I am a twenty-seven year old lay Catholic of
the Parish of
SS. Cuthbert and Joseph in North
Shields. Both my paternal and material
grandfathers were
Catholic but most of my family is
Protestant albeit in name only. I attended St.
Joseph’s R.C
Primary School as a child, and of my
own volition I converted to Catholicism because
I wanted to
make First Holy Communion with my
Catholic cousins. In 1995, I was baptised, made
my first
Confession, and received Holy
Communion. Sadly, I fell away from the practise
of the Faith
in my teenage years.
In 2007, through the grace of God, I went
through a
conversion experience. I began praying the
Rosary, reading the Catechism and watching the
Eternal Word
Television Network. At around this
time, I watched a video on YouTube of the
Traditional Latin
Mass narrated by Archbishop Fulton
Sheen. The solemnity and reverence of the
Traditional Rite
was deeply moving and I decided to
attend Mass for the first time in ten years.
The next Sunday, I attended the Extraordinary
Form Mass at
St. Dominic’s in Byker. The Usus
Antiquior was completely foreign to me, but I
was awestruck
by the beauty of the prayers, the
solemnity of the worship, and the devotion of
the people.
The quiet prayerfulness of the Liturgy
allowed me to fully participate in the Mass as
I placed
myself at the Foot of the Cross with Our
Blessed Mother and the Beloved Disciple. The
prayers of the
Mass enlightened my understanding
and inflamed my love for Our Lord in the
Blessed Sacrament.
I became conscious of the infinite
Majesty of God and I also became painfully
aware of my own
sinfulness. When the Mass ended, I
resolved to change my life and embrace the
Faith I lost in
my teenage years.
The Traditional Mass is the reason I began
living the
Sacramental life. I continue to attend this
Mass at St. Joseph’s in Gateshead. As a child I
attended the
Mass of Paul VI, but the Missal of
1962 brought me back into the Church. The Old
Mass is solely
responsible for my adult
conversion; in fact, I would never have lapsed if I had known that this Mass was
available to me in
my teenage years.
My experience is fairly common. The
proliferation of
Juventutem groups around the world and the
many vocations to traditional Congregations and
Priestly
Fraternities attests to the fact that a lot of
young Catholics are deeply attached to the
riches contained
in the Roman Missal promulgated by
Pope St. John XXIII. The Traditional Latin
Liturgy also has
a presence at World Youth Day. It is my
fervent belief that the Traditional Latin
Liturgy is a
vitally important part of the New Evangelisation,
and I am grateful
for our
bishop`s continued support of this Liturgy and am certain that
it will quietly
call many lapsed Catholics home. and bring about new
conversions.!
One of my parishioners (Andrew) and a couple of his friends approached the Cathedral a two years ago with a view to starting Juventutem in the North East. We had several priests agreeing to do talks and Masses for the group, of which I was one. Unfortunately the Cathedral said they had not the resources for such a group and that there was alrewady plenty of provsison for young people, including their own prayer group. maybe we should our guyts together and try again...?
ReplyDeleteGod Bless.
I would like to give Andrew every encouragement in setting up a group of juventutem. There is no need for it to be attached to to a cathedral. In fact I do not think that any other juventutem group is. Just select a chaplain, and base the group wherever you are comfortable, and in a place that is convenient.
ReplyDeletePhillip has set out, in a very few words, the raison d'etre of our devotion to the Traditional Mass.
ReplyDeleteCan I tell him, through this posting, how moving was his piece, and how grateful we all are to him.