Lifeteen

[rachael]

i personally love lifeteen.

sure, it doesnt follow everything 100%, but lots of teens (including many, many in my church) would never be actively part of the church if it werent lifeteen

[dUSt]

rachael,

Do you think if Lifeteen masses stopped gathering teens around the altar, would this cause them to leave Lifeteen and stop being being part of the Church? Does this one act define Lifeteen, or is it everything Lifeteen does outside of the mass that attracts the kids?

My point is, there's no reason why Lifeteen has to go away--but there's also no reason why it can't conform to the rubrics of the mass.

[rachael]

well, personally, teens at my church dont gather around the altar. we do, however, make the mass a little lmore casual- but not to the point that it ruins it

yes, it is mostly what lifeteen does outside of mass that makes it so great. we relate to God on a more teen-friendly level.

[mp15]

Here is something to ponder

An open letter to those involved with Life Teen.

April 27, 2001

Since our article criticizing the Life Teen Mass was posted we have had a surprising amount of responses, mostly from those involved with the Life Teen Mass. While some have mentioned how much inspiration they receive by this style of liturgy, none have really addressed the fundamental reason for my criticism. I suspect this is simply because there is no defense for open rebellion against the magisterial authority of the Church. Although this letter was originally intended for one young man, due to the responses, we have decided to make this an open letter to all involved with Life Teen.

Dear Life Teens,

With heartfelt concern I would like to give you my own reasons why the “lively” Teen Mass is inappropriate. The feel good songs of praise, the tambourine shaking and the hooting and hollering is well and good in another setting outside of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The reason is this. There is an extremely poor understanding of the Theology of the Mass, of knowing what exactly takes place at every Mass. If every Catholic understood, the Church itself would be transformed.

Every time you enter into a Catholic Church and prepare yourself for the Sacrifice, you leave the world behind and enter into Calvary. Time stands still and you are no longer in 2001 for the Mass is “other worldly”. This is a mystery that you are not meant to understand but it makes this truth no less a reality. You are present with Jesus and the Apostles in the upper room. Jesus is getting ready to spill out His blood for your sins. He is getting ready to suffer. This was not a “happy” time for Him. You are one of the apostles sitting at the table with Him. You feel Christ’s sadness, see His distress, are ready to go to the garden, to pray and to watch with Him.

After that you begin to walk the road to Calvary. And if you are one of the brave ones, as Christ’s Mother, St. John the Beloved, and St. Mary Magdalene was, you will walk the way with Christ and stand beneath the cross and see His blood spilled and His Life poured out for you alone. We’ve often heard that if we were the only one in the world, Christ would’ve died for me. This is a personal thing. At Mass these realities should be every present to everyone there. When the focus is on feeling good and having a good time we forget that Jesus is getting ready to shed His blood and our sins are what put Him on the cross.

If Jesus were to come in the clouds today or were to show up in your living room I don’t believe that you would play some “happening” music or shake your tambourine. In Revelations St. John saw the “Lamb looking as if slain” and St. John “fell down as if dead”. We too would fall down on our faces and cry, “Have mercy!” We have an extremely poor understanding of the ugliness of every sin in comparison with the beauty of God and therefore we consider ourselves somewhat “worthy” of this redemption thing so we have no true fear of the Lord or appreciation for what actually took place on Calvary. One tiny venial sin is so incompatible with the complete goodness of God that our tiny minds cannot fathom how ugly our souls must be compared to the perfection of Christ. When we make the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass a “feel good” thing we take the emphasis off Christ and put it on ourselves. One could easily say the Mass becomes a “self-worship” thing instead of true worship of the Living God. All our attention should be on God and absolutely nothing should bring attention to ourselves. I say come down off that altar where no one belongs but the Priest who represents Christ, the great High Priest, fall down on your face and make reparation for your sins. “A contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn”.

Hopefully you will better understand what takes place in every Mass. If you love to sing songs of praise and dance to the Lord that is a wonderful thing. But we must also be willing to forget ourselves, unite ourselves to Christ’s sacrifice and enter into the mysteries of our salvation. We must go to Calvary at Mass, prepare our hearts to receive him by confessing our sins to a priest often and by spending much time in quiet prayer before receiving our Lord sacramentally in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Mass is primarily a Sacrifice and we can never lose sight of this fact lest our celebrations become “love feasts” with ourselves. None of us would’ve been dancing in the aisles at the Last Supper. Nor should we be at Mass.

In Christ’s love Your sister in Him,

Janet Inman, SFO

[BlondewithaBrain]

Obviously from my avatar, anyone can tell I'm a HUGE supporter of Lifeteen, and I am also very involved in its ministry. I think all the aspects of Lifeteen are great, even gathering around the altar, i think it is valuable that teens can get up close with the eucharist. The eucharist is the center of the church, and a teen needs to understand it. A mass geared toward teens is a great way to relate to them.

[nippy316]

It's doesn't matter how/why teens are attracted to Lifeteen. What matters is that I've seen many of them leave the program and remain active, participating Catholics. They don't leave because they can't gather around the altar anymore. I think the four years we spend gathering around the altar will serve as a constant reminder for us during the rest of our lives when we can't gather around the altar.

In this day when less parents are bringing their kids to church and the family unit is falling apart we need programs like Lifeteen to show kids Christ. I know everyone says "Well, we shouldn't need that to attract people!!" Would you rather have Lifeteen or no youth in the Church? The youth is the future of the Church. The world that we live in requires more outreach to teenagers--like it or not. I know that without Lifeteen I would never have been shown the beauty of our Church and I wouldn't even be a practicing Catholic right now. But I don't stay Catholic because of Lifeteen. It just helped me get my foot in the door.

Somehow, I think Jesus is happy that the youth are becoming more involved.

But then again, only God knows.

[rachael]

Obviously from my avatar, anyone can tell I'm a HUGE supporter of Lifeteen, and I am also very involved in its ministry.  I think all the aspects of Lifeteen are great, even gathering around the altar, i think it is valuable that teens can get up close with the eucharist.  The eucharist is the center of the church, and a teen needs to understand it.  A mass geared toward teens is a great way to relate to them.

AMEN!

[jasJis]

Here is something else to ponder.

That's Janet Inman's opinion. I also balance her opinion on my own observations along with John Gersh's, Gary Dowsey's, Ralph Argentino's, and Robert Lynch's.

The men's names are priests and Bishops, over the age of 40 or 50, and very Orthodox in their catachesis. I've written to my Bishop and talked to priests and gotten a response. I've also have observed the spiritual growth of hundreds of teens involved with LifeTeen. I'm very supportive and don't think it is an issue of being disobedient or disrespectful. There are different styles of worship. The Spainish masses at my parish are different. We have 9:30 mass with the Traditional Choir, Incensce, etc. (the complete smells and bells mass) every single Sunday. We have children's masses on Sundays as well.

They are all the Same Mass, but different orientation. Spainish, Family, Traditional, LifeTeen, and the 7 AM no-frills quick mass. They are all the complete Mass whether I understand the language or like the music.

[JP2Iloveyou]

BlondewithaBrain and Rachel, I just want to ask you a question. If it is OK for Lifeteen to disregard the rubric about only the ministers of the Mass (bishop/preists/deacons/lectors/acolytes/servers), what else is it OK for them to disregard? Is it OK to read alternate readings than what are found in the lectionary? Is it OK to randomly decide to omit the Confiteor, the Gloria, or the Creed? Perhaps have a member of the laity read the Gospel? I am just wondering where you draw the line. I feel very strongly that no liturgical abuse should ever be tolerated. Otherwise, we are telling teens that it is OK to disobey legitimate authority (the Pope, Magisterium, and Conference of Bishops). I know many people who have had great experiences with Lifeteen and I think that that is wonderful. I've said that I have no problem with p&w music at Mass even, as long as it is appropriate. For example, I don't think we should be singing upbeat songs during the season of Lent. So, please, tell me, where do we draw the line? What should be tolerated with regards to obedience to the IGRM and what is OK to "bend the rules" on per se?

[mp15]

Jas as long as all of them follow the rubics then I have no problem with lifeteen or any other mass. But if you are saying that gathering around the alter (and the various other liturgical abusses) is acceptable then I do have a problem with that.

Edited September 26, 2003 by mp15

[mp15]

Amen JP2Iloveyou, Amen!!

[dUSt]

mp,

I don't really agree with that article, as it focuses on the music. Music is very cultural and "tamborines" to you might mean irreverence or disrespect, but to someone else it might mean a deep, heartfelt devotion to Christ and his True Presence. My issue is not with the music.

I think this is particularly unfair: "When the focus is on feeling good and having a good time we forget that Jesus is getting ready to shed His blood and our sins are what put Him on the cross."

I don't think the focus of a Lifeteen mass is to "have a good time and feel good", and I doubt you'd find anyone in Lifeteen that'll tell you that's the focus.

My only concern is Lifeteen masses not following the rubrics of mass.

[jasJis]

My Bishop says it is within his Authority to allow the altar gather for the right reasons and that it is up to the Bishop, not the priest. I've read the GIRM more than once, cover to cover and see that my Bishop makes a valid point. Have you talked to priests you know who support LifeTeen as well as priests that don't? Have you written your Bishop for his opinion of why or why not he can/doesn't/does allow LifeTeen Mass and what restrictions he puts on it?

I trust my Bishop who is a Prince of the Catholic Church. I believe he has a reasonable and valid point. I see how differing opinions may be valid. I also see the fruits of the LifeTeen program. Better to have LifeTeen with the controversy of the Altar Gather than not have LifeTeen.

Gee willikers! The SCANDAL of allowing teens closer to the altar to focus their attention on the Eucharist and the Sacrifice of the Mass. Funny thing. The few times I have watched people recieve communion, the only ones I see genuflect before recieveing are LifeTeen kids out of about 1600 at the Mass. Hmmm...

There is a word for someone who puts the letter of the law over the spirit of fulfilling the law... It's good to raise a flag and take a closer look. It's another to condemn for a possible minor flaw.

[mp15]

dUSt, I'm pretty sure you would have a hard time finding someone that would admit that also.

[mp15]

Well then Jas, your bishop is in direct defiance of Rome, pure and simple. Explain it away if you must, but openly defying Rome is a serious matter no matter how trivial you think it is.