The First Page of the Book of Genesis in the 1611 printing of the KJV, from Wikipedia. Click to enlarge.
I do know that my mother never took us to church after we got to Kentucky. My religious conscience was left to develop for itself, but somehow, I knew that I was Catholic. I did know that I had been baptized in the Catholic Church, because my mother told me, but that really was it.
In small town Mt Sterling, Kentucky, I certainly knew about the Protestant churches, and, for a while, when we lived off Richmond Avenue, there was a Pentecostalist church very close by, a church that took to heart raising a joyful noise unto the Lord, Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. Google maps Streetscape tells me that it’s still there, though the white-painted concrete block walls have now been covered with white vinyl siding. But one of the things I also remember were that there were several Protestant churches which advertised themselves as King James Only, arguing that “the KJV needs no further improvements because it is the greatest English translation of the Bible which was ever published, and they also believe that all other English translations of the Bible which were published after the KJV was published are corrupt.” They have their reasons, which I will not argue here, and which you can read if you follow the link.
But, regardless of their arguments, one thing is certain: the Elizabethan English used in the King James Version is lofty in a way that modern English simply is not, and I have to wonder: does the grandeur of the language itself inspire some English-speaking people?
Old Latin Mass Finds New American Audience, Despite Pope’s Disapproval
An ancient form of Catholic worship is drawing in young traditionalists and conservatives. But it signals a divide within the church.
by Ruth Graham | Tuesday, November 15, 2022
I suppose that I have to laugh here, given that the form of the Tridentine, or Traditional Latin Mass, dates from the Missal of 1962. I’m not quite sure how that can be called, in the subtitle, “an ancient form.” 🙂
DETROIT — Eric Agustin’s eight children used to call the first day of the week “Party Sunday.” The family would wake up, attend a short morning Mass at a Catholic parish near their house, then head home for lunch and an afternoon of relaxing and watching football.
But this summer, the family made a “big switch,” one of his teenage sons said on a recent Sunday afternoon outside St. Joseph Shrine, the family’s new parish. At St. Joseph, the liturgy is ornate, precisely choreographed and conducted entirely in Latin. The family drives an hour round trip to attend a service that starts at 11 a.m. and can last almost two hours.
The traditional Latin Mass, an ancient form of Catholic worship that Pope Francis has tried to discourage, is instead experiencing a revival in the United States. It appeals to an overlapping mix of aesthetic traditionalists, young families, new converts and critics of Francis. And its resurgence, boosted by the pandemic years, is part of a rising right-wing strain within American Christianity as a whole.
Oooh, not “a rising conservative movement within American Christianity,” but a “rising right-wing strain”. No loaded language in the Times there, huh?
The Mass has sparked a sprawling proxy battle in the American church over not just songs and prayers but also the future of Catholicism and its role in culture and politics.
And there it is: the Tridentine Mass debate is, for the author, more political than anything else. But my question is: could it be the grandeur of the Latin, of the Tridentine Mass, that is attracting so many “aesthetic traditionalists, young families, (and) new converts”?
This is why I began with the bit on the King James Version: if the grandeur of the Elizabethan English can inspire modern English speakers of today, why couldn’t the Latin Mass be doing the same thing for Catholics?
For me, the Novus Ordo Mass works better. Why? With my poor hearing, I have to sit in the very front pew, to be able to hear and understand what is being said. I need to use the missalette to be certain I have gotten the responsorial psalm correctly.[1]In a Catholic Mass, there is a reading from the Book of Psalms between the first and second readings, with a line with which the parishioners respond. In most parishes, this responsorial line is sung … Continue reading A Tridentine Mass, in which the priest has his back to the parishioners? I’d never understand that![2]I have been privileged enough to attend one Latin Mass, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, on Saturday, November 12th. Because the Church was undergoing renovations, there was little seating, and I … Continue reading
But for Catholics whose ears actually work? I can easily understand why they might prefer the greater grandeur of the Tridentine Mass. And if this brings more Catholics to Mass on Sunday? That can only be a good thing!
Latin Mass adherents tend to be socially conservative and tradition-minded. Some, like the Agustin family, are attracted to the Mass’s beauty, symbolism and what they describe as a more reverent form of worship.
Others have also been drawn to the old form through a brand of new hard-right rhetoric and community they have found in some Catholic communities online. They see the pope’s attempt to curb the old Latin Mass as an example of the perils of a world becoming unmoored from Western religious values.
There’s that New York Times bias again, “new hard-right rhetoric”. The author’s Times biography says, “Ruth Graham is a Dallas-based national correspondent covering religion, faith and values. She previously reported on religion for Slate.” Yup, she reported on religion for Slate, very much a ‘progressive’ site. That explains the author’s biases quite well.
But one thing is certainly true: there is considerable resistance to Pope Francis and his seeming willingness to accept more ‘progressive’ social teachings and overtures to the homosexual community. The Holy Father does not like that some Catholics prefer the Tridentine Mass, seeing it as a political movement as much as a religious one. But in trying to rein in the Tridentine Mass, which his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI allowed to be celebrated at the pastor’s initiative, Pope Francis has generated the very resistance he wanted to avoid. He could have simply let well enough alone.
Political and theological conservatives see in Pope Francis’ restriction of the traditional Latin Mass a troubling disregard for orthodoxy more broadly.
Since Francis became pope in 2013, he has emphasized inclusivity, and attempted to soften the church’s approach to flashpoints like abortion and homosexuality. He has also issued a major encyclical on environmental stewardship, prayed for immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, and appointed women to historically significant roles in church operations.
Francis’ 2021 document “Traditionis Custodes,” comparable to an executive order, limited where and when the old Mass can be celebrated. And this summer, he outraged traditionalists further with a new document making clear that the tensions around the Mass are more than a question of taste. “I do not see how it is possible to say that one recognizes the validity of the Council — though it amazes me that a Catholic might presume not to do so — and at the same time not accept the liturgical reform,” he wrote.
The crackdown helped fuel what some call the “liturgy wars.”
“It’s a whole vision of the church and what it means to be a Christian and a Catholic that’s at stake here,” said John Baldovin, a priest and a professor at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry who has written often about liturgical issues. “You can’t say it’s just about a beautiful Mass.”
Actually, you can say that. Fr Baldovin just doesn’t want to recognize that, but that’s exactly what many Tridentine Mass attendees have said. Further down[3]The direct quotes in this article are not all in the order in which they are presented., the article states:
Like (Noah) Peters, almost all Latin Mass devotees use a version of the word “reverent” unprompted, contrasting the tone of the Latin Mass with oft-cited if rare examples in modern parishes featuring nontraditional elements like puppets and balloons, a casual treatment of the Eucharist, or music and dance they consider disrespectful. The popular traditionalist podcaster Taylor Marshall often tells a story about feeling driven away from the Novus Ordo when he was served the Eucharist by a layperson wearing a Grover T-shirt.
Our small parish church, after I refinished the doors last summer. Click to enlarge.
The conflict is particularly fierce in the United States, where conservatives dominate the bishops’ conference and high-profile critics and media outlets regularly challenge Francis’ leadership.
At a conference in Pittsburgh this fall, Catholic critics of Pope Francis laid out three “articles of resistance” against the Vatican and its current leadership. Their top objection was to “Traditionis Custodes,” which they called an act of “religious discrimination against Traditional Catholics.”
To me, that doesn’t even make sense. Why drive Catholics away?
Dozens of large, young families have flocked to St. Joseph Shrine since it began offering the traditional Latin Mass regularly in 2016. A historically German parish with a 19th-century building that once struggled to keep the lights on is now bustling with people, including many couples with five or more children.
High Mass on Sundays begins with holy water sprinkled up the aisle, and it features plumes of incense and the sounds of bells, a pipe organ and Gregorian chant. Men tend to wear suits and ties and most women wear skirts and lace mantillas on their heads, the latter a traditional sign of humility and femininity. Parking nearby is hard to find on Sundays.
“It’s nothing exceptional here,” demurred Rev. Canon J.B. Commins, 33, who lives in the brick rectory next door. “In other places where the traditional Mass is being celebrated, it’s exponential growth.”
In other words, where the local bishops allow it — in this case, the Archdiocese of Detroit — to flourish rather than being wholly banned or greatly restricted,[5]Here in the Diocese of Lexington, Bishop John Stowe has restricted the Tridentine Mass, but not eliminated it. the churches offering the Tridentine Mass are thriving, are seeing more Catholics in the pews. And, in the end, isn’t getting more Catholics to Mass on Sunday, more Catholics to take the sacraments, more Catholics to become closer to God, the ultimate goal of the Catholic Church?
This is not a zero-sum game, in which the Tridentine Mass just takes parishioners away from Novus Ordo churches. Rather, it seems that the Latin Mass has increased the total number of Catholics in the pews, and certainly seems to have brought more younger people into the Church. Their reasons may be varied, but their numbers do count. Why would any Pope, any bishop, or any priest be opposed to that?
References
| ↑1 | In a Catholic Mass, there is a reading from the Book of Psalms between the first and second readings, with a line with which the parishioners respond. In most parishes, this responsorial line is sung rather than spoken, though it is normally spoken during weekday Masses, and was usually spoken due to COVID-19 restrictions after the parishes reopened. I have a really hard time understanding it when it is sung. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | I have been privileged enough to attend one Latin Mass, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, on Saturday, November 12th. Because the Church was undergoing renovations, there was little seating, and I had to stand to the left of the altar. I was able to understand very little. |
| ↑3 | The direct quotes in this article are not all in the order in which they are presented. |
| ↑4 | I cannot criticize her: a 13-year-old, she served every Mass for a year after the parish reopened following the COVID closures. |
| ↑5 | Here in the Diocese of Lexington, Bishop John Stowe has restricted the Tridentine Mass, but not eliminated it. |
The old one liner, “Is the Pope Catholic,” these days must be answered in the negative.