Old Fashioned Catholics

I am 50 and am pre vatican II communicate. I did not understand a thing that was said in latin. Why so much on the latin rite its so much more beautiful hearing it in english and understanding the fullness of Christs liturgy! The early followers of Christ were lay people such as ourselves and they were the cornerstone of the faith and it was done in hebrew greek and latin!

i'm 17 and i agree with most all of what you guys are saying. i've been to only one latin mass and i think that it was the most beautiful mass i have been to.

JACQUE D.....I'm with you! I left the church after Vaticanll, because of all the changes. I have been back for a year now and I do about the same as you.
I wear a covering on my head
I go to confession regularly
I eat fish instead of meat on Fridays
I also don't believe girls should be Altar servers
I believe Nuns should wear full habits.
I believe only a priest or deacon should give Holy Communion, not lay people.
In spite of these things, I couldn't stay away from the one true church any longer. I just do my old fashioned things and I make sure to receive communion from my priest. I really do miss the old ways though.

I am a mother of six, who wears a mantilla whenever entering the Church. I dont believe in women priests, alter girls or married priests. If you could back up time to say 30 -40years ago, I'd be very happy. Nuns in habits, collared priesrs, well mannered children, no meat on any Friday of the year etc etc.

It is such a shame that priests don’t speak up about modesty; it is a spiritual work of mercy to instruct the ignorant! They would essentially be participating in the sin of immodesty if they don’t speak up to teach the people – that is if they KNOW they must and yet don’t. (And I think most of them may well know…)

In my parish we only receive under one Species (the Host) on Sundays, but in the weekday Masses we receive from the Chalice too. It is funny, in the weekday Masses when Father spontaneously lets the lady minister give us the Hosts and he gives us the Chalice! I didn’t know that was even allowed to swap around like that! To be honest, it upsets me a little…

Our Altar servers also have nice long white robes on, and wear a girdle of the liturgical colour around their waists. I love it that they are modest like this.

What I like about my priest, is that he sometimes uses Latin when praying the Eucharistic Prayer, especially in the weekdays. When he spontaneously chooses to, he uses the Latin. He has a gift for languages and recites Latin very fluently! I love it when he does; it reminds me of our heritage.

Dolores
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Hi Dolores,

I agree with you on many points. Our new Church does have some statues but a Resurrected Jesus on the top of the altar rather than a crucifix. When Mass begins, a small cross is carried in.

We have been going to the Tridentine Mass more frequently at another parish where there are mantillas the women can wear. I remember always wearing a head covering at Church before this new Mass was introduced.

As for the modesty thing, we have the same problem at our Church, but mostly with the teenagers. However, during summer, especially at the Saturday Vigil Mass many people even wear shorts!

Growing up in the fifties and sixties, the priests in our parish always stressed modesty. We were not allowed to wear sleeveless or sun dresses either, the dress at least had to have a cap sleeve on it, and this was before air conditioning. And, needless to say hats.

I believe that the priests now are afraid to say anything less the people don't go to church. We do have girl altar servers, but the wear long white robes, so they are very modest and not distracting.

Our Eucharistic ministers are mostly women, but they only offer the wine. The priest and our Deacon distribute the Eucharist.

I miss the altar rails also. Perhaps one of these days, they will come back.

Right now though I am enjoying the Traditional Mass. This priest also has Adoration and Benediction (as well as Confession) before the Mass. It is the only church in our Diocese that has this Mass, and the priest is older. I hope that he never gets seriously ill or dies soon, because then I fear this Mass wouldn't be held.

In my parish church we also have female lectors and that seems to work out okay once I got used to this. But we also have guitar Masses (but they are not too far out) but I do miss the Traditional hymns.

Perhaps Pope Benedict is making the first strides toward restoring some reverence of the Mass. I regret that many priests don't know Latin and either don't want to learn it or probably don't have the extra time.

I hope that some of our seminarians are learning this and how to say a Tridentine Mass so this will not be lost.

Hi there, I agree with what is being said about our churches. Fortunately our parish (I live in Cape Town, SA) has not gone so far as to remove statues – we have ones of the Sacred Heart, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima, St. Jude, the Child Jesus and some bishop - I don’t know who! We have a lovely crucifix as well. As I walked into church this morning for Mass (I was absent at Sunday Mass due to being ill) I saw the statues and crucifix were all covered with purple cloth. I was overjoyed at the traditional practice still being kept, as our priest is quite progressive. He also wears lovely vestments in the liturgical colours. Unfortunately the other things mentioned also happen in our parish, such as altar girls, female lay ministers, no head coverings, casual clothes – a lot of the time immodest – Communion in the hand, no incense (except for Holy Hour services), no altar rails (this especially saddens me as I hate to receive Communion standing!), holding hands for the “Our Father” around the altar, and chaos afterwards when we return to our seats whilst saying the “Lamb of God”.

I am a convert to Catholicism and got acquainted with the Faith as it is traditionally depicted. I assumed Mass was still quite different from Protestant services, but ironically I left the Anglican “High Church” for a Catholic Mass less traditional! The quality of the music is often mediocre in our churches. I try to stay on a reasonably tolerant road and tolerate guitars, but the more modern hymns sometimes have tunes that have no transcendent quality to them and it stifles any reverence. I tolerate Ministers of the Eucharist as well, but I do not approve of women doing this job. Nor do I approve of girls serving at the altar. I was approached a couple of times by lay minister ladies in my parish whom I am friendly with, and they encouraged me to also become one. I insisted that I would not as I don’t believe this is a women’s role, and happily refused to. However I am a sacristan in my parish and this job gives me immense joy!

In my church all the lay ministers helping at Mass are women; I also tend to go to Father for Communion if I can. I have always received on the tongue except once when it was impossible to, and I am deeply devoted to veiling my head, not only in church, but all day. I long to see other ladies in my parish veil for Mass and other services, but have not had the privilege of seeing any regulars do so – I am the only one in my parish who does. I have protested in the “Letters to the Editor” section of my national Catholic weekly several times about immodest dress in our churches and among Catholics in general, who cannot seem to uphold Christian teachings on modesty – many because they have never been taught this!

As a sacristan, I have had many occasions where I was told to do things that were not in the rubrics and as a result I sometimes argued with my priest. I am very strict about following rubrics as I believe it shows respect for God if we celebrate the Liturgy properly. When visiting priests came I have had to ask them if they wanted me to prepare the altar as it is done in the rubrics, or do it the way I was told to. I wish that all priests would take care to do it as the GIRM says and not make up their own way of doing things for “pastoral reasons” the people don’t even know about! I have spoken to Father a few times and although he is very open and accommodating I often have to remind him about things. I assumed priests all knew how to do things, but it doesn’t always seem to be so. I am also very frustrated at the disorder at the Sign of Peace. We often say the Lamb of God when we are walking back to our seat! I don’t like this hand-holding practice, especially around the altar!

We have a beautiful Faith and practicing these traditions which enhance it are worth it! If we neglect to, we will forget just how beautiful it is to be a Catholic.

Dolores
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Hi my name is Dolores and I'm new here. I am a Catholic convert; today is my second anniversary since I entered the Church. I have always been drawn to the traditional expression of being Catholic, and am very fond of the traditional practices like Friday abstinence and veiling especially in church. I have been very upset at the lack of reverence in Mass nowadays and the casual way it is celebrated. More from me a little later!....

Hi! I hope that I belong to this group. I definitely am an "old fashioned Catholic" and grew up with the Latin Mass as well as attending parochial schools that actually taught the Catholic religion in the 50's and early 60's. I was not even upset by the "New Mass" until they began tearing down the statues, eliminating things like 40 Hours Devotion and May Crownings, They even managed to eliminate groups like the "Holy Name Club" the Young Ladies Sodality and youth groups like the CYO which kept young people in the Church.

I was further dismayed with "folk Masses" (that they thought would bring young people into the Church) ultra "charismatic groups" that repelled people who didn't feel that way.

The New Mass is valid, and I've grown to like it but I don't like the accesses . For instance in our parish, our paster comes down to the people with the "Sign of Peace" as well as the Eucharistic Minister shaking hands with all of their friends although I do know that this is forbidden.

I am torn between two things now---a progressive pastor that I like and now a Latin Mass at one of our parishes conducted each Sunday,

To make matters more complicated, our church burned two years ago and we have rebuilt it and will be consecrated next week. There will be no "crucifix" at the main altar---instead parishioners have voted on the Resurrected Body, and I doubt that there will be any change as far as some of the other things.

I turned away from the church for over 25 years because of the accesses and the poor catechetics, but have now been back for 4 years and understand that the main focus should be the Eucharist.

I like the members of our Church but so many don't seem to understand what is going on. Our pastor had no problem voting for Obama despite his pro-abortion stance because of his promised "health care" and "environmental issues". Our
bishop didn't even have the courage to write a pastoral letter to advise about voting issues.

Anyone out there that has the same problems? I feel frustrated, because it seems that our average laity doesn't seem to have the courage to attack these issues and I know that even I don't have the courage to confront our pastor (who is otherwise a nice guy) with some of these things.

I once confronted him about the abortion issue and his reasoning was that a law couldn't stop it as long as women continued to have them.

Would like to have some comments or suggestions on this board.

Lmora, wow I'm just getting back to you now. I'm so sorry about your husband, and the other family members you're missing... What a lot you've had to cope with. (((HUGS)))