I'm 54. It's the beginning of senility. Maybe that's why I find EF "comforting". Or at least comprehensible.

Liam,

Then YOU comfort the elderly alzheimer patients with communion in the hand, servers with long hair and high heels and...a woman in pants distributing communion.

It's not all about you and your parents.

[added] I posted about the flyer because I thought that it would be helpful to people who have contact with the elderly and might see this as a way to assist them in their lives. Rather than the usual, "want to go out for lunch?", "want to go for a drive?. My brother drove my elderly aunt to the cemetery to see the family grave stones yesterday and then to Akron, OH for her to visit the grave of her sister. But then she asked if they could drive by the house her grandparents had lived in, and they did.

It is often hard to figure out what people of other generations might enjoy when there is a difference in ages.

So, when I saw this flyer, which was not there to promote the EF Mass, but rather to encourage people to consider that the elderly, primarily those who are lost in time, many of them living in their minds at an earlier time in life, might be enriched by attending an EF Mass.

I may have seemed rude, and did not mean to be, but was saying instead, that this was not about him or his parents, nor about the supremacy of the EF Mass. Some of those who attended Colloquium this last year talked about how difficult it was to differentiate the OF from the EF during the week, since the liturgies were all "formal" rather than casual.

Ian, the OF touches you and your parents, but the import of the flyer is that the EF might open a door in the minds of those who are lost in a fog that occasionally lifts. Many of us really do not know what our grandparents, or parents, experienced when they grew up, what treasures they have in the way of memories. You know what your parents prefer, but that does not mean that you need to state a case against what the Pittsburgh people are suggesting.

I am sorry that you took offense at what I said and I apologize for writing my response in a way that has offended you and others.

All of you, if you know of a family that has an elderly Catholic member that is suffering from aging, you might suggest that they attend an EF Mass, or better yet, if you are able, offer to accompany the person so that the family might be able to have some free time if that would be appropriate.

I know that Ian prefers the modern sacrament of the sick, as he has said here and before. But prior to the relaxation of the rules, when the rectory got a call from the hospital (yes, from the hospital) that a Catholic had been admitted, a priest would visit, and offer to return with Communion. I rode more than once to the hospital with the associate pastor who, after 7 AM Mass would then go to the hospitals and distribute communion, daily.

Groups like the Holy Name, the Sodality of Mary would visit and say the rosary. When it was evident that one's time had come, and many families were prepared with a crucifix and candle set for this, the priest arrived to confer the Last Rights, which were treated with the solemnity and importance of First Communion and Confirmation. If the patient recovered, that was wonderful, if not, they had moved through the cycle of being Catholic - Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, Last Rights.

To an elderly person who has problems, it can be rudely shocking to be handed the Host. Many of use grew up in a time that only the priest touched the consecrated Host. Only he or Sisters could touch the Chalice to clean and polish it. [could Sacristans do this? In a small town we only had priests and Sisters.]

I want to thank the people in Pittsburgh who were so thoughtful as to print and make the flyer available so that those who otherwise might not think of it, might permit elderly Catholics a connection with their past.

Now, do you have an elderly Catholic relative or friend that may not be able to get to an EF Mass? Call them.

I'm sorry, FNJ, that was unwarranted, and from another seemingly unconsidered perspective, incorrect.
Our salvation and sanctification is just as inextricably tied to our submission to the disciplines demanded by the gospels as those demanded by our rituals and traditions.
Jesus Christ, God incarnate, made it "about" each of us as Emmanuel, and then by the purchase of the Passion ,Death and Resurrection that affords each of us dignity and salvation. And there is Mt.25.
In any case, I apologize to Liam, who provides so much wisdom at many boards and certainly to his own parish program, for the rash error of our brother in Christ.

I believe FNJ is right, both intuitively and empirically. Ritual sights, sounds, smells and actions - such as those provided by traditional Catholic liturgy and saliently missing from most celebrations of the Novus Ordo - are famously consoling to anyone suffering from Alzheimers or related ailments. The relative disorder and unpredictability of the new rite as normally celebrated must be awfully disorienting to them. One would expect that a Catholic organization caring for those afflicted with Alzheimers and dementia would know a thing or two about it.

Noel's tone is harsh, especially considering the needlessness of defending what is predictable.
In as much as Gregorian chant posesses the qualities of timelessness, universality, and soundness of form, it is no surprise that traditional music such as this would have a consoling effect on the elderly and Alzheimer's patients.

There is no guarantee that music is always beautifully executed in the EF,
but the full package of incense, chant, polyphony, etc. is much more likely than the average parish. Is this surprising?

Most people who bring elderly parents to St. Anne's stop and report this consoling effect, time and time again I hear this. In my experience, the elderly who prefer the average parish OF are priests and others who had a lot trained out of them, and who bought into much misinformation. Going back often involves a certain amount of cognitive dissonance for such
Catholics. (I'm not saying this applies to Liam's parents, its just an observation.)

When I've brought chant hymns into retirement homes and hospice situations, the overwhelming response is a consoling effect on the listener. The stories I've heard of disaffected Catholics coming back to the faith and finding strength in the music alone is remarkable.

So the Pittsburgh flier is no surprise here. If we care about souls, as we do, opening up the treasury of the Faith can only bring good fruit.

Charles,

Many thanks.

Having had my mother go to Mass in the dementia wing of her lifecare community's campus last Sunday (which wing was the only one for my mother who, while she had suffered severe deleria, is not suffering from dementia), it was quite the showing of people. And of course it's not only about particular state of being, but all my years dealing with the elderly show me that many even in senility love the OF dearly. (That's not to say there are those who would not appreciate the EF; I was merely responded to the rather obvious and unwarranted implication of the flyer that somehow the EF was necessarily more attractive to elders with cognitive difficulties. Certainly, the ability to have lay folk, including women in pants, administer Holy Communion, to those unable to assist directly at Mass is of great comfort to many, and allows Father more time to spend on administering the Sacrament of the Sick. Et cet.)

But today I give thanks that my mother is home after 5 weeks. Glory to be to God, in His Blessed Mother, St Raphael the Archangel, and all the saints who interceded and intercede.

Gavin

Last line is delightfully subtle.

Anyway, my mother is one of many similarly situated who not only cannot hold a Missal (or missalette) anymore and whose macular degeneration makes observing the Mass visually a severe trial, but she can follow aurally (while, of course others who are blessed with better vision but worse hearing would likely not), so the OF works better in that context. As do other permissions that came with the sacramental reforms. And, per your point, the OF *is* what is most familiar to her, having spent the latter half of her life (and more than half of her adult life) assisting in that form.

"Our salvation and sanctification is just as inextricably tied to our submission to the disciplines demanded by the gospels ..."

Where did FNJ or anyone else deny or contradict this?

Jeff, I felt the "harsh" and personalized rebuke with which my friend Noel countered Liam's perspective of the issue was, at that time, bereft of Christian charity. As Liam says above, generalizations themselves are problematic, and circumstances affect individuals. In that perspective, caring for each others' souls is "about us."
Now to the point, I'm gladdened this morning to awaken to Noel's further explanation of his perspective.

Gavin, your point about the appeal of traditional forms makes sense to me. I concur. And most all of the traditional is at least an option in the OF, so for those countless souls who are drawn to the timeless, it can certainly be found in the OF.
My guess is that the average Alzheimer's worker- even the average Catholic- isn't aware of that fact due to the way liturgy is celebrated in their experience. Most people (still) associate only the EF with great beauty. This is unfortunate, and hopefully it's starting to change.
So,I don't think the flier was intended as a slap to those who love the OF or both forms, but rather a simple way to bring comfort to many of the people in the elderly and Alzheimer's population.

Liam, so glad your mother is home. God be with your family. :)