Monday, May 23, 2005
Church: The Musical
Yesterday I attended Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine on the CUA campus. For those unfamiliar with it, the Basilica is the largest Catholic church in the western hemisphere and is just a beautiful setting for Mass. Normally I prefer to attend the Latin Mass at St. Matthews or even the Tridentine at St. Mary's, but on days when I don't really feel like getting up at 7:30 in the morning, I settle for the English Novus Ordo at the Shrine. Ususally I don't mind, but yesterday's services bothered me to some degree.
Yesterday's Mass was the Church's celebration of Memorial Day. As such there were bagpipes, choral anthems, and much pomp and circumstance. I am one who appreciates all of what I have just described, but I must wonder if Mass, particularly on the day of the commemoration of the Holy Trinity, is the most appropriate setting for all the glitz and glamour on display at the Basilica.
It took about 20 minutes before we even made the sign of the cross and got down to the business of praying. Again, I can understand a certain element of celebration, but at some point I was expecting dancers to take to the altar for a Ray Fosse-esque tribute to the military.
Of course none of what transpired was as bad as what you get at some other Catholic churches. I'm of course talking about those ugly-as-sin Churches which feature a five piece band. Every time I am forced to sit through such a service where they break out the acoustic guitar I half expect Christ to pick that moment for his second coming. And what will Christ do? He will take that guitar, smash it to bits, and then, mimicking John Belushi in Animal House, offer a very sheepish-looking "sorry."
Perhaps I am a bit of a hard-liner in this regard, but the Catholic Church made a very bad decision forty years ago in getting rid of the Latin Tridentine Mass. Now we're stuck with the wannabe Protestant services which feature almost as much entertainment as religious worship. The solitude of the Tridentine Mass provides a much more spiritual setting. Of course I know the Church will never return to the Tridentine, and at least they're working to make the English translation fall more in line with the Latin. And, most importantly, the manner of celebration is not as important as the fact that celebration is in fact occurring. But it would be nice if they could put down the bagpipes and get to folding the hands a bit more.
Yesterday's Mass was the Church's celebration of Memorial Day. As such there were bagpipes, choral anthems, and much pomp and circumstance. I am one who appreciates all of what I have just described, but I must wonder if Mass, particularly on the day of the commemoration of the Holy Trinity, is the most appropriate setting for all the glitz and glamour on display at the Basilica.
It took about 20 minutes before we even made the sign of the cross and got down to the business of praying. Again, I can understand a certain element of celebration, but at some point I was expecting dancers to take to the altar for a Ray Fosse-esque tribute to the military.
Of course none of what transpired was as bad as what you get at some other Catholic churches. I'm of course talking about those ugly-as-sin Churches which feature a five piece band. Every time I am forced to sit through such a service where they break out the acoustic guitar I half expect Christ to pick that moment for his second coming. And what will Christ do? He will take that guitar, smash it to bits, and then, mimicking John Belushi in Animal House, offer a very sheepish-looking "sorry."
Perhaps I am a bit of a hard-liner in this regard, but the Catholic Church made a very bad decision forty years ago in getting rid of the Latin Tridentine Mass. Now we're stuck with the wannabe Protestant services which feature almost as much entertainment as religious worship. The solitude of the Tridentine Mass provides a much more spiritual setting. Of course I know the Church will never return to the Tridentine, and at least they're working to make the English translation fall more in line with the Latin. And, most importantly, the manner of celebration is not as important as the fact that celebration is in fact occurring. But it would be nice if they could put down the bagpipes and get to folding the hands a bit more.
# posted by Paul Zummo : 2:00 PM
