Why are reverently offered Latin NO Masses so rare?

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EasterJoy said:
I like to think of the OF and the EF as being centers of different charisms in the Mass, gifts of the same Holy Spirit. Just as we do not do honor to the Trappists by putting down the Franciscans, or vice versa, we don’t honor the great reverence that can be evoked with the traditional accoutrements by putting down forms the Mass that seek to express reverence in other ways. That isn’t to say it doesn’t matter how Mass is celebrated. It does matter. It is to say, though, that among the reverent ways to do it, there is a huge range of differences.

What we should tolerate is not indifference or irreverence. We should speak to these things. But we do well to tolerate and learn to appreciate true reverence that is different from our own, for every reverently offered Mass is to the greater good of the entire Church.
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I agree with you so much!:blessyou:
 
crm114 said:
My thanks to the many who answered the original question with charity. As many have suggested, the Mass can, of course, be offered with reverent intent in any form and in any translation.

Perhaps I did not correctly phrase the question. Perhaps I should have said, in light of the fact that the ICEL translation of the NO (OF) intentionally omits language of sanctity, formality, and reverence, why is not the normative (Latin) NO Mass not more often offered, as a more sacral form for the benefit of those of the people who are attached to such things?
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Aha! Now I get your question! Kind of like, “Why isn’t Latin chosen more often for offering the OF?” (I have never heard of a priest choosing to use Latin for the OF, and then choosing not to follow the rubrics.)

I can only say that I know an older priest who used to know the TLM say that he didn’t know if he could do it, after all these years. Latin takes practice. Most of the priests I know who have been ordained since 1970 or so don’t often feel they have a great command of Latin in the first place. Another priest I know, a Jesuit, says he is regularly taken aback at the good feedback he gets just because he says Mass reverently at all. (Why, he doesn’t know. The local Jesuits are the guys he learned from, after all, but apparently he doesn’t fit the expected stereotype.)

Considering how few Americans want to be bothered to learn a second language, there are probably not a lot of Catholics clamoring for Latin…compared to the number who are clamoring for any number of other things. When there is a quorum who want Latin, they may generally go for the whole enchilada and ask for the TLM. I suspect there is a little fear of “no good deed goes unpunished”, too. So those who want to use Latin may feel it would be more appreciated if they went the whole way and offered Mass using the EF. Or maybe love of Latin and love of the EF tend to go together in the same priests. But I can only guess.
 
crm114 said:
Why are reverently offered Latin NO Masses so rare? Or, to be a bit argumentative, why do so few priests offer the Mass in the fashion intended by the Council?
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Most Catholics don’t speak Latin. I am one. I want to understand what the priest is saying.
 
KingAlfred said:
Most Catholics don’t speak Latin. I am one. I want to understand what the priest is saying.
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If it’s the ordinary that’s being said in Latin, you already know what the priest is saying. “The Lord be with you”, “A reading from the holy Gospel according to …”, “Peace by with you”, “Let us pray”, etc.
 
japhy said:
If it’s the ordinary that’s being said in Latin, you already know what the priest is saying. “The Lord be with you”, “A reading from the holy Gospel according to …”, “Peace by with you”, “Let us pray”, etc.
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I have been tempted to say similar things to people who can’t seem to balance their own checkbooks–the math is the same every month!–but somehow they are less than impressed with the argument. 😉 😃 Seriously, though, just as there is math that some of us learn to do easily at nine that others struggle with at 35, there are some for whom listening to a similar language is practically something they were born to do, while others can barely be convinced that they can learn how to understand a Boston accent, let alone an Indian or a Latin American accent.

If those who know Latin tend to think it is too little (that is, “your Latin is so nice, why don’t you do the EF, Father?”) and those who don’t want Latin think it is too much (that is, “There are enough priests in this world I can’t understand, why do we have to get the guy with great English and he decides to use Latin?!?”) then the priest is put in a “no good deed goes unpunished” position.

Parish life would be great, were it not for the parishioners! 😛 😃
 
bkovacs said:
I found some Franciscan Liturgical Music. Peace Brothers!.

youtube.com/watch?v=ceW3mPVrEJY
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The Brother wearing the cross is Cardinal Sean, OFM Cap, the Archbishop of Boston, one of the holiest Cardinals in the Catholic Church in the USA. It is unfortunate that whoever put the film on youtube cut out his talk. It was very inspiring.

That is one sample of Franciscan Friars singing Christian music, but you missed the most important link on youtube about our life.

youtube.com/watch?v=uv21DUS818w&feature=related

I believe this will show more how we worship and what we’re about as a family.

The voices in the background are not friars, they are Benedictine Monks singing Gregorian chant. Franciscans have always had a special place in our hearts for the Benedictines and for their music.

We have not used it, because it’s not part of our tradition, not because we do not appreciate it. On the contrary, we appreciate it very much. But we were not called to be monastic. We were called to be itinerant brothers and sisters bound in obedience to Francis and whatever the Church approved for Francis.

Here is a typical liturgy in a Franciscan Friary with all the Brothers.

youtube.com/watch?v=WZWCsOViwc0&feature=related

Here are our Conventual Brothers at the sending that concludes the Liturgy of the Hours in a friary

youtube.com/watch?v=RBelV-pp4vQ&feature=related

This is Franciscan music and lyrics written by our Holy Father Francis.

youtube.com/watch?v=HSb1-9i-fDA

Fraternally,

JR 🙂
 
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