The secular press covers youth interest in the traditional Latin mass far more respectfully.The Economist recently reported on the "traditionalist avant-garde." The old mass, it found, isn't petering out but picking up some speed: "The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales, started in 1965, now has over 5,000 members. The weekly number of Latin masses is up from 26 in 2007 to 157 now. In America it is up from 60 in 1991 to 420. At Brompton Oratory, a hotspot of London traditionalism, 440 flock to the main Sunday Latin mass. That is twice the figure for the main English one."
I've noticed this at my parish, where the traditional Mass is celebrated evert Sunday. Easily half of those in attendance are people much younger than I.
Frank, I suspect that I'm younger than you, and it is hard for me to find any assembly, foreign language films and operas excepted, in which it is not the case that half of those in attendance are much younger.
ReplyDeleteBut your point on the demographics is no doubt valid. The one time I went to the 9:00 Tridentine Mass at St. Mary downtown, the congregation looked like just what you'd find at any Mass around here--not younger or older, not better or worse dressed, the same ethnic mix.
My point, which I probably did not make clear, is that you night expect the Tridentine Mass to attract mostly people from my generation, who grew up with it. But actually, a lot of people from my generation seem uninterested. So what I find intriguing is how many people who could not have grown up with it find it so attractive.
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