The mass

This post is also appearing on my apologetics blog.

Candy wrote here in one of her famous Q and A’s:

Q Have you ever attended a Catholic mass?

A Yes. It was so sad and gut wrenching that it almost brought me to tears. I was the only one attending, that I could see, that brought a Bible, and even bothered looking up scriptures. The Bible ignorance in that crowd was astounding me as well. Most of them don’t seem to read their Bible, they just follow what “the church” teaches them. Everyone there looked to me like they were wearing masks with no eyes. 🙁 I suspect that there might have been more true reverence (as opposed to ritual) in a black mass (however they’d be worshiping the wrong guy, of course). I also found it quite disturbing how everyone was basically handed a “script” as they walked in the door. – Kneel at this time, say this with the congregation at this time, sing this at that time, kneel again at this time, say such and such prayer at that time, repeat this phrase three times, etc. Where is the worship of God in that? No, I’d much prefer to follow the worship manual – The Bible.

I never had the opportunity to comment to this on Candy’s blog and that was one of the main reasons I started the boycott of her e-book product(s).

So I’d like to take the opportunity here.

First of all, if you look over on the sidebar you will see a little box that says Catholic Content.com. This site gives all of the readings for the day that will be read at mass all over the world. (I might add also not in just Catholic churches but Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian etc.) So Catholics know what the readings are going to be at mass before we even attend. My family and I can prepare for mass by reading the readings ahead of time so that we are better prepared when we attend mass. I find that this works particularly well for school aged children so that they have a chance to really concentrate when they get to church.

Today’s readings were from the book of Amos, 1 Timothy and the Gospel of Luke. If one were to carefully read these scriptures, I’m sure the central theme would come out.

Because the church knows years in advance what readings are going to be read, companies pre-print out missalettes for the worshipers to use when reading along with the lector or the priest. Some folks buy mass missals that also have the readings for that day’s mass.

So although I suppose someone could bring a bible to church and flip back and forth through the pages to look at the scripture, there is really no need to do so because you can get all of the scripture for that day in one place.

Now, I wonder how Candy could possibly determine who was biblically ignorant and who was not from just being a member of the congregation. I imagine if she sat next to our family she would think we were dreadfully ignorant hicks what with two lanky teenage sons, a squirmy toddler, and three elementary kids in between with various stages of day dreams and thoughtless movement. My husband does not own a suit, so perhaps she would judge him to be uneducated. I try to look nice for church but I have a toddler. Sometimes I end up with food and/or snot smeared on places by a little funny face and chubby hands that I was not aware of. Sometimes I’m so busy trying to make her sit still or shooting glaring glances over to my older boys that it may seem that there’s not a rock in my head either. And we’re not the only ones. Our Catholic church is filled with all kinds of people who act like – well regular folks.

She might be surprised then that someone like my husband (I call him Mr. Pete when I’m blogging) has been teaching the Old Testament to sixth graders for six years now at Sunday School. She might be surprised that my kids and I read the readings for the day every morning before we start school, or that I teach them not only their bible stories, but how to look up a chapter and verse on their own, just like I suppose her kids do.

She might also be surprised that our 8th grade Sunday school teacher, who holds a day job as a Federal Prosecutor, starts his syllabus off right after the Resurrection through the Acts of the Apostles. I think she’d be surprised with how many regular daily mass goers in our church could quote scripture back to her. But how could you possibly know that by simply looking at them?

Everyone there looked to me like they were wearing masks with no eyes.

Well… if she attended a 6:00 a.m. mass, that could be. Or if it was a teen mass I could see it too. Teens seem to be perpetually missing enough sleep. Other than that I wonder what she means by that statement. In our parish we greet each other before mass, and of course the sign of peace is always a warm part ofthe mass to meet and connect with each other. Did anyone offer her the sign of peace at mass? I think at a usual Sunday mass you see all kinds of people. People who really want to be there, and people just going through the motions. I’ll bet its the same at non-Catholic churches too. But other than that I truly do not understand that statement.

The reference to satan worship and black mass was a blatant ad homineum remark that betrays her true hatred for Catholics and the Catholic church and does not deserve comment. It speaks for itself.

As for worship postures, those are described in the GIRM, General Instructions of the Roman Missal.

The idea is that we come together as the body of Christ and when we worship, we worshop as one body. That is why prayers are said in unison and specific postures are given during certain parts of the mass.

Now Candy asks where in the bible is that? I would refer her to Professor Scott Hahn’s book The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth

Holy Spirit Interactive: The Explanatory Mass – The Holy Mass explained

Sample Pages from the Mass Explained to Children by Maria Montessori

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