(LifeSiteNews) — The bishop of Columbus, Ohio, has highlighted the need for silence and reverence at Mass in keeping with the need for “Christocentric” worship.
Bishop Earl Fernandes, who has seen the number of seminarians in his diocese more than double under his watch, penned a commentary published by the National Catholic Register on Wednesday suggesting that many liturgies today aren’t fit for purpose.
Fernandes told how he first encountered the Traditional Latin Mass when he was young at St. Joseph’s in Toledo and realized that he not only craved the traditional liturgy but found it to be more reflective of what the Mass is.
“For me, Gregorian chant at the Mass was much more consonant with what the Mass truly is: the beautiful, unbloody sacrifice of Our Lord. I was young, but I remember thinking, I wanted the old-time religion, just like my father did,” Fernandes wrote.
After he was ordained to the priesthood and became a pastor, he was “somewhat shocked” to find that much of what had drawn him “closer to God” was absent.
“Many people did not genuflect before Our Lord — because they had rarely seen anyone genuflect. Guitars and liturgical dancing were still common. Almost none of the more than 1,000 schoolchildren in my parish had even heard or knew how to sing the hymn Immaculate Mary,” Fernandes recalled.
He realized that an important part of his task as pastor was to restore a “sense of liturgical reverence.” This is not just a matter of personal preference but of making the Mass Christ-centered, he noted — as it should be. Fernandes came to reflect on how God gave commands for how worship was to be conducted “in both the Old and New Testaments.”
He pointed out that the liturgy is the work of Christ, to which we unite ourselves — it is not our work. Thus, we must ask how we are fulfilling God’s command through our worship of Him. For example, we must re-examine even the choice of hymns used at Mass, Fernandes noted.
“When most of the Communion and entrance antiphons are drawn from the Psalms or other parts of Scripture, why are we replacing them with manmade creations?” the bishop asked. Moreover, the music used during Mass often doesn’t “foster contemplation,” something that not only the laity but the priest himself needs.
“What many people don’t realize is that for a priest, offering the Mass is the highlight of the day — really, the highlight of our life. But to do it well, a priest must be able to pray — and that requires silence in the liturgy,” the bishop wrote.
On top of this, “many of our liturgies are — on the human level — uninspiring, hurried, pedestrian,” he admitted.
While he maintains that “reverence is not confined to one form of the liturgy,” such reverence is overwhelmingly more present in traditional Masses, such as the traditional Latin Mass, than in the new rite of the Mass, the Novus Ordo.
For example, in the traditional Latin Mass, the priest bows profoundly before the consecration and genuflects before raising the consecrated host; he bows profoundly during his Confiteor; he makes many more signs of the cross; he bows more; he kisses the altar more; he prays much more in a sign of humility, fervor and devotion; there are more prayers of contrition and supplication from both the priest and the faithful; the voice of the priest during the canon is hushed to show awe and reverence; the faithful receive the Holy Eucharist, God Himself, kneeling and on the tongue; the priest does not afterward make announcements to the faithful and quickly wrap up the Mass as if they have not just received God Himself!
In fact, Fernandes previously celebrated the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) every Sunday, according to a 2015 interview with a Catholic publication.
“Most of them are young,” he said of the attendees at TLM. “They’re looking for reverence and beauty, a sense of transcendence, and to be connected to their parents and grandparents, the generations of faith.”
