Traditionalizing our OF Mass

[StevenDunn]

Hello everyone. I am the Mass coordinator for my parish KCs, and we handle one Mass per month. So far we’ve simply been going with the flow, and having a standard parish Mass but with our Knights filling the roles. We’ve recently agreed amongst ourselves, however, that we need to do more, and turn our Masses from standard fare to something more pious and traditional. The Latin Mass is said at my parish, but the Novus Ordo Masses are standard suburban American style.

My question: What kinds of traditionally-minded changes CAN we make? Changing the building is obviously out of the question, so something like “install altar rails” is useless. However, beyond architectural changes we have quite a bit of leeway. I’m interested very specifically in things that have been done already and how the parish integrated them successfully. We are hoping these Masses will provoke parish-wide desires for reform.

I near-exclusively attend our Latin Mass, so the OF rubrics are hazy for me. I’ve recently started reading the GIRM in the hopes of making sense of everything.

Thanks!

 

[Rawb]

Have the priest face ad orientum, and have people kneel for Communion. Two simple changes that are allowed and go a long way towards inspiring reverence. You don’t have to have an altar rail to kneel at Communion.

 

[ConstantineTG]

You can always start by following the GIRM to the letter.

 

[HCC]

I would start by making sure you have your masses said by a solid priest. One who “says the black and does the red,” eg, follows the rubrics exactly. That is a very good start.

A few other suggestions:

-Adding Gregorian chant to various parts of the Mass: Kyrie, Gloria, Creed, Agnus Dei, etc…
-Using more uplifting and traditional hymns
-Using beautiful and traditional vestments for the priest/servers
-Beautifying the altar with lace trimmed altar cloths, more beautiful (symmetrically placed) candlesticks, floral arrangements appropriate for the day (in colors coordinated to the vestments appropriate for that day’s Mass.)
-Proper training of altar boys, as opposed to girls, which are only to be used in extraordinary circumstances–they are not the norm.
-Having the clergy exclusively distribute Holy Communion
-Silence before the Mass, giving people an opportunity to enter into the proper disposition for an uplifting, interior participation

There are many small things you can do to beautify the Mass in your parish. Properly placed floral arrangements, may sound trite, but it sets a mood.

This is a good website that is focused on beauty in the liturgy: newliturgicalmovement.org/

This week they are focused on the Holy Father’s trip to the UK, but check out many of their articles. I have learned a lot about liturgy from this site.

 

[StevenDunn]

Ad orientem and kneeling are great, but we want to ease the congregation into it. Our priest is fine with both, but agrees with us that the congregation has to be moved towards that more slowly.

Our first change starts in November, when we introduce our choir. They’re going to start by singing the standard hymn selections and cantoring, but we hope to move them towards singing the kyrie, gloria, etc. as soon as they’re able. People seem more willing to accept changes in music than they are anything else.

 

[OraLabora]

Ad orientem and kneeling are great, but we want to ease the congregation into it. Our priest is fine with both, but agrees with us that the congregation has to be moved towards that more slowly.

Our first change starts in November, when we introduce our choir. They’re going to start by singing the standard hymn selections and cantoring, but we hope to move them towards singing the kyrie, gloria, etc. as soon as they’re able. People seem more willing to accept changes in music than they are anything else.

Gregorian chant for the Ordinary is a good start, and you can start with some very simple ones; for example Kyrie XVI is easy, as is the Sanctus and Angus Dei XVIII. Kyrie XI is easy as is its Gloria, Sanctus and Angus; use Credo II, it’s really easy. As the choir gets better at it you can try the perennially popular (but not really Gregorian chant) “Mass of the Angles” (Kyrie VIII along with its Gloria, Sanctus and Angus) and Credo III.

Using the Propers instead of some insipid hymn would be excellent as well, especially for the Introit and Communion antiphon; Latin might be too much to manage, and in particular the Gradual and Offertory might be beyond the reach of most choirs. Are there decent musical settings in English for the propers? This step might take more time.

Also if having musical instruments, if available, stick to the pipe organ.

 

[curlycool89]

Have the priest face ad orientum, and have people kneel for Communion. Two simple changes that are allowed and go a long way towards inspiring reverence. You don’t have to have an altar rail to kneel at Communion.

Requiring people to kneel would contradict the norms for receiving the Eucharist in the United States (link). Of course you can always recommend that people kneel, but it is outside a pastor’s jurisdiction to require people to kneel (I believe that belongs to the Episcopal Conference, so the USCCB).

 

[StevenDunn]

Gregorian chant for the Ordinary is a good start, and you can start with some very simple ones; for example Kyrie XVI is easy, as is the Sanctus and Angus Dei XVIII. Kyrie XI is easy as is its Gloria, Sanctus and Angus; use Credo II, it’s really easy. As the choir gets better at it you can try the perennially popular (but not really Gregorian chant) “Mass of the Angles” (Kyrie VIII along with its Gloria, Sanctus and Angus) and Credo III.

Using the Propers instead of some insipid hymn would be excellent as well, especially for the Introit and Communion antiphon; Latin might be too much to manage, and in particular the Gradual and Offertory might be beyond the reach of most choirs. Are there decent musical settings in English for the propers? This step might take more time.

Also if having musical instruments, if available, stick to the pipe organ.

Thanks! I’ll forward this to our choir director!

 

[GwenL]

Requiring people to kneel would contradict the norms for receiving the Eucharist in the United States (link). Of course you can always recommend that people kneel, but it is outside a pastor’s jurisdiction to require people to kneel (I believe that belongs to the Episcopal Conference, so the USCCB).

Do you have a reference that this decision belongs to the Episcopal Conference? That’d be a reference from the Vatican. (The fact that the USCCB made a decision does not prove that they have the authority to make the decision.)

 

[Snerticus]

Hello everyone. I am the Mass coordinator for my parish KCs, and we handle one Mass per month. So far we’ve simply been going with the flow, and having a standard parish Mass but with our Knights filling the roles. We’ve recently agreed amongst ourselves, however, that we need to do more, and turn our Masses from standard fare to something more pious and traditional. The Latin Mass is said at my parish, but the Novus Ordo Masses are standard suburban American style.

My question: What kinds of traditionally-minded changes CAN we make? Changing the building is obviously out of the question, so something like “install altar rails” is useless. However, beyond architectural changes we have quite a bit of leeway. I’m interested very specifically in things that have been done already and how the parish integrated them successfully. We are hoping these Masses will provoke parish-wide desires for reform.

I near-exclusively attend our Latin Mass, so the OF rubrics are hazy for me. I’ve recently started reading the GIRM in the hopes of making sense of everything.

Thanks!

Adding simple chants would be awesome. We had chants during parts of the mass previously, but with our new pastor has returned the ‘Christian music’ theme. Even traditional songs now sound like I’m at a contemporary Christian concert. I really do wish at least the chants would have stayed. They made the mass sound so much more reverent and solemn. It really does make a difference if even one refrain during the entire Mass is chanted.

Just a thought…

 

[rosary_kat]

Regarding “entering into the presence of God” before Mass, perhaps conducting the Rosary 15 minutes or so before Mass? I’ve noticed that doing so tends to cut down a lot on the chatter.

 

[StevenDunn]

Regarding “entering into the presence of God” before Mass, perhaps conducting the Rosary 15 minutes or so before Mass? I’ve noticed that doing so tends to cut down a lot on the chatter.

We’ve been saying the Rosary 30 minutes before our Mass for several years now. I agree, it cuts down on chatter! Now if only we could do something about afterwards!

 

[GwenL]

One of our priests kneels in prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle after celebrating Mass. It’s quite beautiful, and it really cuts down on the chatter!

 

[thistle]

Hello everyone. I am the Mass coordinator for my parish KCs, and we handle one Mass per month. So far we’ve simply been going with the flow, and having a standard parish Mass but with our Knights filling the roles. We’ve recently agreed amongst ourselves, however, that we need to do more, and turn our Masses from standard fare to something more pious and traditional. The Latin Mass is said at my parish, but the Novus Ordo Masses are standard suburban American style.

My question: What kinds of traditionally-minded changes CAN we make? Changing the building is obviously out of the question, so something like “install altar rails” is useless. However, beyond architectural changes we have quite a bit of leeway. I’m interested very specifically in things that have been done already and how the parish integrated them successfully. We are hoping these Masses will provoke parish-wide desires for reform.

I near-exclusively attend our Latin Mass, so the OF rubrics are hazy for me. I’ve recently started reading the GIRM in the hopes of making sense of everything.

Thanks!

Forgive me but I don’t understand what you mean by Mass Coordinator. Surely it is up to the priest to determine what type of Mass takes place.

 

[StevenDunn]

Forgive me but I don’t understand what you mean by Mass Coordinator. Surely it is up to the priest to determine what type of Mass takes place.

I don’t know how it is done in your diocese, but in ours all the parishes have lay people that coordinate the Masses. They handle the scheduling and other practical issues. Sometimes there is a separate music coordinator.

Our priest allows our KC council to handle certain Masses. It’s now up to ~1/month. Each year someone else is chosen by the council to be the coordinator. They function in the same role as mentioned above. This person schedules all the positions for our Masses, and is also in charge of any changes that may be desired. Everything has to be approved by the priest, obviously. The general idea of changing the Mass was run by him and he approved, and then we gave him a few ideas, to which he added. It was our priest that suggested we have the choir sing Mass settings instead of having them simply read.

I hope that clears up any confusion!

 

[StevenDunn]

One of our priests kneels in prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle after celebrating Mass. It’s quite beautiful, and it really cuts down on the chatter!

I agree! Our priest does this before Mass, and then afterwards he stands in the narthex and shakes everybody’s hand. This most certainly does NOT cut down on the chatter! haha

 

[curlycool89]

Do you have a reference that this decision belongs to the Episcopal Conference? That’d be a reference from the Vatican. (The fact that the USCCB made a decision does not prove that they have the authority to make the decision.)

It’s in the link I gave. The Universal GIRM #160:

The priest then takes the paten or ciborium and goes to the communicants, who, as a rule, approach in a procession.

The faithful are not permitted to take up the consecrated bread or the sacred chalice themselves, and still less hand them on to one another. The faithful may communicate either standing or kneeling, as established by the Conference of Bishops. However, when they communicate standing, it is recommended that they make an appropriate gesture of reverence, to be laid down in the same norms, before receiving the Sacrament.

The USCCB (the Conference of Bishops for the United States) has decided that the norm for the reception of communion in the whole US is standing (just a note: this of course applies to the OF Mass, not to the EF Mass, because this is the GIRM for the OF Mass).

 

[Joannm]

I don’t know how it is done in your diocese, but in ours all the parishes have lay people that coordinate the Masses. They handle the scheduling and other practical issues. Sometimes there is a separate music coordinator.

Our priest allows our KC council to handle certain Masses. It’s now up to ~1/month. Each year someone else is chosen by the council to be the coordinator. They function in the same role as mentioned above. This person schedules all the positions for our Masses, and is also in charge of any changes that may be desired. Everything has to be approved by the priest, obviously. The general idea of changing the Mass was run by him and he approved, and then we gave him a few ideas, to which he added. It was our priest that suggested we have the choir sing Mass settings instead of having them simply read.

I hope that clears up any confusion!

What kind of liturgical training and formation do these coordinators receive?

 

[StevenDunn]

What kind of liturgical training and formation do these coordinators receive?

It’s a question of planning, scheduling and logistics. If there are liturgical questions they go to the priest. I’m sorry if that wasn’t clear in the previous comments.

 

[Joannm]

It’s a question of planning, scheduling and logistics. If there are liturgical questions they go to the priest. I’m sorry if that wasn’t clear in the previous comments.

The Mass is already planned…it’s called the GIRM. I still don’t understand how someone without any liturgical education can make decisions about how a particular Mass will be celebrated? In our diocese, people in parishes who assist with the liturgy as "coordinators’ take courses offered by the diocese, and they are still only in an advisory role and don’t make any decisions as to what is done at the Mass. Mass isn’t celebrated with one particular group in mind but with the entire assembly taken into consideration. For example, our Family Mass only is called so because we offer the Children’s Liturgy of the Word and we have a children’s choir, which sings basically the same music as is sung at the other Sunday Masses. Families also feel they are welcome at this mass without any stares or comments. People know most families come to this mass so if they don’t like noisy kids at times, they don’t come to that mass.

What other groups are assigned a particular mass each month? I don’t mean to say that what you do isn’t important, because it is. I just don’t understand how particular coordinators or groups can make decisions as to changes in the way particular masses are celebrated.