A Most Regrettable Sunday

Reject the practice of
Communion in the hand

Having woken up late last Sunday, I didn’t have enough time to make the long trek to the Traditional Latin Mass (Tridentine Mass) at either Our Lady of Peace Church (522 Carroll St.) in Brooklyn or Holy Innocents Church (128 W 37th St.) in Manhattan. So I ended up going to a local Novus Ordo (New Order) service instead and immediately regretted my impropriety.

The irreverence of the average parishioner was scandalous. If the awful din of chattering people rustling through bags, banal music, girl altar boys, and the lack of genuflecting or kneeling in the presence of the tabernacle wasn’t enough, the final straw before I walked out was the pastor’s ill-informed sermon, in which he spoke gushingly about Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teen activist who recently admonished the United Nations about the environment.

Regardless of where you stand on the issue, people need to stop using children beset with adolescent angst (or other problems) for their own political expedience. If you’re not going to talk about religious or moral matters during Mass, you can at least not wax lyrical about an overwrought child clearly being exploited by her irresponsible parents to help push their own agenda. Besides, that'll be the day I take advise on important issues from a child or any other callow personality (actor, athlete, etc.) for that matter.

We’re constantly told the new rite can be as beautiful and serene as the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, but in my experience, even the most reverent Novus Ordo pales in comparison. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the New Mass isn’t valid or cannot be beautiful,(1) the problem is more often than not they are rife with Liturgical abuse and mishaps. In addition to the examples above, just last week (at a different church) I saw a priest chase after a woman who walked off without consuming the consecrated Host during Holy Communion. Thankfully, when confronted, she did not put up a fuss.

Regrettably I failed to fulfill my Sunday obligation and will add that to my long list of sins at weekly Confession, but I am dismayed at the unnecessary deprivation of Traditional Masses in New York City, especially Brooklyn, the so-called “Borough of churches.” Despite the spate of closings in recent years, there are still plenty of churches in this city. The fact that only five (that I know of) offer the "Mass of the Ages" regularly on the Sabbath is appalling.(2)

I literally have a church one block away from my home. There are easily a half-dozen more in walking distance, still I choose to commute an hour and a half or more on the dirty and unreliable subway every time I want to go to Mass because none of them celebrate the Extraordinary Form. While this may be too difficult for many (families, elderly, etc.), I do this happily in order to worship God in what I believe to be the most fitting manner. And after that most regrettable Sunday, I'm off to bed early so as not to have a repeat offense.

                                        ~ Giovanni di Napoli, Saturday, September 28th, the Feast of Good King Wenceslas

(1) I attend a lot of Italian Feast celebrations and some can be quite nice. The Masses celebrated ad orientem (to the east) at the Church of St. Rocco (18 3rd St.) in Glen Cove, New York and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church (259 Oliver St.) in Newark, New Jersey stand out.

(2) St. Agnes Church (143 E 43rd St., New York City); St. Josaphat Church (34-32 210th St., Bayside, Queens); Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church (448 E 116th St., East Harlem, New York); Our Lady of Peace Church (522 Carroll St., Brooklyn, New York); and the Shrine Church of the Holy Innocents (128 W 37th St., New York City).