Yesterday
evening I attended the Missa Cantata for the solemnity of the Immaculate
Conception organised by the Durham Chapter of Juventutem. It was celebrated, with
permission from the local Dominicans who have care of the Durham parish of St
Cuthbert, by Father Bede Rowe of ‘A Chaplain Abroad’.
I
and others I spoke to were impressed by the proficiency of the servers who had no practice at all, and the
quality of the singing, the singers having had but scant practice just before Mass. Both he serving team and the singers included members of the Durham Juventutem group, the singers also having members of the student body of Durham University. They were aided and supported by a
fine young organist. There was a good number in the congregation and the Buffet
afterwards was enjoyed by all, along with great company! I sat in choir for the
Mass, along with Father Paul Tully, Catholic chaplain to the local Durham Hospitals.
Having
seen how these young people love what they were doing, and the older members of the
congregation supporting them, I have to say that for the life of me I cannot
understand why there is continued resistance to the Church’s ancient liturgy. Several
young people spoke to me in the following Buffet saying they had never attended
an Extraordinary Form Mass and asked why it was not more commonly available. One
young lady however, had the same reaction I did many years ago when I first
attended a TLM: it was all done on the sanctuary and the people did little or nothing.
I told her my own story of having only come to appreciate the TLM only after
several attendances by which time I had come to value the silence and the
permission it gives to pray in my own words from my own heart rather than make programmed
responses. She did, however, say she liked what she saw (she had an advantage
over me in that my first few attendances were at low Masses said in a hotel
room back in 1980!)
I
think it is time that the EF was not be simply allowed by the Church but actively promoted in order that we allow the Holy Spirit to show us which
Form allows Him to reach the human heart more readily. It is not enough to
permit the TLM: permission can be a neutral stance. What we need is for the
Church’s liturgical treasure be valued and positively promoted, rather than grudgingly
tolerated.
The
photographs were taken by Mrs Susan McDowell and Mr Michael Wee.
Father,
ReplyDeleteNot many bishops in the immediate future will promote the Tridentine Mass. That will come from the Traditional Orders, but more and more, it will come from individual priests. Do remember that any priest can at any time say the Tridentine Mass, that he can invite anyone to it and that any group of parishioners can request and must be provided with the Mass.
So it is up to you priests to entreat those of your fellow priests who are interested in the Mass of Ages to actually start to say it. You must have many like minded priests amongst your friends.
Secondly, it is up to young Catholics who come across it, as at your Mass i.e. servers, singers and any others, to ask for it. I believe there is strong interest at some University chaplaincy groups in the Mass. They must approach their parish priests/ bishops and ask for it.
And then when they see the trend, no doubt more bishops will start to follow it!