Okay, okay, maybe it’s partly the reverence. But hear me out.
In all of these endless conversations about the Mass in the current day, “reverence” would probably win the Word Cloud competition.
They just want a reverent Mass!
Celebrated properly, the Mass of Paul VI can be plenty reverent!
Give us reverence!
Well, I think “reverence” as an interpretive lens falls short. I don’t think it quite gets to the core of the problem.
It’s not the reverence.
It’s the ego.
Because the ego lies at the heart of the “irreverence” – no matter what form that “irreverence” takes – and we obliged to note that a full-on Latin Mass in whatever form can be “irreverent,” too – although the potential for irreverence there has built in boundaries: Latin, strict rubrics.
But let’s look at the Mass of Paul VI – the Ordinary Form, the Mass most of us attend.
I’m going to suggest that the core of what drives people crazy (in a bad way) about the celebration of this Mass is the always-present-fear that when you open the door and sit down in that pew, you are never quite sure if what’s about to happen might involve you being subject to surprise attacks and being held hostage by someone’s ego.
You go to Mass with your hopes, joys and fears. You’re there carrying sadness and grief, questions, doubts and gratitude and peace. You’re bringing it all to God in the context of worship, worship that you trust will link you, assuredly to Christ – to Jesus, the Bread of Life, to His redeeming sacrifice. That in this moment, you’ll be joined to the Communion of Saints, you’ll get a taste of the peace that’s promised to the faithful after this strange, frustrating life on earth is over.
And what do you get?
Who knows. From week to week, from place to place, who knows.
Who knows what the personality of the celebrant will impose on the ritual. Will it be jokes? Will it be a 40-minute homily? Will it be meaningful glances and dramatic pauses? Will it be the demand for the congregation to repeat the responses because they weren’t enthusiastic enough?
Who knows what the particular tastes and artistic stylings of the musicians will bring to the moment?
Who knows what the local community, via committee or fiat, will have determined we should focus on this week?
The idea was this:
God is in the here and now, and speaks to us in the here and now. To be responsive to the Spirit in this here and now means not being bound by imposed ritual or words, especially if those rituals come to us from distant times and cultures.
So what needs to happen with liturgy is that it should be seen as a framework – valuable, yes – but only a framework in which the ministers and the community can respond to the Lord freely, letting Him work through the uniqueness of this particular community, this moment in time, the unique gifts of these ministers and perceived needs of this community.
It was supposed to render the ritual far more accessible than any medieval, time-encrusted form ever could for Modern Man.
It seemed to make sense at the time.
And in the best of circumstances, saints at the helm, perhaps it does.
But as I have said time and time again, one of the reasons we say that tradition possesses a sort of wisdom is that tradition has seen the strengths and weaknesses of human nature and evolved to take that – especially the weaknesses and the sinfulness – into consideration, evolving into something that discourages and inhibits those sinful tendencies
So when you have a liturgy, you have ministers. You have people in charge. And it is not shocking at all that in a context of being told that The Spirit will work through your words and actions – trust it – you immediately construct a huge, boundless playground for the Ego.
The Ego that at one point might have been constrained by strict rules about obeying rubrics, not to speak of the use of a foreign, non-vernacular language, is unleashed, not only by the fateful “in these or other words” – but by his new role, in constant dialogue with the congregation, who now spend an hour or more gazing on his face, and who has been taught that, in some crucial way, the congregation’s spiritual experience at this liturgy depends on his personality – that his personality and interaction holds a key to a fruitful spiritual moment.
But there’s more.
One of the stated purposes of the conciliar liturgical reforms (growing from the Liturgical Movement) was to help the faithful see the sacredness of the moment – by breaking down the wall between the altar and the pews, that would work to help the faithful bring the sacrality found in worship out into their individual lives and the present moment. Again, how much more impactful on this score is liturgy that reflects the current moment in that community’s life rather than something that reflects the experiences of 16th century hierarchs?
How does this work out in real life?
Well, in real life, this grand theory is put into practice by a small group of people – depending on place and time – celebrants, lay ministers, worship committee, musicians – who are operating out of a set of perceived needs and agendas – theirs. It can be little else. Oh, some people have a more expansive vision, but most don’t.
And of course, these people in charge of liturgies are human beings.
How many times have we seen this, in liturgies and in general church life, when leaders, both lay and clerical, have centered their efforts, words and plans on particular agendas and causes, while in front of them sits a congregation gathered with their broken hearts, fears about life and death and all of it, addictions, disappointments, temptations, frightening diagnoses and exhaustion – wondering why they can’t just pray?
To me, it’s an interesting extension of the post-Enlightenment centering of human experience in the cosmos. In a Catholic context, it took different forms, as theological and spiritual thinkers cycled through various angles and anthropologies over the past two centuries, all of which prioritized human experiences of the present moment as the portal to truth and authenticity.
The trouble is – well, one of the troubles – is that given the opportunity, human beings, especially human beings given positions of power and leadership, and encouraged to let the Spirit speak through the present moment and the uniqueness of their own experience, will do just that – imposing their own understanding of the needs of the present moment on the community as normative and fundamental, using the call to inculturate as an invitation to construct a narrative that serves their own purposes and concretize an agenda when all we really came for was the Creed.
Facing us, speaking our language, trusted by us as the arbiters of the moment in which the Spirit is surely moving – yes, the Egoist, given the chance, will certainly and dutifully embrace the moment and center personal experience as way to authenticity and truth – theirs.
Of course you are right. But think: what must have been the attitude of the designers of this “reform?” What were THEIR intentions? I dare say that wanted a good deal of what we actually got: space for the individual egos of the people put “in charge” of the Mass at the parish level.
Wonderfully, thoughtfully, truthfully written. Thanks for that.
I was fully struck this past weekend, by all you wrote today. Until we had a priest stationed at our parish for the duration of the pandemic, I didn’t realize how much I missed having a priest say the Mass in a humble manner. The priest was young – early thirties – and when he said the Mass it was reverent. His eyes were on the book, rather than looking out at us from the altar. His homilies were solid. He didn’t speak out of his personal experience. When he lifted the bread and wine at the consecration, he held them up for twenty or thirty seconds, and during that time, I had a renewed devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and all that was happening on the altar. Too often the Consecration is up/down/over. His actions really drew us in to the wonder of the Consecration – God accepting the offering and being fully present to us in the host and the wine. The priest did that without “telling” but doing. He has been transferred away to a campus ministry, and I miss him, but what I gained through him, I will not allow to be undone. As a musician, and formerly a children/youth choir director in our parish, I would give anything if we did not have a second communion hymn each week. Just some quiet instrumental that would allow my brain to express my devotion. Or maybe…. silence after the hymn. I long for that…
I grew up with the Latin Mass, and while I appreciated it, I think that, properly celebrated, the Novus Ordo can be said in a reverent manner. As well the Latin Mass can be so wrapped up in pomp, that the rubrics become more central than I think it really should be.
Bingo.
The problem is the Missal requires all this because there are multiple options to choose from for every facet of the Mass from the opening words to the final blessing everything has ten choices to pick from. Do we hear the Kyrie or the Confiteor? Or both? Or neither? Not to mention the four choices for the Eucharistic Prayer? Plus you have the scandal of ‘optional memorials.’ On weekdays most of the Memorials are optional so we aren’t all even celebrating the same feast most of the time. I pray the Liturgy of the Hours and last Saturday I had four different choices for what Memorial I was going to pray. How does this lead to communion?
The Holy Father said in Traditionis Custodes that priests shouldn’t be creative, they should follow the missal. BUT THE MISSAL REQUIRES THEM TO BE CREATIVE. After a few years of doing this why wouldn’t a priest start to think that it’s all about him?
If someone wants to do something for the Mass of Paul VI then eliminate all of the optional choices and bring back the Roman Canon as the sole Eucharistic prayer – I’m sorry if that makes Mass 2 1/2 minutes longer but after Covid who cares? Require the Entrance Antiphon to be used on Sundays and set to music instead of an entrance hymn. Let us all have the same Mass and let us all be in Communion together.
Excellent point. Really excellent. Thank you.
Very good analysis. While not full blown ubermensch, the bubbling up of the ego has found its way into all aspects of American culture and not surprisingly the Mass. my parish is not afflicted thank goodness. I feel for those that are.
Really excellent point. Even the priest who tries to celebrate a ‘reverent’ “Novus Ordo” is not simply ‘obeying the rubrics’, or following the rite, or doing what the Church has told him to do. He is choosing among many options. About the only possibility to escape from this subjectivism would be to choose the option most in conformity with the tradition of the Church – which would be the option closest to the Traditional Mass!
It’s true that the allowable options available (e.g., deciding which preface to use) require some decision-making on the part of the priest, and that in theory this is a kind of ego-intrusion, but really it seems to me utterly trivial compared to the ad-libbing, the jokiness, the goofy music choices, the meaningful eye contact.
I’m quite aware of the priest’s decision-making, because I follow in my missal, but I don’t think of ever gone out of mass thinking, “Wow, the nerve of that guy! After using both the Kyrie and the Confiteor, he had the nerve to use the third preface for Sundays in ordinary time!”
I just don’t think this is a serious part of the ego problem that Welborn is writing about.
[…] Go here to read the magnificent rest. The Mass is an act of worship, a miraculous repetition of the first Mass by Christ at the Last Supper. It is not the sermon or the songs, or the readings from Scripture. It is most definitely not performance art for priests to mangle. I have often thought that if I could I would hold up a sign saying “Just here for the Eucharist.” What the Mass has been transformed into is symbolized by the Star Trek command chairs in some modern churches where the priest sits where Christ in the sacrament used to reside on the altar. What Vatican II did, sometimes with the best of intentions and sometimes with the worst, transformed the Mass into a theatrical performance, and theatrical performances are sometimes done well and sometimes done poorly, but they all detract from the transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. […]
A reverent Mass? I agree wholeheartedly.
A little story. After Mass in our Parish some of the older Latino women will kiss the Priest’s hand as a sign of reverence not for the man, but for the Priest. When I kiss their hand back they laugh, as I am showing them respect as well. However, Filipinas will take my hand and put it on their forehead as a sign of the same reverence. When I tried doing that in return as a sign of respect it made them angry.
Reverence can and often is different for different people and different cultures. I’ve discovered that what is reverrently done by an African Priest is far different from what is reverently done by an Irish Priest.
We all need to be sensitive to the different signs of reverence in different cultures.
HOWEVER, this does not include the fake reverence of felt banners, giving jelly beans out instead of Communion at Mass, girls dressed for the beach atire carrying bowls of incense or some of the other goofy stuff I’ve seen. It might, however, include 20 people rushing into the Sanctuary to help if someone has a heart attack or Firefighters on a ladder during Mass fixing sparking lights so that the Church didn’t catch on fire.
Yes, I’ve seen these things too.
I am a 49, and have been a priest for 23 years. For me, music is very difficult. Am I in charge of choosing it? Is the choir director? Are we supposed to sing music from the 1970’s or the 90’s or the new Evangelical praise and worship top 40? Oh, and 70% of my parish is Latino, and no one in that community cares at all about Eagle’s Wings or How Great Thou Art or Holy God We Praise Thy Name.
On top of that, the music ends up being one of the most defining characteristics fo the Mass. An excellent orthodox and spiritual homily can be undermined by the music.
I agree. I once gave a homily on the intimacy of the Eucharist, how Jesus isn’t just in a “personal relationship” but in a COVENANT relationship with us, and that the Eucharist is the most intimate and loving gift.
Then the band played “From a Distance” by Bette Midler.
wow…..
I have the same experience. I’ve been a Priest for 40 years and am 72. Some of us old fogeys aren’t nearly as crazy as we used to be. Heh heh.
Music is often the greatest contributor to the reverence or irreverence of the mass. Sunday mass at my current parish has two styles – a rock band and a jazz pianist. I cannot disassociate rock from rebellion, anger, and parties; nor can I disassociate jazz from bars and clubs. These styles are so distracting that they make it impossible for me to pray during mass. Think of that – a mass in which it is not possible to pray. Music so offensively tacky should be removed from the liturgy for the congregation to truly participate in the prayerfulness of the mass. Such a problem is absolutely the pastor’s responsibility.
Use the Gregorian Chant. Vaticanum II
I heartily concur with Ms. Bowman’s desire for the elimination of a second Communion “hymn” and frankly wish we could dispense altogether with any music during the distribution and reception of Holy Communion. I was always taught that this was a time for personal communion with the Lord and the so-called music, droning on and on, simply does not lend itself to contemplation. I have to wonder when the Church became so afraid of or opposed to silence.
Spot on about reverence. My priest says the Mass at the speed of the legal disclaimer at the end of a radio ad.
I agree that music is a significant contributor to the reverence or irreverence during Mass. Many a time have I left a Sunday Mass, virtually spitting and spluttering!
Excellent.
[…] redoubtable Amy Welborn has a really excellent post on what I think is one of the inherent problems with the reformed liturgy. Traditionalists have […]
I have been catholic for 69 years now born and breed. I grew up with the Latin mass and I would not go back. This is not a balanced article. It talk about the abuses of only one side. Here is the other side of abuse. How a priest that spends huge amounts of parish funds to redesign HIS church to his romantic view of what a church should look like. A egocentric priest that inspire young boys to humiliate girl altar servers and let them know they do not belong on the altar or the teenager who went to mass and had her hands slapped away when she reverently approached to receive the Eucharist.
St John Paul was a mystic and had huge youth rallies and visited many countries. Were his masses irreverent and distracting? Would you sit and judge instead of joining the beautiful celebration of the Eucharist.
The great Franscision university in Steubenville has had youth conferences for millions of kids for over 30 years. With fruits of vacations for the priest and religious. They have Eucharist adoration for over an hour with lines for reconciliation and the adoration chapel if often full.
The Latin mass in many parishes has become a vehicle white European and middle class values. The majority of our church will not be white in the near future.
Lastly there was a time when lay women would not be allowed to write an article such as this.
I do not have the answers but we will not find theme without really looking back and seeing what is going on.
I have a theology degree from FUS, and attended their youth conferences every year in HS. I’ve been to incredible, probably the most incredible masses in the NO. I’ve been to Easter Vigil at St Peters with Pope Benedict.
I’ve been to mass with Fr Dave Pilvonka in Medj.
What speaks to the heart of those who have beautiful conversion experiences is the things that have preserved in Tradition.
The conferences for instance, it is the Eucharistic benediction. You will not see girl alter servers at FUS, or the conferences, or in the Vatican. The alter server role is a role to engage a young man in the beautiful calling that could be before him at the alter. How painful for a young lady to be teased into believing God could be calling her to work on the alter?
A girls hand would never be slapped at FUS, because they would never be teased and tortured in that way.
Evaluate your own statement if you would, professors at FUS, would say your case against proves that article. Your essentially saying bad experiences exist in both forms, this isn’t an argument against any of the authors claims. However the “abuse” you mentioned the slapping of a female alter servers hand would never happen at a TLM mass.
But the presumption that there ought to be is ego. It’s not in tradition, it is not at FUS conferences.
I have been teaching at FUS for 28 years. I cannot quite understand exactly what you are trying to say about liturgy there. I have been to the N.O. Mass on campus only a few times, and walked out of one of them. (The use of altar girls at that Mass was not the most offensive thing I observed.) The traditional Latin Mass on campus was decent, though nothing can turn that hideous chapel into a proper venue for the TLM. I’m just glad I was not in attendance at the TLMs when the celebrant mocked the students in attendance, which happened more than once, according to very reliable students.
Well said! As I was reading, I was reminded of a reflection that came to heart for me earlier this summer (A pre-emptive warning: potential display of my ego may be forthcoming):
Not too long ago in prayer I was struck by the connection of liturgical prayer being made possible through baptism and how in our baptism we undergo a “death”(cf. Romans 6). The connection occurred that true participation in the liturgy necessarily includes dying to self and “being true” to who God made us to be, including in the “death” to self that “saying the black and doing the red” as Fr. Z would have it, invites (and obviously requires). As one who offers the EF as part of my OF parish assignment (for how much longer? we’ll see – sorry, I digress), I have told people that there is a sense of freedom in offering the EF, as a priest is simply able to be in the moment, carrying out what is asked of him to offer – and how beautiful that is; whereas at the OF, there are so many options (as others here have pointed out) that such a sense of freedom is much more difficult to experience. Said another way, I did not sense that the offering of the OF was rooted in “who I am as a priest” until I had been ordained about 10 years; such a sense of “being one with the rite” of the EF only took about two years (and only while offering the EF no more than twice/week at that!).
May we all continue to grow in our baptismal call to die to self and be alive in Christ Jesus!
“The traditional Latin Mass evolved over the centuries and was designed by the Saints so it can safely be celebrated by idiots. The modern Mass was crafted by a committee of bureaucrats and must be celebrated by the saintly to give it even a modicum of holiness.”
Oh, Dear Lord, I’m speechless. As St Edith Stein said: this is truth. Now I’m realized why I feel this way most of the time attending the NO. In Norway, there is no TLM. But, this is for me groundbreaking.
It’s all about ego. This is why I prefer when the church is empty. Now I understand. Thank you so much for your masterpiece writing.
I’ve noticed the same attitude regarding the rule of receiving the Holy Communion only standing and on hand. In Norway, since this so-called pandemic started all bishops decided that all Catholics will be receiving the Holy Communion in one way: on hand. The reason was to protect parishioners from the covid infections and this will be temporary. Here we are now and nothing changed. I’ve sent letters to two bishops with research study regarding Catholic Liturgy and preventing covid. The scientist from the University of Bergen proved that the Holy Communion receiving kneeling and on the tongue is much safer than the other way. And what happened? Nothing? 3 pages of my letter and I’ve got from my Bishops 3 sentences that the only way is as they decided and this is mandatory for all parishioners including all nuns. No explanation why only this way, he didn’t even mention the research study, not even a word. Thankfully the priests who are here from Poland know that only the faithful can decide how to receive the Holy Communion. I’m still in shock and I don’t know how to reply. Any ideas?
The Gregorian Chant. As they are Latino they will appreciate it. Currently, the rule at the Novus Ordo celebrations are various types of abuse, such as the simple involvement of the so-called extraordinary ministers or Holy Communion on the hand, not to mention such matters as the absence of Latin and Gregorian chant, which is clearly contrary to even the constitution on the liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium (n. 36 and 112).