This is by far one of the best articles on the resurgence of the traditional Latin Mass that I have read in quite a long time. It focuses on the congregation and why some Catholics, particularly young ones, are embracing not only the time-honored style of worship but also devotions, the Rosary and other traditions of the Church. Among my favorite quotes from the article (with my comments in parentheses):
'Many of the young newcomers were restless Catholics who have found in the Latin Mass something tried and proven. “There’s a sense that the whole has been refined over centuries,” said 36-year-old Ron Weber, a Chesapeake resident who grew up going to English-only Masses.' (Tradition is what the Catholic Church is all about. Breaking tradition is what self-centered liberalism is all about.)
'For the younger generation, which rarely experienced the traditions while growing up, the old practices can serve as a new way of connecting with the divine. “They enable people to pray in a certain way that helps their faith,” said the Rev. James Martin, who has written about the trend as associate editor of America, a Jesuit magazine. ' (Wow! A Jesuit is saying that! And it's not a bunch of obscure and vague academic crap!)
'Most typical was Leanne Smith’s view that the Latin Mass demands more reverence than is usually found at the standard worship service.' (Amen!)
'Smith, 35, said she skipped from one church to another before stumbling upon a Latin service in Northern Virginia five years ago. “It opened my eyes,” she said. “This is what our Lord, the apostles, have passed down.”' (And for those who say that's impossible, then what's this book that protestants are so enamored with? Wasn't that passed down? Of course it was, because it was and still is part of Catholic tradition. Protestants follow the book; Catholicism IS the book, living and breathing today not in the written word but in action.)
'Compared to the old rite, some younger members said, the contemporary Mass is too unpredictable and too much like Protestant services.' (Ed. Note: RIGHT! DING DING DING!)
'On the one hand, you have people, mostly liberals, who say, 'It’s baloney and superstitious,’ and you have other people who say, 'You’re not a real Catholic if you don’t pray the rosary,’ ’’ he said. Martin said the old traditions will continue to find young adherents.'
'“The most salient part is that for many young Catholics, these devotions and things like the Latin Mass are just sort of exotic, sensual, mysterious, very other, so it sort of fascinates them,” Martin said.' (It's like discovering truth.)
'Additionally, he said, younger Catholics are less likely to be biased against traditional practices they haven’t experienced than some older Catholics who remain glad to be rid of ways that they found stifling or outmoded.' (Yes, because unlike liberals who cling to the intellectual rot that is postmodernism, we see things as they are in reality, in actual fact, as opposed to deconstructed and recontextualized settings in one's own mind.)
'Some research indicates young Catholics are more conservative than their parents as well.' (yes, because we are not hung up on anti-clericalism like our supposedly more enlightened elders.
But Cummings said the old practices also appeal to some within the younger generation who are struggling to find ways of defining and demonstrating their Catholic identity.
“The Latin Mass would be one way to proclaim one’s self as distinctly Catholic,” she said. ' (Just as yours truly has done. I haven't stopped going to English masses, but Sundays are mostly Latin. While both masses are valid, the Latin Mass connects me as a Disciple of Christ in a way I have never felt before.)
I urge you to read the text for yourself, and just as strongly I urge you to attend a Latin mass which is diocesan-sanctioned.
