Extraordinary Community News - Roráte Masses, Advantages of TLM for "active participation," Chicago bus tour, Mass schedule

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News (December 21, 2014):

Roráte Masses Every year around this time, photos appear on the Internet similar to the below one. They depict a “Roráte Mass”, so named after the first words of the Introit from the Fourth Sunday of Advent, “Roráte cæli desúper” [Drop down dew, ye heavens]. Despite what one might think on account of the name, a Roráte Mass is not a weekday Ferial Mass, but rather a Third Class Saturday Votive Mass of Our Lady. It may only be celebrated (in the Extraordinary Form) on a limited number of days in Advent, due to the higher ranking of Ferial Days during this season. In 2014, the only days on which a Roráte Mass may be held are December 6 and 13. These Masses are typically held before or at dawn and are illuminated solely by candlelight, symbolic of awaiting the dawn of our Lord’s coming. [Photo from Pópulus Summórum Pontíficum]


How the Traditional Latin Mass Fosters More Active Participation than the Ordinary Form

For years this column has provided evidence that true Active Participation in the Mass, in the sense that the Church intends, is actually more likely to be found amongst the congregation at a typical Extraordinary Form Mass than at a typical Ordinary Form Mass. Such participation means the engagement of the mind in the act of prayer, adoration, and worship, not just verbal and physical activity.

This week Dr. Peter Kwasniewski of Wyoming Catholic College made the same argument with an impressively clear line of reasoning in a post on The New Liturgical Movement blog. Among other points, Dr. Kwasniewski asserts that there is even more active physical participation in the EF than in the OF, a concept never before considered. Read the whole post here: http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2014/12/how-traditional-latin-mass-fosters-more.html#.VJYSgV6gDA

Feast of St. Stephen at St. Stephen’s

This month’s Last Friday Tridentine Mass will be held at St. Stephen Parish in New Boston, near Detroit Metro Airport, quite fitting given that Friday, December 26 is the Feast of St. Stephen the Protomartyr. The starting time is one hour earlier than usual, 6:00 PM, with a Rosary preceding the Mass at 5:30. As usual, Juventútem Michigan is organizing a dinner for young adults age 18-35 after the Mass, but people of all ages are always welcome to attend the Mass.

Fr. John Hedges, pastor of St. Stephen, has offered Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form on an occasional basis at St. Stephen since 2007. Deacon Jacob VanAssche, a seminarian at Sacred Heart Seminary, hails from St. Stephen and has served as Subdeacon at several Tridentine Masses at various local sites over the past two years.

Last Call for Chicago Bus Tour

A few seats are still available on the two buses that are going on Prayer Pilgrimages’ annual Christmas week bus tour to the historic Catholic churches of Chicago. The tour departs Monday morning, December 29 and returns Tuesday night, December 30. Tridentine Masses will be held at St. John Cantius Church, celebrated by a priest of the parish, and at St. Mary of the Angels Church, celebrated by Canon Michael Stein of the Institute of Christ the King. Members of the choirs of Detroit’s St. Joseph and Sterling Heights’ Ss. Cyril & Methodius Churches will provide the music, and altar servers from Windsor’s St. Benedict Tridentine Community will assist at the altar. Chicago’s churches are some of the most beautiful in the world, and St. Mary of the Angels in particular, having benefitted from millions of dollars of restoration work over the past 20 years, is arguably one of the most stunning churches one will ever see.

Pilgrims will stay in a downtown Chicago hotel and will have free time for sightseeing and shopping. To reserve a seat, call Michael Semaan at (248) 250-6005.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 12/22 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Joseph (Greater Feria of Advent)
• Tue. 12/23 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary (Greater Feria of Advent)
• Thu. 12/25 12:00 Midnight: Solemn High Mass at St. Joseph (Christmas Day – First Mass) – Mozart’s Missa Brevis in B Flat
• Thu. 12/25 12:00 Midnight: Solemn High Mass at Assumption Grotto (Christmas Day – First Mass) – Otto Nicolai’s Mass in D
• Thu. 12/25 9:30 AM: High Mass at St. Josaphat (Christmas Day – Third Mass)
• Thu. 12/25 9:30 AM: High Mass at Assumption Grotto (Christmas Day – Third Mass)
• Thu. 12/25 9:45 AM: High Mass at Academy of the Sacred Heart Chapel, Bloomfield Hills (Christmas Day – Third Mass) – Charles Gounod’s Mass in C
• Thu. 12/25 2:00 PM: High Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (Christmas Day – Third Mass) – Mozart’s Missa Brevis in G
• Fri. 12/26 6:00 PM: High Mass at St. Stephen, New Boston, Michigan (St. Stephen the Protomartyr) – Dinner for young adults age 18-35 follows Mass, organized by Juventútem Michigan

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and Assumption (Windsor) bulletin inserts for December 21, 2014. Hat tip to A.B., author of the column.]