to Barney masses et al. (not that all of the current adult generation are in any way inclined to such irreverence- but some sure are!) So a reverent, holy mass is better. I’m not saying this is necessarily not reverent- but it appears that way from the film.

Above all, I should emphasise that I agree with most of your sentiment, but simply disagree with some of the details of this mass.

 

[Domer1997]

I was a student at ND, and I’ll be the first to admit that the dorm Masses tend to be much more laid back than the Basilica’s Masses on campus. The Basilica Masses have all the smells, bells, and whistles. And, they are BEAUTIFUL Masses. But, I do miss the comraderie that we had in the dorm Masses. I’ve never experienced that at any church since graduation. I knew God was smiling…even if we were in our socks and sweatpants. I did notice that there were more liturgical abuses in the women’s dorms. I remember that some of the girls liked to bake their own bread for Mass. It never worked out quite right, and I almost choked at Mass with my girlfriend in Lyons Hall one Sunday after receiving Communion. Our dorm seemed much more Orthodox, as most male dorms were/or probably still are. But, I think that’s because the men of Notre Dame are still a pretty conservative group of guys.

But, we can all agree on one thing. At least Mass attendance is high at ND. Even though the Masses are late on Sunday and the kids are in casual clothes, at least they’re there loving God and thanking God. …because most kids in college, unfortunately are not going to Mass. It’s a sad truth.

God Bless!

 

[Titus]

I was a student at ND, and I’ll be the first to admit that the dorm Masses tend to be much more laid back than the Basilica’s Masses on campus. The Basilica Masses have all the smells, bells, and whistles. And, they are BEAUTIFUL Masses. But, I do miss the comraderie that we had in the dorm Masses. I’ve never experienced that at any church since graduation. I knew God was smiling…even if we were in our socks and sweatpants. I did notice that there were more liturgical abuses in the women’s dorms. I remember that some of the girls liked to bake their own bread for Mass. It never worked out quite right, and I almost choked at Mass with my girlfriend in Lyons Hall one Sunday after receiving Communion. Our dorm seemed much more Orthodox, as most male dorms were/or probably still are. But, I think that’s because the men of Notre Dame are still a pretty conservative group of guys.

But, we can all agree on one thing. At least Mass attendance is high at ND. Even though the Masses are late on Sunday and the kids are in casual clothes, at least they’re there loving God and thanking God. …because most kids in college, unfortunately are not going to Mass. It’s a sad truth.

God Bless!

Amen to that.