U2-Charist

mmmm. No.
I'm a huge U2 fan. I am a huge Eucharist fan. Huge.

But they are not nearly the same.

Love you, Bono, Edge, Larry, Adam. Love you. Even love The One campaign. Love you. Buuuuuut, No.

From a fan:

"It makes you, like, warm inside," says Bridgette Roberts, 15, who is a Roman Catholic and attended a recent U2 Eucharist at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. "Usually at church, you love Jesus and everything. But this way you can express how you feel."

Well, I guess that's what counts at Mass...

More On Liturgy

I have read through the posts below and am still holding my position, but have a few more thoughts.

I'm fortunate that I come from a family who area all solid Catholics. Grew up in the Charismatic Renewal, believe that the renewal is meant for the Church and believe wholeheartedly in the teachings of the Church. So when we discuss things like this it really makes me think hard about such topics.

My sister-in-law brought up a very good point. Let me backtrack:

I still believe that teen Masses-in the context of a regular Mass-are needed and important. I think praise and worship music does have a place at Mass. I believe that most liturgies could be done much better. I believe that a "teen Mass" if you will, HAS to have an excellent priest to say the Mass in a highly reverential matter, and give an excellent homily and that the Mass HAS to follow with a LifeNight, or an evening with the teens in which you continue to catechize and evangelize. I also believe that we need to find ways in which the teens grow into an awareness of the beauty and sacredness of the Liturgy and I am not opposed to sometimes having the participate in high Liturgy, or a High Mass.

Here's the thing: They just can't chew steak! We have had crummy liturgy for ages and most of the kids I work with have no idea, -shoot their parents have no idea what is going on during Mass. And we want to throw them into a High Mass situation? I'm not sure that will do much good.

My sister- in- law then said "Wouldn't it be great if we didn't need so called Teen Masses? " I couldn't agree more.

Pope John Paul II grew up being formed my excellent liturgy. It was always an excellent Mass that was said. What a world to grow up in, that your whole WORLD revolved around the Church with the Mass as central!

But we just don't have that anymore. Not only do we not have that, we have families that have no clue what is going on.

Maybe I don't give the kids enough credit. My goal is to help them connect to the Mass so that they see that is something real and alive that can make a difference in their lives, if they'd only open themselves up to it. Even if the preaching is bad, at least you have Jesus Christ, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

Music and Liturgy

A start of some good discussion in the combox below:

From one:

Sacred music, suitable for use in the temple of God, as Pius X said in Tre la sollicitudini in 1903 (and reaffirmed by John Paul II in 2003) is that which is inspired by the Christian faith, has a sound theological character, and is universally recognizable. Thus, sacred music is able to complement the work of Christ in the liturgy, the goal of which is to draw us deeper into his paschal mystery for the purpose of our union with God (not merely our articulation and expression of our faith).

From another:

I'm not advocating secular music in liturgy at all. I think it can have a place in the classroom, but not in liturgy. But I don't see any problem with songs from bands like Third Day and MercyMe being used in liturgy, played by a music ministry that uses electric guitars and drums. I think they meet the criteria you cited. And they are an effective means for attracting young people to Mass.

Peter and Paul

This is part of the project I had to do for class. I used this for the Preparation or "calculated disengagement" before the actual lesson.