So, how to get the kids back to church? Why, the Latin Mass of course!

A resurgence of the Latin Mass appears to be underway in suburban Chicago according to this story.



The Catholic rite dating from the 5th century had almost faded into oblivion after Vatican reforms in the 1960s, which included an official ban on its use. But since Pope John Paul lifted the ban in 1984, it’s thriving in Volo [a suburb of Chicago] and being revived across the country, with young families leading the way.

Apparently those crazy youngsters just love the Tridentine Mass!

At a time when churches are competing to attract the Gen-X crowd, what’s the draw of this more traditional practice?

“The Mass has an intensity you don’t normally see,” [Father] Garcia said. “The art, the music, the chanting connects the people to God in a deep and mysterious way.”

Garcia says he believes young people “crave a closeness to the Lord” and need a sense of permanence in a chaotic society.

I think there’s something to this. A lot of evangelical Protestant churches have adopted the strategy of making church as “un-church”-like as possible in order to attract younger people and “seekers.” Thus, you have sanctuaries (or “worship spaces”) without stained glass, altars or any but the most minimal religious iconography, pastors in jeans and t-shirts, and parishioners sitting in cushioned seats with a cup of coffee from the snack bar in the narthex (sorry – lobby).

Whatever the merits of this approach, it doesn’t seem to leave much room for the transcendent to enter into people’s experience. If your church feels like a shopping mall or has the décor of a dentist’s office, it’s hard to get a sense of stepping out of the ordinary into the presence of the Holy. It may be that you have to be made a bit uncomfortable to be taken out of yourself. The traditional Mass does a superb job of directing the worshippers attention toward God where it should be.

Now, I hold no particular brief for Latin – the only Tridentine Mass I’ve ever been to was an Anglican one in English. But I am definitely on the “high-church” end of my denomination. In addition to maintaining a certain air of reverence, the formal liturgy in basic outline goes back to the earliest period of the church. This keeps us connected with the Saints who’ve gone before us, and keeps us from veering off in questionable (or heretical) directions in our worship.

(link via Dappled Things)