Well, it’s good for writing documents as the language doesn’t drift with the passage of time as Latin is a dead language. I do agree with you otherwise.Does the Catholic Church really need a universal language? This seems against the principle that God can reach us through any human language. No, I do not think a universal language is needed but rather a universal doctrine.
Yeah–but the per-Mass attendance of the closing parishes is likely higher than that of the EF communities.I think the OF parishes are closing due to lack of attendance actually.
Very similar with our EF.Have you got that right!!
We have an EF Mass in my diocese every Sunday @ 11:15am. It is in a pretty central location and can be reached by most people in our diocese in less than an hour, for most about 20 minutes, if that. It is not in a bad part of town and there is plenty of free parking
The Church holds about 1000 people, average attendance is about 150.
The OF that is celebrated in the same parish, with chant, incense, some Latin, sometimes celebrated ad orientum gets maybe 300.
A parish 4 miles away, which is OF only, and is run by the Basilian’s seats about 650 and is full for 4 Masses a weekend.
The numbers don’t lie. The OF, at least in my diocese, is far more popular. And we have had the EF Mass for more than 20 years- every Sunday.
The fact there is a tight-knit “EF community” is by far the largest thing holding back more people from attending the EF Mass where I live. That “tight-knit” group turns people off here locally. My parish is large and very central. I wonder how an EF would do if it were truly another mass offered BY AN EXISTING PARISH COMMUNITY and not by some small group of fringers? Sad we’ll never know because the local EF Mass draws 80-100 every Sunday in a church that holds 800.The EF community at our parish is very passionate, tight-knit, intellectual and (I have to say) well-dressed–BUT it is small.
No, but it’s a good metric of the EF Mass not catching on. That should be studied and remedied. But it won’t be, because it would impact a lot of the existing people who attend the EF Mass.Are we to judge the goodness or rightness of a thing by its popularity and high numbers now?
There’s a reason why this is true. It’s because the EF Mass was illegally suppressed until 2007 when Benedict XVI admitted that it had never been abrogated. The Traditional Mass was sidelined, refused, and restricted by scores of Bishops for decades. Add the fact that Catholic children had no access to it at school or anywhere else - many didn’t know it existed. Even today, the EF Mass is hardly taught to seminarians and isn’t widely available. It isn’t given equality with the Mass of Paul VI. The best evidence for this is the fact that the Pope won’t celebrate it - not even rarely.Are you serious? Really? The number of “traditional” Catholic that are attracted to the Church due to the EF Mass is minuscule in the greater scheme of things.
I often wonder what the effect would have been if Pope Benedict had even once offered a Solemn Pontifical High Mass in St. Peter’s.The best evidence for this is the fact that the Pope won’t celebrate it - not even rarely.
It was still available in many locales…It’s because the EF Mass was illegally suppressed until 2007
The fact remains that the EF Mass is not given equal treatment. It isn’t celebrated as often or in as many places as the OF Mass. It isn’t celebrated in many schools. I’ve personally tried to organise celebrations of the Mass in two cathedrals and in one school but my requests were denied without explanation.I remember how so many people felt that if only an EF Mass would be offered, that there would be a HUGE number of attendees. When SP came a long we got our EF Masse – and few attendees. It’s been that way for what, a decade now?
Not true. That’s just another false excuse. It’s the people who surround the EF – who give the EF a face, that keep more people from attending.The fact remains that the EF Mass is not given equal treatment.
As does the EF Mass…OF puts more focus on men than it does God at times.
You’ve just contradicted yourself. I said ‘the fact remains that the EF is not given treatment.’ You said ‘Not true’ and then explain why the EF isn’t given equal treatment! You say it’s ‘also a matter of resources.’Not true. That’s just another false excuse. It’s the people who surround the EF – who give the EF a face, that keep more people from attending.
It’s also a matter of resources.
BTW, the word “whomsoever” was left out of the translation.CANON XIII.-If any one saith, that the received and approved rites of the Catholic Church, wont to be used in the solemn administration of the sacraments, may be contemned, or without sin be omitted at pleasure by the ministers, or be changed, by every pastor of the churches, into other new ones; let him be anathema.
Canon XIII.—Si quis dixerit, receptos et approbates Ecclesiæ Catholicæ ritus, in solemni sacramentorum administratione adhiberi consuetos, aut contemni, aut sine peccato a ministris pro libito omitti, aut in novos alios per quemcumque ecclesiarum pastorem mutari posse: anathema sit.