Does Ad Orientem Have The Potential To Change Youth Ministry?

[Ryan Ayala]

I am a youth minister for the Diocese of Phoenix and last week I took my core team to a retreat.  I decided to ask the priest if he would be willing to celebrate the mass, ad orientem, and the teens and adults loved it.  I would love to hear your thoughts... Read more about it here 

 

http://relevantcatholic.wordpress.com/2013/08/30/save-the-liturgy-save-youth-ministry-by-ryan-ayala/

 

 

 

 

[4588686]

Does a change in things have the potential to change thing?  Yeah, probably.  

[Basilisa Marie]

It's only going to have an effect if it's properly explained, and it happens in a place with architecture conducive to it.  It looks like that's what happened.  But if there weren't a big crucifix, or maybe if everyone was in a circle, it'd be harder to "get" they symbolism of the posture. I think it's great (and important!) to expose teens to all kinds of things from our rich history, especially so that teens don't feel like the only kind of mass they can really participate in is a special youth mass. :)  

[Luigi]

To answer your posted question: No. 

[KnightofChrist]

Yes. Because the is a movement amongst the youth today to seek out more traditional practices. Good article too btw.

[Nihil Obstat]

Probably could not hurt. It is more than a simple direction the priest is facing. It contributes to allowing him to more clearly take on his role in the Mass.

[ToJesusMyHeart]

I've seen the same good effects when I've taken my friends to ad orientem Masses. I think it's a wonderful idea, but Basilisa made a good point that it needs to be properly explained. 

[arfink]

I've seen "youth interest" in traditionalism take the form of just a new kind of novelty-seeking, since we've pretty much reached total saturation of "youth" masses with Life Teen and such.

 

IMO, mass ought to change anybody, regardless of the form. Proper explanation of the mass in general to young people would be nice to see.

[KnightofChrist]

I've seen "youth interest" in traditionalism take the form of just a new kind of novelty-seeking, since we've pretty much reached total saturation of "youth" masses with Life Teen and such.

 

IMO, mass ought to change anybody, regardless of the form. Proper explanation of the mass in general to young people would be nice to see.

 

Yeah, some youth just seek out things on a temporary bases. But there is a clear movement backed by a large and growing number of youth in favor of more traditional practices in the Mass and Church life. This doesn't just include the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, but the Ordinary as well.

[Nihil Obstat]

From "Restoration and Organic Development of the Roman Rite", by Laszlo Dobszay.

 

The real loss in these [versus populum] arrangements, however, arose as a result of transformation in the priest's mentality. In losing contact with the sacred area of the church the priest's attention has come to be focused rather on the assembly.No fixed direction remained for his eyes: the Cross (if there even was one on the altar) was too low and put aside; if he raised his gaze higher, he beheld only a choir loft or an organ-gallery. Eventually the priest stopped trying to raise his eyes higher: rather he tried to face the congregation. This change had the effect of modifying his entire attitude. The change of physical direction became a change in psychological orientation. He began to say the Mass not for (pro) but rather to or at the people. He began trying to influence what had become for him an audience, through gestures: head or eye movements during the holiest parts of the Mass; the priest became a president [Nihil's note: notice how the priest is often 'introduced' as the presider of a Mass, rather than celebrant], or rather an actor or media-man for the assembly. This 'direct contact' was often accompanied with fraternizing manners. This psychological change became all the more exaggerated when he went down among the people during Mass, or in other churches called the people up to stand around the altar. Paradoxically, a liturgy that was often blamed for being overly clerical had been transformed into a one-man show.

I am not sure what the exact order of cause and effect in this process actually is. The direct consequence of advocating a 'pastoral liturgy' was that the liturgy was adjusted to the community, instead of lifting the community up to the level of the liturgy. It could be that this change of emphasis caused the change in the position of the altar and in the behaviour of the priest. But it might well have been the other way around: the rearrangement of the sanctuary (even done with good will) transformed the liturgical ethos in general and the liturgical mentality of the priests in particular. The priest surely mentally imagined but did not experience in his innermost being what it actyally means to step up to the throne of the Most HIgh God, to bring there prayer and the sacrifice of God's people in the name of Christ. The typical manners and concerns of a community leader or even a schoolteacher were now uppermost in his mind.

This change could not have taken place without the change in orientation of the altars. A priest who stands and acts with his 'back to the people' remains alone. Like the high priest of the Jewish temple, he enters the Holy of Holies and steps behind the veil, into the space of intimate intercourse with the Lord. 'Solus intrat canonem' (he alone enters the canon). If the priest were not holding - almost desperately - on to a false illusion of unity with his people, he would be inspired to resolve his solitude through his official-personal communication with God.

The turning around of the altars, celebration versus populum, was not commanded by the Council. In practice, however, the new rite and the new position of the altar are closely associated. We may say that changing back to the original direction will have a beneficial effect. Indeed the very fact that the bulk of the clergy protests with intense motivation behind the protest is not pastoral care of the faithful, but psychological distress of the priest.

 

 

 

Sorry if there are any typos. I am a bit rushed.

Anyway, look up Laszlo Dobszay. Fascinating man. A genius, IMO. This book is my favourite book, bar none.

[Apotheoun]

I know that if I had to attend the masses at Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil that I would be changed. I would become Eastern Orthodox.