IF, as Fr Ryan (CL 14/1/01) seems to imply, the Mass or the Eucharist of the St Patrick’s of today is so much more meaningful, understood and participated in than in the St Patrick’s of 1960 why are there less and less people coming to Mass at today’s St Patrick’s, why are those who come predominately in the over 50 age group and why are there now less and less Masses being celebrated?
Is it because the heart of the Mass, that part that sets it apart from every other liturgical action – namely the re-offering of Christ to his eternal Father, in an unbloody manner, of his sacrifice of the cross, thus bringing that sacrifice into our time and place – is no longer understood?
Communal activity occurs in other places besides the Mass, but is the activity of Christ always there?
Could it be possible that the Mass has lost its appeal to many because the activity of the community at Mass has dulled the activity of Christ therein?
As Shaping and Staffing progresses in Brisbane, daily Mass-goers are beginning to find it more and more difficult to attend a weekday Mass.
In view of this, it may be well to ponder these words from the writings of St Leonard of Port-Maurice: ‘Without the Mass, the world would be in an abyss, unable to bear up under the load of its iniquities. The Mass is the prop that holds the world on its base’.
N. MACKENZIE Taigum, Qld
