Sunday’s Packers football game might as well have been occurring on another planet for the 50 adults and children attending the Latin Mass inside the downtown ornate sanctuary of the former St. Boniface Catholic Church.continue at La Crosse Tribune(fantastic article!)
“Holy Mother, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death,” said teenager Ashley Reif as she prayed the rosary out loud many times with parishioners starting about 30 minutes before the beginning of the “Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite” in what is now St. Francis of Assisi’s Faith Formation Center.
The Rev. Canon Andreas Hellmann normally leads the Latin Mass, which began last October, as a liturgical ceremony encouraged by Pope Benedict XVI who in 2007 said it is a “precious treasure to be preserved.”
While Hellmann’s sermons and general announcements are in English, the 90-minute Mass and accompanying chants by the choir are in a language that few in the pews are fluent in.
“But once you get used to it, you will feel at home anywhere ... Chicago, Paris or China,” Hellmann said Monday from St. Joseph Oratory in Green Bay, his “home” that is part of the global religious community Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.
The same parish that owns the church also has the dreaded Life Teen Mass.
I couldn't find a regular schedule online for this service, someone please post it here if you know of one.
7 comments:
The schedule is listed in the St Joseph Oratory bulletin. The Manitowac TLMs are every first, third, and fifth Sunday at 1:30pm, with confessions 30 minutes prior.
When I visited the Green Bay TLM, the Canons had just begun traveling to St Boniface. Sounds like it has been fairly successful so far!
Thank you Michael!
I cannot speak for this parish in particular as far as their liturgy, but to simply write off a Life Teen Mass as "dreaded" (with the exception of the problem of giving ANY Mass a title) is extremely short-sided. There are plenty of bad youth Masses, and plenty that are quite liturgically sound and are acting as excellent tools to connect the worship of the liturgy with the very orthodox formation they're receiving in the Life Teen Life Nights (again assuming they're doing what they're supposed to be doing).
Correct me if I'm wrong Josh, but don't all Life Teen Masses use guitars and drums? I'm not being facetious, I really thought that was how they were to be performed.
@Badger: I would say the overwhelming majority of them probably do (again, I cannot speak for the parish in question), but no it isn't a 100% accross the board thing. Life Teen has generally done a good job making changes as they were asked, and self-reflecting on what they encourage as far as liturgy goes. This all being said, they aren't exclusively guitar and drums. I can speak for one for sure just in metro-Milwaukee that does not do drums and guitar.
That is good news. As an organization I think LifeTeen does good work, BibleGeek, etc. The liturgy is the part that I've found is a little out of touch with what kids need. So I should say the dreaded Life Teen Rock Mass. I'm sure they could have the organization which has a reverent Mass, and hopefully are moving in that direction.
There is a strong push for reverent liturgy to be a part of youth ministry formation. There can be a place for contemporary praise and worship music, but that place is not in the context of Holy Mass.
Speaking as a youth minister with very strong traditional Liturgy preferences, I can tell you that there is a great movement in Life Teen and in youth ministry in general to go that direction. I was just at a regional gathering for youth ministers yesterday and the heart of the discussion during the fellowship time was on authentic liturgy and liturgical beauty. It was so edifying to be a part of this conversation, especially considering that I at 32 was one of the oldest people in the discussion!
I think one can also look to the changes at Franciscan University of Steubenville, and how things have changed there, as a sort of snapshot of the direction of solid youth ministry preparation in this country. While the school has been a bastion for orthodoxy in the classroom, and has formed thousands of great youth ministers over the last 30 years, its strong ties to the charismatic movement sometimes left little to be desired with regards to Holy Mass. Mass looks like Mass is supposed to there now (they even offer an Extraordinary Form every week) and the fruits of this liturgical renewal are being born in the recent graduates of the school's Youth Ministry, Catechetics, Theology, Sacred Music, Philosophy, and Catholic Culture degree and certificate programs.
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