I can’t help myself.  I must speak out about issues I am passionate about, and I will begin with the behavior of people at Mass.  I say at the outset that I have no intention of judging souls.  I am judging actions, not the intentions behind the actions.  It is necessary to do so (and will probably be done frequently here) for the sake of truth.

I was delighted to attend the ordination of four priests for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on May 31^st at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, though I’ve heard that ordinations are the most moving and beautiful of Masses.  I was not disappointed, not in general, and not in particular in regards to the Archdiocese.  In fact, the Mass was heavenly!  There was no monkey business.

The music was so beautiful it was transporting.   Hearing the Gloria sung in Latin by the choir was so . . . Vatican II!  Yes!  The Mass in my opinion was faithful to the texts of Vatican II on the Liturgy, which called for Latin and for chant to have pride of place.

The people around us were somewhat behaved, until the Laying on of Hands, a time-consuming ceremony that lasted perhaps 10 minutes while the choir gloriously sang Veni Sancte Spiritus.  It could have been angels in heaven!  But it was this time in which many around us saw opportunity to talk!  Conversations, LOUD ones, broke out all around us, in Spanish, English, and Korean.  The ladies behind us might have been at a luncheon for all they thought about keeping their conversations hushed (and they were archdiocesan catechists, for heaven’s sake!).  I kept thinking of writing BE QUIET on my program and holding it up so they could see it over my shoulder, but I was too chicken.  I spent the entire time wrestling with the question of whether it would be rude to tell everyone to hush.  (Isn’t that a horrible way to spend your time in worship?)  This would have had to be repeated many times in all directions – the conversations were breaking out like hotspots near a wildfire.  After my intense experiences with rude progressive Catholics (another story for another time), I imagined them all spouting back at me “Remove the log from your own eye”, “Judge not”, and etc.  It would all be to indicate that I was intolerant and lacking of charity.  But these were just imaginings, and I kick myself for not having the courage to shush them.

Our worship must be conscious and attentive, and attended by silence and reverence for the Holy Sacrifice.  Yet anymore and in most places, those of us who are silent become nothing more than quiet victims of the indignities and irreverence of those around us, those who do not understand that they are in the King’s court, those who do not understand the Mass.  I try to tell myself to be grateful they are even there, but a quick shush, even done kindly, is misunderstood in the face of ignorance.  They (the talkers) only believe we are being rude.  What they really need is a few minutes catechism explaining why the need for quiet attentiveness.  It is easier with children because they are open, with those fascinating imaginations, to all that can be said about the supernatural realities taking place before and around them.  They are truly desperate for this knowledge.

Unfortunately at the Confirmation Mass we attended a few nights later, things got uglier.  Two children behind me played, tickled, giggled, squirmed, flapped books, and talked very loudly.  They listened the first couple of times I turned around and asked them to be quiet, but after the fourth or fifth attempt it became apparent they were mocking me.  I finally turned to their mother beside them and pleaded with her, in Spanish, to please tell her children to show respect for the Holy Mass, which surprised her, but apparently she approved of her children’s behavior for it did not abate.  Rather, it increased in proportion with their boldness due to lack of consequence and the activity of conferring the Sacrament and Holy Communion.  I say children; they were about 12 and 13 years old.

Do people really understand the Mass?  I am not talking about understanding heavenly mysteries that transcend our intellectual capabilities.  I speak of basic Catechism here.  I did not receive it growing up, and my contemporaries have not either.  They are not culpable who are truly ignorant, but in the face of that, something must be done to instruct them.  I’ll be brainstorming that one!