UPDATED! 16-yr-old writes about the TLM
TLM - a new abbreviation around St. Blogs. It means “Traditional Latin Mass.” This is more accurate than calling it the “Tridentine Rite” apparently. Anyway, from the Georgia Bulletin I got in the mail today, comes this letter from one Ethan Milukas of Peachtree City, Georgia, USA. As in my other post this date, the Bulletin hasn’t updated their website, so what you see in the block quote is a direct transcription by me.
I am 16 years old, and for the past 11 months, I have attended the traditional Latin Mass weekly, while still attending the Novus Ordo Mass during the week. Because of this, I decided to address certain points made by Carroll Sterne in the Sept. 6 edition of The Georgia Bulletin. Mr. Sterne speaks about the type of Mass that someones of a younger generation is drawn to, and I thought that a teenager’s point of view might be helpful.
Mr. Sterne in his letter gives voice to the opinion of many of today’s liturgists when he says that no one from a younger generation would be drawn to the Latin Mass (many take this even further and assume that we would not like a reverent Novus Ordo Mass either.). This opinion causes many of those who plan modern liturgies to do veritable back flips in an attempt to draw teenagers and young adults in. Sometimes this works, but it has a side effect: by doing these things, liturgists show that they have absolutely no faith in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to change the lives of those in my generation. My generation knows about this lack of faith, we are able to see it every time we go to a “teen Mass” and experience priests ad-libbing prayers in an attempt to make them more relevant to us.
This lack of faith backfires; it sends us the message that we also should distrust the power of the liturgy, and it also can turn the Mass into something of a joke. After experiencing this for months, I attended a Traditional Latin Mass and experienced something that I’d never seen before: Here was a priest who expected my life to be changed without adding anything to the Mass in an attempt to bring this change about. This priest had perfect faith in the power of the liturgy, and it showed. It was beautiful. The traditional Mass did more to change my life that any “relevant” teen Mass ever did.
Let not your heart be troubled. This kid knows what he’s talking about and he’s being bravely and bluntly honest - kids can see through these priests trying to put on a show. By the way, a Google search reveals that Ethan has entered into an editorial debate over whether Jesus had siblings, as well as writing the Bulletin over what he saw as an omission to a pro-life story they ran. He’s also an excellent archer.
UPDATE: You can now see Mr. Milukas’s letter in its original context at the GA Bulletin’s Website
Also, I have created a post containing links to all the editorials about the TLM that have appeared in the GA Bulletin.
Posted in Church experiences, In the news... | 
September 23rd, 2007 at 4:01 pm
This young man is saying, in effect, “Don’t talk down to us, please.”
September 23rd, 2007 at 7:45 pm
What fostered amd nourished saints of old will do so again in our own day.
September 25th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Attention all bloggers: any story about TLM is HOT! This was one of the most popular posts on stblogs.com.
September 25th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Didn’t hurt that The Curt Jester plugged this post.
September 25th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
I’m not a Roman Catholic by choice, but I found this post interesting.
Writing as a former 16-year-old, the point surely is that there are various reasons why one MIGHT go to Mass. But going to Mass because you like guitar music is a fairly weak one, whereas going to Mass because you believe in the power of prayer is very strong one. The strength of the Mass comes from its ability to change the soul, not from how much it is or is not like a pop concert.
September 25th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Indeed, well put, Oliver. There should be something “different” about the Mass (i.e., different from everyday life), and it’s insulting to try to make it “like” the rest of your life, the stuff you hear on the radio, whatever. If you don’t make it “different” from the mundane, how do you keep people engaged? And yet they teen Mass folks seek to make it similar to teens’ everyday lives in the name of “relevance.”
September 25th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
[...] Thanks to the popularity of my post on the Traditional Latin Mass editorial from the Georgia Bulletin, I thought it only fair to include links to the letters to the editor leading up to young Mr. Milukas’s letter. [...]
September 27th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Mr. Milukas’ letter really got me thinking. How often do you witness this depth of thought and faith, and this power of articulation in a 16 year old? Wow! This is one kid I want to know in years to come.
I was in a minor seminary when Vatican II opened. I learned the Mass in Latin, and learned to pray and even think in Latin. I love the old Mass, and still remember it. But I love the new Mass too. I mean when Christ comes down and turns bread and wine into His Body and Blood, how can you not love that? The new Mass does express the Liturgy of the Word more understandably than the TLM. But the precision and mystery of the TLM is truly moving.
There is no need to “entertain” at a Mass, and liturgy that stresses passive entertainment just misses the point of the Mass. However, the parts of the liturgy that are supposed to be the people’s expressions of their faith need to arise from the musical vernacular of the people. I find so much of the hymns at the new masses so emotionally deadening, and theologically unnourishing.