Catholic youths flock to centuries-old Latin Mass
DUESSELDORF, Germany – While hundreds of thousands of young Roman Catholics sing and dance their way through World Youth Day festivities, some start each morning in silent prayer attending the rarely celebrated old Latin Mass…
…The traditional liturgy, almost forgotten since the Church switched to vernacular tongues for its services, is full of reverent rituals and ornate vestments which were put aside as outdated after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).
But these traditions are making a quiet comeback among a tiny minority of young Catholics who find the strict Roman rite more sacred and prayerful than the loud guitars and chatty priests they see in their local parishes.
As a child of the New Roman Rite of the ’70’s I’ve always been skeptical of those who pined for the “old days”. In many ways, I still am.
As a musician, I’ve used lots of GIA’s music over the years, some of it is really good, especially the psalms which are the backbone of Christian worship over 2000 years. Looking back at the music from before Vatican II, a good deal of it is just as trite as the Post-Vatican II folk boom.
However, the baby was definitely thrown out with the bathwater when the reformers got their inch from the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy and they took their mile. We NEED Latin. We NEED the vernacular, we NEED both. Latin is our language of prayer, and the language of the Church. It is the official language in which Jesus himself was likely condemned by Pilate. There is so much to it, that was just totally pitched by the reformers.
Thanks.