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Ancient Latin Mass attracts
young worshippers on Eastside Posted By Ron Barnett The sanctuary is both modern and Romanesque,
a streamlined brick and glass edifice with a lofty, vaulted ceiling. And inside this brand new house
of worship on It took an Apostolic Letter from
the pope and special permission from the Bishop of Charleston, but the Mass
now is being celebrated in Latin at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in
Taylors, one of two churches in Latin may be a "dead"
language, but it is coming to life in the aftermath of Mel Gibson's "The
Passion of the Christ." Dialogue in the film was in Latin and Aramaic,
the languages of Jesus' time. If interest in the old Mass is
growing in part because of the movie, the Latin revival here started long
before Gibson made the language part of the popular culture. And it's not just old-timers
wanting to cling to pre-Vatican II ways who are coming to the liturgies at
Prince of Peace. People in their 20s and 30s are filling many of the pews,
finding serenity and a sense of awe in the solemn rituals. "I think it's a good
experience to come at least once a month or so and get a clear view of what
they did back then," said William Foreman, a twentysomething worshipper
at a recent Jonathan Arrington, a 21-year-old
Greek major at "You're overwhelmed by the
reverence almost," he said. "As soon as you walk into the Latin
Mass, you know that the people believe that God is right there in front of
them. You can tell in their behavior and you can tell in their manner." The atmosphere is indeed filled
with reverence and dignity. The liturgy begins with barely
audible chanting, coming from high above the rear of the church, as if from
heaven. Thirty-five-year-old Robert
Fromageot, a member of the Atlanta-based Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter,
enters from a door behind the altar and genuflects in silent prayer as the
faithful, many of them from other Catholic churches in the area, wait in rapt
expectation. Then he begins to sing the
liturgy from the Roman Missal of 1962. "In nomine Patris, et Filii,
et Spiritus Sancti." Although the congregation of
about 100 isn't filled with Latin scholars, everyone knows that means, "In
the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Many
worshippers follow along in a Latin-English missal to get the translation. It's not only the language that
is different in this liturgy. Among the more visible changes is the priest facing
the altar rather than the congregation when consecrating the bread and wine -
the ancient tradition which puts the focus on offering the sacrifice to God. Prince of Peace, which has a
membership of 2,300 families, started offering the Mass in Latin once a month
- in addition to its regular liturgies in English - and went to two Sundays a
month after Easter. Weekly Latin liturgies now have been scheduled on Mondays
through May. But Father Steve Brovey, the
church's pastor and director of Prayer and Worship for the statewide Diocese
of Charleston, is quick to point out that Latin isn't intended to replace the
vernacular at his or any of the Catholic churches in "It expresses diversity in
the tradition, but it's not meant that we're promoting the Latin Mass, that
we're going back to it as the norm," he said. "It's just being
permitted for those who have that interest and who petition the bishop to
have that." The caution stems from concerns
that use of the old language might be seen by some as an attempt to return to
pre-Vatican II theology. Pope John Paul II gave permission
to use the Traditional Latin Mass in 1988, after excommunicating Archbishop
Marcel Lefebvre. The French bishop had resisted changes made by the Second
Vatican Council in the 1960's, which included allowing the use of the
vernacular for the Mass to make it more accessible. Although the updated Mass, called
the Novus Ordo, can be said in Latin in Catholic churches without special
permission, it doesn't include many of the older prayers, which had been part
of the Mass for 1500 years. While contemporary Masses, with
guitars and other non-traditional instruments, have become common in Catholic
churches, some members of the post-Vatican II generation say that has resulted
in a loss of the ancient musical forms that the council intended to retain. "We ended up getting lots of
hymns from the 1970s and 1980s of questionable long-term spiritual
worth," said Brian Mershon, 40, a regular communicant at the Traditional
Latin Mass at Prince of Peace. "Since Vatican II there's
been lots of talk about renewal and other things not in line with the
council," said Mershon, who is completing a master's degree in theology
at "But I find it interesting
that the Fraternity of St. Peter, whose priests offer only the traditional
mass and sacraments, is the fastest growing group of priests in the Not all Catholics feel drawn to
the Latin liturgy. The Rev. Herbert Conner, pastor of St. Mary Magdalene
Catholic Church in Simpsonville, said he was ordained in 1961, prior to
Vatican II, and "suffered through Latin" until the vernacular was allowed. "As Pope John XXIII said
when the vernacular came in - which I think was certainly the work of the
Holy Spirit - that when we pray, usually we pray the language that we learn
at our mother's knee," Conner said. "God certainly understands
English, but only God understands Latin." John Paul II authorized bishops
to permit use of the ancient rite "for the sake of unity within a
diocese" so long as the bishops retain "some degree of
control" over scheduling and determining which priests are allowed to
celebrate the mass. The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker,
who became bishop of the Diocese of Charleston in 1999, gave special
permission in 2001 for Stella Maris Catholic Church on Sullivan's Island to
begin using the Latin Mass - so long as it doesn't replace the Mass in the
vernacular and isn't a move away from Vatican II. Prince of Peace, a fast-growing
church which has taken in many Catholic newcomers from parts of the country
where the Catholic faith is more predominant, received permission under the
same guidelines last September. Father Fromageot, who has been
celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass at Prince of Peace, is a member of an
order that was founded for the purpose of offering the ancient liturgy. Although he has no pre-Vatican II
memory of the old rite, being in his mid 30s, Fromageot said he, like many of
his generation, feel drawn to its beauty, and the sense of the sacred it
exudes. "In this society of
ours," he said, "beauty is a commodity." Posted with Permission |