Youth behind resurgence of ancient Catholic ritual
With the aroma of incense hovering, the Rev. Eduardo Garcia lifts the communion wafer toward heaven, reciting, "Hoc est enim corpus meum."
As the prayer echoes through St. Peter's Catholic Church in Volo, 15-year-old Beth Gammel says this is the moment she feels closest to God.
She doesn't understand Latin, but the book she holds translates Garcia's prayer: "For this is my body."
For Gammel and a growing number of young people, the once traditional Latin Mass provides a connection to the divine unmatched by any contemporary service.
The Catholic rite dating from the 5th century had almost faded into oblivion after Vatican reforms in the 1960s, which included an official ban on its use. But since Pope John Paul lifted the ban in 1984, it's thriving in Volo and being revived across the country, with young families leading the way.
The Rev. Donald Dietz, a priest at St. Peter's, says he's seeing a growing number of young people coming to Volo from as far as Marengo and Palatine.
"It's not just gray-headed folks. We're getting younger families who were born after 1964. It's an amazing thing to see," Dietz said.
St. Peter's is one of several churches offering the Mass in the dioceses that serve Chicago and its suburbs. Dietz says they have 150 people attending each Sunday, and the number is growing.
The two Chicago parishes are reporting increases, too. St. Thomas More Church on the South Side is getting 300 people a week. Nearly 1,000 folks show up to St. John Cantius on the Near West Side for two Sunday services. A fourth church, St. Gelasius near Hyde Park in Chicago, will offer daily and Sunday Latin Masses as soon as its building renovation project is complete.
At a time when churches are competing to attract the Gen-X crowd, what's the draw of this more traditional practice?
"The Mass has an intensity you don't normally see," Garcia said. "The art, the music, the chanting connects the people to God in a deep and mysterious way."
Garcia says he believes young people "crave a closeness to the Lord" and need a sense of permanence in a chaotic society. (source)
Known as 
Most people don't realize that the current rite is in Latin by default. The rite ALLOWS use of the vernacular, but strongly encourages the retention of Latin. There is no need for permission to perform the Pauline Rite in Latin. Any priest may do it and even Ordinaries do not have the authority to prohibit Latin being used in the current Rite.
Surprisingly, there is also no requirement that the priest face versus populem during the Eucharistic prayer, although Ordinaries may have more authority on this issue.
Wait, are you sure that it's possible to have Novus Ordo with the priest facing to the Altar? (or is it facing the Cross?)
I've been to one in a little church in Bayswater area, London. It took me by surprise at first--their altar hasn't been moved out--but I really liked it. They also did communion at the circular communion rail. The church was circular, around the altar, and the Mass was beautiful.
--Amanda
Beng,
Yes, the ad orientem posture is allowed in the normative mass.
And just an observation: the article starts out describing the priest as lifting the Host and proclaiming the words of institution. Perhaps the article writer got things wrong. In the Traditional Mass, the priest is actually supposed to bend over the Host on the alter, whisper the words of consecration, genuflect, then lift the Host up for adoration.
Yes, it is still proscribed for the priest to bow down while speaking the words of consecration. In theory, he is supposed to be 'breathing' on the bread and wine with his words. Even those priests who bow in the current rite rarely do so as profoundly as was practiced in the Tridentine rite, but if the breathing is a guideline, then it makes a little sense. If the priest were whispering the words of consecration, he would have to be much closer to the species to project the breath of the words than if he were speaking them aloud.
Just some thoughts..
Every N.O. in Latin I have ever been to is ad orientem. Some of the special feast day Masses at the Oratory in English are ad orientem too. If you look up Sacrosanctum Concilium, you will find a bit where it says that the altar _may_ be moved away from the wall so the priest _may_ face the people. So far from mandating it, the Council only allowed it. Though why they did that is anyone's guess. What good it has done the Church is too.
I've been to Fr. Eduardo's Masses and he does it right. Bows over the host. The writer wasnt' paying attention.
my diocese here (perth) even has a church, just 100 m from the mother-cathedral that offers the tridentine every sunday, twice a day... *big grin*