Ten Things You Miss by Going to the Traditional Latin Mass
In the 1999 comedy Office Space, lead character Peter Gibbons (played by actor Ron Livingston) is interviewed by a pair of consultants hired by his employer to assess personnel. In one of the film’s more famous scenes, the consultants ask Peter about recent absences from work:
Bob Porter: Looks like you’ve been missing a lot of work lately, Peter.
Peter Gibbons: Well, I wouldn’t exactly say I’ve been “missing” it, Bob.
It is in that same vein that I present this list of ten things you will “miss” by going to the Traditional Latin Mass.
- Altar girls. Look all you want, you won’t find them. As the justification for this modern innovation comes from the 1983 Code of Canon Law and a 1994 clarification from Rome, the traditional Rite (using the 1962 liturgical books & norms) does not permit for them.
- Lay readers. Only the priest (at a Low Mass), or deacon and subdeacon (at a High Mass) can read the Lesson & Gospel, as this function is, of course, a liturgical function. In fact, prior to their elimination by Pope Paul VI in 1972, minor orders included that of lector for this very purpose.
- Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. Or as they are sometimes erroneously called, Eucharistic ministers. Nowhere in the traditional Roman Rite will you find armies of laity (often female) storming the sanctuary in secular clothing to assist with the distribution of Holy Communion. When you assist (i.e. attend) at the traditional Mass you will only receive Our Eucharistic Lord from the consecrated hands of a priest.
- Communion in the hand. At the Latin Mass the faithful receive as all western Catholics have since the first millennium: kneeling and on the tongue. This is, of course, a means by which the Church demonstrates her reverence for the Eucharist and our very belief in the Real Presence. It’s also a way to guard against profanation of the Sacrament.
- Mass offered facing the people (versus populum). Not happening at the Latin Mass. Much like the pilot of a plane or driver of a car, the priest faces the same direction as we do during Mass, ad orientem (toward the east). Remember: the Holy Sacrifice is an action directed to God, and not simply a service or a conversation among friends.
- Bad music. Oregon Catholic Press (O.C.P.), Marty Haugen and David Haas music, those banal folk hymns from the 1970’s and 1980’s, Protestant Praise and Worship songs…all are missing from the Traditional Latin Mass. In the ancient Rite you will have to either “settle” for the sacred silence of the Low Mass, or the sung Propers, Gregorian Chant, or even (if so blessed) Palestrina, Mozart, and Bach of a High Mass.
- Standing. While you will still stand for portions of the Mass, there are three distinct occasions in which you kneel, instead of standing, at the Traditional Mass: during the Creed (at the profession of the incarnation…“And was incarnate by the Holy Spirit…”), for receiving Holy Communion (as stated previously), and for the final blessing at the end of Mass (following the Ita Missa est).
- Improvisation. At the Traditional Mass you will not be subjected to the celebrant’s personality, attempts at humor, or personal preferences. The rubrics of the old Rite are precise (some might say rigid), and for good reason. The Rite demands obedience and fidelity. It’s been given to us, to priest and faithful alike, and forms us rather than being formed by us.
- The Sign of Peace. In the old Rite there is no interruption in the Mass for a meet and greet with the guy and his family in the pew behind you. Nothing at this moment will pull your attention away from the altar. We are all (together) proceeding forward in the liturgy, singularly focused on Our Eucharistic Lord.
- The Vernacular. Maybe this one should be obvious, but it still requires mention. The liturgical language of the Roman Rite will indeed be heard at Mass offered in the Traditional form of the Rite, as has been the case since the third century. Of course, the homily (or sermon) will be delivered to the faithful in their language. Many Catholics unfamiliar with the Traditional Rite do not know this and assume otherwise.
It is my hope that more of the faithful will seek out a Latin Mass nearest to them and see just what they’ve been missing.
Photo credit: Patrick Craig
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Posted on August 31, 2017, in liturgy and tagged ad orientem, altar girls, communion in the hand, latin, latin mass, Old Rite, traditional mass. Bookmark the permalink. 114 Comments.
liturgy guy 
Oh please! I am not sure if the writer of this article was joking?! I was born in 1951. As a child I went to church every Sunday because my parents brought me. I remember as a child what I like most was the music because that was my talent born in me. The mass was always very mysterious and you couldn’t move or talk or you were I serious trouble. As time moved on I was old enough to sing in the Catholic School Choir so I still liked going to church plus I didn’t want a mortal sin on my soul! So was I going out of habit, fear or the music?! Who knows. All I know is that when the 1960’s came I finally felt a part of the Mass because they introduced English and I could finally understand it! The Latin was on one side of my book and English on the other! I am sure people were looking at the English not the Latin. I even knew altar Boys who just muttered the Latin words and did not know what they were saying! At last we could see the priest and he seemed friendly instead of scary! All I know is a lot of friends left the church and made of Catholics because they were afraid of the nuns and the priests. Jump ahead to 2019! I now have 8 grandkids and they are raised Catholic! But thank Jesus for the church changing and becoming more open and friendly to all people! They still have a ways to go but in spite of the abuse by priests. My daughter was able to become an altar server. I have been a lector and a cantor. We receive Jesus in our hands and it makes it more real. One day hopefully woman can become priests just as there are women ministers in other faiths! Jesus preached one thing! Love one another as I have loved you❤️
I’m confused why you think the author is joking, you literally do not have the things listed above at the Latin Mass, thanks be to God for that. I’m wondering you are joking…//one day hopefully women can become priests// This is not a matter of subjectivity or opinion, it is not a ‘fad’ that will pass if the church would simply become more “woke”. And ‘other faiths’? is the Catholic Church another flavor of ice cream at Baskin Robins? With respect, the depth of your ignorance and deception is damning and irrelevance is beyond disheartening. The items listed above are the many reasons why I go to the Latin Mass. I understand many people, probably including yourself may disagree with the Catholic faith, but trying to make it something it is not meant to be is a despicable act. The Mass is one of the greatest gifts given to us by Christ himself, that is a true act of love, we abuse that love by deforming it, attempting to deform it, and by advocating for its deformation. I do hope you are able to come back to the foundations of the faith and a better understanding of its truth. There are many great works out to help, The Baltimore Catechism, Foundations of Catholic Dogma by Ott, and Apologetics and Catholic doctrine by Cardinal Sheehan.
Hi. While I admire the fervor in which SSPX traditional catholic church inspires and follows I still don’t understand why they are- if they are excommunicated from the church or are they not? I also read somewhere that Pope Francis gave them permission to give sacraments such as confession and mass, was this done under ex cathedra or it was the Pope’s personal decision if that is even possible…please enlighten me as I am getting really confused as what is really happening in the church.
You belong in the Protestant faith. None of the changes have brought people to the Catholic faith. Quite the contrary as I’m sure you know. What do you think is responsible for clerical abuse? …..trying to make the Church about our comfort rather than the Eucharist.
You sound more like a “CINO”. A Catholic In Name Only. Not only that, you now would fit more in with the Episcopalians. They, accept everything and everyone under the “Rainbow”. So sad to see the Catholic Church become Protestantized or as one of my friends would say: “bastardized”. The Secular Progressive Modernists aka: “Freemasons” Cloaked in Scarlet have really perverted and corrupted the faith, the sacred liturgy, the sacred music (Protestantized) (sounds more like we are at a tent revival than a Mass), destroyed all reverence and sacredness of the Holy Eucharist! They even watered down the Homilies into nonsensical, irrelevant, lackluster, fluffy orations that tickle the ears, lul babes to sleep as well as those who suffer with ADHD. Much of this was all done to exponentially increase the coffers of the Skypilots. Yes, I said: SKYPILOTS! My wife and I, have left the secular modernist Catholic Church for an SSPX Catholic Church (Saint Anthanasius). My beautiful bride, Lisa Marie, is a Protestant convert to Catholicism. It strikes my heart, to know see her with tears in her eyes at Mass on Sunday. She, said that our previous Catholic Church was more like (similar) to the Church she left. The only thing that was different was in the presentation of the Eucharist. Now, WOW! The Music, the Liturgy, the Reverence, the Spiritual Uplifting of the true experience. We both now feel so different than when we were at the other Church. It is everything that Dr. Scott Hahn writes about in his books. As Catholics, we are now so much richer and closer to Christ! God bless!
Hi sister. I am sorry that you had this horrible experience and you were so traumatised. I fully understand. There was a time where the people in the church were so strict and serious that a sensitive child may have felt horrified to have done something wrong and get punished. Those are necessary things that needed to change. However, the change should have been of the heart of the people not the mass. The change should have been of the people in the curia, in the higher position that are utterly corrupted.
The change should have been of the priests and nuns that were unhappy with their vocation and turned their frustration towards the people. The mass is a mystery, is the essence of the catholic faith, there was nothing wrong with it. I am attending TLM for the last year and a half, not because of me but because of my teenage boys. We went once and they don’t want to go back to a Novus ordo church. They don’t understand a thing in Latin but they are in love with what is happening around. They hated all the singing and dancing and chatting and laughing in mass. That is why now they feel at home.
I was born in 1952, and even as a child I loved the reverence. Almost every child at that time had a St. Joseph’s Missal (still have mine 🙂 ) and yes the English was on one side and the Latin on the other. We learned the Latin. I also sang in the Choir and I especially loved singing the Requiem Mass for our deceased parishioners. This was so beautifully imprinted in my mind that I can still remember and sing parts of Requiem Aeternum, Dies Irae, Lux Aeterna and the In Paradisum. I treasure all 12 years of my Catholic school education, and if I could turn back the hands of time, I would go through it all over again. In high school we learned Latin as well, and as we see today how it helps students decipher words they are unfamiliar with by looking at the Latin root. I was taught by Dominicans, Josephites, and Sisters of Mercy, I loved all the sisters. They were models for young women and I kept in touch with many of them. Sisters in habits reminded us of Almighty God just by seeing them. Once they went to a modified habit, they became worldly. I remember many of the sisters coloring the front of their hair, and even as a 15 year old, I was aware that we were about to lose something we treasured. My preference for Mass will always be a Latin Mass. I pulled my son out of Catholic school in the 4th grade because he was not being taught what I was. I did not send him to CCD even though he was then in public school. I used the Baltimore Catechism with him and it was time to make Confirmation, they wanted him to do CCD. I asked them to test him, and of course he passed with flying colors, I am fairly certain at this point that we have come full circle and that tradition is coming back!
I read the replies above and am so thankful that I can attend a Latin Mass each Sunday. Deo Gratias.
I have not attended mass with one exception in a number of years as I feel very uncomfortable in the PROTESTANTIZED services in my church. I’m too old to be driving over 100 miles to a Latin Mass. Very distressing. I hope God will understand.
Carol, don’t be dismayed. Many people are in your situation. But just like in the early Church, a priest wasn’t always available for Sunday Mass, or Masses are said in rented rooms just the first Mass as said by Jesus was held in “the upper room”. There are things you can do at home to make up for it. Here is a link to find a Traditional Tridentine Mass location. Find one closest to you that is a true Traditional Mass, said by validly ordained priests, and not an “Extraordinary” mass, also known as an “Indult” mass because it is “allowed” by a Novus Ordo bishop who is loyal to the Novus Ordo and is only allowing the Latin mass to be said to appease “Oldtimers”, fooling them into thinking they are attending a valid mass. The problem is that this type of Latin mass is usually said on the same altar/table as the Novus Ordo mass and the hosts usually come from them and are not even validly consecrated.
Read the explanation of how to find a true Traditional Mass. There is also an explanation of what to do for people in your situation. If a phone number is available on the Mass location you find, give the priest a call and explain your situation. And if at all possible, have someone drive you to that location at least once. It will make you feel better about your efforts to save your soul.
Good Luck and God Bless,
Gary
http://www.traditio.com/nat.htm
As I have lived through all the changes – Bergoglio the 7th Pope in my time – I can clearly remember the terrible discomfort when tradition was ousted and the mat pulled from under our feet. The worst of those changes was taking Holy Eucharist in our hands – from other hands – and then the confusion of folk older than I when their beloved St.Philomena’s statue ‘disappeared’ from the church. One of those Protestant types who had infiltrated the Church with their broom sticks swept her out along with a list of other saints and of course the altar rails where we could kneel to receive the Body of Christ with private devotional concentration. Then we no longer had an Altar – just a ‘table’, the vestments became polyester ugly, the priests were confused and uncomfortable and Fr. Nolan became Fr. Joe or even just Joe. More and more ugliness, less reverence and beauty spread through as the feminists sneaked in to insert their gender neutral or even She in place of He (Christ) in certain passages of the Altar Missal. By then priests had lost their priestly confidence and many became ‘wet noodles’. From then on the congregations began to shrink. Now the Church is a ghost of what it was. I could write much more but this is the Feast of Christ the King here in Australia, I am recuperating from illness and cannot handle the long drive to Traditional Latin Mass with our beloved FSSP priest so I will read the Propers of the Mass from my 1950’s Latin/English Missal. God Bless the ‘liturgyguy’ and God protect the growing numbers of faithful who follow the Mass of All Time.
Can we use the music of protestant Bach at Mass?
Treasa and Carol, despite how far away a Traditional Latin Mass may be from you, Canon Law still requires you attend Mass every Sunday, no matter how horribly it may be celebrated. This is ultimately for the spiritual good of the Church. As Catholics, we cannot exempt ourselves from Sunday Mass, no matter how highly disastrous the manner of celebration may be. Of course, if you are too ill or frail to attend even the closest “New” Mass, you need not attend. Despite the liturgical abuses, remember the Miracle and the True Eucharistic Presence at every Mass. I hope that is some consolation.
Is it wrong for me to feel no desire for novas or do. Our Lord too offers Himself at a novas order mass, but why do I feel not excited or desiring to attend one. Wouldn’t it be better that I go to mass daily rather than once a week, to receive Him daily than once a week?
Help
I for once could understand the Priest and what he was saying. I was in 26, went o 3 Catholic school, even there unless you took Latin, you were out on a limb. I was a Military Brat. Priest came and went, not by choice they to were transfered back & forth. We sometimes ran out of boys for Altar Boys, low and behold, we had Altar Girls and they were trained very well. And did a great job.
This is exactly WHY I have found the Latin Mass so wonderful and so much more reverent. These 10 things I do NOT miss, at all.
Sadly, there are no LM options anywhere nearby and those within long driving distance are not regularly prayed or at odd hours. I attend what I consider a reverent Novus Ordo daily as well as Sunday at an early service with NO MUSIC which I prefer. The silence is wonderful and the early hour weeds out those who tend to populate the ‘meet and greet ‘ later Masses
For all of you that cannot attend in person:
LiveMass.net
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