Gee, imagine that! 
Posted on 08/10/2006 11:15:52 AM PDT by Pyro7480
'Packed House' Welcomes Latin Mass to Front Royal
By Gretchen R. Crowe
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the Issue of 8/10/06)
The choir loft at St. John the Baptist Church in Front Royal offered the best view of the delicate black and white head coverings, the newly installed Communion rail, and the tall candles on the ornately adorned altar. Each served as a telling sign that the parish’s first Latin Mass was no ordinary eucharistic celebration.
A large group of altar boys assisted Father Ed Hathaway, pastor, in celebrating the Mass last Sunday. Attending in choir were Fathers Paul deLadurantaye, director of the Office of Sacred Liturgy; Chris Pollard, parochial vicar; and Jerome Fasano, pastor of St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Clifton. Eager parishioners and curious visitors filled the pews and flooded out the back of the church into the vestibule.
“It was a packed house,” said Father Hathaway, who said the Latin Mass is “an expression of our tradition that fills in a piece of our heritage.”
While the Latin Mass was familiar to older parishioners, it was the first introduction for many younger ones. Following the Mass, Ellen Kelly signed a “thank you scroll” for Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde, who expanded the option for the Latin Mass to be celebrated in the diocese in March. The Latin Mass also is celebrated every Sunday at St. Lawrence Church in Alexandria.
Holding son, Peter, 1, Kelly said that she and her husband enjoyed “teaching our boys what a truly reverent Mass can be like.”
They weren’t the only ones teaching their children the older traditions of the Church. Bayard and Kimberly Keller filled up the vestibule with their 10 children. The family is moving to Front Royal from Westminster, Md., where they currently attend the Latin Mass in Baltimore.
“It’s something that we’ve evolved into,” Bayard said, as he continuously adjusted the white veil on top of his 4-year-old daughter’s head.
Celebrating the Latin Mass is “more reverent and pleasing to God,” said Therese DeClue, 17. DeClue said she used to attend a Latin Mass with her family in Michigan.
Catherine Jerge, sitting in the front row with daughter Emma on her lap and daughter Jessica by her side, said she used to attend the Latin Mass as a child.
“I love it,” she said. “It’s just a good experience.”
“‘Lord it is good for us to be here,’” said Father Fasano, echoing the day’s Gospel reading of the Transfiguration in his homily. “Some of us have waited 37 years to be able to say this. It is good for us to be at this Mass that we love so much.” The one language “reminds us of the universality of the Church.”
Kurt Poterack, director of Christendom College’s choir and adjunct professor, played the organ and led a schola in the Latin chants, which served as a guide for the congregation that tried its best to keep up with the unfamiliarity of the service.
Regina Hines, a parishioner from Sacred Heart Parish in Winchester, said the two-hour Mass was “a lot longer, a lot grander, a lot more solemn” than what she was used to. She particularly was touched by the reverence given to the Eucharist through kneeling while receiving Communion.
“It’s not a Mass that I would want to go to every Sunday,” she said, but added that it was valuable “to get hold of the old tradition, to reach back into what used to be.” She said she might make the 30-minute drive from Winchester once a month.
Not every Sunday’s Latin Mass will be two hours long, said Father Hathaway. The high sung Mass, which was celebrated last Sunday, will be held on the first Sunday of the month, with a low Latin Mass to be celebrated every other week.
Parishioner Michelle Catellan said she hopes that she and her family will attend the Mass regularly. “It really draws your mind and your heart into heaven.”
Gretchen R. Crowe can be reached at gcrowe@catholicherald.com.
Hubris, hubris. Who can know what is more pleasing to God? The Latin mass is more pleasing to me but God may prefer a mass said in Portuguese. On a cruise ship. On a balmy night under a full moon just after midnight near the Equator.
Mwa ha haaaa (evil grin)....and so it spreads!!
My husband and I will one day relocate from NY, and Virginia is on the top of our list. While looking for towns with traditional Catholic churches, I came across St. John the Baptist's website and was thrilled to see that they were about to begin celebrating the TLM.
So now...Front Royal is on the top of our "Virginia" list of places to relocate. I only wish St. John's had a school, and that there was a good, traditional Catholic High School nearby.
I wish the (very lucky indeed) parishoners of St. John's the best of luck, and may God bless the priest who broght them the TLM.
Regards,
God bless you. When I was a kid and served the Tridentine Mass (late 1950s), 40 minutes was extraordinarily long unless it was a Solemn High Mass or the pastor's funeral or some such. I don't want to deprive those who want every bell and whistle three times over, but it would be nice to have weekly Masses in manageable time frames at convenient times and places: The Mass of the Ages not the Mass that Lasts for Ages.
Laus tibi Christi!
1959 sounds about right. And you too rushed through saying the "Confiteor" in words so fast they couldn't be comprehended? (he implores, ashamedly)....
Frank
Be nice if some of this rubbed off on the Diocese of Richmond.
My cousin passed away two months ago and he had a Latin Mass. The choir sang the Mass in Latin and the altar had a railing. The church also had statues.
I remember the days of no summer homily. Of course those were the pre airconditioning churches when some of the women who were standing (the churches were packed in those days)passed out in the aisles.
We have one here in Kansas City, also. I love Bishop Finn! Here's our website if anyone is ever in the area and wants to attend!
http://oldstpatrick.com/
I wouldn't say it's hubris at all. I think, as Our Lord put it, "by their fruits, you shall know them." The Mass of the Ages is known to be associated with many saints, and a Christian society. It's too soon to say whether the post-Vatican II liturgy is or isn't conducive to sainthood, but it definitely isn't associated with a Christian society. It is definitely a product of the zeitgeist.
LOL! Fr. Fasano, as cool as he is, and as good as a homily he gave, was a bit like the Energizer Bunny. He kept going and going.... ;-)
That church has a very good website! My uncle lives in Kansas City, and if I ever end up there, I will definitely check out that parish!
Gee, imagine that!
" It's quite thorougly possible for priests who didn't attend a "traditionalist" seminary, and are not members of a "traditionalist" order to offer the Tridentine Mass."
Not in our diocese (Portland, OR).
Our priests are not required to take Latin in seminary.
I'm not trying to pick on you, but, honestly, is 1.5 hours all that much to offer up at a beautiful Mass on Sunday?
If Christ could bleed out for three hours on that cross for me I sure can handle a one or two hour Mass!
What about the Melkites? Or Russians? Their liturgies are often two or three hours long. Wouldn't bother me in the least.
Are you sure these priests were not trained by FSSP or some other traditionalist priests?
Fr. Fasano apparently already said Masses (the new Mass?) in Latin for sometime:
http://www.catholicherald.com/parish%20profiles/catherine.htm
" It's quite thorougly possible for priests who didn't attend a "traditionalist" seminary, and are not members of a "traditionalist" order to offer the Tridentine Mass."
Not in our diocese (Portland, OR).
Our priests are not required to take Latin in seminary.
I know some of them, particularly Fr. Pollard and Fr. DeLadurantaye. Fr. Fasano has been offering a (Traditional) Latin Mass, although not on a regular basis, at St. Andrew the Apostle Parish for a few years. I've met him a few times.
This is my Diocese.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.