ROAMIN'
CATHOLIC
By Charles A. Coulombe
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Contents © 1997
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
Worship That Lures the Young
The new calendar of the Roman Rite places the observance of the Feast of Christ the King on the last Sunday of November. However, on October 26, the date on which the feast falls in the old Roman Calendar, I found myself at a Mass observing this feast. Moreover, the Mass itself was traditional--the so-called Tridentine Rite.The Mass I attended was under the auspices of His Eminence, Roger Cardinal Mahony, and was the second of a continuing series of such Masses at old Mission San Buenaventura. Where such Masses (called "indult" after the papal permission to say them) are said elsewhere in the archdiocese only once a month, at the mission they will be offered every Sunday and holy day at 1:30 P.M.
Even though this Mass liturgy had been absent from the archdiocese for 27 years, the congregation was very youthful. The whole congregation seemed quite intent on what was going on at the altar.
The priest, a Father Morgan, pastor at a nearby parish, processed in with two acolytes. After genuflecting, and while the choir was singing the Introit, he and the acolytes said the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar--the penitential rite of the old Mass liturgy. The choir sang the Missa De Angelis, a setting for the Mass propers which was familiar enough to the people present that many joined in. The priest faced, not the people, but the altar.
The priest opened his sermon with a Latin greeting, after which he remarked that as the people wanted a Latin Mass, doubtless they would like a Latin sermon.
After the sermon on the kingship of Christ, the choir sang the Credo after which, the ushers clad in morning dress--cutaway coats and striped trousers--took up the collection. It was once traditional at this feast, as at Christmas and Easter, for ushers of more socially prominent parishes to wear morning dress.
Then came the Sanctus and the Canon--now called the First Eucharistic Prayer. After the Consecration, the Mass went swiftly. When communion came, another set of morning-coated gentlemen attempted to herd the congregation up to the front from the back, with limited success. This was the only false note in the whole affair. Despite the lack of eucharistic ministers, the faithful were able to go up, kneel, and receive on the tongue in fairly short order.
Communion over, the Mass ended swiftly, despite the number of prayers used. Folk milled around in the yard. One comment heard by this writer from a first time Tridentine-Mass goer in his 20s was, "I feel like I've been to Mass for the first time." The whole crowd was enthusiastic.
The initiative to have a Tridentine Mass said at San Buenaventura came from a group of lay people. Having found priests willing to say the Mass, and having won the approval of Cardinal Mahony, the group set to work getting names. This accomplished, it seems that San Buenaventura will have the only regular Indult Mass in the archdiocese. *
NOTE: In our November 1997 piece on Holy Family in Glendale ("Worship to a Bossa Nova Beat") we wrote that Monsignor Arthur J. Lirette "turned to the tabernacle--and looked at it," suggesting that he intentionally neglected to genuflect. We have since found out that Msgr. Lirette had recently undergone knee surgery, and so was unable to genuflect. We apologize for the mistake.