Cat, Everyone should discern a vocation… One cant help but wonder, Did these “several” participate in the music selection? Also one cant help but wonder if the 'several" would have been “many” without lifeteen. In this day and age, one probably shouldn’t point to a number of vocations to back up thier point… What was the rate of young vocations before lifteen? I’m just sayin…
You’re making a lot of assumptions.
You might not want to hear this, but I don’t think many more people would fit in our very large nave during our Life Teen Mass. It’s completely packed, with standing room only, and many in the congregation are teenagers, several hundred of them. This is one of the largest youth groups in the city, even bigger than some of the evangelical Protestant youth groups. And it’s very active in the parish and in the community. This youth group actually attracts Protestant teenagers.
I don’t know if the teenagers help select the music or not. I’m pretty certain they they do, because of the way the Life Teen program is set up in our parish–there are three “levels” of involvment, and one of the levels is “Youth Leaders.” They perform the music themselves; it’s not done by professionals or by adults, with the exception of the youth minister (who is a young man in his 30s, and he’s married, BTW.). He sings lead. But all the other musicians are the teenagers.
I do know several of the teens personally, and yes, they like the music at Life Teen. They really really like it. They aren’t just pretending to like it. They aren’t just going along with their peers to fit in. They aren’t rebelling against their parents or against the Church. They are not pining for “traditional” music. If they did, they would be at one of the OTHER eight Masses at our parish, where traditional music is the norm, and some of the teenagers ARE involved in these Masses, either as members of the congregation or as cantors and instrumentalists. (I know the teenagers because I have played piano for them in various musical venues in the city.) They have a choice at our parish and in our city.
In our city we have a TLM every Sunday (actually 2 TLMs on Sunday), and a daily TLM within a few miles of our parish. The choir (Latin, chant, etc.) is open to everyone who is interested, including teenagers. This Mass and the choir are NOT packed with teenagers. In fact, the TLM and choir aren’t packed with grownups, either.
So in our city anyway, when given the CHOICE, the teenagers (and many grownups) choose the Life Teen Mass.
Our city has a population of around 150,000, and we are very close to Chicago, and have a very large Catholic population. In fact, I would say that Catholicism is probably the number one religion in our city in terms of numbers, followed by evangelical Protestantism. (Around 10,000 people a week attend the non-denominational megachurch in our city.) The mainlines are a distant third in terms of numbers.
Life Teen has been around in our city for at least 15 years, and it shows no signs of losing popularity. Quite the contrary.
TLM has been around in our city since the mid-1980s (and of course, before Vatican II). Still waiting for the crowds to show up.
And our diocese has a surplus of vocations and apparently has HAD a surplus for many years. There has not been a decrease in vocations since Life Teen Masses started, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m not saying that Life Teen is the reason that there are young men who are entering the priesthood or young women are entering religious life. I have read some of the testimonies in our diocescan newspaper, and several of the young people do give the credit to Life Teen for keeping them interested in their faith and getting them involved with their parish. But others come out of more traditional parishes and never attend Life Teen Masses. I think it’s the Holy Spirit who calls young people into vocations, not music and not Life Teen Mass and not TLM.
I’m sorry that your experience with Life Teen Mass and the Life Teen program has been so negative. But you cannot assume from your experiences that ALL Life Teen Masses and programs are bad.
. I used to think that junk was liturgical, such as And They’ll Know We are Christians by our Love that you mentioned. I just knew that was just too complimentary towards oursleves, almost more of a self-worship, that told me it didnt’ belong, but what did I know? I’m not sure they ever sang that song on the sunday Masses, btu they surely did for the Masses of the schoolkids. I have contemplated, during my time of unemployment, of going to the 8am Masses daily Masses since they don’t have daily evening Masses anymore, and now I’m glad I didn’t, as they may be singing that swill too. UGH!!!