Why are people so against life teen mass?

[Ailina]

Hello all

I have a question about why many people dislike life teen mass. I personal see no problem with it but I understand a lot of people on this forum are not found of it. This may be beacuse I am a acutly teenager but it has lead me to being trying to seek christ. I am not saying that my faith is toatly based on lifeteen, (I go to normal mass sometimes and still find it asome). But I really have to ask why do some people really disapporve of Lifeteen is there one thing in particluar or is more of how a particluar parish does it.

Any imput would be helpful

I dunno…maybe because some people believe the early Church solely spoke Latin, sang gregorian chants and played the organ, and everything in the catacombs and buildings were already in place, including altar railings. And people back then never ate with their hands either. And of course, because there aren’t any other masses to attend on a Sunday in any given city, and so everyone is forced (oh horror!) to attend this only mass in town on Sundays. .

I like the Lifeteen masses, because they express the natural energy of young people. I can remember participating in masses like this when I was a teen, before the official LifeTeen term was coined. It is those memories that drew me back to the Church after many years.

Didn’t Christ say that his Father’s Mansion had many rooms? I equate the LifeTeen mass to one of those rooms; not everyone has to enter that particular room, but it are there for those who need it.

If anything, I feel unwelcome and am intimidated by strict Traditionalists, and so dare not enter one of their services, for fear I’ll get the disapproving glare of the Holier-Than-Thou Brigade. But again, that is just another room in the mansion for those who need it, right?

 

[spankyg]

Im 17,

I say, keep the old stuff.

Away with the korny filth.

 

[shuzo1189]

Ill Take This:youtube.com/watch?v=9EQbnGi6NCI

Over This:youtube.com/watch?v=gZsfTBp9QxA

As being in the “Target Demographic” for the Lifeteen i find the pandering rather insulting. We are being brought back to the sacrifice of Christ on cavalry…the everlasting now. This isn’t a Potluck or a Jamboree.

I would like to point out that both of those Masses are the Ordinary Form of the Mass.

 

[JPUSC]

Over This:youtube.com/watch?v=gZsfTBp9QxA

As being in the “Target Demographic” for the Lifeteen i find the pandering rather insulting. We are being brought back to the sacrifice of Christ on cavalry…the everlasting now. This isn’t a Potluck or a Jamboree.

I would like to point out that both of those Masses are the Ordinary Form of the Mass.

LOL, yeah some balloons, holding hands/silly hand-motions and a bunch of old farts thinking they’re rock stars is suppose to attract us!!!

 

[spankyg]

Over This:youtube.com/watch?v=gZsfTBp9QxA

As being in the “Target Demographic” for the Lifeteen i find the pandering rather insulting. We are being brought back to the sacrifice of Christ on cavalry…the everlasting now. This isn’t a Potluck or a Jamboree.

I would like to point out that both of those Masses are the Ordinary Form of the Mass.

hahahahah this is embarrasing to watch, i hope i never end up at something like that.

 

[Sarabande]

LOL, yeah some balloons, holding hands/silly hand-motions and a bunch of old farts thinking they’re rock stars is suppose to attract us!!!

hahahahaha! Yeah, that is really corny. We had the old rock stars and old hippies at our former parish and they called it the youth group. It was pretty bad.

 

[JPUSC]

hahahahaha! Yeah, that is really corny. We had the old rock stars and old hippies at our former parish and they called it the youth group. It was pretty bad.

I went to a local parish a while back with a “praise band” and was shocked to see that all of the band members seemed to be over the age of 50. I think they should just change the name to “LifeAdult”.

Meanwhile, the local Tridentine Mass had a younger crowd…how ironic.

 

[4Squarebaby]

Well we are 60 years into the “rock” era. Many non classically trained musicians have never played anything else. Is an ex-Beatle as the headliner of a rock fetival in 2009 a bad thing?

 

[Cat]

I went to a local parish a while back with a “praise band” and was shocked to see that all of the band members seemed to be over the age of 50. I think they should just change the name to “LifeAdult”.

Meanwhile, the local Tridentine Mass had a younger crowd…how ironic.

And so you just assume that ALL Life Teen Masses are that way because the one YOU attended was like that?

And you just assume that all Latin Masses will attract a younger crowd because the one you know of is like that?

That’s not very wise. To me, that’s like saying all priest are perverts because a few of them are.

In our city, the Life Teen Mass band is all teenagers except for the leader, who is the Life Teen leader, and about 30 years old. And there are a couple of hundred teens in the congregation and they seem to be singing along.

There are PLENTY of opportunities in our city for teenagers who want to be involved with classical choirs. Our boys’ choir is world-renowned, and several churches, including the Catholic Churches, offer opportunities for teens to join the adults in singing classical works like Handels’ Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem. There are some teens who join in, but hardly the “flock” that some CAF posters imply will show up.

In our city, the TLM is sparcely attended, and the teenagers who attend seem to be the home-schooled ones with families who adhere to extremely traditional Catholic lifestyles (except that they watch Lost on TV and drool over Sawyer!–I find that endearing and it assures me that they really are teenagers!)

I realize that what happens in our city may be unique, but there is a post above from someone else who claims that their Life Teen Mass is reverent and successful in attracting teens. And agapewolf often describes his experiences with Life Teen as good.

So I say, stop making assumptions.

As for praise bands over the age of 50, well, why should the young people have all the good music?! I’m not especially fond of geezer bands (boomer rock), but if someone wants to serve the Lord by dusting off their electric guitar and re-learning a few riffs, well, who are you to criticize them? At least they’re doing something.

 

[JPUSC]

I don’t assume, I’ve been to multiple Masses in several dioceses and I can assure you from my own experience that many people of my age group, religious or non-religious, do laugh at the many attempts of old folks to make the Mass “cool”.

Plus, I didn’t say that ALL LifeTeen Masses were like that. I have seen younger rock bands. I know some people who only attend these type of services and refuse to go to any other service or parish, even a middle-of-the-road modern Mass. Some think recent music compositions from the 70’s are traditional. Others haven’t heard of holy days of obligation. I notice that music is more of a priority for most of them, rather than the belief in the Real Presence.

WASHINGTON – Parts of it are 1,500 years old, it’s difficult to understand, and it’s even more challenging to watch. And it’s catching on among young Catholics.

It’s the traditional Latin Mass, a formal worship service that is making a comeback after more than 40 years of moldering in the Vatican basement.

In September, Pope Benedict XVI relaxed restrictions on celebrating Latin Mass, frequently called the Tridentine Mass, citing “a new and renewed” interest in the ancient Latin liturgy, especially among younger Catholics.

Spoken or sung entirely in sometimes inaudible Latin by priests who face the altar instead of the congregation, it is a radical departure for most Catholics, who grew up attending a more informal Mass celebrated in their native tongue.

“It’s the opposite of the cacophony that comes with the (modern) Mass,” said Ken Wolfe, 34, a federal government worker who goes to up to four Latin Masses a week in the Washington area. “There’s no guitars and handshaking and breaks in the Mass where people talk to each other. It’s a very serious liturgy.”

And it is a hit with younger priests and their parishioners.

Attendance at the Sunday noon Mass at St. John the Beloved in McLean, Va., has doubled to 400 people since it began celebrating in Latin. Most of the worshipers are under 40, said the Rev. Franklyn McAfee.

Younger parishioners “are more reflective,” McAfee said. “They want something uplifting when they go to church. They don’t want something they can get outside.”

For some, the popularity of the service represents the gap between older Catholics, who grew up in the more liberal, post-Vatican II era, and their younger counterparts, who say they feel like they missed out on the tradition that was jettisoned in the move to modernize.

tdn.com/articles/2007/12/01/this_day/doc475119c81b0b2680854259.txt

To the modern Catholic, it’s a bit of a mystery. Most under 40 grew up with the new rite, which replaced the Tridentine Mass in 1969, dropping Latin for the vernacular and obliging the priest to face his congregation, rather than east — the direction in which Christ is thought to have ascended to Heaven. To the average Catholic, today’s Mass at St James’s, Spanish Place, in Central London seems a scene from another age.

Yet a startling proportion of the priests at the altar look younger than 40. A quick survey of the congregation reveals an equally mixed age group: middle-aged matrons in hats and headscarves sitting next to tiny girls in lace mantillas, elderly men in tweed or blazers wedged between earnest boys, pressing their straightened hands in prayer. All seem plunged into intense, reverent concentration, disturbed only by the odd squeal from a recalcitrant toddler.

The age range reveals the Tridentine Mass to be enjoying a renaissance with younger Catholics. More significantly, it is also producing vocations. Last year, 81 men sought 16 places at the US seminary of the Fraternal Society of St Peter, an order founded in 1988 by the Vatican to train old-rite priests

timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article1132950.ece

Priests say that the mass is attracting Catholics who did not grow up with it. The Rev. Franklyn McAfee of St. John the Beloved in McLean, Va., said that they are attracted by something that is contemplative, mysterious, sacred, transcendent.

Gregorian chant is the opposite of rap, and I believe this is a refreshing change for them, he said.

news.webindia123.com/news/ar_showdetails.asp?id=710290213&cat=&n_date=20071029

Abount 90 per cent of those making the pilgrimage are between 19 and 25, Ms Readings says. “You don’t meet many young practising Catholics nowadays, so it’s a great opportunity to encourage each other. When I come back, I feel, yes, it is possible to live out your faith in the modern world.

“I find the Tridentine rite more beautiful and reverent. A lot of the new Masses are happy-clappy. The Tridentine Mass is geared towards God more than the congregation,” she said.

hawaiicatholicherald.org/Home/tabid/256/newsid884/747/Default.aspx

Ginevra Crosignani, 34, is a regular at the 10 a.m. Tridentine rite celebrated each Sunday at the Gesu e Maria church in central Rome. She says she started coming about 10 years ago and finds it a much more transcendent experience than the modern services, which she said were more like going to a “nightclub” because of the music and showman-like role of the priest.

“The New Order became a social celebration rather than a religious celebration,” she said one recent Sunday as she put away the white lace scarf she wore over her head.

The pews at the Mass had been full — and more than half the people looked to be under 40.

“Before, it was more old people attached to that rite,” she said. “I think young people (now) are looking for something, they’re eager to find it and they don’t find it in the New Order.”

usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-05-26-tridentinemass_N.htm

 

[BadKarma]

Perhaps because it smacks of “What’s in it for me?”

The Mass is the unbloody sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ. It is offered to honor and glorify God. Must it also provide us with entertainment?

Matariel:

To me, Lifeteen has dubious origins (a dissadent priest accused of child abuse) and also seeks to throw out anything Catholic and protestantize it. Many kinds of protestants love touchy-feely emotional outbursts and secularism in their services, and I see Lifeteen as trying to make Catholicism give up everything that makes it Catholic and make it touchy-feely.

That’s a pretty good summary, in my (humble) opinion.

 

[Matt33]

And so you just assume that ALL Life Teen Masses are that way because the one YOU attended was like that? Qnd you assume they are all as “great” as yours?

And you just assume that all Latin Masses will attract a younger crowd because the one you know of is like that?And you assume otherwise why?

That’s not very wise. To me, that’s like saying all priest are perverts because a few of them are.But some are, like say… the life teen founder. Bad example cat.

In our city, the Life Teen Mass band is all teenagers except for the leader, who is the Life Teen leader, and about 30 years old. And there are a couple of hundred teens in the congregation and they seem to be singing along. I know, I even checked the web site you posted. Looks like you are very fortunate with your LT program. I Wish more could follow your lead.

There are PLENTY of opportunities in our city for teenagers who want to be involved with classical choirs. Our boys’ choir is world-renowned, and several churches, including the Catholic Churches, offer opportunities for teens to join the adults in singing classical works like Handels’ Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem. There are some teens who join in, but hardly the “flock” that some CAF posters imply will show up.Gosh, I am envious I wish we had more choiors over here.

In our city, the TLM is sparcely attended, and the teenagers who attend seem to be the home-schooled ones with families who adhere to extremely traditional Catholic lifestyles (except that they watch Lost on TV and drool over Sawyer!–I find that endearing and it assures me that they really are teenagers!)In our city… They wouldn’t be able to find a Church big enough for a TLM

I realize that what happens in our city may be unique, but there is a post above from someone else who claims that their Life Teen Mass is reverent and successful in attracting teens. And agapewolf often describes his experiences with Life Teen as good.

So I say, stop making assumptions.yup stop assuming that all critisism is assuming. It is based on peoples experiences and wanting to make LT better for the Teens is a noble cause don’t you think?

As for praise bands over the age of 50, well, why should the young people have all the good music?! I’m not especially fond of geezer bands (boomer rock), but if someone wants to serve the Lord by dusting off their electric guitar and re-learning a few riffs, well, who are you to criticize them? At least they’re doing something.UMMM, I know that you might be biased here but praise bands over 50 at a LT mass is rediculous. But there has to be something for “old hippies” to do, how about a mass just for 60s throwbacks. Hey how about rennesiance mass for drama geeks.

 

[Cat]

Matt33, I agree that boomer rock at a Life Teen Mass is icky. That’s not how our parish does it.

BUT…they do have a “Life Adult Mass” (I think that’s how someone worded it earlier–cute name!). My husband and I call it the “geezer Mass”) The band is all 40 and over, the music is the same kind of folk/rock music that is used in Life Teen, and it is packed. standing-room only. I personally avoid this Mass if at all possible. I will attend the “hangover Mass” which has the deadest music in the universe before attending the Life Adult Mass. Or I wait until Sunday evening and attend the Life Teen Mass before attending the Life Adult Mass! Just my personal preference!

And as for my criticizing assumptions, I hope you could see in my post that I don’t make assumptions based on my experiences. I fully accept that every other Life Teen Mass in the world could be garbage and that somehow, our parish is the only parish to get it right. Lucky me.

 

[Matt33]

Matt33, I agree that boomer rock at a Life Teen Mass is icky. That’s not how our parish does it.

BUT…they do have a “Life Adult Mass” (I think that’s how someone worded it earlier–cute name!). My husband and I call it the “geezer Mass”) The band is all 40 and over, the music is the same kind of folk/rock music that is used in Life Teen, and it is packed. standing-room only. I personally avoid this Mass if at all possible. I will attend the “hangover Mass” which has the deadest music in the universe before attending the Life Adult Mass. Or I wait until Sunday evening and attend the Life Teen Mass before attending the Life Adult Mass! Just my personal preference!

And as for my criticizing assumptions, I hope you could see in my post that I don’t make assumptions based on my experiences. I fully accept that every other Life Teen Mass in the world could be garbage and that somehow, our parish is the only parish to get it right. Lucky me.

yeah Cat we’ve been rounds about this before. But It isn’t that very life teen other than yours is bad it is that there exists a problem in life teen. And a little criticism is good, so is a healthy knowlege of what many people report as being bad. Some are good and some are bad. But life teen just by it’s nature is more prone to some bad things. it sure does need some work but there are good things in it too. Something about a baby and a bath… It just needs a little help.
It is important (especially in youth ministry) not to get caught up in numbers Mega churches are packed, so are mosques. Numbers and full Churches do not equate to Truth and obedience. But that being said. I am sure it would be the Lord’s happiest day when all of our parishes were as you often describe yours… packed.

 

[agapewolf]

As a general rule, LT encourages the teens to be in the pews and not doing the music ministry. Of course there are exceptions, but most teens are so involved with their school programs and activities they don’t have the time to commit to yet another group.

I had a teen in my group and it was a nightmare. He was a decent player (most aren’t at the ability that I need), and he didn’t know how “not” to play…leaving room for space.

Just an fyi.

 

[blaskoman]

I have trouble concentrating while at LT and therefore have difficulties getting into a prayful mood…I remember having the thought that we should all bring lighters to mass (as during a rock concert)!!

 

[JPUSC]

I have trouble concentrating while at LT and therefore have difficulties getting into a prayful mood…I remember having the thought that we should all bring lighters to mass (as during a rock concert)!!

You can just use the LED light on your cell phone. It’s the new “in” thing.

There’s even an iPhone application for it with a video clip of a lighter, haha.

http://www.candiedpop.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/spear02.jpg

 

[cradlecatholic4]

I find that those who do not favor Life Teen Mass, for whatever reason are somewhat misguided in their thinking. Remember - It’s not all about you! Some of you sit back, at a Life Teen mass looking through your eyes of perfection and judgment pointing out any little fault of the Life Teen mass (or any mass that does not meet with your full approval). You then get on your soap box behind the secrecy of your sign-in name and whine, complain, criticize, point out, and yes – even judge those who dare attend a Life Teen Mass. Again, it’s not all about you. Do you look through your same critical eyes of judgment when you go to your “mass of preference”, the Latin Mass, etc.? Do you honestly and critically evaluate every step of the priest and every word he says, every response of the congregation, the ringing of the bells (oh my gosh), etc., at yoru Mass of preference? I submit that it is very likely that most critics don’t. Therefore, those who find every error really aren’t at mass for the true reason, to worship Christ; they are there to observe and criticize. They are there because they make the Mass all about them and believe that they have received some sacred authority to right every error observed. This is truly sad and contrary to building community and most importantly, worshipping our King. I love the Catholic faith and the mass, whether the Mass I attend is a LT Mass or not.

 

[dove51]

As a teenager, I am offended by Lifeteen Masses. I find the concept patronizing. There is no need to pander to me with new music to try to get me into church. And the playing of rock music, drumset and all, during and after Communion really doesn’t jive with prayer. It’s distracting and numbing.

 

[shuzo1189]

I find that those who do not favor Life Teen Mass, for whatever reason are somewhat misguided in their thinking. Remember - It’s not all about you! Some of you sit back, at a Life Teen mass looking through your eyes of perfection and judgment pointing out any little fault of the Life Teen mass (or any mass that does not meet with your full approval). You then get on your soap box behind the secrecy of your sign-in name and whine, complain, criticize, point out, and yes – even judge those who dare attend a Life Teen Mass. Again, it’s not all about you. Do you look through your same critical eyes of judgment when you go to your “mass of preference”, the Latin Mass, etc.? Do you honestly and critically evaluate every step of the priest and every word he says, every response of the congregation, the ringing of the bells (oh my gosh), etc., at yoru Mass of preference? I submit that it is very likely that most critics don’t. Therefore, those who find every error really aren’t at mass for the true reason, to worship Christ; they are there to observe and criticize. They are there because they make the Mass all about them and believe that they have received some sacred authority to right every error observed. This is truly sad and contrary to building community and most importantly, worshipping our King. I love the Catholic faith and the mass, whether the Mass I attend is a LT Mass or not.

I find it Ironic that if you find something Wrong with the LifeTeen Mass you clearly think that the Mass is about you.

At an EF or sometimes even an OF Mass, the Priest will face ad orientam precisely because…it isn’t about us. Its about the Sacrifice of the Mass. And i may be a stick in the Mud but i fail to see how an electric bass guitar, tambourines and pop melodies are appropriate for the Unbloody Sacrifice of our Blessed Lord on Calvary.

I agree with the fellow teenager who posted above, I find it patronizing that the Liturgy has to be watered down so i find it more agreeable. And honestly I feel slightly robbed of my Catholic Identity.

Am I bias towards the EF? Undoubtedly so. And its not because of the use of latin or the “smells and bells” (I actually prefer a low mass) its because of the prevalent sense of Humility that goes with attending, the reminder that i am participating in the eternal now.

Is there any wonder that the FSSP Has a waiting list for Seminarians when most Dioceses are starving for vocations?