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| The Infant of Prague at Holy Innocents. One of my familial patrons |
A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all—and more amusing. ~ C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape LettersSandwiched between a Tridentine First Friday and Septuagesima Sunday, I attended a Novus Ordo Anticipatory Mass offered for a late relative. Having sworn off the New Order Mass, this was the first one I’ve attended in nearly five months, and it didn’t take long for me to remember why I decided to stop going in the first place. Irreverent and scandalous, never, dare I say it, has the all-too-common characterization of the Ordinary Form of the Mass as a “different religion” seem more true to me.
Having been going to the Traditional Latin Mass at the Shrine Church of the Holy Innocents (128 West 37th St.) in Manhattan religiously (pun intended), one cannot help but be convinced that the New Mass is a travesty. I know there can be solemn ones, I’ve attended plenty of them in the past, but in recent years they have been few and far between. Sadly, clapping, uninspired sermons, Communion in the hands, Eucharistic ministers, no genuflecting or kneeling, banal music, and other abuses, has become the norm.
After this experience, and with the anniversary of my father’s death fast approaching, my anxiety and anguish at not being able to offer a Tridentine Mass for him has started to haunt me again. I tried months in advance, but the limited number of Traditional Latin Masses throughout the city seriously hinders the opportunity to offer them to loved ones, as they are quickly laid claim to. Talking to several long-time parishioners, I learned they share the same grievances.
Fortunately, on Septuagesima Sunday at Holy Innocents, Fr. Miara announced before his homily that the Mass was being offered for all the people enrolled in the Holy Innocents’ Purgatorial Society. Discovering this option, I immediately went to the rectory after Mass and registered my parents and ancestors into the Purgatorial Society rolls. For just fifty dollars ($25 for an individual), a Mass will be offered on the second Sunday of each month for all the deceased enrolled for as long as Holy Innocents Parish exists.
Out of love and respect for my family I will attend the upcoming Mass being offered for my father at his old parish. I hope and pray it is one of the better Novus Ordo Masses, but at least now I can go knowing he (and the rest of my forbears) will also share in the spiritual benefits of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass every month at a Traditional Parish.
~ Giovanni di Napoli, February 11, Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes
