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Ean_Fanaiochta
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#PetraG: What I would have said if I had thought of it.
Why does the Latin Mass attract a niche market
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TheMortenBay
Guest
Personal coming-to-faith story here, but bear with me. 
When I first started going to the Catholic faith I considered myself a socialist (little “s”) and looking back I was what I now define as a liberal.
But what I realised coming into the faith is that a lot of the opinions I had politically were not compatible with Catholicism. But what you have to remember is that no earthly political line is completely in line with Catholic teaching. But the conservatives hold for the most part the only proper opinion on abortion and family to name a few.
I think it’s possible that the realisation that conservatism (following Christian tradition) politically is also connected with people figuring out the importance of tradition in the liturgy.
You simply CAN’T be for abortion and be a good Catholic, similarly you just CAN’T be a good Catholic and ignore the abuse done to the Church’s liturgy over the past 50 years. The traditional Mass supports the traditional faith - which is the only Catholic faith. There is no such thing as a “liberal Catholic”.
When I first started going to the Catholic faith I considered myself a socialist (little “s”) and looking back I was what I now define as a liberal.
But what I realised coming into the faith is that a lot of the opinions I had politically were not compatible with Catholicism. But what you have to remember is that no earthly political line is completely in line with Catholic teaching. But the conservatives hold for the most part the only proper opinion on abortion and family to name a few.
I think it’s possible that the realisation that conservatism (following Christian tradition) politically is also connected with people figuring out the importance of tradition in the liturgy.
You simply CAN’T be for abortion and be a good Catholic, similarly you just CAN’T be a good Catholic and ignore the abuse done to the Church’s liturgy over the past 50 years. The traditional Mass supports the traditional faith - which is the only Catholic faith. There is no such thing as a “liberal Catholic”.
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JSRG
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It seems to me the reason the Latin Mass attracts a niche crowd is quite obvious: It’s in Latin. Latin is a language no one has as a primary tongue and is rarely taught at schools, so you have to actually put forward a lot of extra work to learn it. Sure, you could avoid that part of the work if you get a missal with a translation to follow along, but then that brings up the question of “why not just cut out the middleman and attend an English mass to begin with?”
If they were to offer the Extraordinary Form in English (while keeping everything else exactly the same) I think we’d see way more people going to it. Quite honestly I wish they would do that, so you get the reverence of the EF but in a language that’s comprehensible. It’s what a lot of Eastern Orthodox (as well as Eastern Catholic, I believe) parishes have been doing in the US, keeping the rite the same as it was before but just doing it in English.
If they were to offer the Extraordinary Form in English (while keeping everything else exactly the same) I think we’d see way more people going to it. Quite honestly I wish they would do that, so you get the reverence of the EF but in a language that’s comprehensible. It’s what a lot of Eastern Orthodox (as well as Eastern Catholic, I believe) parishes have been doing in the US, keeping the rite the same as it was before but just doing it in English.
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TheMortenBay
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I don’t think there’s any provision for Eastern Catholics to celebrate the traditional Roman Mass in a local language. The Anglican Ordinariate might come close, though.
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JSRG
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Sorry, my phrasing was poor in retrospect; I wasn’t talking about them doing the Latin Mass in English. I was saying they were taking their traditional rites and doing them in English. But their traditional rites have a lot of the same reverence as the Latin Mass does–indeed, I’ve seen some say that it’s more reverence–so it’s their equivalent of just taking the EF and doing it in English.JSRG:
I don’t think there’s any provision for Eastern Catholics to celebrate the traditional Roman Mass in a local language. The Anglican Ordinariate might come close, though.
I’ve gone to a few Eastern Orthodox parishes, which were doing the Divine Liturgy of John Chrysostom as their mass. It felt a lot like the EF in terms of reverence, but it was done either entirely or mostly in English (one of them was entirely in English whereas the other was mostly in English with some Greek). That’s what I was talking about, doing the mass in the" traditional" manner like the EF but in the vernacular language.
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CilladeRoma
Guest
It is also obvious in the OF.
I have attend the OF my entire life and never doubted this fact.
Why do you think it is an issue specifically?
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CradleRC58
Guest
My parish has the Anglican Ordinariate Mass. It’s like a Low Mass in English.
I went to a couple of them. The first time, I received Communion at the rail and was puzzled at why everyone remained at the rail. Then I saw the priest come back with the Cup.
It was nice.
There is not much we don’t have there. We even have two full skeletal remains of Saints. We are so blessed !
I went to a couple of them. The first time, I received Communion at the rail and was puzzled at why everyone remained at the rail. Then I saw the priest come back with the Cup.
It was nice.
There is not much we don’t have there. We even have two full skeletal remains of Saints. We are so blessed !
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TheMortenBay
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Sounds like a better compromise than most… I’m curious. Did people receive the Precious Blood kneeling as well? Did they hold the Chalice or only the priest? Or was there a liturgical spoon situation? I think that’d be preferable to me.
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CradleRC58
Guest
Yes, kneeling at the rail, and Reverend held the Cup.
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ricmat
Guest
I’ve taught RCIA, teen confirmation, adult bible study, & adult RE classes for over 20 years. A couple of thousand students in all. I always ask a new class “What happens at Mass?” and I’ve had perhaps 10 folks eventually get to “sacrifice” - after some additional hints & clarification.
During that time I’ve been a daily Mass goer, and observed what a lot of people actually do at Mass. If they think that a holy sacrifice is going on, they have been hiding it very well - not so much the daily ones, but the weekly and CEO’s.
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Emeraldlady
New member
My very holy, Catholic mother fervently discouraged us from making judgements of anyone in Mass. She used to say let others observe you being a model of grace. The Mass is such a unique communion with Christ that even people who seem ignorant and immature in knowledge of their faith are a welcome presence to Him.
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ricmat
Guest
Thank you for your holy mother’s judgement of my observations.
I’m not talking about reading anyone’s mind or heart here.
It is possible, I suppose, that many are able to commune with God via cell phone videos, conversations, and text messages. As just one example.
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ATraveller
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I’m not Catholic but in addition to others saying the older style of worship was there “first”, I believe more younger “conservative” Catholics are drawn to Latin Masses because it’s counter-cultural. There are many young Christians across denominations who strongly (and rightly) reject the modern West its values, its mores and its cultural offspring. And for some Catholics, Latin Masses are in many ways a visible rejection of the modern secular West.
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Maximus1
Guest
Idolatry eminates from individuals not a liturgy.
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