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Getting it done in Cincinnati

Catholic group looks to form Latin parish
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101225/NEWS01/12260342/Catholic-group-looks-to-form-Latin-parish
By Dan Horn
dhorn@enquirer.com

The first time Ashley Paver stepped into St. Mark's Church in Evanston, he knew he'd found the right place.

The tile mosaics, soaring arches, marble steps and lush stained glass windows gave the church the look and feel of an Italian basilica. As he walked through the empty church, Paver could almost hear the Gregorian chants and Latin prayers that defined Catholic Mass for centuries, from the Middle Ages to the 1960s.

He could think of no better place to celebrate that ancient Mass again.

"It really is perfect," Paver said.

Paver is part of a group of Cincinnati Catholics that wants to transform St. Mark's into a parish dedicated exclusively to celebrating Mass, baptisms, marriages and other sacraments the way Catholics did more than a thousand years ago.

The new parish would be the first of its kind in Cincinnati and would restore the Latin Mass and other practices that were set aside over the past 40 years following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

The reforms, which took hold in the late 1960s and early 1970s, phased out Latin and other traditions in an effort to make the Mass more accessible. They also alienated some Catholics who missed the Latin services and believed the church was losing some of the things that set it apart from other Christian faiths.

For years these conservative Catholics tended to be from older generations that longed for the Mass of their childhoods. Now, however, they include a small but growing number of young Catholics intrigued by their faith's ancient traditions.

"It's something we're coming back to," said Mary Kraychy, executive director of the Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei, an Illinois group that favors wider use of the Latin Mass. "It's just more meaningful to a lot of people."

She said the number of Latin Masses offered in the United States has climbed from about a dozen in the late 1980s to more than 400 today. While that's a small fraction of Catholic services nationwide, supporters of the Latin Mass say the trend suggests a desire among some Catholics for another, more traditional option.

Una Voce, the group behind the effort at St. Mark's, wants to give them that option.

The group mounted a campaign to raise about $2 million to buy and repair the 94-year-old church, which closed in July after the shrinking parish merged with three others.

Group members want to revive the church as the home parish for Catholics from all over the Archdiocese of Cincinnati who want to return to a more traditional form of worship.

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, ora pro nobis. Feast January 4.

Why is the Latin Mass not offered more?

http://www.catholicsentinel.org/Main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=73&ArticleID=13347

Q — I was wondering, if unity is an important part of catholic teaching, why is it that we do not see the traditional Latin Mass offered more generously? In the past, anywhere you went to a Catholic Church the Mass was exactly the same (only the homily was in the vernacular). So, with an increasing number of parishioners who speak Spanish and other languages, why do we not offer this Mass more often so that we can come together and celebrate Mass without either group (the English speaking and the non-English speaking) feeling lost?

A — This is a very good question, but a complex question, and it shows a real sensitivity concerning the unity of the parish and, indeed, of the Catholic Church as a whole.

Latin has traditionally been the language of the Western Church, and it seems to me that in some respects Latin may be understood as a badge or a symbol of our catholicity.

That’s one of the reasons why various parts of the Mass are often sung in Latin, e.g., the Sanctus, the Agnus Dei. At the same time, the church has judged that celebrating in the vernacular languages better enables the active participation of all the faithful in the celebration of the Mass.

Having access to the words and their meanings throughout the entire celebration, including the liturgy of the word, helps us to be more spiritually disposed for the reception of Holy Communion. This access becomes even richer when one considers the more expanded repertoire of theological meaning in the new English translation of the Roman Missal that goes into effect on the first Sunday of Advent 2011.

The more generous availability of the older Latin Mass by Pope Benedict was not intended to supplant the various vernacular translations, and it was not intended to address the multicultural nature of parishes and dioceses. In his letter to the bishops on the occasion of the publication of the apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum the Pope wrote: “The use of the old (1962) Missal presupposes a certain degree of liturgical formation and some knowledge of the Latin language; neither of these is found very often.”

We need to find other ways to deepen the unity of our multicultural parishes beyond the actual celebration of the Eucharist, even as the Eucharist remains the bedrock of our unity in Christ.