The Faith Destruction Wrought by “Catholic” Youth Ministry, Guitar Mass
David Martin | The Daily Knight
Since Vatican II we have seen the introduction of deviant innovations that have served to profane the Church and destroy the Faith. Among these farcical inventions is today’s Youth Ministry that promotes the contemporary “Youth Mass” or “Guitar Mass.”
Naturally, there is no such thing as Catholic “youth liturgy” or the like. These are rude abominations, trappings of the devil that cause people to forget God and make fun of religion. If people today have lost the awareness of the supernatural presence of Christ in His Sanctuary it is because of these pseudo ministries that make a laughingstock of Christ.
The Church is the House of God
What Catholics need to remember is that the Church is the House of God where the Creator Himself dwells in full Body and Spirit under the veil of bread and wine, which means that when we enter the Church we must keep ourselves out of the picture and let the majesty of God shine forth. People should enter the Church in silence and not set themselves to violate the Divine Presence with worldly noise and chatter. Divine worship is all about putting away our toys and growing up to Christ. (1 Cor. 13: 11) It’s about putting off youthful desires and putting on Christ. (Romans 13: 14)
Spiritual Child Abuse
Youth ministry serves to stir up festivity and immodesty of the flesh, which is a scandal to the youth – an abuse. These youth ministry programs in fact have contributed to the sexual abuse problem in the Church. When we adulterate the liturgy, adulterated spirituality ensues – it backfires on us!
The end fruits of youth ministry are contempt of Christ and involvement with things like the “charismatics,” inter-faith worship, beach-parties, pop-culture, LGBT, etc., which offend God. “By their fruits you shall know them.” (Mt. 7:20) The worst of it is that this soul destruction is being advanced today in the name of Catholic worship.
Mass not a Social Gathering
What the youth (and adults) need to remember is that the Mass is not a gathering or social but is the reenactment of Christ’s Sacrifice. During the Consecration of the Mass, the Sacrifice of Christ is reenacted through the commemorative formula commanded by Christ to his Apostles: This is My Body, This is My Blood. Upon consecration, the substance of bread and wine is changed into the very substance of Jesus Christ, i.e., His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. It is no longer the substance of bread and wine but the substance of Christ, only and entirely, without any other substance co-existing with it. Only the accidents or physical properties of bread remain, which is what we call the Mystery of Faith. This Divine Mystery of the Mass is the very heart and center of the Christian Faith.
Youth ministry serves to destroy the awareness of this divine mystery and thus pervert our conception of Christ. It has made a farce of divine worship and has led young people away from Christ.
If Catholics today no longer believe that the Eucharist is the Creator Himself in Person, it is because of these deviant whims that have cheapened their religion and nurtured this apostate mentality. And who will account for this apostasy but those bishops and priests who allow this whimsical furor in the Church? Have they considered Christ's warning?
“He that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of scandals.” (Matthew 18: 6,7)
Catholic Worship not about Human Encounter
What principally draws young people to join youth ministry groups is a desire for acceptance and human encounter, but this is contrary to the Faith. Coming to Church is not about encountering one-another but about encountering God.
The argument that tailoring divine worship to cater to youthful desires will bring more young people to the Church holds no water. Coming to Church the wrong way only turns people against the Church. It would be better that people never came to Church than to come the wrong way.
Youth Destruction Planned by Russia
The present-day subversion of our Catholic youth was carefully planned by infiltrated Communists prior to Vatican II. This youth corruption has its foundation in Lenin’s plan for starting revolution:
“Corrupt the young: get them away from religion. Get them interested in sex. Make them superficial; destroy their ruggedness.”
According to former Soviet KGB propagandist Yuri Bezmenov who worked for the Soviet Union’s Novosti Press Agency until he defected in 1970, the main methods of subversion used by Marxists in the West were just that, to “corrupt the young, get them interested in sex, take them away from religion. Make them superficial and enfeebled … cause breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, self-restraint, faith in the pledged word.”
Leninist Revolution Applied Liturgically
After Vatican II, we indeed saw a new revolutionary wave of thought sweeping society, epitomized especially by the plague of rock-music and drugs that had set society to a new beat. This influence of pop-culture then entered the Church and engendered the contemporary “guitar Mass,” an abomination replete with drums, tambourines, microphones and loud-speakers, all of which are used to project rebellious overtones and lyrics to the faithful. The guitar Mass would serve to profane the Mass and set the faithful to the beat of a new gospel, from which would ensue dancing; clapping; women in shorts, tights, with indecent exposure; and also, men with earrings, long hair and ponytails—the classic marks of homosexuality—and with this the pacifist preaching about automatic mercy and forgiveness in spite of sin.
According to Bezmenov, a group of pop-musicians with a message of ‘social-justice’ candy-coated with popular ‘spiritual’ tunes were more helpful to the KGB’s plan of subversion than a Marxist standing at the pulpit preaching Marxist-Leninist doctrine.
Today’s Guitar Mass and youth ministry programs indeed have done more to destroy the Faith than many books and sermons delivered by Marxist priest infiltrators. These infiltrators put great stock in stirring up the youth with these programs because they know this accomplishes most of their work for them.
The Solution
Hence tradition-minded priests who aspire for a return of traditional faith and morals should know that their aspirations will never materialize fully as long as they allow things like “Guitar Mass” or “Kiddie Mass” at their parishes. At the very least these aberrations will short-circuit any good they are trying to impart to the faithful.
Best that they scrap the Guitar Mass and return to sound liturgical discipline with the Mass said in the Traditional Latin Rite and the people on their knees to receive Communion on the tongue and NOT in the hand. Modesty of dress should be mandated and talking in Church before, during, or after Mass should be forbidden. The priest alone should speak from the pulpit and administer Communion and the music at Mass should be in the Gregorian Latin tradition so as to lend a feeling of mystery and raise the hearts to God.
Prior to Vatican II we never heard of queer sexual-abuse and heretical sick problems plaguing the Church because the aforementioned formula was intact, so it behooves priests to heed St. Paul’s counsel to “prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” (1 Thess 5:21)
Pope Benedict XVI echoes this point beautifully in his motu proprio on the Traditional Latin Mass:
"What was sacred for prior generations, remains sacred and great for us as well.” (Summorum Pontificum, July 7, 2007)