Hello from a recent TLM convert

[MotherKatharine]

Well, after lurking for a few months and feeling drawn to the traditional Mass since before my conversion last year I finally decided to take the 3 mass challenge I'd read about here.  It worked, I am truly in love with the TLM and have come to see the NO as a poor substitute for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, if not an out and out mockery of it.

The change has not been easy for me, however.  As I said above I converted last year... from evangelical Christianity.  Through a series of events I finally opened my eyes to the truth of the Catholic faith.  My grandparents are Catholic and so I called them up and went to Mass with them the next Sunday.  I was shocked to find the Mass was so protestant, and I liked it at the time.  It was protestantism done right; rock band with great acoustics, new agey with a hippy priest, no statues.  I went through RCIA at another parish whose NO liturgy was more reverent but still permeated with abuses that I later came to understand.

I tell you this because for me, the fact that these parishes weren't so far off from what I came from as a protestant made the transition to Catholicism a lot easier for me (I had a really hard time in my conversion with things like worrying that it was the devil leading me to convert due to a lifetime of anti-catholic brainwashing).  And so, in these liturgies, as heretical as they can be, I see God working for the good of those who love them.  It was the heresy in these parishes that led my to seek out the TLM.  In the parish where I went through RCIA the priest told me my sins weren't sins and I believe he broke the seal of confession.  I converted to be Catholic and all I've been fed is dissent.

But anyway, my husband still has not converted.  He was really interested when we attended my Grandparent's hippy parish, but I refuse to set foot there after I witnessed a man dressed as a woman offering the Blood of Christ as a EmHC (the crumbly bread and books about womynpriests in the library were bad enough but I sucked it up in the hopes that he would convert).  As a Bible believing Christian he agrees, but he thinks I am nuts for now preferring the TLM.  He doesn't understand going to Church when he can't understand the language and sites St Paul's exhortation on speaking tongues when there is no interpreter (but honey I have a missal!)  Sadly, my push for our family to attend the TLM has been a huge step back for his conversion.

I'm not quite sure what to do at this point.  We've got 4 young kids and I can't handle them at Mass by myself.  But I feel like I'm sinning when I leave them at home to go and experience heaven on earth.  Should I suck it up and go to the reverent NO that is held at the same parish ...  typing that makes me think that is the answer...

Oh well, thanks for reading.  Nice to meet ya, thanks for standing up for the truth.

[QuisUtDeus]

Welcome!

As kids go, you will eventually be able to handle them, but there will be world war 3 in the pew for a while.  Once they figure out you mean business, they'll know Mass is not playtime.  But, yeah, it would be hell getting to that point.

You know, if there are cross-dressers handing out Communion that definitely meets the bar for me to stay home rather than go to Mass there.  The pastor has to be in on something like that, so it seems to me the whole parish would be rotten.

If you have a TLM you should go.  If your husband doesn't get it, try to gently explain it to him.  A Lutheran once said to a friend of mine: If I believed that were truly the Body and Blood of Christ, I would go to the Communion Rail on my hands and knees.  Explain to him that you do believe it is truly the whole of the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ present, so how could you worship Him in any way except the most reverent?    Ask him how he would behave if Christ appeared in person in the room, and then see if he gets it.

Maybe also point out the priest isn't "speaking in tongues" - he has studied the Language just like someone who speaks French.  Speaking in tongues is a gift of the Holy Ghost where one has no knowledge of a language through study.  One of the main reasons for Latin is you could go to any Catholic Church in the world and understand the Mass once you can follow the Mass in Latin in your own parish.  You can't do that if the Masses are in different languages.  So it has nothing to do with tongues - for the most part, it is a practical matter.

Eh, I dunno.  Spouse issues can be tough.  But, I encourage you to hang in there and avoid that parish altogether.  I also strongly encourage you to go to the TLM.  You can probably handle more than you think with kids; it will be painful, especially at first, but it is worth it.

[kimbaichan]

Welcome and  for your family.  - Kimberly

[MotherKatharine]

A Lutheran once said to a friend of mine: If I believed that were truly the Body and Blood of Christ, I would go to the Communion Rail on my hands and knees.  Explain to him that you do believe it is truly the whole of the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ present, so how could you worship Him in any way except the most reverent?    Ask him how he would behave if Christ appeared in person in the room, and then see if he gets it.

Yes, this is what it comes down to, to think of receiving Jesus any other way than on my knees is the most heart breaking to be honest.
All else has been explained to him... it's really just going to take prayer and the Holy Spirit.  Thanks for the reply.

[JayneK]

I tell you this because for me, the fact that these parishes weren't so far off from what I came from as a protestant made the transition to Catholicism a lot easier for me (I had a really hard time in my conversion with things like worrying that it was the devil leading me to convert due to a lifetime of anti-catholic brainwashing).  And so, in these liturgies, as heretical as they can be, I see God working for the good of those who love them.  It was the heresy in these parishes that led my to seek out the TLM.  In the parish where I went through RCIA the priest told me my sins weren't sins and I believe he broke the seal of confession.  I converted to be Catholic and all I've been fed is dissent.

I have a similar experience.  In my case, I was born into a Jewish family and became an Evangelical Christian in my teens.  When I began investigating in the Catholic Church in my early 20's, the protestantized changes made the Mass easier for me to understand.  It was close enough to the worship that I was used to that it made sense to me.  I too started out in a very liberal parish where I was taught things that I later learned were wrong.

My situation is also like yours in that my husband does not share my attraction to and view of the traditional Mass.  He prefers the Novus Ordo.  In our case, the local NO parish has a holy priest so abuses and heresies are at a minimum.  We sometimes go to the TLM and sometimes to our local NO.  Perhaps you could find a more reverent NO than that of your current church at a reasonable distance that would not be a constant offense to your beliefs and sensibilities.  This would allow opportunities for worship as a family.  Of course, you will want to attend the TLM as well, since I suspect that you are not likely to be satisfied with anything else now.

[MacLamroch]

Well, after lurking for a few months and feeling drawn to the traditional Mass since before my conversion last year I finally decided to take the 3 mass challenge I'd read about here. It worked, I am truly in love with the TLM and have come to see the NO as a poor substitute for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, if not an out and out mockery of it.

Please tell me about this "3 Mass challenge." In my 30 years as a Catholic, I've gone to a great many more than three English and three Latin Masses. I recognize that the Latin Mass is superior in many respects, but in the most essential respects they're exactly the same, and attending Latin Masses has not deprived me of the ability to attend English Masses with equanimity.

Sadly, my push for our family to attend the TLM has been a huge step back for [my husband's] conversion.

I'm not quite sure what to do at this point.  We've got 4 young kids and I can't handle them at Mass by myself.  But I feel like I'm sinning when I leave them at home to go and experience heaven on earth.  Should I suck it up and go to the reverent NO that is held at the same parish ...  typing that makes me think that is the answer...

Part of the answer, maybe. Everyone in my family, except me, prefers the English Mass. My parish, like yours, has a reverent ordinary-form English Mass and an even more reverent extraordinary-form Latin Mass. What do I do about that? I go to both Masses on Sundays, but I don't push my family to go to the Latin Mass. I hope you can do the same. Don't let the Latin Mass be an obstacle to your husband's conversion, but don't pass it up (if you can help it) just because your husband doesn't want to go.

God bless you! Please pray for the conversion of huge numbers of sinners!

[QuisUtDeus]

Please tell me about this "3 Mass challenge.

It's Scipio's challenge.  If you've never been to a TLM, go at least three times before you make up your mind about it.  Makes sense to me.

[MotherKatharine]

Just an update on my husband... he agreed to go with me to Mass, and is now even more interested in becoming Catholic.  I am just amazed.
The difference the TLM and confessions with a faithful priest  has had on my life in just over a month is truly remarkable.

[Baskerville]

I am glad your husband is interested :pray:for your family.