singapore_1.gifA traditional Latin Mass has begun in the bright chapel of St. Joseph's Institution International School. This Mass, held the fourth Sunday of every month, follows the liturgical books published with the approval of Blessed John XXIII in 1962, before that pope opened the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). It features Gregorian chant, and only the homily is not in Latin.
What immediately strikes a first-time visitor to this Mass, organized by the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) movement in Singapore, is the congregation. The young working adults, mostly in their 20s, who make up about three-fourths of the people were born after local languages replaced Latin in liturgies following Vatican Council II.
Only Catholics 45 and older, just one-fourth of this group, would have had the chance to attend the traditional Mass in Latin as children. Jenson Tay, coordinator for the TLM movement, did not."
The 28-year-old tonsured seminarian is taking a leave of absence after his first year of seminary life with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) in Australia. The fraternity, founded in 1988 with Pope John Paul II's approval, trains its priests to celebrate the traditional Latin liturgy, which the Church recognizes as an extraordinary form of the Roman rite.
Tay also spoke of his role as "master of ceremonies" in another Latin Mass, held the second Sunday of every month at the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.
That Mass uses the ordinary form of the Roman rite, used around the world today, in which the priest faces the congregation. But everything except the Scripture readings and homily are in Latin rather than a local language. Gregorian chant is used for the hymns.
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