Saturday, July 21, 2012

Priestly Vocations and the EF Mass: Southern Orders


There’s a short article by Fr. McDonald at Southern Orders blog is worth considering. He sees the value of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass (the Traditional Latin Mass) as an important factor in motivating boys and men to consider a priestly vocation.

He says in part:

…What is it about the Tridentine Mass now known also as the Extraordinary Form of the Mass that attracts young boys and men to consider a priestly vocation and in great numbers?

I can think of a lot of things! But Fr. McDonald sums it up nicely:

The ethos of the EF Mass is more masculine in "personality" compared to the Ordinary Form. By that I mean it is more regimented, military like, "soldier like", "march like" and in sinc with masculine attitudes for better or worse. Men are more private about their faith, less flamboyant and not normally given to wanting to be the center of attention. They are more cut and dry, prefer precise directions and less prone to the openness of how females conduct themselves…

Fr. McDonald also notes the importance of “the cult of altar boys” as a recruitment tool” (my emphases):
The cult of altar boys as a recruitment for the seminary and priesthood has been lost as well as forming a community of altar boys based upon prayer and carrying out the rites of the Mass and other liturgies with great precision and pride. For the most part this has been lost in most parishes and altar servers are not well trained, have minor roles during the liturgy and don't take what they do as seriously as is demanded by the right implementation the celebration of the Mass.
 
Of course, the reason altar servers don’t take it as seriously as they should is because they are not properly trained to do so. And for heaven’s sake, it really is hard to take the Novus Ordo seriously when you have priests carrying lambs (or even poodles) into the Mass, or dressing as clowns, or inviting all the children to surround the altar during the consecration, or playing “rock star” right there in the sanctuary!

Fr. McDonald concludes:

…[W]e need to recover that which promoted and inspired young boys and men to consider the priesthood.

Amen!

Of course, we probably need to do something about the declining birth rate amongst Catholics, too.  If we want more priests, we will first need more babies.

Read the entire article here.

Fr. McDonald included in his post the photo shown at the top of this post. Now here’s a surprise for you: I have it on very good authority that Michael Voris is in that photo! (H/T Fr. Paul Nicholson on Face Book)

2 comments:

  1. I heard that Michael Voris was a seminarian at one time .
    But now look at where the good God put him , right in the middle of The Vortex , proclaiming the TRUTH and on fire with the Love of the Catholic Church and of God .
    I have heard his re-version back to the Catholic Faith ..and what a WOW moment that had to be , I had my own re-vert back to the complete TRUTH , thanks be to God!
    My love for the Traditional Latin Mass is deep and each and every time I attend I am renewed and ALIVE in Christ and His Church!

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  2. Actually I find that most of the men that like the Latin Mass are gay..Infact most of the priests that abused children came from the pre-Vatican II era and so did the systems of The Madaline Laundries in Ireland and the stealing of children in Australia, (babies given up in forced adoptions and taken from English cities to Australia..)
    The difference is that many of the Alter Boys were expected to become priests, where given no real choice and they often made bad priests who did not care and abused children...Girls were also sexually abused or raped....Now most parents have higher aspirations for their sons..The best priest I know joined the seminary in his 20s, he lived a bit first.

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