I mentioned in the sidebar that we had our first Traditional Latin Mass Workshop for the laity this weekend. From eight until ten fifteen in the morning, we listened to talks given by Fr. Justin Nolan, FSSP, about the Church and the Mass. Then off to Confession and my very first Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form. And can I just tell you that I feel like that was the first time I’ve ever been to Mass? I think I floated out of the building when it was over, after I was able to pull myself away. I don’t know when I have ever so profoundly moved at Mass. I thought I’d been profoundly moved before, but this Mass was nothing short of Heavenly.

The talks we heard before Mass were so important, I’m going to write about those in a separate post. I think I’ll even make graphics of the diagrams the priest drew on the board to illustrate his points. I wish every Catholic I know could have been there, especially those who think that my annoyance with the widespread lack of reverence borders on the fanatic.* Fr. Justin Nolan, FSSP, made it clear to all present that the Church never threw out the Latin (or beauty either, for that matter, though you couldn’t know it from looking at the architecture of church buildings or witnessing the awful liturgies of the past many years). He also made it clear that Pope Benedict is steadily working to get the Church in America back on track. Praise the Lord, I say. The more I learn about the current Pope, the more I love him.

I’m working on a write-up of my experience with the TLM. It should be up on the blog in the next day or so. Audio of the workshop should be up on the Una Voce Northern Alabama blog, they said, but I don’t know when.

Resources for the Traditional Latin Mass, Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite

• EWTN Motu Proprio Resources
• EWTN Booklet for the Solemn High Mass
• Online tutorial for the Extraordinary Form, St. John Cantius, Chicago.
• Extraordinary Form Workshops for Priests, Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP).

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*And let me say right now that I am not a liturgical fanatic. But I do take exception to those who are in positions of authority who are teaching would-be Catholics to rebel against a Church that they don’t even know yet. And, yes, I have observed this happening many times. I take the duty to teach the faith as it is—not as I wish or imagine it to be—to be a sacred duty and obligation. If you’re going to teach the faith, then teach the faith. If you’re going to teach ill-informed opinion, then teach that and call it what it is. I’d love to see that printed in the Sunday bulletin.