Traditional Latin Mass attendees more devout and orthodox, study says -

  • Thread starter Thread starter Maximian
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
The TLM crowd simply by their willingness to drive an extra hour to mass and to do the out of the ordinary thing are a self-selected, different crowd from the average person who identifies as Catholic. I would guess the figures are different without seeing a study. I would also guess the same if you take the members of Opus Dei who attend the ordinary form and compare them to general mass attenders, you would get a big difference as well.

How many people will stop attending going forward after quarantine, I don’t know. It is/was surely a stressor for some people, so it could provoke change, especially if they felt weakly connected to the Church already. Let’s pray for all those stressed by the quarantine. 🙏
 
I attend TLM. I recognise NO as an equal rite, but attend TLM as that liturgy simply suits me better at this stage in my spiritual journey. Remember there is room for abuse in both forms of Mass- lest we forget Jesus message to the Pharisees for example…

I think the problem with this article is that it is far too subjective a matter to make such a statement on. As an example of two extremes- is a congregation in rural China attending mass they only know how (i.e. clandestine or NO etc.) More devout? Or is a congregation who attends mass in a sheltered TLM-only community more devout? It is overwhelmingly subjective. Ultimately both rites are equal, and it is the clergy who must answer to liturgical abuse within either rite.

As to the laity, likewise- one may struggle with pride, reverence, ability to concentrate at either rite. And we are instructed to recognise both as equal…
 
Last edited:
Not surprising considering that the TLM followers are a small self-selected group of people who are very interested in the Catholic faith to the point where they are usually taking time time to drive out of their way to hear the traditional form of the Mass in a language that is not their own and understand and follow what is going on. The Latin Mass didn’t make these people more devout or more knowledgeable; they were oriented that way and their interests led them to the Latin Mass.

The group who attends the Ordinary Form Mass includes a much larger group of Catholics who are more diverse in their views and tend to be at all different points in their faith journey. Some of them may be having serious doubts about Catholicism but still come to Mass for one reason or another. Some of them may be at Mass to please their spouse, parents, grandma or because they feel it’s important to set an example for their kids although if left to themselves they might stay home and watch TV. Some of them probably don’t really understand what’s going on with the Mass or why the Church teaches thus and so about some particular practice, but they’re at Mass for some reason, whether that’s because they fear Hell if they miss, or because their mom expects them to go and will yell at them all weekend if they don’t attend.

We need to meet people where they are. I say this as someone who spent some years going to Mass without fully understanding all what was happening there and also didn’t fully understand or agree with a number of Church teachings. Taking your average OF Catholic and plunking him or her down in a Latin Mass is not going to magically make him or her more devout or more accepting of Church teaching.
 
stpurl said:
“TLM people are so elitist. They drove away me, my family, friends of my family, friends of friends of my family, somebody I read about who is like family now to me. . .”
Click to expand...
😆
 
Taking your average OF Catholic and plunking him or her down in a Latin Mass is not going to magically make him or her more devout or more accepting of Church teaching.

^^^ I think it does after a while, especially if they learn about the symbolism of various things which happen in the Mass, and gain a right understanding of the Faith and Church teachings. But others will disagree with me I know and that’s ok, as we’re all entitled to express our opinion.
 
Last edited:
Tis_Bearself said:
Not surprising considering that the TLM followers are a small self-selected group of people who are very interested in the Catholic faith to the point where they are usually taking time time to drive out of their way to hear the traditional form of the Mass in a language that is not their own and understand and follow what is going on. The Latin Mass didn’t make these people more devout or more knowledgeable; they were oriented that way and their interests led them to the Latin Mass.
Click to expand...
I think this is right on the money.

I have also observed that CAF tends to have many more devout Catholics than the average Catholic Church.
 
Can you please cite statistics on “devoutness of average Catholic Churches”? I am eager to see the devoutness of my ZIP code. I think we are at least 70% devout but I would not be surprised if we were even 82% devout. There are a lot of <insert race> people here so they may skew the devotion upwards a bit. That may be cancelled by <insert people committing a certain sin> because I don’t want those horrible people in the pew next to me.

Maybe the moderators could design a “devotionometer” to measure the instantaneous devoutness of Catholic Answers Forums.
 
Last edited:
Ok, spanking accepted.

Perhaps the better term to use is educated and obedient? Or, just better read in Catholic theology? Maybe it’s just their faith takes up more of their day?

I certainly don’t know every Catholic but of all those I’ve known, only one seemed to be the type that would spend time on CAF and knew quite a bit about their faith.

I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean it in an offensive manner.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
average OF Catholic and plunking him or her down in a Latin Mass
Click to expand...
That isn’t the only option. Other options include analysing what elements the OF is missing and restoring them. I think that restoring kneelers and altar rails, communion worship n the tongue and saying the Mass ad orientem are all important practices that can be restored without altering the words or rubrics of the OF at all.
 
Pattylt said:
Ok, spanking accepted.
Click to expand...
Why? What you said is true. Anesti’s comment was pedantic.

A person can go to an OF and kind of coast along - following the Mass without engaging in it. Maybe because I have only been to EF Masses a few times, I find that I must constantly focus or I will be hopelessly lost.
It is not unusual in my OF parish to see men in shorts and sandals, checking the scores or email or whatever during the homily. It is not unusual to see attendees following the Mass in their personal missals during EF Mass.
That is not to say that there are not devout people at OF Masses - there are. As Tis said above, there is a more diverse crowd at an OF Mass, including people who want to go to EF Masses but can’t; I don’t think anyone goes to an EF Mass because it’s the only one available.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top