Will practicing the mass in Latin empty the churches?

Pope Benedict, in a decree issued on July 7, 2007, authorized wider use of the old Latin Mass and told the world's 1.1 billion Catholics that his move in the direction of traditionalists was nothing for Catholics to be afraid of. He has every right to hope.

One is forced to ask, where and when did performing Mass in Latin begin?

First of all, Jesus spoke Aramaic, a language close to the Hebrew language. His disciples wrote the Gospels in Greek. Christians living in Rome adopted Latin and it became the Church’s official language beginning in the fourth century.

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) under the leadership of Pope John XXIII allowed his priests to use the languages of the countries that Mass was performed in so that the people attending Mass would understand the meaning of the words. Latin was not meant to be fully scrapped, but it was quickly abandoned by a great many of the priests in local churches. The pontifical universities in Rome, where many future Church leaders are educated, stopped teaching in Latin in 1967. This decision eventually all but dried up the small pool of priests who could actually speak the dead language.

The pope said in his letter to his bishops, "What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden be entirely forbidden or even considered harmful." When he used the word ‘us’ he was speaking of himself as that is the august term used by popes and kings.

I agree with him that it shouldn’t be considered entirely forbidden, as customs of the past remain dear to many people. I don’t however agree with his conclusion that making his change won’t be harmful to the Church.

For example, Catholics around the world will have the pope's blessing to request their local priest to celebrate Mass in Latin – and even get baptized or married according to the old Latin rite. If the priest refuses, they can appeal to their bishop who, the pope said, "is strongly requested to satisfy their wishes". If still unsuccessful, they can go all the way to the Vatican. And if the Vatican orders the priest to perform Mass and other religious ceremonies in Latin, the priest will have to learn Latin if he wasn’t taught it in the seminary. The Catholic Church is already facing a glut of young men wanting to serve the Church as priests. Those that do will be faced with the enormous problem of having to learn Latin. I know how difficult learning Latin is. When I was being taught it in school, I struggled through it like a drowning man struggles with weights tied to his feet.

The pope said his intention was to reconcile with traditionalists, some of whom were so angered by the reforms of the Second Vatican Council that they broke from the Church, causing the first schism of modern times. Obviously, he was speaking of the priests who were trained in the use of Latin and felt comfortable in using it. They were also against many of the changes brought about by Pope John XXIII, the people’s pope who had the ordinary people’s interests at heart first and the Church’s interests second. Pope Benedict also said; "It is a matter of coming to an interior reconciliation in the heart of the Church. Looking back over the past, to the divisions ... not enough was done by the Church's leaders to maintain or regain reconciliation or unity.” I think he was speaking about the priests and bishops who were traditionalists and who were against the changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council.

I somehow can’t see young people choosing to sit in church and listening to their priests giving a Mass in a language they don’t understand. Over the years, the churches, both Catholic and Protestant alike are having fewer people attending them for Mass or services. The young people of today are simply losing interest in the Church. Many are even losing interest in religion.

I remember when I was in the Canadian Navy in 1951 and listening to the base’s padre speaking about people going to church. He said that for many people, they only attend religious services three times in their lives. The first time is when they are baptized and they are later sprinkled with water and later when they are married and are later sprinkled with confetti and finally when they are buried and they are later sprinkled with dirt. That was then. Now in this century, many are not baptized, they get married at City Hall, and they are buried without a priest or minister at the gravesite.

Pope John XXIII instructed the priests to face their congregations so that they could pray facing them rather than turn their backs on them. Before, the priests prayed facing the cross hanging behind the high alter. This created an aura of mysticism, not unlike what occurred when the priests in the Egyptian temples and the Hebrew priests in the time when Solomon built the first Hebrew temple. When the priests prayed in those times, they were out of sight of the populace.

I can’t help but wonder if Pope Benedict orders his priests to turn their back on their congregation, what will his next move be? Perhaps he will later revive Purgatory and later still, insist on no meat being eaten on Fridays like it was before. Is it even conceivable that he may order his priests to give their homilies in Latin. When that happens, he will return the Church back to what it was centuries ago and that will surely empty the Catholic churches not unlike the same speed that gamblers exit illegal gambling dens when the police are knocking at the door.

Alas, Pope John XXIII is not with us in this century. He was the glue that kept Catholics close to their Church. I am afraid this new pope is the antithesis of what keeps the Catholic Church and its followers together. Already many Catholic churches (like Protestant also) are closing their doors because there simply aren’t enough people bothering to attend them anymore. Worse yet, many Catholics are also abandoning the Catholic Church altogether and looking for salvation elsewhere.