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.
