Month: October 2021

Owen A. Hall

Professor Henderson

CAS 137H

25 October 2021

 

Modernism and Traditionalism as Changes in Catholicism

 Throughout the 20th and 21st century, churches perceived that a lack of modernization was something that kept people away from churches, so in recent years, the introduction of the New Mass (modern mass provided at most Catholic churches) was designed to encourage people to come more often. However, this effort has been ineffective as according to Gallop the percentage of catholics who attend church on a weekly basis has nearly halved in the past sixty years. The Latin Mass takes the opposite approach and is a result of many people’s changing views. The Catholic Population’s lack of interest in the modern mass likely led to the popularity of the Latin or traditional Mass in a paradigm shift that has left people and popes alike confused, allowing for another schism in the church as people question what a mass should fundamentally be.

Catholicism has been in a sharp decline for decades, where reforms of modernism have not been effective in retaining it’s members, a new traditional service arises. In the 60s the Second Vatican Council created the New Mass and set standards for it to replace the old Latin Mass. However, in the early 90s, it began to make a return. The New Mass was designed to make the service more interactive and was a change made to influence people to attend mass more often. Thus, it seems atypical that the renaissance of the Latin Mass would bring more people, especially the young, to the celebrations. But, some believe it does attract the young and is what the church needs to rebound it’s membership. The New Mass was created to keep people engaged and returning to the church, but attendance has dwindled over the decades and it has therefore largely failed at its goal. The Latin Mass steps in with the possibility to revitalize Catholicism’s popularity, or some believe at least. The economist writes that “as the mainstream wanes, traditionalists wax.

This interest in the Latin Mass has been met with much uncertainty from all members of the church, some saying that it’s further separating the church. An important question to ask is whether or not the traditional mass really makes catholicism more popular. A Google search of the issue will provide articles of very different viewpoints, from “3 Reasons the Latin Mass is so Attractive to Young People” to “Reality Check: No, the Latin Mass is Not Taking Over.” The Traditionalist Society of St. Peter attempts to quantify the opinion of the people about the Latin Mass. They claim that those who go to the traditional service retain a 98% attendance rate, far higher than the overall Catholic population has ever been, including its peak in 1955 at 78%. Today, the overall church has a weekly attendance rate of 25%. This could be a sign that those more dedicated to Catholicism choose the Latin Mass but also it’s retaining people far better than it ever could before this change. As seen via Google Books’ Ngram viewer, there has been a significant rise in the use of the words traditional mass and Latin Mass. From 1930 to 2014, the use of the words increased by 5 and 4 times respectively. The goal of the Catholic church throughout most of the 19th and 20th century was modernization, so a “regression” to traditionalism seems out of place but is an important change in the church. 

The Latin Mass serves somewhat as a way for more conservative church goers to protest the changes made to the church back in the 1960s. While this may explain while some people are sticking to the ancient ways, it does not explain why the service is growing in popularity today. A common claim for the interest in the Latin Mass is the idea that the church has been tainted and that it is better to pray “the way hundreds of past popes have worshipped, the way saints have worshipped” (Harlan). The people feel a connection to those who were like them hundreds of years ago. If every other religious leader before their time had performed the mass that way, they felt that it was only right for them to do so as well. However, this does not explain how many churches, like St. Francis’, which Chico Harlan explains to be nearly entirely made up of those who were not raised with a Latin Mass. Many people come to this group to find people like them. People who are tired of the changing structure of the world and it’s disregard of their morals. One man, Bauer, says that he simply wants a place where he follows his beliefs without feeling like an outsider or demonized. The American conservative explains that there is “an unspoken belief that the Latin Mass is so obviously superior that if people simply had it around they naturally choose it over the” Latin Mass (Dreher). This line of thinking leads to the idea that those who attend Latin Mass believe that they are better from it and simply “better Catholics.” The quiet manner of the service and ancient language may also make these people feel that they are part of a special group that not everyone has the capacity to experience. While Catholicism is known for its traditionalism, it opens an interesting line of thinking that can be seen in other aspects of the world. Sometimes people long for a tradition or ancient feeling that they have never experienced before and will make a significant change in their lives to return to this way. It can be seen as those who glorify the 20s or the 60s without living in that time period. They feel a part of their own culture in that time and that it resembles them. Embracing the old is not an issue, but it can be when it creates conflict, like it does with the Latin Mass. A changing world has led many to make the change to something that is somewhat unchanging, the Latin Mass.

Therefore, the Latin Mass has risen to immense popularity and became a symbol of great controversy because of what it challenges and stands for. This view is relatively new as exemplified through Pope Francis’ actions responding to the popularity of the new practice. Back during Benedict’s reign as pope, he allowed for the performance of a traditional mass without a bishop’s approval. Francis rejected this change and made the requirement again through a decision known as Traditionis Custodes. The interesting thing was not this decision but the public’s response to it: of those who attend mass weekly, (29/40) of those who gave an answer said they were against the decision by the pope. Some people were furious over the decision like Michael Daughtery who said “Pope Francis has declared war on his own faithful, intending to make our liturgy a battlefield.” The fight for the Catholic church to modernize and “get with the times” is very much reversed as some consider it a declaration of war to try to change the church or prevent the regression of more churches to a Latin Mass. Some Bishops (a level between the Pope and Priests in power) have even reversed the decision made by Pope Francis in their own regions because they believe it is against the progression of the Catholic Church.

The shift in a significant chunk of the Catholic population’s interest in the Latin Mass has confused many but exemplifies a desire for things to be “the way they are meant to be.” Pope’s have questioned one another’s arguments and people on twitter berate one another over this change in mindset. The return of popular catholic Masses to traditionalism is an interesting change, specifically for the fact that it is not a change due to nostalgia as the traditional mass is so long ago. Very few people joining Latin Mass today were around for the changes made in the Second Vatican Council. An ever changing world interests many to find an escape that is simple and unchanging. Perhaps my cousin who grew up homeschooled in a small town felt the changes in his life were too complex and desired to find something calming and similar to the ancients.

Works Cited

 

Douthat, Ross. “The Latin Mass.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 25 July 2008, https://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2007/07/the-latin-mass/54620/. 

Dreher, Rod. “Have We Reached Peak Latin Mass?” The American Conservative, 13 Nov. 2019, https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/have-we-reached-peak-latin-mass/. 

“Google Books Ngram Viewer.” Google Books, Google, https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Latin%2Bmass&year_start=1930&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3. 

Harlan, Chico. “These Americans Are Devoted to the Old Latin Mass.. They Are Also at Odds with Pope Francis.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 17 Sept. 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/09/17/latin-mass-pope-francis/. 

“The Latin Mass among Millennials & Gen Z: A National Study – Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.” Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, https://fssp.com/latin-mass-among-millennials-study/. 

Saad, Lydia. “Catholics’ Church Attendance Resumes Downward Slide.” Gallup.com, Gallup, 13 Aug. 2021, https://news.gallup.com/poll/232226/church-attendance-among-catholics-resumes-downward-slide.aspx. 

Smith, Gregory A. “Two-Thirds of U.S. Catholics Unaware of Pope’s New Restrictions on Traditional Latin Mass.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 19 Oct. 2021, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/10/07/two-thirds-of-u-s-catholics-unaware-of-popes-new-restrictions-on-traditional-latin-mass/. 

Winfield, Nicole. “Pope Reverses Benedict, Reimposes Restrictions on Latin Mass.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 16 July 2021, https://apnews.com/article/latin-mass-pope-francis-restrictions-benedict-6f50b9bc219d423f99267fddcdf23cf6. 

Modernism and Traditionalism as Changes in Catholicism 

A few years ago, eating dinner with my prominently catholic cousins introduced me to something I had never heard of before, the Latin Mass (or traditional). They talked about it’s traditionalist aspects such as being spoken entirely in Latin and having the priest stand away from the audience, which made it a more close resemblance of the original Catholic mass. I was originally confused by this idea, I thought the church was moving to become more modern. He then went on to explain how it was better and how it makes him feel more united with the service despite interacting with it less. Throughout the 20th and 21st century, churches perceived that a lack of modernization was something that kept people away from churches, so in recent years, the introduction of the New Mass (modern mass provided at most Catholic churches) was designed to encourage people to come more often. However, this effort has been ineffective as according to Gallop the percentage of catholics who attend church on a weekly basis has nearly halved in the past sixty years. The Latin Mass takes the opposite approach and is a result of many people’s changing views. The Catholic Population’s lack of interest in the modern mass likely led to the popularity of the Latin or traditional Mass in a paradigm shift that has left people and popes alike confused, allowing for another schism in the church as people question what a mass should fundamentally be.

Catholicism has been in a sharp decline for decades, where reforms of modernism have not been effective in retaining it’s members, a new traditional service arises. In the 60s the Second Vatican Council created the New Mass and set standards for it to replace the Old Latin Mass. However, in the early 90s, it began to make a return. The New Mass was designed to make the service more interactive and was a change made to influence people to attend mass more often. Thus, it seems atypical that the renaissance of the Latin Mass would bring more people, especially the young, to the celebrations. But, some believe it does attract the young and is what the church needs to rebound it’s membership. The New Mass was created to keep people engaged and returning to the church, but attendance has dwindled over the decades and it has therefore largely failed at its goal. The Old Mass steps in with the possibility to revitalize Catholicism’s popularity, or some believe at least. The economist writes that “as the mainstream wanes, traditionalists wax.

This interest in the Latin Mass has been met with much uncertainty from all members of the church, some saying that it’s further separating the church. An important question to ask is whether or not the traditional mass really makes catholicism more popular. A Google search of the issue will provide articles of very different viewpoints, from “3 Reasons the Latin Mass is so Attractive to Young People” to “Reality Check: No, the Latin Mass is Not Taking Over.” The Traditionalist Society of St. Peter attempts to quantify the opinion of the people about the Latin Mass. They claim that those who go to the traditional service retain a 98% attendance rate, far higher than the overall Catholic population has ever been, including its peak in 1955 at 78%. Today, the overall church has a weekly attendance rate of 25%. This could be a sign that those more dedicated to Catholicism choose the Latin Mass but also it’s retaining people far better than it ever could before this change. As seen via Google Books’ Ngram viewer, there has been a significant rise in the use of the words traditional mass and Latin Mass. From 1930 to 2014, the use of the words increased by 5 and 4 times respectively. The goal of the Catholic church throughout most of the 19th and 20th century was modernization, so a “regression” to traditionalism seems out of place but is an important change in the church. 

The Latin Mass serves somewhat as a way for more conservative church goers to protest the changes made to the church back in the 1960s. While this may explain while some people are sticking to the ancient ways, it does not explain why the service is growing in popularity today. A common claim for the interest in the Old Mass is the idea that the church has been tainted and that it is better to pray “the way hundreds of past popes have worshipped, the way saints have worshipped” (Harlan). The people feel a connection to those who were like them hundreds of years ago. If every other religious leader before their time had performed the mass that way, they felt that it was only right for them to do so as well. However, this does not explain how many churches, like St. Francis’, which Chico Harlan explains to be nearly entirely made up of those who were not raised with a Latin Mass. Many people come to this group to find people like them. People who are tired of the changing structure of the world and it’s disregard of their morals. One man, Bauer, says that he simply wants a place where he follows his beliefs without feeling like an outsider or demonized. The American conservative explains that there is “an unspoken belief that the Latin Mass is so obviously superior that if people simply had it around they naturally choose it over the” Old Mass (Dreher). This line of thinking leads to the idea that those who attend Latin Mass believe that they are better from it and simply “better Catholics.” The quiet manner of the service and ancient language may also make these people feel that they are part of a special group that not everyone has the capacity to experience. While Catholicism is known for its traditionalism, it opens an interesting line of thinking that can be seen in other aspects of the world. Sometimes people long for a tradition or ancient feeling that they have never experienced before and will make a significant change in their lives to return to this way. It can be seen as those who glorify the 20s or the 60s without living in that time period. They feel a part of their own culture in that time and that it resembles them. Embracing the old is not an issue, but it can be when it creates conflict, like it does with the Latin Mass. A changing world has led many to make the change to something that is somewhat unchanging, the Old Mass.

Therefore, the Latin Mass has risen to immense popularity and became a symbol of great controversy because of what it challenges and stands for. This view is relatively new as exemplified through Pope Francis’ actions responding to the popularity of the new practice. Back during Benedict’s reign as pope, he allowed for the performance of a traditional mass without a bishop’s approval. Francis rejected this change and made the requirement again through a decision known as Traditionis Custodes. The interesting thing was not this decision but the public’s response to it: of those who attend mass weekly, (29/40) of those who gave an answer said they were against the decision by the pope. Some people were furious over the decision like Michael Daughtery who said “Pope Francis has declared war on his own faithful, intending to make our liturgy a battlefield.” The fight for the Catholic church to modernize and “get with the times” is very much reversed as some consider it a declaration of war to try to change the church or prevent the regression of more churches to a Latin Mass. Some Bishops (a level between the Pope and Priests in power) have even reversed the decision made by Pope Francis in their own regions because they believe it is against the progression of the Catholic Church.

The shift in a significant chunk of the Catholic population’s interest in the Latin Mass has confused many but exemplifies a desire for things to be “the way they are meant to be.” Pope’s have questioned one another’s arguments and people on twitter berate one another over this change in mindset. The return of popular catholic Masses to traditionalism is an interesting change, specifically for the fact that it is not a change due to nostalgia as the traditional mass is so long ago. Very few people joining Latin Mass today were around for the changes made in the Second Vatican Council. An ever changing world interests many to find an escape that is simple and unchanging. Perhaps my cousin who grew up homeschooled in a small town felt the changes in his life were too complex and desired to find something calming and similar to the ancients.

Word Count: 1466

Works Cited

Douthat, Ross. “The Latin Mass.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 25 July 2008, https://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2007/07/the-latin-mass/54620/. 

Dreher, Rod. “Have We Reached Peak Latin Mass?” The American Conservative, 13 Nov. 2019, https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/have-we-reached-peak-latin-mass/. 

“Google Books Ngram Viewer.” Google Books, Google, https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Latin%2Bmass&year_start=1930&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3. 

Harlan, Chico. “These Americans Are Devoted to the Old Latin Mass.. They Are Also at Odds with Pope Francis.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 17 Sept. 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/09/17/latin-mass-pope-francis/. 

“The Latin Mass among Millennials & Gen Z: A National Study – Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.” Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, https://fssp.com/latin-mass-among-millennials-study/. 

Saad, Lydia. “Catholics’ Church Attendance Resumes Downward Slide.” Gallup.com, Gallup, 13 Aug. 2021, https://news.gallup.com/poll/232226/church-attendance-among-catholics-resumes-downward-slide.aspx. 

Smith, Gregory A. “Two-Thirds of U.S. Catholics Unaware of Pope’s New Restrictions on Traditional Latin Mass.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 19 Oct. 2021, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/10/07/two-thirds-of-u-s-catholics-unaware-of-popes-new-restrictions-on-traditional-latin-mass/. 

Winfield, Nicole. “Pope Reverses Benedict, Reimposes Restrictions on Latin Mass.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 16 July 2021, https://apnews.com/article/latin-mass-pope-francis-restrictions-benedict-6f50b9bc219d423f99267fddcdf23cf6. 

The Art of Chocolate

I had trouble finding a speech done by someone not well known so I decided to search youtube for presentation and sorted by recently uploaded. That provided me with this video which I believe is by a regular person by the fact that the video has zero views.

In my opinion, the author of the video produces effective ethos despite being someone who is unknown. When she mentions her name, Trish Koodrich, she does so in a way that makes me feel like I should know who she is and that she’s an important person that I should listen to. This is further bolsted from her confidence throughout her speech about her cooking show. She is confident that she will convert the audience to love chocolate far more than they currently do.

Her presentation of the subject matter is full of energy. She seems extremely passionate about the class thar she wants to teach. Her body language and mannerisms create this energy around her speech. Her infliction makes me assume that she is not using a teleprompter and her view is constantly at the camera.

Her speech does take advantage of the situation that she’s given. Her video is advertising a two day class at Baltimore community college. She uses her skills in baking at the opportune moment to create a class that students would be interested in. The class takes place in the very near future, so associating it with holidays thar come up take advantage of the moment. Also, college students or people I’m general love chocolate, so the subject matter further takes advantage of the opportunity.

 

Overall, I think this very short speech is effective in that it completes its purpose. It is designed to garner excitement and interest for the class and I believe it does that very effectively.

An idea for my research project is to look at the change in America’s view of eugenics before and after world war 2. I remember hearing that the US was getting very interested in it until world war 2 and they saw what evil it lead to.

What was the prevailing opinion of eugenics in the ’30s vs the ’50s? (fact)

What is eugenics?(Definition)

How much money did the US put into research of it? (fact)

Why were people interested in it? (?)

Why was it bad that we were interested in it? (going for value but this question may be too opinionated)

Was the world war and germany the only reason interest decreasd? (Cause and Effect)

 

Many of MLK’s speeches revolve around this dream of justice and equality in the future (made especially popular by the “I have a Dream speech”). However, an issue introduces itself when this dream has been sought after for so long and seemingly no closer to be grasped. After 54 miles of marching, much of Martin Luther King Jr’s company was burnt and tired from the sun and long road. They knew the dream, but it seemed so unachievable. King had the great challenge of encouraging them to continue fighting. Martin Luther King Jr’s “How Long, Not Long” speech helped keep the ideology of a peaceful path to equality despite the journey seeming unending.

 

The Rhetorical Situation surrounding King’s speech proved constraining but allowed for a powerful opportunity to help encourage the marchers. Through completing the march to the State Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, the people experienced many hardships such as the scorching sun and sleeping in the mud. Many people who were followers of King questioned whether or not it was worth it to continue non-violent protesting. For ten years they had been fighting for equality in Montgomery, to many of them this fight seemed unending. Thus, this speech came in perfect timing and with an apt title. Preceding King’s speech, Rosa Parks gave an ineffective speech which was hardly audible. The people needed the strength that King held. King acknowledged the length of the struggle, “there are no broad highways that lead us easily and inevitably to quick solutions. But we must keep going.” He uses repetition to emphasize that he understands the struggles and hopes of the people. Key among these is the phrase also seen in the title of the speech: “how long? not long because…” He emphasizes that he understands the frustration in how long it’s taking and tells them why they do not need to worry through answering why the struggle will end soon. The audience of the speech was those who followed King for his long march towards the capitol. They are tired and restless, but they trusted King’s ideas before and continue to be open to his movement. King only needs to keep them optimistic, which he does by telling them that it will not be long until their strife is over.

 

Because of the constraints around King’s speech, he needed to properly read the audience in order to fully bring across his message. These people had marched a great distance and were tired of how hard the fight for civil rights and equality has been. They didn’t expect to have been fighting the same fight as ten years ago. King knows the struggle, so he spends a large portion of the beginning of the speech reflecting on the past. He talks of the struggles they have faced and the progress they have made. The speech proceeds to cover the present and the possibilities of the future. He knows that the audience keeps wondering how long until they achieve equality, so he repeats the phrase and answers it with “not long” with a different explanation of why. Ethos is further built between the audience and King as they see that he is aware of how hard the journey has been. He quotes Sister Pollard in his speech, saying “our feet are tired, but our souls are rested.” Which means that the journey is hard and tiring but the reward is unmatchable going all the way to be good for the soul. He reiterates the idea that most people expect them to give up, so they cannot let their hope diminish. His audience is almost entirely those who marched with him which gives him some advantage as they think similarly. The speech is not to convince the audience that equality is needed but rather the fight for it is worth the effort and can be achieved soon. He can have far more empathy to the feelings present in the audience because he is in the fight too and he has experienced what they have, the pain of discrimination and the hope for the world to change. They also all are in the march, so they have the will to do something, meaning that King only needs to convince them to continue the fight. 

 

The constraints and audience allow for a perfect opportunity for King to deliver his message. This kairos can make the message very powerful but also makes it difficult to mention some things. For example, the marchers are so tired that King would be mistaken to mention that the march could take longer. In fact, he focuses on how soon the struggle will end because he knows this is what the audience wants to hear and will make them continue to work toward a common goal. He knows exactly what to say to appease these doubts because he has those doubts himself. There was another constraint around his speech: it was the last in a list of speakers. He was closing the protest, so he was the panel’s last chance to excite the audience and bring about a feeling of hopefulness. Rosa Parks’ speech did not do this very well and her well-mannered and quiet speech was not what was needed to give the desired feelings to the audience. Thus, King’s bold and loud voice that was near a shout helped do what Parks could not, motivate the audience to continue. They were tired, so he needed to bring energy.

 

In order to effectively get his message across, King had to show that he had an effective understanding of the commonplaces surrounding the situation to bring across his ideology. An examination of the speech’s most frequently used words gives a better idea of what he wanted to emphasize. Many times he mentions: “let us march on”. Clearly, the march to Montgomery is over, but the force of the march and its meeting must continue. They should not let fears of a lack of progress or regressing to thence they came. They have made progress and will continue to do so. He repeats this focus on the word normalcy. To many in the movement it has two commonplaces associated with it. The idea that normalcy is white and black people being treated differently or the normalcy of everyone being treated the same. Thus, King specifies by calling it “the only normalcy that we will settle for.” He is pushing away the commonplace of normalcy being injustice and wants what people consider normalcy to be justice and equality.

 

The “How Long, Not Long” speech faced an audience losing faith in the movement, but still effectively maintained support for the peaceful path to equality and justice. The rhetorical situation gave Martin Luther King Jr a worn audience but provided the kairos for his speech to relate to the audience on a deep level and tell why they were going to win the fight. He needed to address the commonplaces held by many and bring together those that supported his ideology. Movements are not just started and won, they need to be maintained and those pushing for them need to be adaptable in their approach as the journey progresses. The world will always be improvable, so the skill to keep a movement alive will be vital for eternity.

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