Loading ...
First of all: greetings to all readers, and apologies for the long delay in posting. I was so busy last week preparing for, and then attending, this conference that I did not deliver on my promise to describe the Teen Life Mass that the Doctor and I witnessed last Sunday. Why my fellow contributors have done nothing to fill the silence, I cannot say, but I at least have been fairly bursting with ideas that I’ve been wanting to post, so hopefully I can keep things humming over the next few weeks.
But first, I’d better fulfill my promise.
First, I should probably explain why on Earth the Doctor and I were at such a Mass in the first place. We were driving back from a Thanksgiving visit with friends, who live in a city in which the only available Latin Mass is in the early afternoon. Waiting that long before beginning a long drive would have gotten us home extremely late, and the Doctor had to work the next day, so I suggested looking for a Latin Mass that we could get to somewhere along the drive. Lexington had one in the late afternoon, so we figured we’d shoot for that. But one delay after another put us in Lexington just as the Latin Mass was almost over. We were left trying to figure out how we were going to fill our Mass obligation at all. As it turned out, the Cathedral had a Mass beginning right around the time we actually got to Lexington. It was named for Christ the King, and it was his feast day in the Novus calendar, so we figured that was probably good. If you’ve got to go to a Novus, you might as well go to one in the cathedral, on the day of their patronal feast.
But we knew immediately that we hadn’t chosen well, as soon as we walked into the church. Smiling teenagers in jeans presented us with papers containing the words to such praise and worship classics as Amazing Love. Walking into the chapel itself, we saw a keyboard, a drum set, and several microphones set up in the, err, sanctuary (though in cases such as these, the urge to call it the stage is almost overwhelming.) We walked all through the place trying to find the tabernacle so that we could genuflect to Our Lord. It was nowhere to be seen. We finally gave up and settled into a place off to the side of the altar, where we could observe without ourselves being conspicuous. Near where we were sitting, there was a confessional announcing on the sign that it was for face to face confessions. Evidently in this church, the penitents are given a choice.
Once we were sitting, I finally had time to examine the program that the smiling teenagers had given me. “Uh, oh,” I said to my husband. “Don’t think you’re going to enjoy this. We’ve found our way to the Teen Life Mass.”
“Oh, great,” he said gloomily.
“But there is one piece of good news. I think I found Jesus.”
Through a little door in the back, I could see a glimpse of what looked like it might be a prayer room with a tabernacle. We went through, and sure enough, the Blessed Sacrament was reserved there in a small, cocoon-like room, clearly separated from the chapel itself. I was glad, in a way, that it was… somehow it seemed fitting to protect the Body of Christ from the shenanigans that were likely to take place outside. We prayed for a few minutes until we heard sounds from outside indicating that the Mass was beginning.
Actually, we could have prayed a little longer, because we returned to our pews to see… the priest talking at the microphone, welcoming people to church in the way that Protestants so often do. He asked some people about how their Thanksgivings were, and made announcements about upcoming events. He asked visitors to raise their hands so they could introduce themselves and say where they were from. (The Doctor whispered into my ear, “Hello, we’re visitors from the Catholic Church.” Ha ha.) A woman, apparently the music leader, participated in this welcoming session, trading jokes with him and adding comments, as though they were warming the audience up for a show (which, of course, they actually were.) Then she was asked to teach the congregation a new song that they would be singing for a Communion hymn, because “I don’t think they know this one yet.” The band took their places on the stage, and they went through the song, which was, as you’d expect, a sort of rock/pop-style praise and worship tune, though part of it was very loosely based on Amazing Grace.
After that the band and singers (there were two at the microphones, a man and a woman) launched right into another song, and we could see that this was intended as the processional, because we could see a little group coming down the center aisle, with a girl waving a cross over her head in time to the music. The priest was not part of the processional, of course, being already on the stage, but the Gospels were carried by another man in jeans and a gray sweatshirt. He placed it on the altar table and took a seat with the congregation.
Here’s the hardest thing about going to a Mass like this: it’s almost eternally long. In a bare-bones, nobody-really-wants-to-be-here Novus, where people shuffle in in their workout clothes and leave in the middle of the recessional hymn, you can at least take comfort in the realization that the pain will soon end, because the Mass will soon end. In this Mass, we’d been there a good 35 or 40 minutes before even getting to the Gospel! The Gloria filled several minutes, complete with singing, swaying, and even a few hands in the air. I was amazed to see that the singers and swayers weren’t necessarily even teenagers. In the pews just in front of us there were a number of elderly people (mostly women), old enough to remember the days before Vatican II, and some of them were singing enthusiastically, swaying to the beat, obviously knowing all the words by heart. The young people were sad enough, but the older ones made the scene much more disturbing. What were they doing there? Had they no self-respect at all?
After all this came the homily which, somewhat to my surprise, was really not bad. The style in which it was delivered was perhaps a bit too reminiscent of an evangelical preacher, but the message was sound, and it even included a few stories about some of the martyrs in Latin America who had been executed by the state because of their efforts to keep the faith alive. My only complaint was about the length. I almost never complain about the length of homilies, but this one took a solid 20 or 25 minutes, and the contents could have been delivered just as effectively (probably more so) in 10. The redundancy began to breed impatience. Still, I began to think (and the Doctor commented on this afterwards, as well) that, at heart, this might not really be such a bad priest. How he got the assignment to say the Teen LIfe Mass at the Lexington cathedral, I couldn’t say. But is it possible that he is a sort of counterpart to the Latin-Mass-hating priests who are nonetheless assigned by their bishops to say the Latin Mass? Could it be that he is simply trapped in a nightmare from which he doesn’t know how to escape, surrounded by swaying teenagers and old ladies in clothes that are too youthful for them, lifting their hands and smiling with vapid expressions as they belt out the words to Lord, I Lift Your Name on High? It would be interesting to know.
Anyway, it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see that particular priest again, or hear his story. From the homily the Mass continued on much as before, except that, following the homily, they dimmed the lights in the pews and brightened them over the altar itself, so that it seemed even more like a stage. This really was a production, in every sense of the word! The creed was said, more rock music was played for the offertory, and we heard some very extended Prayers of the People. The whole thing was beginning to be a blur at that point, and the only other detail that really sticks in my mind came at the Orate Fratres, when a large number of people spontaneously stuck their hands up in the air, aiming them slightly towards the altar. I have no idea what this was about, but it took us so thoroughly by surprise that the Doctor could not quite suppress a brief burst of laughter.
One more positive word about the priest: at the consecration, he did not lift the Host briefly to eye level and drop it, as if he were embarrassed of what he was doing (something I have seen many times), nor did he wave It in front of the congregation in a “scanning” motion (which I have also seen many times). He elevated both the Bread and the Blessed Cup high in the air, and held them aloft for everyone to see in a grand motion that would have won the approval even of a representative from the FSSP. During this period, at least, the band had taken their seats in the congregation, and there was silence though the church, enabling us at least for a few moments to pray in peace before the Blessed Sacrament. But after that, the respite was over, and we stayed only long enough to see him distributing Communion to the army of jeans-clad, teenaged eucharistic ministers before we slipped unobtrusively out the side door. We had been in the church for more than an hour and a half.
Events like this always leave me feeling profoundly sad, not only because these people are dishonoring Our Lord and our Mother Church without even realizing it, but also because they are ruining what might be some of the best of our young Catholics. At a critical time for their spiritual formation, these kids are being taught to nourish themselves with marshmallows instead of solid food. They’re not complaining now, but when they get a little older, they may find this diet less adequate, particularly if they face more serious opposition. I was pleased that the priest did at least tell us stories of the martyrs in his homily. But I couldn’t help but wonder… would anyone be willing to give his life for this? And though that particular challenge will most likely not arise for any of these kids, there will be other challenges. Would the young people at this Mass be prepared to defend their faith against the assaults of atheistic college professors? Would they be able to tell a romantic interest, “You must convert to my faith, or I can’t marry you”? Almost nothing about the Teen Life Mass would sustain a soul through all the stages, and all the struggles, of a Christian life. All the trappings of this liturgy seemed designed to draw attention away from the true nature of the Mass, and the Sacrifice of the Altar.
Now that we have a weekly Latin Mass here, and now that I’ve found a good confessor whom I trust, I’ve been filled of late with general optimism about the future of the Church. It’s easy to start feeling that way after such a happy change in fortunes; what with all the trials and frustrations of trying to be a Catholic in Ithaca, life after the MP just seems so much better, at least for me personally. But a trip to the Teen Life Mass reminded me that, even if life is better for me, there are still plenty of hapless victims who need to be shown where the life of the Catholic faith really is.
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort,
Pope St. Pius X,
St. Joseph,
St. Ambrose of Milan,
St. Thomas Aquinas,
St. Francis (and St. Clare),
St. Catherine of Siena,
St. Alphonsus Ligouri,
St. John Chrysostom,
Clara, I am a “dropout” from the Church who did not survive the “reforms” of Vatican II. I so relate to everything you wrote here. I really want to come back to the Church, but I cannot get past the happy-clappy Masses (so-called) that I have been to. I have sought refuge for ten years in the Eastern Orthodox church for the reverent heaven-like liturgy, but I know I really need to come home. Just one question: WHERE is this weekly Latin Mass you mentioned? I miss it so and live just down the road from you all in Ithaca. By the way, you folks have been a lifeline of sorts for me.Thanks and God bless.
Claire,
For those of us here in Ithaca, we are deeply saddened that Clara has gone on to better things fulfilling her vocation as wife and mother with the Doctor. Debates and discussions after Mass are just not the same.
As for Latin masses in the greater Ithaca area (”greater” includes most of Central New York),we would be happy to give you the details. Just send us an e-mail.
Briefly,
In Maine, NY, close to Binghampton, there is Mt. St. Francis Friary, which says the TLM on Friday evenings. The Friars give very good advice in confession.
In Syracuse, the TLM is said on Sunday afternoons at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and on Sunday mornings at the SSPX Chapel, Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God Church.
If you are really adventurous, you can always go down to St. Michael’s in Scranton, PA, which is staffed by the FSSP.
Hope this helps.
Yes, sorry, my post was confusing. I no longer live in Ithaca; rather, I live in Tennessee, where my husband teaches philosophy. (I am still a Cornell student, but I now work remotely.) This, in combination with the MP, is what has made my Catholic life so much better. Things in this diocese are not superlatively ideal, but they have improved dramatically even in the two years since my husband moved here. Of course we’d like to have a full Latin Mass parish with multiple full-time priests. Nonetheless, we are grateful for what we do now have: a weekly celebration of the Latin Mass, and a priest who, despite many demands on his time (he has his own Novus parish, and also teaches high school), has dedicated himself wholeheartedly to meeting our spiritual needs. So on the whole, we are very blessed.
I obviously sympathize with your plight, because I know well that the Mass situation in Ithaca is grim. However, there are some options in the area… thank you, Francisce, for detailing them! And in any case, you should certainly feel free to email us for more information. There are still representatives of the Cornell Society for a Good Time in Ithaca itself (Franciscus, Iosephus and family, Tobias Petrus), and I’m sure they’d be delighted to have you join them in praying the Rosary or traveling to a Mass.
I live in Iowa, and if I want to go to the TLM, it’s over an hour away at the Basilica of St. Francis Xavier in Dyersville. I will be attending this weekend though. My first Latin Mass!
Clara has gone on to better things fulfilling her vocation as wife and mother with the Doctor.
You could phrase it that formally, or you could just say, “She got married and moved to Tennessee, y’all.” :-)
I agree it’s a shame that the teenagers who attend these Masses are actually not getting the spiritual nourishment they need - even worse, as it otherwise is so promising that they are attending Mass faithfully in the first place! Perhaps the good priest will be able to connect with those seeking more substantive experiences, and lead them to appreciate a more orthodox Mass (even if not Latin).
Your experience in Lexington closely follows what I have witnessed many times at the church nearest my home in metro Atlanta. Because of this, I explored many other parishes within reasonable Sunday commuting distance, including: Byzantine Rite, Melkite, “conservative” Novus Ordo (which is a fine parish), before finding and settling into, by the Grace of God, an FSSP parish where I enrolled and worship weekly. It is not so far away that I can’t occasionally attend a weekday Mass, which is a blessing. The pastor is also a fine confessor and patient spiritual counselor.
Nevertheless, there are occasions when I’ve been unable to make the trek and find myself back at my neighborhood parish, which is literally 2 minutes away. I usually approach these Masses with trepidation, and consider it at least a form of penance and at best a visible sign of unity with the universal Church. I should add that this extremely modern parish is where I began my return to the Church about 15 years ago, after 25 years of wandering (so you can see that I am no youngster).
The Sunday after Thanksgiving I made the quick trip from my house to the church and was amazed to find the parking lot jammed with cars. I knew I would be attending the Teen Life Mass. Inside, one section of the sanctuary was filled with energized red-shirted teenagers, directly in front of the choir area, replete with drums, electric guitars, keyboards, soundboard, etc. As Mass began, the celebrant, a worthy priest with whom I have had good contact, welcomed the teenagers back from their Antioch weekend retreat. I hadn’t heard of this before, and was told that many of the young people would be confirmed in upcoming weeks.
The music was solidly in the praise and worship category. The homily was directed at the young people, advising them to be martyrs to the world by not accepting worldly ways and to ‘Be not afraid!’ All well and good. As the Consecration approached, I was making firm efforts to concentrate and fulfill my responsibility as a worshipper. I asked myself: Is it the intention of this priest to validly confect the Eucharist? Knowing him, I could say yes. Could I, and would I, assent to this without reservation? Again, yes. At the sharing of peace, the red-shirted teenagers fanned out through the Church, finding their parents. One young man came to hug his mother who sat in my pew. I could see the joy and sense the fierce hope that the mother had for her son whose pilgrimage was still beginning. I received Holy Communion and returned to my place, and felt tears welling up in my eyes.
Mass ended with the red-shirted group assembling on the steps of the altar and singing a rousing recessional hymn. I left wondering if the feeling would last, for me and especially for the teenagers. In many ways, it is a miracle they would be there at all. I pray that their journey will be well and they will never wander from the Church.
Were there many gross violations of propriety? Absolutely. Do I desire this kind of hyper-kinetic liturgy as a steady diet? No, I would starve to death. Still, it is a sign of the universal presence of Christ in His Church that I could have this experience. Therefore, I retain Hope.
Thank you, Michael. It’s good to take what you can from such events. I have sometimes suggested that, if the teenagers so ardently desire praise and worship music, perhaps a compromise could be reached. They can have their revival=type meetings, but on weekdays, and in someplace other than the chapel. But it must be made clear to them that these campy gatherings are not in any way a substitute for coming to Mass… which will remain properly traditional.
Teenagers are often emotionally turbulent, and if this kind of thing helps them to channel that angst in more or less positive directions, then very well. But they also need to learn proper respect for the Mass and the Blessed Sacrament, and they need to use this time to lay a foundation for their adult spiritual life. So long as the former doesn’t actively conflict with the latter, I won’t be so worried. When they reach the point where the praise and worship stuff ceases to please and begins to nauseate, they can stop listening, but the Mass-going habit will still be independently established.
This was an interesting and entertaining post, but I must confess that, although I’m a staunch trad who would never choose to attend the kind of Mass described here over a traditional Latin one, I found some of the sentiments expressed in the post overly harsh. After all, you admit that the homily was “basically sound”, which certainly could not be said for all Catholic sermons being preached today, and your main criticism of it, that it was “a bit too reminiscent of an evangelical preacher” presumably means that the priest quoted Holy Scripture a lot and/or spoke in a lively manner, and why this is such a bad thing is not clear to me. And you say the consecration was done with great reverence. I must say that compared to those things, issues like the choice of hymns or whether or not the priest comes in in procession seem rather … trifling.
The thing is, when I look around at the state of the Church today, the main problems with it seem to be relativism and liberalism, the kind of mentality that makes a Spanish bishop say (as one did the other week) that honouring the martyrs of the Spanish Civil War in no way implies a criticism of anyone else in that war. Relativism is rampant in many Catholic parishes, including many that have a much more conventional novus ordo liturgy. But most of the happy-clappy, charismatic, guitar-strumming, let’s-all-suffocate-each-other-during-the-kiss-of-peace Catholics I have known have been far more healthily conservative than many who prefer a more conventional Mass, and while I of course believe that many are sadly starved of the riches of the traditional Latin liturgy, I wouldn’t use words like “nightmare” or “profoundly sad” to describe their Masses.
I may be drawing too much on personal experience here. I used to live in a town where the main Catholic church had beautiful artwork and glorious music every week - but where the priest, known all over the town as you-know-what, openly denied the Resurrection. And since the nearest Latin Mass was only held twice a week, this presented a bit of a problem for me. I can tell you that I was very happy to find a charismatic Catholic youth group who had some celebrations very similar to the ones described in your post, but which were solidly orthodox as far as the Faith was concerned. I profited greatly from them, although of course I continued going to the Latin Mass whenever possible. And as an interesting post-script, since Summorum Pontificum that charismatic priest has declared himself ready and willing to celebrate the Latin Mass if enough people are interested.
I don’t want to sound peevish. It’s just that I gather from your post that these Teen Life Catholics were orthodox, and in view of other things wrong with the Church today, that seems to me the main thing.
Well, first of all, it’s my feeling that many of the liturgical actions in this Mass were profoundly disrespectful, whether or not the priest or congregation realized that fact. The Gospels should not be carried to the altar by a layman in jeans and a sweatshirt. Drums and keyboard are not appropriate instrumentation for a Mass. Eucharistic ministers should not be used at all (this not being any kind of emergency… the congregation obviously wasn’t in a hurry to get anywhere) and it’s even worse when they’re dressed in street clothes, some of them in clothes that they really shouldn’t be wearing at all. All of this is disrespectful to the Body of Christ, and by approving such practices, the priest is failing to teach these teenagers respect for the liturgy and for Our Lord. That is not trifling.
It’s true that I found no indication that they were doctrinally unsound, and obviously that is good as far as it goes. But remember: orthodoxy is notoriously frail if it is not supported by orthopraxy. This Mass was profoundly sad precisely because, as I said, the kids who come to it probably are, by and large, the ones who do want to be good Catholics. They are willing to come to Mass weekly, and they want to be involved in the faith. But they’re not getting the right training.
Think about it this way. Suppose the teenagers in this audience go on to college, where some of them will no doubt find themselves attracted to non-Catholic potential spouses. This always leads to hard choices and hard conversations. Would a person raised in this sort of Mass have the gumption to say, “sorry, my faith is non-negotiable?” Possibly, but it seems more likely that they would go with their Protestant, perhaps Evangelical, sweetheart to their church, hear the same music, see the same sorts of activities and people, and say, “Well, I don’t see that it matters so much. This doesn’t seem so different from the church where I grew up.” Scores and scores of young Catholics have done exactly this.
The only way to make them really Catholic is to teach them where the heart of the Mass really is: in Christ’s sacrifice. Everything about the liturgy should serve to draw their attention towards that central event and its supreme holiness. At a Mass like this, almost every other part serves to draw attention away.
My reaction was similar to Brian T’s in that I found your post overly harsh. I try to be thankful for any opportunity to attend a valid Mass and am able to appreciate Masses ranging from Life Teen to Charismatic to TLM. I would like to leave you something to think about: Perhaps some people find it profoundly disrespectful to refer to a Mass as a nightmare.
Of course a Mass can be nightmarish. If terrorists burst into the Mass and began shooting the congregation, would that not be like a nightmare? If the priest, just after the consecration, burst into maniacal laughter, dropped the Host on the floor and began to trample It, wouldn’t that be like a nightmare? Nightmares often involve the desecration of what is holy, and obviously what makes them nightmarish is not the mere presence of the holy, but the juxtaposition of what is holy and what is profane.
You are right, of course, that no matter how bad our liturgical situation, we should be grateful at least to be able to attend valid Masses. There are people in the world who can’t. But that realization shouldn’t make us any less indignant when we see that the Body of Christ is not being treated with respect. And we should certainly be indignant about Masses that confuse our teenagers by blurring the lines between a Mass and a rock concert.
I am not convinced that indignation is the correct response when people are acting out of good motives. The people running Life Teen are trying to reach out to young people and make Catholicism accessible to them. Obviously you believe them seriously mistaken in their methods, but it seems highly unlikely that they intend to treat the Body of Christ with disrespect. It sounds to me like they are honouring Christ to the best of the their understanding and I suspect that Our Lord would value what is in their hearts.
I’m not sure how to view the teens participation but what always amazes me in these types of liturgies is how grown men, especially priests with all their training and degrees can participate in something so utterly hokey. Certainly they must know that this is not genuine worship. They appear to take the place of God in catering to man’s needs and deciding what will please Him.
To come to the defense of Clara, my experience that particular Sunday was the exception to the rule at that church, Far too many times, I have left the same church sad and upset, saying to myself: where have they taken my Lord? And I was angry that the liturgy had been abased. By the same token, my particpation was of the same ilk as Clara’s in Lexington. I had a Sunday obligation to fulfill, and I fulfilled it at a Catholic Church, hokiness notwithstanding.
Being prone to self-righteousness, I sometimes feel that the Lord takes delight in humbling me.
Clara is 100% right.
A Black Mass, celebrated by a fallen Catholic Priest, is still a valid mass. So what about the squishy-Novus Catholic logic displayed above by JK and Brian? Should we be thankful that at least it’s a valid mass?
A Mass can still be valid and a sacrilege. And, perhaps, like in Clara’s situation, we may have to attend one of these masses because we are living in a time of great sickness and heresy within the Church.
I attend the Novus every Sunday. The priests don’t genuflect. They have a suspiciously obtuse view of the Real Presence. They refuse to teach the children of the parish using a catechism, because “our faith is more than just memorizing lines in a book. It’s about a relationship with Our Lord. It’s entering into a Mystegogy…” blah, blah, blah, barf!
You squishy apologists for the regime of diabolical novelty and heretical worship that grips our Church are only making matters worse.
”Well, they have good intentions.” The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Fr. Martin Luther I’m sure had some good intentions. Adam and Eve had some good intentions. Judas probably had some good intentions. So what?
It’s not like the Universal Church is not 100% clear on what constitutes proper Catholic worship. Life Teen masses ain’t it. There’s no excuse for any liturgical abuses whatsoever. These priests are not ignorant of Church law and standards on these matters.
A deliberately performed liturgical abuse (in other words, the failure to follow the rubrics) by a priest is a mortal sin. So, any priest who fails to follow the rubrics is a grave sinner, and the Masses he says, prior to sacramental confession, are sacrileges.
Like I said at the top, we may have to attend these sacrileges, but we should not be the devil’s advocate, in this sense, and be apologists for them.
Another TLM which is approx. 1 hour from Ithaca (or 45 minutes if one drives less than prudently):
St. John the Evangelist Church (formerly St. Joseph’s Church)
1263 Vestal Ave., Binghamton, NY 13903
Fr. Mikalajunas
Diocese, SU 8:30 am (Sung)
It has been well over a year since I’ve been to St. John’s so I’d call first to confirm.
Another great resource for those who are interested is the Directory of Traditional Latin Masses (found at this site: http://www.traditio.com/nat.htm). Note, however, that some of the Masses listed (e.g. SSPV Masses) are schismatic and should be avoided.
Michael, I see now that technically Clara was in “attendance” and I guess technically you could say that JSP is a self professed Novus Ordinarian but I had no intention to throw aspersions on those who seek to fulfill their Sunday obligation and happen to end up in such a nightmare. If I did, it was inadvertent—kind of like collateral damage.
Discipulus,
“Asperges me, Domine, hyssopo, et mundabor; lavabis me et super nivem dealbabor.”
No harm, no foul.
Perhaps Clara was a little harsh, perhaps she was not. However, I’m with her on this. In my diocese, we’re still being subjected to “liturgical dance” in some parishes! One day, after the reform of the reform comes to fruition, you’ll see that she was right.
I’m listing some very interesting links here for fellow posters. These are relevant to the discussion at hand. This first one has some video of a “Teen-Life Mass.” It’s rather painful to watch, but it needs to be seen.
The Contemporary Mass Will Soon Fade Away:
http://tinyurl.com/2vvn5p
Also, as the post below explains, there is some talk now of the Church possibly allowing the Tridentine Mass to be said in the vernacular in a broad number of parishes eventually. (with some essential Latin) Presently, it’s the “Anglican Use Mass.”
Vatican Approves Tridentine Mass In English!
http://tinyurl.com/3xdztm
I’m beginning to think Pope Benedict has a real plan and is dead serious about making the “Reform of the Reform” a Catholic reality in the long run.
Here are some other links that are in keeping with this subject matter:
Vatican Says Liberals Brought Return Of Tridentine Mass Upon Themselves:
http://tinyurl.com/37ahd3
Liberal Catholicism Implodes! Future Church Will Be Traditional:
http://tinyurl.com/2y6o8c
Enjoy the articles. As for me, I attend a fairly well celebrated Novus Ordo Mass (I give it an A- to a B most weeks but the music is still torture.) however I’d love to attend an Anglican Use Mass or a Byzantine Catholic Liturgy but none are geographically close enough to me. (at least, not yet)
I’ll leave you all with this “Halloween Mass.” (aka: the “Barney Blessing” Mass of Fr. Fred Bailey”) No words can describe this sort of sacrilegious insanity where adults are dressed in Halloween costumes, including a man in a devil’s costume complete with horns and a priest wearing a purple Barney outfit. You’ll just have to see this one for yourselves:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fHi_VZLtcQ8
Just a few remarks in answer to JK’s question.
On one level, of course, God does value what is in our hearts above all else. However, there is always a relationship between our behavior and our actual attitudes; a person who has been improperly trained will also have inappropriate attitudes towards things. So, for example, a child who has never been taught good manners will not necessarily be to blame if he behaves boorishly (grabbing things he wants, talking back to adults, interrupting when others are speaking). He won’t necessarily be malicious either; he may have, in general, feelings of goodwill towards others. But his actions will be disrespectful nonetheless, and, what is more, his selfish behavior (most of us do behave selfishly unless we are taught to do otherwise) is likely to foster selfish attitudes as well. Part of the idea behind etiquette is that, by teaching people to act nicely towards others, we’ll also teach them to in fact be more concerned about the welfare of others. The Greeks knew this, and the Church Fathers knew it too: practice shapes belief and attitude.
Something similar applies here. It’s sometimes difficult to know exactly how to distribute blame for the popularity of sad things like the Life Teen Mass. Should we fault the kids themselves? Their pastors? Their bishops? The Second Vatican Council? The early modern philosophers? The Protestant Reformers? All of the above? But this much at least is clear: liturgical abuses foster irreverent attitudes towards holy things. You just can’t tell me that a person raised on Life Teen Masses will approach the Body of Christ with the same profound reverence that you’re likely to see in a person raised on the Traditional Latin Mass. The former simply doesn’t train the sensibilities rightly, as the latter does.
But there’s another problem that I should mention: there may be some people who really believe that praise and worship music offers the best possible way to honor Christ and be a good Catholic, but somewhere along the line there have certainly been many with less-than-admirable motives. In general, this liturgical mess has been fueled by a desire to be admired by society at large, and to appear cool, modern, ground-breaking, etc. In short, pride is a key motive. There is also a lack of faith in the Church’s traditions. This is the work of people who fret that Catholicism seems too stodgy, too boring, too antiquarian, and too reactionary. They are, in effect, cowards, and they need to be reminded that the Catholic faith is the one thing that seems new and refreshing in every age because it is, in fact, true.
To the Cornell Society:
I am a parent of one of the teens who participated in the Teen Life mass in Lexington. Yesterday, like many of the parents and teens involved in our parish, I became aware of your posts and comments on our motives and faith.
I don’t know how many of the commentators here are parents. Is Clara one? So I can’t say that I know if any of you have any sense of the difficulties involved in raising a Catholic child in contemporary America. If you do, I’d be very interested to hear about it. If not, then let me assure you, as a Catholic parent, I could not be more proud of my Catholic daughter and her whole-hearted participation in the Teen Life mass and the life of her church.
From reading this blog, and the material associated with it, I judge that the participants are well-educated and, by and large, academics. Thus, I must admit that I am deeply puzzled by the decision to impugn all sorts of base motives to me, my daughter, her friends, my parish, and my priest. An inquiring and fair mind would have stopped to ask one of us, or perhaps our good priest, what our motives were and are. But instead, Clara and the Doctor entered our church with minds made up. Clara, did it occur to you or the Doctor to contact us - any of us - before going on the internet and impugning the Catholicism of an entire parish?
The excesses of the comments here would be laughable, if they were not so totally offensive, and totally un-Catholic in spirit. One goes so far as to connect our Teen Life Mass with a Black Mass.
Well, to each their own. Though I hardly expect that you will take us up on the invitation, you are very welcome to visit us again. But next time we hope that you’ll bother to get to know us, our faith, and our children BEFORE you impugn us on a public forum. To do anything else is rude, at best, un-Catholic at worst, and completely juvenile under any definition. In either case, in the future, leave our kids out of it.
Peace,
Terry Gordon
Mr. Gordon,
I for one wouldn’t bring my children anyway near your church. It would scandalize them.
I’m trying to raise my children to distinguish clearly between the things of God and the things of mammon - not blur the two for them.
I attempted to send this email to the address that Terry Gordon appeared to leave, but the email address did not work, so I will post my reply here:
Dear Mr. Gordon,
Rather than to continue in the public forum, I wanted to contact you
privately to explain the purpose behind our blog’s negative
reporting, as it were, on such things as the Teen Life Mass that
Clara recently wrote about. I neither solicited nor was involved
with the post which you objected to, but am in sympathy with it and
would have written much the same reflection on the Mass as Clara did.
You have had, clearly, an (understandable) emotional response to this
post. I — and I’m sure Clara — are sorry to have caused you and the
other parents and your children pain. But, speaking from the
perspective of young academics who have watched droves of
enthusiastic young “teens” like your daughter get mowed down by the
onslaught of our secular society when they have left the safety of
home and hearth at the Universities where we work, we are at least as
aware as you of the dangers and difficulties facing young Catholics
today.
Your motives, sir, were never in question. Your means, however, are
sadly out of step with the teachings of the Church which you and I
both love. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the source and summit of
our Faith, and to seek to supplement it with the devices and
appendages of popular culture does not succeed. It demeans the
Liturgy, and while I do not doubt the sincerity of those who seek to
engage their children and young people in this way, there is now more
than ample evidence that this approach simply fails.
I am sorry to speak so bluntly. However, it is not hard to discover,
in our information age, what the Church has ever — and wisely! —
taught about how the Mass should be celebrated. The techniques used
in Life Teen Masses are in violation of the wisdom of the ages, in
contradiction of human nature as it really is.
We live in the most degraded, secular, sexualized, and wicked age
perhaps ever to arise since the purge of the world with the flood of
Noah. Emotional appeals, rock ‘n’ roll, and casual liturgy have
failed, and will continue to fail. People today, of all days, need
strong medicine to cure them of the illnesses of our age, and when
our Mother the Church gives them pabulum instead, we are right to be
indignant, right to write sharp words in protest, right to upset well-
meaning parents who are unwittingly failing the children whom they
love so much.
Please, please, Mr. Gordon, for your own sake and for your children’s
salvation, reconsider the easy answers of the Teen Life Mass! If your
daughter can’t be enthusiastic about the Liturgy because God Himself
is there, but must be given music that your youth minister claims
appeals to the youth, will she be able to stand when her boyfriend in
a few years — or a few month — or days! — wants to deflower her
beautiful virginity? When a cold January Sunday morning greets her,
27 years old and with an unreliable car and she is tempted by Satan
to skip Mass because the parish that’s nearby seems to her Teen Life-
trained sensibility gloomy and boring? This is how evil works, how
Satan insinuates himself, and the sorrowful misery of millions across
the faithless West is the result of the errors of the well-meaning
who neglect the wisdom of tradition and Church.
I do not want your daughter’s soul to die. I want her to live life
truly, as Pope Benedict wonderfully describes in his new encyclical,
in the truth of Christian Hope — the hard truths, the demanding
Faith. If you love her, you will give her no less.
I apologize for associating the Life Teen Mass with a Black Mass.
I perhaps am being a bit unfair to Satanists.
At least the Black Mass is in Latin and follows the Tridentine form.
Again, my apologies for associating the two together.
As a parent, I appreciate Terry’s comments. Sometimes the comments on this blog - which I love! - get a little too overheated. I think we all come from the same place spiritually, but if you haven’t had children then it’s really hard to understand where Terrys coming from.
Ok, now that I’ve said that, I totally agree with Terry on JSP’s comment about black masses. And now he’s just come back and posted what might be one of the most offensive things I’ve ever read on a Catholic board. Is the Cornell Society really going to allow this kind of thing to be posted here? AS a parent, and as a Catholic, I’m deeply offended. I don’t care what kind of Catholic you are, novus trad or whatever, comparing a silly teen mass to a satanist gathering is beyond the pale. Don’t let this blog become a self-parody!
My first reference to Black Mass was only to point out that merely saying, “well, at least it’s a valid Mass” is not good enough. And, you have totally not addressed my other comments about liturgical abuse being a mortal sin. And that these masses are sacrileges.
So, as Ambrosius has pointed out to me in the past, I gave you a red herring to throw back at me, rather than address the point at hand.
You call it a “silly life teen mass” —
Madam, it is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, it’s the most serious and sublime thing in this world. The Satanists know this better than you do apparently. They know full well what the Mass is all about and you should to.
I have 4 children and I know good traditional Catholic families with 6, 8, 12 and more children, and none of them compromise their faith or endanger the lives of their children by allowing them into a church were the serious abuses, blasphemies, and sacrileges are taking place.
Go find a good traditional Catholic community and raise your children within those healthy, authentically Catholic influences.
Well, I am the one in charge of censorship on this particular thread, but I’ve seen nothing yet that seems to require it. Those who were offended, at least by the first Black Mass reference, were inattentive to the context. Nobody stated that a Black Mass is morally equivalent to a Life Teen Mass. Rather, I had been charged with disrespect for referring to a valid Mass as nightmarish, and I argued back that a Mass can be valid and still gravely sacrilegious. JSP supported this point with an example — a very good example, I might add. His second post on the subject was characteristically over-the-top, and might fairly be called unkind, but I think he has adequately explained himself. It wasn’t really a serious remark; it was more an invitation to engage him. So engage him if you wish, or if you don’t you can blow him off, but in neither case does my intervention seem necessary.
But on the subject of engagement, here is something that really puzzles me: in Terry Gordon’s remarks I was berated for making judgments about the CTK parish life without “getting to know” any of its members, or contacting anyone in the parish. Now, I should say here that I can’t really see what good effect you think this might have had. I’m already quite familiar with the arguments normally put forward to justify these liturgical “innovations” and I don’t find them remotely satisfactory. At most, I might have discovered that many of you are nice people — which is very likely true, but also entirely beside the point. However, let’s suppose that you’re right, and that dialogue might have cleared up some of my concerns. Why, instead of scolding me, don’t you attempt to do what I should have done? In my post I made some fairly specific charges about your church: that the tabernacle containing the Body of Christ has been made into an appendage to the church when it should obviously be the heart and the centerpiece; that the musical styles involved seemed designed for entertainment and not for inspiring reverence; that the lighting and the attitudes of the musicians (and even the priest) invited the congregation to think of the whole event as a performance on a stage, and not as the celebration of a holy Sacrament. These are, to my mind, very serious accusations. And the only real response I’ve seen is, “Well, you’re not a parent.” If, as you say, a number of the parents and teenagers in the parish are upset by my post, then surely somebody should be able to furnish a more substantive reply than that. If you’re not comfortable carrying on a discussion publicly, feel free to email me privately at the address I set up for such occasions: fraternalcorrection@yahoo.com
I think Ambrosius has already said the things that most needed to be said, for which I thank him. He is absolutely right when he points out that these sorts of abuses incense those of us in academia precisely because we do get to witness the results; just a few years down the road, your daughter and her friends might be our students, and it is our experience that departures from traditional liturgy make for very poor spiritual formation. And if you won’t take our word for it, take the Holy Father’s! I highly recommend The Spirit of the Liturgy for a good and rich exploration of these liturgical questions.
You ask me to “leave the kids out of it,” meaning that I should enjoy my Latin Masses and let other people do whatever they choose in their home parishes. I would reply that the kids should indeed be left out of it — out of these fluffy, irreverent and yes, sacrilegious liturgical messes! They deserve better than this!
Judging people’s actions is necessary Christian discernment. Presuming to know their motives violates Catholic teaching. Clara wrote:
“there may be some people who really believe that praise and worship music offers the best possible way to honor Christ and be a good Catholic, but somewhere along the line there have certainly been many with less-than-admirable motives. In general, this liturgical mess has been fueled by a desire to be admired by society at large, and to appear cool, modern, ground-breaking, etc. In short, pride is a key motive.”
Claiming that a Life Teen Mass is objectively disrespectful and ultimately harmful is one thing. I am prepared to consider arguments supporting this thesis. Claiming the ability to know others’ motives is something else. I think of CCC 2478: “To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbour’s thoughts, words and deeds in a favourable way.”
There is a woman in my homeschooling support group who is in the music ministry of Life Teen and her husband is the main organizer for Life Teen in the parish. I have seen nothing in these people’s lives to indicate that they are other than sincere and orthodox Catholics. It seems likely to me that people sing praise and worship music because they want to praise and worship God (even if I don’t like this music much). And when I am with them at Mass I try to think about praising and worshipping God, not about the problems with the music or their liturgical mistakes.
PS. Thanks to JSP for the “squishy Novus” comment. I enjoy the novelty of an insult that I have never heard before.
Hello?
No one has the “right” to celebrate a mass that does not follow the rubrics of the Church.
This has nothing to do with intentions, good or bad.
When you deliberately fail to follow Church law in the carrying out of a sacrament, this is sacrilege. This is a grave sin. When you know what you are doing violates Church law, then this is a mortal sin. A priest in a state of mortal sin commits sacrilege every time he offers Mass.
Furthermore, don’t you think that our Father’s know best? Church law protects the sacred from abuse. It’s not a simple case of bending or breaking the rules - these rules are there for a purpose to protect the Sacred Mysteries, which has been handed down to us for 2000 years. We arrogantly presume to know the mind of God when we say, “well, God knows our hearts. And my intention is to give him praise and worship.” That’s fine, in your specific case this may limit your personal responsibility toward the Lord in regard to this grave sin, but so what? Taking part in a grave offense (which is what a sin is) against God is not a spiritually healthy activity, no matter your motives. We should all be striving to better know, serve, and love God. To understand His mind. His infinite mind - which by His Nature, never changes - he never gets a new idea, and he never changes his mind. We should start to form our understanding of God through the way He has expressly chosen for us to do this: through the Catholic Church - it’s 2,000 years of Sacred Traditions and it’s living Magisterium — all of which says that a Life Teen Mass as described above is an abomination in the face of the Lord.
I made no judgment on any particular person’s motives. I concede that there probably are people who think, absolutely in good faith, that this kind of Mass is a good idea. But if — as I contend — the overall liturgical trends of the last few decades are gravely injurious to the faith, it isn’t presumptuous to say that sin must have had something to do with it. Presumably good intentions were mixed with bad ones; as we know, there isn’t such a thing as pure, unadulterated evil. But the corruption of what is good always stems in some way from sin in one way or another, and I don’t see anything wrong with trying to diagnose the error in a general sense. Refusing to do so, in fact, would make it extremely difficult to make good decisions for the future.
It’s pretty clear that the passage you quoted from the CCC relates to the sins or motives of particular, specified individuals. Think about a similar distinction in a legal context. Legally, we consider any particular person innocent of crime until proven guilty. There are certain good reasons for holding such a policy with respect to individuals. But nobody thinks that this principle is being violated if someone does a statistical analysis of trends in, say, murders or youth vandalism, taking into account both solved and unsolved cases, in an effort to draw general conclusions about the conditions that tend to breed the most crime. Someone who objected to this practice, saying, “Wait, you can’t count the unsolved cases in your study, because we can’t assume that people are guilty until it’s been proven!” would have missed the point entirely. No particular person should be taken to be guilty unless it can be proven, but that should not stop us from drawing the obvious conclusion, when a strangled corpse is pulled from the river, that a crime has been committed.
The parallels to the present case should be fairly easy to draw.
Just read this post and the thirty-one comments associated with it … and I think I’m wanted back on Planet Earth now. You people are really too much.
Safe journey back to Earth.
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3
I think all of the liberal bromides have been hit in this thread - but just in case, let me just throw out, “Judge not, lest ye be judged,” before one of Novus Ordinarians decides to use that one.
For you Life Teen or Teen Life Catholics out there, you are aware of this little tidbit of news:
Life Teen founder starts own P&W services
He used to be a “star priest” - started the “Life Teen” Masses (You can guess what I think of that), rose to vicar general of the Phoenix diocese - until he was indicted for getting a little too, umm, personal with the life of teens (boys, to be exact). Now he’s “resigning” from the priesthood - and apparently the Church as well - and has started his own Praise & Worship gig at a Marriott hotel. From the AP/AZ Central (H/T to Angie)
The former pastor at a Mesa Catholic church who faces seven misdemeanor charges of sexual misconduct has started a new worship center and conducted his first services.
More than 500 worshippers gathered to hear Dale Fushek conduct a service at a Mesa hotel Thursday.
Known as “Monsignor Dale” during his 20 years at St. Timothy’s, Fushek co-founded the national Life Teen program and served as vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix.
But all that came tumbling down in late 2005, when he was arrested on one count of assault, five counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count of indecent exposure. He is accused of engaging in sexually related discussions with teenagers during confessions and exposing himself to teens as he got into his hot tub.
Fushek was suspended by the diocese and is now resigning from the priesthood. He is tying to win the right to a jury trial on the charges and a hearing is pending on that issue before the Arizona Supreme Court.
On Thanksgiving Day, he said he was happy to be back before a group of worshippers.
“I feel alive again,” he said after the two-hour morning service. “This was inspiring and beautiful. I thought there was a really good spirit among the people here.”
Fushek said he started the nondenominational Praise and Worship Center as a place where people can come to worship between regular services, not as competition for the Catholic Church.
“This is not a church. It is not intended to draw people away from their denominations,” he said.
People in attendance at the first service waited in long lines to personally thank Fushek for starting the center.
It’s pretty safe to assume that he’s drawing Catholics to his new “non-denominational” gig. His attempt to get a jury trial (because he thinks his “charisma” might win over a jury more likely than a judge ?) is what has been delaying this whole affair for so long.
He’s accused, among other things, to basically have steered confessions of young boys in a way as to provide him with sexual stimulation, asking for explicit details.
Before those allegations there were others. Once, the diocese shelled out $45k to a parishioner, then in 2004 it was alleged that Fushed had been present while a 14 year old boy was abused by another priest 20 years earlier. Apparently, police knew about Fushek’s apparent homosexuality, as one detective mockingly referred to him as Dale Evans (the female singing partner of Roy Rogers, the singing cowboy of yesteryear)…
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them.
I’m a father of two (a six year-old boy and a girl who’s almost nine) with another on the way and I know full well the difficulties in raising Catholic children. Heck, our neighborhood is 90% Catholic but I don’t like what I see from the neighbor children. Nor do I like what I see from our family members who profess to be Catholic.
That said, if we happened upon the shenanigans that Clara has described here, we would walk out of church. Our kids would be totally scandalized if we stayed. And there is no way that I would ever allow them to be associated with LifeTeen.
Clara,
How would you feel, if I were to comment, not about anyone in particular, but just speaking statistically, that there are certainly people who support the TLM out of pride because they enjoy thinking that they are better Catholics than everyone else? Wouldn’t you find it inflammatory or alientating? Would you still be open to any valid criticisms that I might offer after such a comment? Even assuming that you are completely correct about the flaws of the Life Teen Mass, by writing about it with an intemperate tone, I suspect you have severely diminished your ability to speak persuasively to the people about it.
Apparently Terry Gordon is representive of other parents (and teens) from Lexington who read your comments about their Life Teen Mass. Do you think these people are now receptive to your comments about the importance of reverence in worship and respecting rubrics? I think that you had something valuable to say on this but have gotten in the way of your message. This also applies to JSP.
I can relate to feeling disturbed by lack of reverence. I recently had an experience of this myself. The relatively new pastor at our parish has recently introduced Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament one day a week. While I was at church for Adoration a wedding party arrived for their rehearsal. (I suspect this was arranged before we started having Adoration.) After the actual rehearsal they stood around loudly chatting and visiting with each other. They were a few feet away from the Blessed Sacramant exposed on the altar and showed no awareness at all that they were in the presence of the sacred.
I found this extremely distressing. I certainly had an impulse to be indignant and harsh with them. As I knelt before Our Lord on the altar I offered up that impulse to Him. Instead, I prayed for His blessing on their marriage. This might not have been the best thing that I could have done in the situation. Perhaps I lost an opportunity to insturct the ignorant. Even so, God knows that I wanted to give a gift to Him. Everything that I know about God tells me that He accepted what was in my heart.
“How would you feel, if I were to comment, not about anyone in particular, but just speaking statistically, that there are certainly people who support the TLM out of pride because they enjoy thinking that they are better Catholics than everyone else?”
Well, that certainly IS a temptation for traditional Catholics, which we should not ignore. What I would think about your diatribe in general would depend on where it went from there. If you said that this feeling was the main explanation for enthusiasm about the Latin Mass, I would merely think you ignorant.
But look, I understand what you’re saying. And the truth is, of course, I did not write the post with the intention of instructing the ignorant — I was rather surprised that they even found it. We traditional Catholics trade these stories, in part to remind ourselves how much work need to be done, and in part just for mutual companionship. Think of it as community sharing time, if you wish.
However, I know now from experience that anything I put on the internet can be found by the parties under discussion, and often is. It has happened several times on this blog that I’ve criticized a particular person or group, and found myself talking to the object of criticism within a few days. So I wouldn’t say anything here that I wasn’t willing for them to read. As with a newspaper review or a statistical report, I don’t think of myself as talking either to their faces or behind their backs; it is an honest report of my reaction, which is there for anyone to read who chooses. In some ways it’s a shame when people are offended, but it might also be good for them to see what an observer, who walked into their church with no particular agenda other than a desire to fill her Mass obligation, thought of their liturgy. If I had barged into their parish office with the same complaints, they might just think that I was one of those people who enjoys being rude and obnoxious. As it is, I wasn’t even talking to them, so they have more reason to trust my sincerity. I suspect many of them have never really been challenged to defend their liturgical practices at all. If it gets them thinking about questions like this, the results might be good, and that would be worth a few hurt feelings.
When you’re a blogger who writes about religion, there’s basically no way to avoid offending somebody — at least, no way that wouldn’t involve being completely boring and vacuous at all times. I try to be open to criticism, but sometimes it’s hard to hear those complaints about my meanness and belligerence over the din of people complaining that I’m too soft, weak-minded and feminine. :)
Consider the comment above from Ambrosius. Even though it was similar in position and content to yours, it had a different tone. When I read what he wrote, I had a sense of his concern for the souls of the people involved. Reading your remarks, I had the impression of a person primarily interested in venting. (This in not necessarily true, of course. It is just how it came across to me.) I agree that it is difficult to write about religion without offending people. However, those offended by Ambrosius have far less cause for it than those offended by your comments.
If you were my daughter, Clara, I would be very proud of you. Your insight and zeal are good things. With time, you can learn to balance these with gentleness.
Some day you will be able to be belligerent and feminine at the same time. :)
Ambrosius is, indeed, a model for all of us. But thank you for your kind remarks.
You go, Clara! I stopped going to Church when I went to college because all my life I went to Catholic Church and got nothing out of it. My wife and I started going to a Maronite Catholic service in Washington, DC, that was so much better than the watered-down version of Roman Catholic churches in our area. Since we moved to Texas three years ago, we have attended Our Lady of the Atonment, an Anglican Use parish in San Antonio, TX, and our daughter attends the school there and it is fantastic! Daily mass, uniforms, the works. The Mass is beautiful, reverent, and I finally realize how much today’s liberal “Catholics” are in dire need of reform. We have been forced to attend some of the watered-down churches a few times, and I have felt dirty and wanted to go to confession afterward! What has passed for Catholic Mass in the past 20 some-odd years drove many of us away because it wasn’t “Church” any more. It was a waste of time. Not only is the Mass at Our Lady of the Atonement beautiful and reverent, but there is no moral relativism whatsoever from the priest or the two deacons.
So all you “Catholics” out there who love clapping your hands, dancing around like Protestants or Baptists or “Charismatic” folk, listening to the priest do a stand-up comedy routine during his sermon, watching wanna-be musicians get down with their guitars and flutes and tambourines, wearing shorts to Mass, looking at teenage girls who wear too much makeup and look like they’re going to a club instead of going to Mass, listening to a priest say it’s OK to be gay, listening to a priest talk about politics and the war in the sermon, and watching your children get the 100% wrong idea of what it means to be Catholic - you’re ruining the Catholic Church. It is not hard to raise good Catholic children these days, you just have to find the right Catholic school and be a good parent. You have to be involved with your kids’ lives, not shuttle them to these Teen Masses because it’s cooler than going on Sunday morning. Tell them if they want to listen to rock and roll music, do it on their own time, not God’s time! SHEESH!
I hear you, JDN, but must protest on just one point… nobody can ruin the Catholic Church.