Guess who is speaking Latin these days? Honestly, I don't know how much Latin they are speaking, but a lot of young people are going to the Latin Mass. On a recent visit to a local Latin Mass, I was pleased to see so many young families with new babies or on the way. No birth-rate problems in that group.

Over the last few months, I've been asking myself a question: Why the Latin Mass? What's the attraction? My parents grew up in the Latin Mass and liked all the symbolism and tradition associated with it.

Salena Zito writes about it and confirms that there is something going on out there. This is her post:

Canon William Avis, a church cleric who was formally installed as the first pastor of Most Precious Blood of Jesus Parish in 2019, said their services have seen robust growth over the past few years. “We have 800 to 850 at our Masses on Sunday,” he said.

That robust growth isn’t just taking place in Pittsburgh; it’s happening nationwide. A recent survey by Crisis magazine, an independent journal covering Catholicism and Catholic issues, revealed a marked increase in TLM attendance since the beginning of the pandemic. This boom is playing out against a backdrop of recent restrictions on the Latin Mass from Pope Francis. Last year, the Argentina-born pontiff described Latin Mass as “divisive” and imposed new limits on the service, which had been partially reintroduced over the past three decades by both of his predecessors, Pope John Paul II and the late Pope Benedict XVI.

In June of this year, Francis went even further, demanding the faithful stop exploiting Latin Mass for ideological reasons, which he feared might fracture the very unity of the Catholic Church. Francis was harshly criticized by many young traditionalists for his stance, some of whom took to Twitter in outrage.

Latin Mass divisive? That's a new one. It is in Latin, but divisive is crazy.

My guess is that the growth of the Latin Mass is due to the growing sense that Pope Francis is a bit woke, from immigration to climate change and the recent confusion about blessing same-sex couples. I'll give the Pope the benefit of the doubt that he means well, but his staff is another thing.

Also, I think some young people today are looking for more tradition and that's what they get in the Latin Mass. As the article points out, many of the parishes "...are majestic and ancient in design." I love those old parishes with all those symbols that remind me of the churches that I attended with my parents. They are so majestic and you feel like you are in a Catholic Mass.

Wonder when Latin makes a comeback in home schooling?

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Image: PxHere