Latin Mass still alive in Cebu chapel

CEBU, Philippines — While most people his age are engrossed in playing computer and mobile games, 15-year-old Randolph Bermejo busies himself with discovering the rich history and tradition of the Catholic Church through the traditional Latin Mass.

The Latin Mass, to him, is a solemn and reverent experience, unique from the modern day Mass (Ordinary Form) that uses the vernacular language.

In July, Bermejo joined an all-male lay group called Cebuano Summorum Pontificum Society, becoming its youngest member. A month after, he started serving as an altar boy.

“I had been looking for this type of society since this is the only local Catholic group that holds the extraordinary form of rite here. I knew there was in Manila, but I only learned about this one in Cebu recently,” he told The FREEMAN.

At a young age, Bermejo already had an inner desire of nourishing his spirituality, and he eventually got captivated by the beauty and solemnity of the traditional Latin Mass.

The small religious community has been organizing the weekly Sunday Masses of the Extraordinary Form, or commonly called the traditional Latin Mass, at the adoration chapel of the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish along N. Escario Street, Cebu City. By far, it’s the only Catholic religious community within the Cebu archdiocese that celebrates the traditional Latin Mass.

Elmer Montejo, founder and moderator of the Cebu-based society, said the group started with a few members back in 2012 at one of the parishes in Talisay City as a volunteer effort to form “schola cantorum” or a school of singers who only sing Gregorian Chant and solely in Latin.

Montejo said the group went through several challenges throughout the years and he, being the convener, also experienced a lot of “heartaches” because some members failed to commit.

He said finding people with the same passion and drive has been very difficult. Currently, the society is composed of 10 members but Montejo is remains hopeful it would still grow.

But he was quick to point out that bringing in more people to join the group is secondary, as its primary goal is to bring in more Catholic faithful to participate in the Mass so that they can experience beautiful changes and transformation in their lives.

He himself was attracted to the traditional Latin Mass as he said he found and experienced God through it.

“Personally, it touched me deeply right to my core stimulating conversion. There was a strong force, it was very beautiful that I was able to encounter God in that Mass,” he said.

Montejo further shared that he felt a different kind of reverence, a gesture he believed God was worthy of.

“I was listening to the prayers and hymns and I knew something was going on. It was sacred and heavenly. It was real and authentic,” he said.

Just like the young Bermejo, the society leader said he had the heart that has been yearning for God since his childhood.

But during his adolescent years, Montejo admitted his longing to know God more became less of a priority, as he turned into a “nominal” Catholic who continues with his religious practices as an obligation.

“But then I fell in love again with God through the traditional Latin Mass. It brought me back to the Catholic Church that I even look forward to Sundays,” he said.

Now, he is encouraging fellow Catholics to experience the same reshaping of their lives just as he had.

“We would like for it (traditional Latin Mass) to be offered in every parish in Cebu. It does not have to replace the Ordinary Form. But at least, every parish should allow the access of the Extraordinary Form since so much can be derived from this form of the liturgy,” he asserted.

He said one of the benefits can acquire from this form is becoming more attuned to the presence of God on the altar.

“The liturgy is about God, Him being the center of our worship and attention. The liturgy is about His good works that He showed to us that we bounce back to Him through worship,” he said.

“It is never about us. We are negligible to God. Yet we offer the Mass through the spotless sacrifice that is Jesus Christ. That is what I love about this liturgy because Christ is the center,” he added.

The flow of the traditional Latin Mass is rooted on the 1962 Roman Missal that has never been discontinued. This was the Mass practiced by the Church centuries back before the Second Vatican Council.

Since parishes use mostly the Ordinary Form or New Mass, Montejo said it is also wise to participate in the Old Form for this is the rite where the Mass celebrated today came from.

Msgr. Joseph Tan, media liaison of the Cebu archdiocese, said that from 1962 onwards, there have been dramatic changes in the Catholic Church.

“From Latin, being the universal language of the Church, there was a clamor for vernacular Masses and then there were a lot of simplifications on how the Mass should be celebrated to counter the idea that Masses has become mechanical,” he explained.

Starting 1962, he said, the new order of the Mass was formulated and finalized until its eventual launching and celebration just before the 1970s.

This went on, he continued, until 10 years ago Pope Benedict XVI issued a document allowing the parishes to celebrate the Old Rite without special permission.

“There were several cases like in Europe where parishioners ask for permission to celebrate the Old Mass. Some were used to the old Rite and could not adopt the New Form. Some find it more solemn,” he said.

Later, Tan said, the pope liberalized the celebration of the Old Mass so as long as there are people willing to participate undergoing the right catechism. —/JMD (FREEMAN)