A reader writes:
What’s the deal with ‘Life Teen’ Masses? Are they a total no-no?
The canonical status of "LifeTeen Masses" is complicated at present. Here’s a list of some of the complications:
- Liturgically speaking, there is no such thing as a "LifeTeen Mass." This is not a category that is recognized by Church law.
- As far as I have been able to determine, the LifeTeen organization has no special indults to perform Mass differently than what ordinary liturgical law provides. As a result, LifeTeen needs to celebrate its Masses in accord with liturgical law.
- Yet there are what appear to be clear violations of liturgical law in "LifeTeen Masses" (e.g., having teens stand around the altar during the consecration), as well as things of (at best) questionable status (e.g., saying things like "The Mass never ends" in place of "The Mass is over," the selection of music used in Mass).
- LifeTeen advocates might argue that they have quotes from some ecclesiastics saying nice things about them, but Church officials say nice things about all kinds of organizations without implying a blanket endorsement of everything the organization does. In particular, nice quotes from ecclesiastics do not constitute permission to vary the way in which the liturgy is celebrated, and the Holy See would not want them represented as such.
- LifeTeen advocates might argue that the unique features of their Masses are justified by the Directory for Masses with Children, but there are significant problems with this claim: (a) the directory in question does not appear to be intended for use with teenagers, (b) the directory does not authorize the kinds of changes found in "LifeTeen Masses," and (c) the directory makes the explicit point that children’s Masses are to be done in such a way as to lead children into the ordinary liturgy celebrated by adult Catholics; thus as the children get older, their experience of the liturgy should come to be more and more "normal," yet LifeTeen is giving them a far more divergent experience of the liturgy than normal childrens’ Masses, and just at the time they should be settling in to normal adult Masses according to the document. Also, (d) this directory is likely to be revised substantially as part of the current tightening up of liturgical law.
- We don’t at present have an up or down statement from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, but if they get enough inquiries from the faithful about "LifeTeen Masses," I suspect that we will. It’s always hard to predict what the Vatican would do, and it probably wouldn’t be as severe as what some might want, but I strongly suspect that LifeTeen would have to make significant adjustments as a result of one.
