Dear Editor: I am 60 years old and have absolutely no memory – and therefore no fondness or nostalgia – of the Latin (Beautiful Missa Cantata, Readers’ Forum, Dec. 28 – Jan. 5). I get annoyed when just the Kyrie and Gloria are sung in Latin in our parish. Are we encouraging rote memorization of words we don’t understand? …because it sounds ‘pretty’? As I understand it, when the Latin Mass is celebrated, no female altar servers or lectors are permitted on the altar. Given dwindling attendance everywhere, this exclusion makes absolutely no sense to me.
MAURA MCCARTHY
Via website
The Traditional Latin Mass has been called “the closest thing to heaven on earth,” and rightly so. What is wrong with singing the Kyrie and Gloria in Latin? They are just two parts of the Ordinary of the Mass, and people can easily learn to comprehend the meanings of the words, if they don’t already know or remember them. And I would not call this “rote memorization.” Latin is the sacred language of the Roman Catholic Church and was never considered a stumbling block to faith or devotion until the radical mid-sixties turned everything upside down. As for myself, I have no stomach for female altar servers and can do without female lectors. This feminization of the Church has led to the lack of participation by men and boys who alone can aspire to the priesthood. Dwindling attendance may be caused partly by this unfortunate trend. Has anyone thought of that?
I sincerely doubt that the presence of female lectors and alter servers is the cause of dwindling attendance at Sunday Mass. I suspect the low attendance problem is a bit more serious than the “feminization” of the Church.
I don’t think that this is the main cause of dwindling attention, but am sure that it contributes to the problem.
Superb response by Germaine Manuel to “No Fan of the Latin Mass”!
Coming from a mom who never knew the Latin Mass- when my older kids were pre-teens and started becoming disillusioned with church (which seems to be a rite of passage nowadays) a friend suggested we attend the Traditional Latin Mass, very foreign to me and my family, but my husband and I saw our children respond so eagerly right from the start, our older boys have been serving for years now, they love the militancy of it- we are in a battle here after all! We are the Church Militant! If we don’t remember that then it might seem not really all that necessary to practice our faith- hence the dwindling attendance!
And yes it is very masculine. But that’s how it’s supposed to be- Christ was the perfect man, he waged war for our souls and won- now we just need to follow. My husband and I both now see the innumerable strengths of the Latin Mass- we would encourage everyone to learn more about this Mass of the saints.
To all you people who feel that women have no place in the church as altar servers or lectors and feel that this may have caused the dwindling attendance, might I suggest that the decline in attendance can also possible be caused by the change in demographics in the church. My comment would be discriminatory but you all seem to feel that yours is ok.
Yes, I have a daughter who is a lector and a Eucharistic Minister (everyone forgot to complain about that) she is also a former altar server and we are very proud of her. Numerous parishioners prefer her as a lector as opposed to some of the male lectors in the church.
Since several of you feel that the church is predominately for men, perhaps more families should encourage their sons to become priests it would help in revitalizing the church.