Latin Masses draw Catholics to Troy

"I love both Masses equally, the English and the Tridentine Latin," Rev. William Gorman said.

That's a good thing: In one weekend, the administrator of St. Peter's and St. Paul's parishes in Troy might celebrate three Masses in English before a fourth in Latin at St. Peter's, the church in the Albany Diocese designated years ago by Bishop Howard J. Hubbard to host a Tridentine Mass.

The Tridentine Mass is entirely in Latin. Altar servers are only males; communion is received on the tongue as congregants kneel at the altar rail. The priest celebrates the liturgy with his back to the people -- or, as Latin Mass devotees at St. Peter's prefer to say, facing east, the same direction as the congregation.

Hundreds attend

Every weekend, Father Gorman said, anywhere from 150 to 230 Catholics come from the neighborhood and as far away as Utica and Glens Falls to participate in the Latin Mass. (There are approximately 400,000 Catholics in the Diocese.)

Surprisingly, he noted, many of those at the Mass are young people, attending because they believe some of the sacredness of the Mass was lost when it was changed to English. "They have great affection for the Latin Mass," he said.

Parishioners tell the priest they like the Latin language, the music used at Mass and the fact that it is always exactly the same, right down to the priest's movements during the liturgy.

'Switch gears'

That regimentation made Father Gorman nervous when he first began celebrating Tridentine Masses three years ago, after more than 30 years in the priesthood.

"I have to kind of switch gears" when going from an English to a Latin Mass, he remarked, remembering one Sunday when he slipped up and intoned, "Glory to God in the highest," when he should have said, "Gloria in excelsis Deo."

People corrected him with good humor, he added.

Pope's move

Father Gorman has heard many positive comments from parishioners since Pope Benedict XVI's announcement last week that use of the Latin liturgy can be expanded (see The Evangelist's July 12 issue).

However, the priest cautioned that this may not lead to more Tridentine liturgies in the Albany Diocese.

"I would imagine there would have to be a learning process" for priests, he explained. "Many of our priests don't know Latin at all, and many of our older priests have completely forgotten how to celebrate [Mass in] it."

Change

Father Gorman, who is trained as a church organist, joked that celebrating Mass in Latin after decades of not doing so would be the equivalent of his trying to play Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" at a recital after being out of practice for 40 years.

"How this [change] will unfold in the Albany Diocese, I can't predict," he said, adding that, at St. Peter's, parishioners now consider themselves to be "on the cutting edge. I believe things will continue 'business as usual' at St. Peter's."

(Father Gorman noted that, in addition to Tridentine Latin Masses, he has celebrated weddings and Baptisms in Latin among the St. Peter's community. However, since no one in the community has died, he has yet to celebrate a funeral in that language. The website for St. Peter's parish is www.stpeters-troy.tripod.com. St. Mary's parish in Albany celebrates another form of the Latin Mass. Go to www.hist-stmarys.org.)

(7/19/07)