The most common place a Protestant is going to encounter culture shock is at the parish level. You walk into a Catholic Church for the first time, expecting to find heaven on earth, and you sit down. The choir strikes up Cat Stevens’ “Morning Has Broken", a grinning priest shuffles up the aisle after stopping the procession to talk to a teenager he knows. The parishioners yawn. Later, the homily deals with the dicey topic of what a pair of teenage girls thought about a particular “chick flick". You join hands during the Lord’s Prayer, and sing the Great Amen to a tune that would make Joani Mitchell proud. The Eucharistic prayers are rattled off as fast as is humanly possible, the Body and Blood of Christ are raised before the assembly for a hair longer than a tenth of a second, and lay people are left to hand out the Eucharist as the presiding priest takes a seat. The weary parishioners yawn, seemingly oblivious. “This Mass is ended…" is intoned wearily by the shuffling priest a mere 42 minutes after the introduction. You wander out into the bright morning light, stunned, and in your reeling mind is one thought: “my God, this is Catholicism?"
All this has happened to me personally – in a single Mass.
It is true, and it can be especially shocking coming from the higher Anglican type Masses. It can seem overwhelming…or underwhelming, I guess…depending on your point of view. To make matters worse, I have never come up with any magic words to make this better. There are, however, a few things to keep in mind about this particular type of culture shock.
First, why do Catholics keep coming back? It’s because of the Eucharist and the belief in the Real Presence. Regardless of how bad things may seem, the existence of Christ himself in the Eucharist should sustain us through even the most depressing homilies.
Next, some parishes have many Masses, and each of those Masses can have a different feel. For example, in my parish we have eight Masses each Sunday. The 10:00 is the most reverent; the music is piano and strings, the choir is good, and the choices of music are not bad. The 11:45 is a folksy kinda thing, with odd music and a strange feel for those of us that go to the 10:00. If the Mass you’re going to doesn’t suit you, try another.
Different parishes also have different ways. If the one nearest you doesn’t work out, try another. If you’re lucky, you’ll find one nearby that is orthodox enough to suit you.
Lastly, let me give you another example to counter the one above. This also happened in a single Mass, in the same diocese. With any luck, you’ll find a place like this one. They’re out there, though you may have to search long and hard to find them.
You walk into the smallish church and take a seat. The people around you genuflect and cross themselves as they enter the pews. When the Mass begins, three tenors from a choir loft begin a Gregorian chant in Latin. The priest enters singing as well, with incense wafting up behind him. The music throughout is a mix of plainchant and hymns with an organ as the only instrument. The homily deals with abortion and why the Church opposes it, and how we can each do our little part in opposition. The Eucharistic prayers are chanted rather than spoken, and the Body and Blood of Christ are held aloft for more than a minute while a bell tolls softly in the background. The Great Amen is just that – great – and brings up gooseflesh with its strength. The Eucharist is distributed by a priest and two deacons, and it’s done with the congregation kneeling at a communion rail. When the Mass has ended you wander out into the light, and in your reeling mind is one thought: “my God, this is Catholicism!"
Well said. Most Masses (and parishes) are somewhere between your first and last examples, and the trend over the past 10 years has been gradually gathering momentum toward the last.
Excellent post. The parish we go to has several masses, and my wife being a convert of the Southern Baptist orientation, she likes the one that has the "modern" music. Which of course I despise naturally being a cradle Catholic who struggles to find beauty in the overly protestant-ized Mass.
Yet, it is still Mass. The Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior is no less real and present to us. And that is indeed why I love to return even to this particular time slot & parish, despite its problems with reverence, liturgy, music.
The Eucharistic prayers are rattled off as fast as is humanly possible,
I affectionately refer to this as the "auctioneer consecration"
lordyouareholyindeedthefountainofallholiness...
:)
Although the truth of the Catholic Church is undiminished by the banality of the liturgy here in the States, it still.. well.. for lack of a better word, sucks. Especially for us converts from Anglicanism who are used to beautiful and reverent liturgy to help us focus our minds and hearts on the Lord.
I found the Catholic Mass (commonly referred to as the Novus Ordo Missae) as I've seen it to be horribly distracting (which has actually helped me improve my concentration skills!) to the point of despair. I'm much happier attending an indult Tridentine Mass and for those fellow Piskies swimming to Rome, I'd recommend finding one if you feel the English language liturgy in your area is too distracting. (also, I'm not one of those 'radtrad' types, I just find the Latin service more agreeable)
Thank you, Mark, for this site!
"The Eucharistic prayers are rattled off as fast as is humanly possible..." Sad to say, this is exactly what the typical parish Mass was like BEFORE the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, except the the prayers were in barely audible Latin. But, one's faith carried one through... then, as now. The Novus Ordo Mass places a heavier burden on the priest celebrant which, alas, most are not, by training nor temperament, up to meeting.
Guitar masses and worse! I pray to God that we are nearing the end of the silly season. My wife and I are blessed that we do not have to put up with such things, as we attend a local Roman Catholic Anglican-Use parish. It is heaven on earth. See www.walsingham-church.org/.
I affectionately refer to this as the "auctioneer consecration"
ya know, when I wrote this, I was seriously thinking of the old FedEx commercials with the fast-talking spokesman.
Is it really the ritual that matters? Just churchmanship? It's not the ceremonial that keeps me in a Reformed Catholic (i.e. Anglican) church! It's the "reformed" part.
Henry,
Could you elaborate a bit? I'm not sure I understand.