I taught Sunday School a decade and a half ago at a modern American Southern parish, and always tried to weave in feast day celebrations and customs (with the coloring pages!), into the lessons. And I further worked to get a group started for families to meet monthly on a special feast and to first pray together in the church, and then celebrate in the social hall or outside. All that went nowhere, fast. Admittedly, my awkward and introverted personality hampered my efforts, but I now also know that nothing meaningfully traditional can stick around the Novus Ordo Missae. And I now believe that the NOM was designed by diabolically intelligent forces to repel and destroy Catholic piety, tradition, and the Faith itself.
But happily, I have found that the TLM is like a live socket. Whoo! It takes maybe just a year or two of immersion in it to feel joyfully overwhelmed with an unbroken connection to the glories of the past, to the saints, to everything you tried to believe about God in the vernacular Mass but it felt like walls had somehow been put up around you. It's so good to be connected to that Tradition. And my favorite part is--that the TLM is all my 9 y o daughter has ever known. Deo gratias!
The Illustrated Liturgical Year Membership (which the Harrisons will discount if you subscribe to the calendar through Sophia) also includes monthly dedication hymns, translated into English, set in square notes, and accompanied by audio recordings to help you learn the hymns. Another great way to steep your family in Catholic tradition, especially if you’re even moderately musically inclined.
We have the Treasure and Tradition book! It is indeed beautiful.
I am not a staunch advocate for TLM (I do appreciate it!), but we absolutely need more of this wonder and awe of the faith for our American Catholic children. Have you read The Education of Catholic Girls by Mother Janet Erskine Stuart? Published by TAN. (Not sure if you have girls, but I'm sure it would be good for boy moms, too.) It's in public domain
I just picked it up last week - wow. She says on page 22 to guard against practices, "which drag down the beautiful devotions to the Saints until they are treated as inhabitants of a superior kind of doll's house." That really has me questioning my collection of plastic saint dolls...
Also this on page 14:
"God...has to be set before them as truly, as nobly, as worthily, as our capacity allows, as beautifully as human language can convey the mysteries of faith, with the quietness and confidence of those who know and are not afraid, and filial pride in the Christian inheritance which is ours."
I had not heard of that book, but I'll check it out. We only now finally have a girl! So that's a path I haven't ventured down yet. We're more into dragons and knights and boys hero stories at this juncture. I think I'll review that one here, though. It looks very interesting. Thank you for the recommendation!
This is very similar to my experience, only we did not end up at the TLM. By the time our three kids were 8, 10, 12 we were in an Ordinariate parish. I always think of our liturgical living experience in decades--the first (until the oldest was ten) was baking and coloring, and random and often frustrating (my kids never loved coloring). The second decade was filled with traditions directly connected to the liturgy, and also the praying of the Liturgy of the Hours in the home--which we still do today with our kids (19, 21, 23). The Ordinariate has been the place where we have found those cultural traditions that many European parishes still have, but in the English language tradition. The Ordinariate is where the older English language Catholic culture is preserved, so, small as it is, I think it has the potential to revive some of those experiences for American Catholics.
I agree with a great deal of what you say here. Unless you are *already* a particularly kind of crafty parent, the cookbooks and craft calendars turn LARP-y really fast (and are often totally detached from the kinds of celebrations Catholics did for centuries). That's why I like to use the term paraliturgy instead of liturgical living for these things- because "liturgical living" = the Mass and the Sacraments, the center of our Faith! And as you point out, traditional Latin Mass missals and literature often provide a much more comprehensive vision of the Faith to share with one's family that creates the foundation out of which grow organic celebrations.
At the same time, the most authentic paraliturgy at a community level I have witnessed has been from Anglicans in England and Novus Ordo Catholics in other countries across Europe, not the TLM communities I have been part of in the U.S. Granting individual exceptions like the ones you highlight here, it seems like Americans in general, whether novus ordo or TLM-attending, are easily drawn in by the more consumerist "death by a thousand baked goods" attitude. I know there are historiographical arguments about how difficult it is for Americans to build organic traditions...it's interesting to think about how this affects paraliturgical activities.
And another thing that I didn't mention is the consumerist aspect of all of the internet "liturgical living." The commercial side to it makes me uncomfortable, although I can hardly begrudge these Catholic moms trying to bring in some extra income for their big families. It's a tough one for me to grapple with.
It's interesting that you mention that. I've thought that Americans have a particularly hard time being "traditional." Our national character resists traditionalism in all of its forms, so now those of us who yearn for it, are having to somehow forge it ourselves, which itself is un-traditional. We are finding ways, but it is tough for Americans because we don't naturally have devotions to particular saints based on where we live. We are attracted to them, or so it seems to me, for individual and particular reasons, rather than local/community traditions. Also, I did notice that in one of our Advent/Christmas books, which is about a family in Austria and its devotions, that this family observed some very traditional practices but seemed to be part of a Novus Ordo parish. This parish celebrates the Rorate Mass, for example, and looks almost indistinguishable (from the pictures) from a TLM Rorate Mass. I wonder how to grow these traditions in America in an organic, non-LARP-y way...
Just as an example relevant to your post, I have been to a stunning Corpus Christi procession in Austria very similar to the one in the painting, organized by many enthusiastic and youthful participants who have never had an opportunity to witness the Latin Mass!
Thank you for this post, and all the rich resources mentioned within! Your reflections on the depth of children and their capacity is entirely true. Much like in the old days and ways, when there was no such thing as a “children’s menu,” no chicken tenders and fries, but rather smaller portions of the same good food the adults had, there was also no such thing as truncated spiritual food for we children. We were introduced to the Holy Mysteries of the Faith very young, and treated at Mass with all the dignity that came with that. There is a profound beauty in Catholicism that resounds well with the natural wonder of a child! Congratulations to and God bless you and all who understand this, and bring these little ones closer to Christ!
I completely agree with your comments here. Somehow the TLM immerses you in a living liturgy. It is natural, with its peaks and troughs, its rhythms and the way it hangs onto seasons, unlike the modern, man-made liturgy. I don't have children, but can honestly say it changed my life and perspective completely.
This could be me. It sounds like my story. Wow.
I taught Sunday School a decade and a half ago at a modern American Southern parish, and always tried to weave in feast day celebrations and customs (with the coloring pages!), into the lessons. And I further worked to get a group started for families to meet monthly on a special feast and to first pray together in the church, and then celebrate in the social hall or outside. All that went nowhere, fast. Admittedly, my awkward and introverted personality hampered my efforts, but I now also know that nothing meaningfully traditional can stick around the Novus Ordo Missae. And I now believe that the NOM was designed by diabolically intelligent forces to repel and destroy Catholic piety, tradition, and the Faith itself.
But happily, I have found that the TLM is like a live socket. Whoo! It takes maybe just a year or two of immersion in it to feel joyfully overwhelmed with an unbroken connection to the glories of the past, to the saints, to everything you tried to believe about God in the vernacular Mass but it felt like walls had somehow been put up around you. It's so good to be connected to that Tradition. And my favorite part is--that the TLM is all my 9 y o daughter has ever known. Deo gratias!
Joyfully overwhelmed - well said!
The Illustrated Liturgical Year Membership (which the Harrisons will discount if you subscribe to the calendar through Sophia) also includes monthly dedication hymns, translated into English, set in square notes, and accompanied by audio recordings to help you learn the hymns. Another great way to steep your family in Catholic tradition, especially if you’re even moderately musically inclined.
https://www.liturgyofthehome.com/purchase-a-membership
We have the Treasure and Tradition book! It is indeed beautiful.
I am not a staunch advocate for TLM (I do appreciate it!), but we absolutely need more of this wonder and awe of the faith for our American Catholic children. Have you read The Education of Catholic Girls by Mother Janet Erskine Stuart? Published by TAN. (Not sure if you have girls, but I'm sure it would be good for boy moms, too.) It's in public domain
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Education_of_Catholic_Girls/M91EAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
I just picked it up last week - wow. She says on page 22 to guard against practices, "which drag down the beautiful devotions to the Saints until they are treated as inhabitants of a superior kind of doll's house." That really has me questioning my collection of plastic saint dolls...
Also this on page 14:
"God...has to be set before them as truly, as nobly, as worthily, as our capacity allows, as beautifully as human language can convey the mysteries of faith, with the quietness and confidence of those who know and are not afraid, and filial pride in the Christian inheritance which is ours."
I had not heard of that book, but I'll check it out. We only now finally have a girl! So that's a path I haven't ventured down yet. We're more into dragons and knights and boys hero stories at this juncture. I think I'll review that one here, though. It looks very interesting. Thank you for the recommendation!
This is very similar to my experience, only we did not end up at the TLM. By the time our three kids were 8, 10, 12 we were in an Ordinariate parish. I always think of our liturgical living experience in decades--the first (until the oldest was ten) was baking and coloring, and random and often frustrating (my kids never loved coloring). The second decade was filled with traditions directly connected to the liturgy, and also the praying of the Liturgy of the Hours in the home--which we still do today with our kids (19, 21, 23). The Ordinariate has been the place where we have found those cultural traditions that many European parishes still have, but in the English language tradition. The Ordinariate is where the older English language Catholic culture is preserved, so, small as it is, I think it has the potential to revive some of those experiences for American Catholics.
What a gift to be near an Ordinariate parish. Are they common in the US?
I think there are around 40 between the US and Canada. We are in one of the largest, in the Houston area near the Ordinariate Cathedral.
I agree with a great deal of what you say here. Unless you are *already* a particularly kind of crafty parent, the cookbooks and craft calendars turn LARP-y really fast (and are often totally detached from the kinds of celebrations Catholics did for centuries). That's why I like to use the term paraliturgy instead of liturgical living for these things- because "liturgical living" = the Mass and the Sacraments, the center of our Faith! And as you point out, traditional Latin Mass missals and literature often provide a much more comprehensive vision of the Faith to share with one's family that creates the foundation out of which grow organic celebrations.
At the same time, the most authentic paraliturgy at a community level I have witnessed has been from Anglicans in England and Novus Ordo Catholics in other countries across Europe, not the TLM communities I have been part of in the U.S. Granting individual exceptions like the ones you highlight here, it seems like Americans in general, whether novus ordo or TLM-attending, are easily drawn in by the more consumerist "death by a thousand baked goods" attitude. I know there are historiographical arguments about how difficult it is for Americans to build organic traditions...it's interesting to think about how this affects paraliturgical activities.
And another thing that I didn't mention is the consumerist aspect of all of the internet "liturgical living." The commercial side to it makes me uncomfortable, although I can hardly begrudge these Catholic moms trying to bring in some extra income for their big families. It's a tough one for me to grapple with.
It's interesting that you mention that. I've thought that Americans have a particularly hard time being "traditional." Our national character resists traditionalism in all of its forms, so now those of us who yearn for it, are having to somehow forge it ourselves, which itself is un-traditional. We are finding ways, but it is tough for Americans because we don't naturally have devotions to particular saints based on where we live. We are attracted to them, or so it seems to me, for individual and particular reasons, rather than local/community traditions. Also, I did notice that in one of our Advent/Christmas books, which is about a family in Austria and its devotions, that this family observed some very traditional practices but seemed to be part of a Novus Ordo parish. This parish celebrates the Rorate Mass, for example, and looks almost indistinguishable (from the pictures) from a TLM Rorate Mass. I wonder how to grow these traditions in America in an organic, non-LARP-y way...
Just as an example relevant to your post, I have been to a stunning Corpus Christi procession in Austria very similar to the one in the painting, organized by many enthusiastic and youthful participants who have never had an opportunity to witness the Latin Mass!
Thank you for this post, and all the rich resources mentioned within! Your reflections on the depth of children and their capacity is entirely true. Much like in the old days and ways, when there was no such thing as a “children’s menu,” no chicken tenders and fries, but rather smaller portions of the same good food the adults had, there was also no such thing as truncated spiritual food for we children. We were introduced to the Holy Mysteries of the Faith very young, and treated at Mass with all the dignity that came with that. There is a profound beauty in Catholicism that resounds well with the natural wonder of a child! Congratulations to and God bless you and all who understand this, and bring these little ones closer to Christ!
Yes - the religious equivalent of the children's menu!
I completely agree with your comments here. Somehow the TLM immerses you in a living liturgy. It is natural, with its peaks and troughs, its rhythms and the way it hangs onto seasons, unlike the modern, man-made liturgy. I don't have children, but can honestly say it changed my life and perspective completely.
It's great to see the new Pope is someone who wants to embrace the continuity of Catholic tradition.
https://catholiccounsel.substack.com/p/pope-leo-xiv-and-vatican-ii