The Five Lies of Youth Ministry: Part Four - "The Youth Mass"

Young people need a Mass to call their own. That way, the songs, the sermon, and the overall “feel” can pander to their wants and needs. That way, in claiming this youth Mass as their own, they may claim Jesus Christ as their own.

The primary assumption underlying most modern liturgical discussion is this: that liturgy, specifically the Mass, is man’s gift to God. This could not be further from reality. The Mass, interesting enough, is God’s gift to man. Now, I understand that most high school students receive this gift the same way they receive socks and underwear from their mother on Christmas. But they’ll thank her when they run out.

            Liturgy is God’s gift to man, and as such it cannot be changed or tampered with. We are not called to use imagination or creativity when participating in the liturgy. Why? Because the Mass is a participation in the heavenly liturgy! When we attend Mass, we become a part of a liturgy that never ceases, that operates 24/7 with all the saints and angels in heaven (#thingsnevertaughtincatholicgradeschool). That is the mystery we enter into. And now we see how silly it sounds when we whine about how long the Mass is or how we wish the priest would “spice it up” here and there. We do not need to “make the Mass more relevant.” Things eternal are always relevant.

            Since the Second Vatican Council, this has not changed. In fact, this hasn’t changed since the Last Supper. What has changed are the human and cultural aspects which we bring to the Mass—songs, instruments, etc. Now, I am not advocating that organ and chant are the only way to go (although I do think, as does the Church, that they ought be given a pride of place). I have been to beautiful and reverent Masses with contemporary worship music accompanied by guitars and a drum set (though, admittedly, they have been few and far between). The issue instead remains the concept of a “youth Mass.” The phrase in and of itself indicates two things: the first is that the Mass is for, by, and about the youth. The second, more indirectly, is that “regular Mass” is for “old people.”

            Beyond the phraseology, the youth Mass does two things which I believe harmful not only to a youth ministry program, but also to parish life. The first: it often (of course, not always) separates young people from their families at Mass. “So long as they’re all going to Mass” sounds the counterargument. Yet the Sabbath is more than just getting everyone in Church. The Sabbath is, as Pope Benedict writes, about “re-forming, one day a week, the circle of family and household… it is not just a matter of personal piety; it is the core of the social order.” To separate families on the holiest of days is to disrespect the very purpose of that sacred day. And this should not be taken lightly.

            The second side effect of the youth Mass is this: it further separates the young people from the old, and promptly distinguishes that concocted age of “adolescence.” Young people must remain close to their elders, in order that they may grow all the more rapidly and steadily in virtue. And young people must not forget their witness before the elders themselves. Young people at Mass serve as a beacon of hope for the Church, and their prayer reasserts the prophecy of Christ, that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” They offer a promise—that the sacraments will continue for the next generation. This witness, too, should not be taken lightly.

            A final note. Perhaps instead of “crafting a Mass” for young people, we teach them the beauty that already resides in the liturgy. I am a firm believer that young people—all people—can recognize beauty, even though they may refuse to acknowledge it. When we teach them the mystery of the Mass, and when we pray the liturgy as Christ and His Church has ordained it, we do not need to worry about numbers and young people. Young people yearn for reality and truth. And they will go to death to find it. Let us remind them that the heart of the liturgy is not music or a nice sermon. The heart of the liturgy is Christ Himself in the Eucharist. The heart of the liturgy is unchanging.

            I came across this image today. It is of a young boy in tears because he could not receive communion at Mass. He was too young.

            I do not think our high school students are too young to yearn for the Eucharist with no strings attached. They do not need an incentive. They just need to be refocused to the eternal. And that is the mission of youth ministry.