Posted on 06/14/2019 7:56:50 AM PDT by ebb tide
June 13, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) asked young Catholics who haven’t left the faith what made them stay. While their answer may be surprising to many, it will not be to anyone familiar with the state of the Church today.
First of all, the USCCB is to be commended for asking young people why they’ve stayed in the Church rather than left; too often Church leadership takes its cues on catechesis and evangelization from those who object to various Catholic doctrines. The USCCB is also to be commended for acknowledging young adults are a better authority on “youth” than the aging, liberal Vatican II baby boomers whose grip on Church life has produced memes like “Susan from the Parish Council.”
Many of the most “liked” comments on this question posed to USCCB Facebook followers were about the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), the beautiful ancient rite of the Mass that was codified at the Council of Trent. It’s experienced a resurgence in the last decade or so since Pope Benedict XVI clarified that Vatican II never abrogated this form of the Mass, and that priests don’t need permission from their bishops to offer it.
Much of this resurgence has been from my generation. The beauty, goodness, and truth of the Old Mass appeal to us. It’s otherworldly. It directs our thoughts to heaven and God. It isn’t a show the priest puts on for the congregation. The Old Mass helps souls get to heaven. It makes people Catholic because it is Catholic – far more Catholic than much of what goes on in parishes in most of the West.
“I'm 23,” one young woman commented. “Staying because of the truth rooted in tradition found in the Church (especially the TLM).”
“Discovering the Traditional Latin Mass, and learning about all the beautiful Traditional teachings of our Church is what has kept me a Catholic,” said another.
“24 year old millennial: Seeing the beauty in church tradition and the reverence in the traditional Mass. This type of mass led to an encounter with Christ in the Eucharist,” wrote a young man. “The traditional music, incense, and beautiful traditional church architecture. Through parents who were great models of the faith and were much involved in teaching us the faith and the ‘Why’ to the church teachings and Mary. I was taught of God's love and how when we strive to love God in all our actions this allows us to [become] fully the person God made us to be and leads to happiness.”
Other comments on the USCCB Facebook post reflected the same sentiment:
Ping
“Susan from the Parish Council.”
I went to the link, and learned that she considers LifeSite a “Hate Page”
Whoa
And the old is new again. Very good!
Not to dump on the Latin Mass, but frankly the numbers don’t support this.
In my Diocese there is precisely ONE Parish where the Mass is said in Latin on a regular basis. You rarely see anyone under 60 going there. They had stopped teaching Latin by the time I went to Catholic school so I don’t speak it. And for sure people younger than I am don’t understand it.
If this was really the secret to retaining the young then Masses at this parish would be overflowing with young people each Sunday, and other Parishes would be getting into the act as well.
The fact of the matter is, this is not the case.
“Susan” is parody account. Pretty hilarious send-up of the 70-ish white liberal “Vatican 2” generation.
Love the pro-Latin mass responses. Definitely not what the USCCB was likely expecting or wanted to hear (”the wonderful, saintly example of His Humbleness Pope Francis” was probably was what they thought they’d get). I do worry a bit that the strong Latin resurgence among the faithful remnant of young Catholics (at least in the English & French-speaking world) will provoke the reigning anti-Latin Mass forces to double-down on their efforts to suppress (e.g., what we’re seeing with the new ban in the Knights of Malta). Ultimately, though, bans may backfire and make the old rite even more attractive. Youth have never minded thumbing their noses at the geezers trying to boss them around.
It may be a regional thing, and it may be small-ish at the moment, but the trend is real. I’m hesitant to be specific as I don’t want to cause any kind of backlash on anyone, but I can tell you that the most active young adult group in a major, “hip” American city is associated with the Latin Mass parish.
Check out any Latin Mass before or after a March/Walk for Life. The median age will shock you.
Many young people at the Latin Mass at St. Agnes’ in NYC. Many more than older people who seem to love the sloppy masses favored by suburbanites.
In my Diocese we have three Parishes that perform Latin Mass and the average age is in the thirties.
In our parish, it is clear that many young people are attracted to the Latin Mass. We have both the Extraordinary Form (full Latin Mass) and Ordinary Form (Novus Ordo) masses where all the responses and some of the prayers (like the Our Father) are in Latin, with lots of incense and times for silence. Young people (including my young adult sons) are clearly enamored of it, and quite a few young women are veiled. I live in a somewhat conservative community, but I think it could be the same in other places if they tried and stuck with it. Not knowing Latin is not an impediment in our parish so it shouldn’t be freewheeler. Young people are definitely hungry for the mysterious, I can tell you that.
Please stop this canard. Even 3 year olds at my parish have a bit of Latin and, as we all know, the Latin and the English are printed side by side in the Missal.
Very true! Reverse psychology ... At this point in time, the "old geezers" are playing whack-a-mole. They suppress the TLM in one place and it pops up somewhere else. Benedict XVI let the cat out of the bag and there is no putting the cat back in the bag.
I could be mistaken, but “Susan from the Parish Council” smells like a satire.
Where you REALLY see the strength of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) is in the separate churches and apostolates that are exclusively dedicated to the TLM. Churches affiliated with traditional Catholic orders like the Fraternity of St. Peter and the Institute of Christ the King are bursting at the seams, and their seminaries are overflowing with new vocations as well.
The dirty little secret here is that traditional Catholics aren't just attracted to the Latin Mass. They're also repulsed by almost everything they've experienced in the Catholic hierarchy from top to bottom. Offering a Latin Mass as an option in a regular parish simply isn't good enough for them. Offering the Latin Mass in an environment where the influence of a lazy, corrupt, fouled-up local bishop is minimized is far more important than you might realize.
Working with older teens and young adults in SoCal, I would say the Latin Mass is only a part of what keeps them coming to the Church. Traditional and orthodox Catholic teaching with love and fellowship and community activities play a big part in their continued involvement. Christ centered ministries do well....
Ad Deum qui letificat juventutam meam
(to God Who is the joy of my youth.)
The trauma of Vatican II is still palpable in me.
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