I’m 58 and I lived through this period of decline in church attendance. The decline has continued even in recent years, which is interesting.
What has always bothered me is the rapid rate of change in the rubrics of the Mass. Not only did so many things change, but they were continuously changing, sometimes back and forth.
The last bishop tore out all the crucifixes in church, and they were replaced with this Jesus figure with both arms raised, as if he were flying off the cross.
I don’t want to distract myself here with that, but that image is not scriptural, you know? They took the crucifixes down and put that up to fill the hole that was left.
My complaint is that no one, in any parish, any place, has ever asked ME what I would like to see in church. I think pride and vanity are running rampant here, with lots of “experts” changing things to suit themselves.
Same goes with arrangements of things around the altar. Lots of nit picky changes, all the time. In recent years, we’ve had displays of bare branches (abundant outdoors, just a few steps away) to REMIND us what season it is, I guess.
There are just whole categories of things that have changed, with lots of shallow rationalizations. We used to kneel during the consecration of the Mass (Eucharistic Prayer) and more recently we’ve had to stand, even when the rules said we were supposed to stand.
Our last bishop (again) wanted to do everything HIS way (no (name removed by moderator)ut) and so that’s what we were told. When people kneel during the Eucharistic prayer, I think they get easily distracted and are probably not paying attention. So, the real reason for them to stand is to keep them more alert, but the priest won’t admit that, which is a whole different problem.
I think the changes come for the same reason, to keep off balance and more alert during Mass. The last bishop complained that the people weren’t really more involved with the introduction of the English Mass. Lots of trivial stuff was invented, like having “altar dressers” who spread the cloths over the altar after the prayers of the faithful, and then removed them after communion – you know, just busy work to get more people involved – with no spirituality or symbolism involved, just busy work.
Sermons became homilies, pulpits became ambos, beautiful decorations were dismantled, kneelers banished, tabernacles disappeared. People were told these things were “bad” when they were “good” for so long.
It’s just an endless list of nonsense that wears people down. And, then there’s the whole dumbing-down part of it too. If there’s a few kids, now we have to listen to these watered–down, candy cane Eucharistic prayers.
Don’t forget the backdrop, of the loss of thousands of professed religious sisters, who were vital (in local churches anyway) to maintaining the beautiful altars and liturgies, and keeping kids catechized.
And amongst all of our cultural banalities, locally there’s the rule from the pews of not having “long” sermons or of violating the 60-minute rule for masses. A sister who was involved in missionary work in the Philippines for over 25 years was scheduled to speak at Mass. Right off, she was told by the rectory clerk “to keep it short and sweet” which she indignantly reminded us of, when she began to speek. Although she had risked her life and dedicated her life to service and had stood up to communist rebels, she was told to keep it short. The whole thing was so uncoordinated, they didn’t even take up the collection for her order after communion. She must have left empty handed from this reportedly very orthodox parish.
The short answer – the bishops and priests have done everything they possibly can to trivialize the worship. And, witness the recent move to have people bow or genuflect while coming up to communion, to try to “Restore” what has been violently thrown away. People say that rituals are empty and meaningless – they’re not. They help people to control themselves and to control their thinking.
