Monday, November 07, 2005
THE GREAT ATLANTA 2005 YOUTH RALLYMASS
Is this the only way we can bring them in?
Florida Catholic reports:
Thousands of Catholic teenagers, many wearing T-shirts with slogans such as "Discover Jesus" and "i pray," sprinted through stadium aisles Oct. 29 to claim front-row seats — not for a football game, hockey game or concert, but for Mass.
More than 16,500 teens from across the United States gathered at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta to conclude the 2005 National Catholic Youth Conference.
The Oct. 27-29 event, packed with guest speakers, workshops and presentations to enrich their faith, allowed young Catholics to experience with their peers the diversity and support of the broader church community.
The closing liturgy really "brought the Mass to life," said Rebecca Schmitt, 16, from the Diocese of Belleville, Ill. "There was so much energy, even in the quiet moments."
Youths waved colorful kites on long poles, liturgical dancers filled the air with incense and the conference's youth choir sang "Come Holy Spirit, send down your fire," as more than 120 priests and deacons and 15 bishops, including the main celebrant, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta, entered.
What got pictured on the Florida Catholic website? Not a priest saying Mass. Not the setting of altar and crucifix. What got pictured is two liturgical dancers. This is not compatible with the decision in Rome that in the United States liturgical dancers are inappropriate for liturgy. But apparently the bishops present didn't care.
Bishop Wilton Gregory told the young people that "Part of parents' jobs is to help us mature in ways that will guarantee our happiness as adults...Part of a young person's responsibility is to remind parents that you are already making good progress in growing up maybe faster than a parent might notice!"
It sounds like permission to disobey, especially since it was delivered in an atmosphere of disobedience.
The whole thing sounded a lot more like a rock concert than a Mass. Young people like rock concerts, and I'm a proponent of letting them have rock music so long as the lyrics support the values we would like them to adopt. But why was the rock concert part of Mass? Why didn't they just have a rock concert after Mass where all the flags and dancers and hoopla would have been appropriate? Why was it incorporated? How was the cause of reverence and spirituality served by this rallymass?
The event triggered an emotional response in some of the attendees. One "animator" is quoted making a statement while wiping away tears, that "it was 'an awesome privilege' to perform before so many of her Catholic peers."
"Perform." That is really what this was--a performance Mass. Not liturgy, but rather spectacle, using apparently what is now the latest lay ministerial role the "animator," whatever an animator is. It used to be the word describing the creator of cartoons. Certainly the last song sung at this gala, "Winds of Change," could not have been more appropriate. This resembled Matthew Fox's Rave Mass in far too many ways. It's interesting that a choir from Taize was part of the mix.
According to the article a good message was conveyed--wait for sex until marriage. There was Eucharistic adoration. Maybe the musical mix of a Life Teen band that led praying of the rosary was not too outrageous--maybe. What took place in Peachtree Corners that "allowed teens to explore different aspects of their mind, body and spirit?" Teenagers exploring body in mixed company?
The last sentence in the article read: "To me, (the conference showed) "that there are so many youth interested in the church"...."They're ready for leadership in helping the poor and fighting for justice." Is that, in the final analysis, what this rally was all about, the social gospel? No wonder God got lost.
