From a reader:
I am trying to raise awareness of the TLM and Summorum Pontificum in my diocese. I am considering developing a pamphlet to pass out at different parishes in order to do this. However, before I reinvent the wheel, I was hoping someone else in an English speaking country has already done this. Could you please make a post that would allow us to share information and find out what is out there in the Catholic world along these lines? It would certainly save me a great deal of time and perhaps others as well.
I think it is commendable to want to raise awareness of the TLM among people who may not know much about it.
I don’t know of any resource already available for this project.
That said, I am sure that people here will now chime in with their suggestions.
But I must add some caveats.
Again, I think it is commendable to want to make the TLM known and loved.
But do exercise prudence and respect for the authority of a parish’s pastor.
Don’t just go around sticking things in churches. Pastors of parishes have the right to determine what is placed in the church.
Also, be prudent in regard to what you distribute outside other churches.
Finally, be sure that the material is not disrespectful of priests, bishops or the Novus Ordo.
“Soyez toujours le plus doux que vous pourrez, et souvenez-vous que l’on prends plus de mouches avec une cuillère de miel qu’avec cent barils de vinaigre… Always be as gentle as you can and remember that one catches more flies with a spoonful of honey than with a hundred barrels of vinegar." – St. Francis de Sales
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Whan a new TLM in my area started in the wake of SP I created the following for the curious and any new-comers. It may be helpful for your situation….
http://opuscula.blogspot.com/2008/06/riches-of-traditional-latin-mass.html
But, kqurries, may the post on your blog be reproduced freely?
Lenghtier than a pamphlet, but an inexpensive recent publication by the (UK) Catholic Truth Society is a good introduction for the curious.
There’s a review of it here http://ctsreviews.blogspot.com/2010/07/catholic-traditionalism.html
An introductory leaflet that the Latin Mass Society (Great Britain) distributes, though it looks pre-SP and may need updating:
http://www.latin-mass-society.org/lmsmembership.pdf
Here’s one of the most attractive introductory web pages on the TLM:
http://www.institute-christ-king.org/institute/latin-mass/
As Dominic posted, the Catholic Truth Society in England is a fantastic resource for just about any topic. I had just placed another order a few days ago.
http://www.cts-online.org.uk/
Just to echo something Fr. Z said…
Never, ever leave literature anywhere in a parish church (pews, tables in the foyer, bulletin boards in the vestibule, etc.) without explicit permission from the current pastor of the parish. If you don’t get permission first, all that’s likely to happen is that as soon as a member of the parish staff finds it, it will be gathered up and thrown in the trash. This is common practice at many (most?) parishes–no matter how “good” or pious the literature may appear, if it doesn’t have the pastor’s approval it gets tossed out.
Also note that many priests who would otherwise be tolerant (or even supportive) of the TLM might might react quite negatively if they perceive TLM supporters in the area attempting to “go behind their back” by anonymously placing literature in their church. Rightly or wrongly, such a move *could* be seen by those pastors as an attempt to “lure” parishioners away from their current parish and get them to switch their allegiance to a parish that celebrates the TLM. Or it could be seen as an underhanded attempt to “force” the pastor to institute a TLM at HIS parish by stirring up his parishioners to demand it and thus force his hand. Either way, that is not an impression you want to give.
The point of all of this is you want to get the pastor on board *first*. Once you have that, reaching parishioners is easy. Doing it the other way around is likely to cause a lot of problems.
Three weeks ago a recently ordained priest assigned to the FSSP apostolate in the Diocese of Tulsa celebrated his first solemn high Mass at the diocesan cathedral — the first such Mass celebrated there in 40 years. To help educate the cathedral parishioners, background information about the EF Mass and the celebrant was distributed in the parish bulletin the week before and the week of the EF Mass. I heard there was a very good homily on the EF the week before.
I scanned both bulletin inserts into one file: http://fssp-tulsa.org/documents/Holy_Family_EF_explanation.pdf. Unfortunately, I don’t have a transcript of the homily.
jbas, if you email me I can forward you a pdf version (front and back). My email is listed on the blog…
Re: literature, this is yet another one of those unwritten rules that so often trip up younger (ie, younger than 60 years old) Catholics, cradle or no. It’s right up there with “you have to register as a member of a parish, especially if you plan to marry or put your kids in parochial school” in the list of stuff nobody ever bothered to tell you at any time, and which you usually find out when it’s going to cause you years of grief.
Probably that’s part of why the blogosphere is so popular — you can give the world all your little thoughts and announcements and literature, sparing Father the task of cleaning out all the weird little pamphlets from the back pews’ hymnal rack.
Actually, you can get more flies with vinegar, especially balsamic vinegar or good wine vinegar, than with honey. Ever notice how flies come out of nowhere and try to hover over the offering of wine?
But yes, you will convince far more *people* with honey, even if a good balsamic vinegar is far, far better in some applications.
Leave it to those Canons Regular of St. John Cantius.
Here’s a double-sided 8.5×11 that folds in to a leaflet:
http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/spirituality/what-is-the-latin-mass.pdf
Here is what I wrote for a 3-column one-sided horizontally oriented sheet geared particularly toward open non-Catholics:
Roman Catholics have gone to the Latin Mass for many centuries. The Mass is not just a prayer assembly. It is the highest form of worship we can give to God, because it makes Jesus’Sacrifice on the Cross present to us. Following the Gospel, we do what Jesus said at His Last Supper: “Take and eat, this is my body … Take and drink, this is the chalice of my blood …”
As St. Paul says in the Bible concerning the Mass of the early Christians: “The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? And the bread, which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord?” (1 Cor. 10:16) … “For as often as you shall eat this bread and drink this chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:26).
Until Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead, He makes Himself present to us in the holy Sacrifice of the Mass. And as He says in the Gospel, “Except you eat the flesh of the son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (St. John 6:54-55).
St. Paul also writes (1 Cor. 11:27-29) that, before receiving Jesus in Holy Communion (the Eucharist), a person must prove himself and believe that what he is receiving is truly Jesus’Body and Blood. He says that he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment for himself. This means that, besides believing all that the Church teaches, the person about to receive our Lord Jesus in the Eucharist must have no serious sin on his soul. Baptism washes sin out of our soul. But if we have committed serious sins after our baptism, the way these are forgiven and our soul made clean again is through the sacrament of confession. Jesus said to His Apostles: “Whose sins you shall forgive, they shall be forgiven. Whose sins you shall retain, they shall be retained” (St. John 20:23). If we sin but aren’t sorry for any particular sins, Jesus, through the priest, does not forgive us. After we have properly confessed our sins to the priest with true sorrow for them, our sins are forgiven, and we can then receive our Lord in Holy Communion.
Attending Mass and receiving Jesus in Holy Communion is the greatest privilege in the world. And having our sins forgiven by Jesus through the priest in confession is a gift beyond price, a gift which sets us free and puts us back in a healthy relationship with God, with heaven as our destination. It is like the prodigal son returning with repentance to his forgiving, merciful father.
In the Mass, we follow the priest, who is Jesus’ordained representative. The priest and his actions at the altar lead us to Jesus. The Latin language of the Mass makes it possible for us to attend Mass in any country and experience the same form of worship. Latin, because it is not common, makes the setting of the Mass more one of mystery. This is proper, because it is truly a mystery that Jesus makes Himself and His Sacrifice present to us in the Mass. The periods of silence, too, are proper to the holiness of the Mass. In time, we come to better understand what the words and actions of the Mass mean. How awesome is God’s love made present to us!
Come and experience the Mass! Although you need to be a Catholic in the state of grace to receive Holy Communion, you don’t need to be a Catholic to attend the Mass. The world needs Jesus. The world needs the Mass.
May you come to know Jesus in the Mass and the Catholic faith He established through His Apostles. And may you thus know the joy, peace, and abiding presence of God in your soul and in your life.
“I am with you all days, even to the end of the world” (St. Mark 28:20).
http://www.the-latinmass.com/id4.html Is available at the door as a flyer at our parish.
My husband created another useful pamphlet which is available for download over on his blog Benedictus Deus. He created it shortly after Summorum Pontificum. Here’s what he wrote at the time.
“So, I created this brief pamphlet to try to introduce people to the Extraordinary Form. The target audience is faithful Catholics who are simply ignorant of the traditional liturgy. It is not designed to change someone’s mind who is opposed to the Extraordinary Form. It simply designed to generate interest from people of good will.
I tried to stay positive, and avoid comparisons between the two forms. I think the traditional form will speak for itself in that regard. I did feel it was important to address some common misconceptions, especially in light of the Florida Bishops’ recent savaging of the MP.
I also tried to make it simple and easy for people to print out and make copies. It should just be a matter of printing on both sides a standard sheet, and folding it in half. My hope is that folks will make their own copies and leave some laying around their local Ordinary Form parishes. Anyone may make copies and redistribute it as they see fit.”
You can obtain it here: http://benedictus.mantoanpages.net/?p=167 Leave your comments, I know he would appreciate it. :)
Thank you for this Fr Z, and all for the links, etc. This is most helpful.
Provided you get permission to distribute it from your pastor, you can’t go wrong with the booklet “For the Visitor at Mass.”
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/189233156X/ref=cm_rdp_product
I’ve also read the new CTS booklet “The Extraordinary Form Explained” and can highly recommend it, especially since it was written to buttress SP.
http://www.cts-online.org.uk/acatalog/info_Do796.html
Both forms of the Roman Rite co-exist at my parish and it is a real “blended” family. Folks accuse the parish priest of favoring one side over the other (“Dad always loved you best!”) but the fellow is doing what the bishop has asked him to do. Meanwhile the most novel publicity came at Christmas with a very brief radio riff inviting folks to attend a REAL Midnight Mass. Maybe applying 21st century technology to the traditional message is a more effective idea than a pamphlet. The pamphlet explains, the spot ad invites!
We designed one for our TLM Community in South Bend.
http://tlmmichiana.blogspot.com/2010/06/donations-needed-to-fund-tlm-brochure.html
The owner of one of the local Catholic bookstores was kind enough to allow us to set these out on the counter of her establishment. I originally designed this brochure with Vista Print just to get them going. We found a local graphic designer who is willing to donate his time, and print shop is giving a good deal. Network in your local community. Get out and shake some hands, and you will be amazed what can be accomplished.
The TLM is what will bring them and keep them. Usually all that is required from us is a gentle nudge.