Silent Servants...

Silent Servants...

... of the Used, Abused, and Utterly Screwed Up.

A Secular Franciscan looks at the world...
with a more jaundiced eye than ever...
and lots of ellipses for you to fill in the missing text...
(with thanks to Thomas S. Klise for the title)



Friday, April 04, 2008

Coloured, as it is,

by the worshipper's own biases, this report of a Mass at a Traditional Catholic Church (not in communion with Rome, but still following the Tridentine Rite none-the-less) may be a snapshot of what one element in the Catholic Church wants our Masses to be like:

1514: Our Lady of the Sun International Shrine, El Mirage, Arizona, USA

I have nothing against the Tridentine Mass. I grew up with it. I still remember my Latin, though it's become very rusty with disuse. Having said that, I still remember, as an Altar Boy, being the only person in the church responding to the priest. I have vivid memories of the light clicking of rosary beads by the people in the congregation praying their private prayers during Mass, and of trying to follow the priest in my missal, when I was in the congregation, despite the fact that I couldn't hear anything from the Altar. I hope that the desire for the Tridentine Mass includes some renewal along with the return to the awe and worship of that extraordinary rite...

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