Almost every Catholic parish you enter in the US, it would be a slight miracle to hear the least bit of Latin. During Lent and Advent, you might hear a Sanctus or Agnus Dei, but that is a far as it goes. Any pastor will tell you that Latin will chase people away. If you want people to come to Mass, you have to give them what they want. Young people want music that sounds like their music. Guitars, drums, keyboards and a good base will create the atmosphere that everyone wants. Besides, if you have Latin, people don’t understand it and they will go elsewhere. The kids and young people want their culture.
We all know this has been a big success. Our churches are much fuller than they ever where. This is not the case at all. Contemporary “Christian” music doesn’t hold a candle to what our young people listen to. It is a poor imitation of the “real” thing.
Besides, who says that our young people hate Latin? It’s only the older people who for the past 50 years have been told that Latin is outdated, impractical, and not with the times who reject it. Priests, and Liturgists have told the Catholic faithful that our young people can’t relate to Latin chant and sacred song. But I want to tell you, they are dead wrong. Every Sunday, the voices that I hear belt out the Latin Mass parts the loudest are those who are the closest to me, my altar boys. Below is a clip of Tommy singing a solo. He only had a small sheet of paper with words written on it and no music notation. Tommy also serves most of my funerals. He sings the Requiem, In Paradisum, all the Mass parts, and many of the Sacred humans and chants from memory. Tommy is 10 years old and has been doing this for years. Everyone that sees and hears him sing is moved and inspired. Meet Tommy.
I say if you want to attract young people to Mass, challenge them and give them something that will help them enter into the sacred and not what they have in the world.
In the period following the liturgical reform of Vatican Council II, the Church has suffered from the use of cheap and unattractive worship aids. The old adage, “Lex credendi, lex orandi,” can also be applied to our Liturgical books. Constant use of poor artwork and the “throw-away” Word of God in our seasonal missalettes speaks volumes about what others perceive we believe and forms the hearts and minds of our congregations. Pope Benedict XVI made the importance of beauty in the liturgy known clearly:
The Missal encompasses all Sundays, Holy Week, special solemnities, funerals, weddings, and the Confirmation. There is an appendix featuring the sequences for Easter, Pentecost, and Corpus Christi, along with the Tract for Palm Sunday. At the very end of the Missal are the hymns and prayers for Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and a congregational Mass setting in honor of St. Isaac Jogues.
Our final Advent preparation is upon us. The Feast of Our Lord’s Birth of is about to dawn. The “O” Antiphons are part of the Church’s liturgical tradition in the final days of Advent. They present seven of the Messiah’s attributes from Sacred Scripture. Rhey are recited at Vespers from December 17 thru December 23 in the Roman Rite. The O Antiphons appear to be of very ancient origin, however, there is no precise dating of the O Antiphons. The oldest reference of these Antiphons comes from Boethius (480-425) who seemed to refer to them. They were part of the liturgy in Rome by the 8th century and continue to be a great part of our liturgical tradition today. From all the evidence, it can be assumed that the O Antiphons date back to the very early Church.
