Last week, His Excellency David O’Connell, the bishop of Trenton, New Jersey, participated in a Theology on Tap event at Princeton, discussing the current state of the Faith, and especially the notable drop in religious practice among young people. As reported in the diocese of Trenton’s newspaper The Monitor, during the question-and-answer session at the end, the topic of the Latin Mass came up.
“One person asked whether there would be more parishes celebrating Mass in the extraordinary form, to which the Bishop replied, ‘Tell me, what is the attraction to the Latin Mass? It’s interesting to me that the push for this is coming not from the old, but from the young.’
‘I think what drew me to the Latin Mass was the beauty and the mystery,’ said one responder. ‘It’s probably the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.’ Bishop O’Connell agreed. ‘There’s something about the mystery of the Mass, in a time when many things are so mundane ... so for those for whom Latin is spiritual nourishment, I encourage it.’ Another attendee, Francis, called it ‘a beautiful, living history – it made me want to grow deeper in faith.’ ”
“One person asked whether there would be more parishes celebrating Mass in the extraordinary form, to which the Bishop replied, ‘Tell me, what is the attraction to the Latin Mass? It’s interesting to me that the push for this is coming not from the old, but from the young.’
‘I think what drew me to the Latin Mass was the beauty and the mystery,’ said one responder. ‘It’s probably the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.’ Bishop O’Connell agreed. ‘There’s something about the mystery of the Mass, in a time when many things are so mundane ... so for those for whom Latin is spiritual nourishment, I encourage it.’ Another attendee, Francis, called it ‘a beautiful, living history – it made me want to grow deeper in faith.’ ”
On that subject, I thought I would share with our readers these two videos by Peter Kwasniewski’s son Julian, age 18, which he made “to show, through music and images, what appeals to him and his college friends about everything comprised in the phrase ‘Catholic Tradition.’ ” The first is set to music by Victoria, and gives a broad picture of the Catholic liturgical tradition; the second is focused particularly on the priesthood with music by DuFay. (We have shared some of Julian’s work previously here and here.)
