TONTITOWN — Weekly celebrations of Mass in Latin are back in northwest Arkansas to the delight of a small but loyal group of worshippers.
Each Sunday since Feb. 13, Father Greg Hart has offered the Mass in extraordinary form — more commonly referred to as the Tridentine Mass — at St. Joseph Church in Tontitown. He estimates attendance has ranged from 40 to 80 people, drawing Catholics from throughout northwest Arkansas, Harrison, Berryville, Eureka Springs and Mena as well as Missouri. They’ve tended to be younger, not older Catholics — “people who did not grow up in the 60s,” he added.
Celebrating the Tridentine Mass requires much more of the priest than just using another language — for Father Hart, mastering the language may have been the easiest part of the preparation.
“I’ve had six years of Latin,” he explained.
His studies include two years at Catholic High School in Little Rock with Father Raymond Rossi (“the best teacher in the world” for Latin), two years at the University of Dallas and two years while studying in Rome.
Ordained in 1984, Father Hart said more difficult than the language was learning the rubrics — the complex and ritualistic motions the priest makes throughout the Mass. The Tridentine Mass is packed with symbolism and the priests motions are reflective of that symbolism.
While it’s often noted that the priest’s back is to the congregation in the old rite, the reason isn’t always explained. Father Hart said it’s because the prayers are being offered to God, not to the congregation. The priest acts as intermediary, which seems more evident from his posture in the Tridentine Mass than in the “Novus Ordo” or New Mass. Traditionally, the priest looked east toward the rising sun, a symbol of heavenly Jerusalem. That’s not always possible today because modern churches aren’t always sited with the altar to the east.
The priest’s vestments are much more elaborate for the Latin Rite. Various layers include the cassock, the alb, stole, maniple and the chasuble. The maniple is a horizontal fabric strip worn on the priest’s left arm while the chasuble is the embroidered outer layer of the vestment.
Catholic attending their first Tridentine Mass may need some direction. In the Low Mass (the version Father Hart is currently saying), they may not hear all the priest’s prayers and they’ll spend more time kneeling than in the New Mass. There are no altar girls and lay people don’t assist in distributing Communion. That’s strictly for the priest although a permanent deacon may assist.
With a little instruction, however, it’s easy to tell whether it’s a Low Mass (two candles lighted on the altar; the priest doesn’t chant or sing and no prayers are sung); a High Mass (six candles on the altar and the priest chants or sings various prayers); or a Solemn High Mass (six candles plus multiple celebrants).
“Personally, I would prefer the Latin to be chanted or sung,” Father Hart said. He hopes to eventually learn the proper chants for the High Mass. He cautioned, however, that “it may not happen this year.”
Adam Eichler, a parishioner at St. Joseph in Fayetteville, is assisting as server each week. He, too, has had to learn the proper responses and motions. Father Hart said “many hours of rehearsal” were required before the first Mass in Latin in February.
Eichler doesn’t seem to mind, however.
“Father Hart needs me,” he said, “and no one else knows how” to do the liturgy.
He noted that the Latin Mass requires preparation for everyone — the congregation is expected to prepare, saying various prayers, studying the readings, for example.
Already the celebration is growing more robust. Easter Mass was the first time for music at the Latin Mass, and there may even soon be an organist.
Worshippers will notice the Mass is longer — about 90 minutes rather than the one hour most Americans are accustomed to. For one thing, Communion takes longer since extraordinary ministers of holy Communion aren’t allowed. A permanent deacon could assist, Father Hart said. Also, the priest says a full sentence to each communicate rather than the simpler “body of Christ.”
“I’m growing into it,” Father Hart said. “I love the Mass (but) I was more than a little surprised when the Friday before Palm Sunday 2010,” Bishop Anthony B. Taylor told him his next assignment would include adding the Latin Mass.
While the new rite has three cycles so some readings are heard only once every three years, the Latin Mass has just one so worshippers hear the same readings each year.
Oly Ward is one Mass attendee who readily took to the Latin Mass and easily learned the responses. Of course, he’s a master of languages and is graduating this spring from Arkansas Tech University where he’s studied German. Originally from Mena, Ward said he became interested in the Latin Mass when he was 14. He’d already been studying German for three years and he added French a couple of years later. The Latin Mass seemed a natural to him.
Also, instead of the three Scripture readings Catholics have become accustomed to with the New Mass, the Latin Mass has just two. Father Hart reads them in Latin from the altar, then goes to the pulpit where he reads them again in English. His homily is given in English. Before he leaves the altar, he removes the mandible (with help from the server) from his left arm. It’s replaced when he returns.
As for facing the altar versus facing the people, he explained that facing the people emphasizes the horizontal dimension — loving thy neighbor. Facing the altar stresses the vertical dimension — loving God.
Although Mass in Latin mostly disappeared during the 1960s, that wasn’t the intent, Father Hart said. Certain prayers, including the Gloria and the Creed, were intended to still be recited in Latin. But priests turned to English instead.
When Pope John Paul II gave special permission for the Tridentine Mass in 1984, local bishops had to OK the rite being used in their dioceses. In 2007 Pope Benedict XV said the Tridentine Mass celebrated according to the 1962 Roman Missal should be made available in every parish where parishioners desire it.
Mass in Latin is also celebrated at St. Patrick Church in North Little Rock and St. Michael Church in Cherokee Village. Both those communities are overseen by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.
