Letters

Behaviour at Mass (letter)

Michael Ryan

Contents - Jun 2004 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Pentecost: As it was in the beginning ... - Michael Gilchrist Abortion: 'Pro-choice' issue emerges in US presidential campaign - Michael Gilchrist News: The Church Around the World Marriage: Statistics highlight the precarious state of marriage and family - AD2000 REPORT Theology of the Body: Why the silence on the Church's moral teachings? - Audrey Dillon Society: Why Chesterton is needed now more than ever - Dale Ahlquist Education: Chavagnes en Paillers: a Catholic college with a Catholic culture - Paul Russell The importance of beauty in the Liturgy - Christopher Pearson Poetry: The power and beauty of religious poetry - Star-Life, Identikit, Ministers - Bruce Dawe Poetry: The power and beauty of religious poetry - Cast fear behind thee, I am come! - Marion and Delia Craig Letters: New Liturgy document (letter) - John Schmid Letters: Disrespect (letter) - John Casamento Letters: Behaviour at Mass (letter) - Michael Ryan Letters: Options (letter) - Maryse Usher Letter: Signs of hope (letter) - Daniel Attard Letters: Priestly vocations (letter) - Monsignor Robert Egar Letters: The Passion - Suffering (letter) - Dr Arnold Jago Letters: The Passion - Not overdone (letter) - Monique Onezime Letters: The Passion - No ordinary man (letter) - Jony Joordens Letters: Faith and reason (letter) - John Kelly Letters: Gospel Dating - The Jesus Papyrus (letter) - Paul R. Smith Letters: Media Standards Australia (letter) - Denise Den-Bakker Letters: Name changes? (letter) - Frank Mobbs Letters: US Survey (letter) - Errol P. Duke Letters: Catholic books (letter) - Frank Carleton Events: Window Shopping for Non-Catholics - Fr Paul Newton Books: The Free Press, by Hilaire Belloc - John Ballantyne (reviewer) Books: The Outline Of Sanity, by G.K. Chesterton - Peter Westmore (reviewer) Books: Catharine With An 'A', by Edna Keir - Joan Graham (reviewer) Books: Looking Again at the Question of the Liturgy, Reform of the Reform? - Paul Russell (reviewer) Books: More new titles for 2004 from AD Books Reflection: The Holy Spirit: like a bed for the weary traveller - Fr Leo Duck

That was a wonderful article by Matthew Greene, "Whatever happened to reverence at Mass?", (April AD2000). Many "mature age" Catholics seem to have forgotten all that they were taught by their parents and by priests, nuns and brothers when they were young. And many Catholic schoolchildren and young people who were recently at school seem to be abysmally ignorant of what is meant by "the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament".

The behaviour mentioned by Mr Greene, e.g., a staff member at a Catholic university sitting in front of the tabernacle and drinking a can of soft drink, did not shock me. Many years back, at a leading Catholic college in Sydney, my wife and I attended a late afternoon Mass in the college chapel. During the Mass, a Jesuit priest entered with a cup of coffee in his hand, sat down casually and drank it while Mass proceeded. It is not likely that any of the boys in his care would have learned to behave reverently in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

Let us hope that it is not too late to retrieve the situation. A really concerted effort by our clergy, parents and teachers is called for.

MICHAEL RYAN
Rosanna, Vic

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 17 No 5 (June 2004), p. 13