Latin Mass is back in the news. But some Louisiana Catholics wonder what’s all the fuss?

When Wesley Franatovich settles into a church pew for the Latin Mass at St. Patrick’s Church in New Orleans, he feels a sense of calm wash over him.

There’s ritual and mystery and choreography, and in that, Franatovich said, “there’s comfort.”

“And I think people are looking for a sense of comfort these days,” Franatovich, a 29-year-old New Orleans real estate agent and longtime Roman Catholic, said Mass at the church. “A lot of people are searching for things that ground them in a way — a lot of people see that in the Latin Mass.” There’s a reverence about it.”

Franatovich said a favorite moment comes when the congregation, together with the priest, sings the Nicene Creed in Latin: Credo in unum Deum …

“It’s powerful,” he said.

The Latin Mass has been in the news lately, following Pope Leo XIV’s escalated warnings to the Society of St. Pius X that its planned consecration of bishops without papal consent is a schismatic act. The group was formed in 1970 in opposition to the Roman Catholic Church reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s and largely broke with Rome in 1988.

One of the group’s hallmarks is its adherence to the Latin Mass.

But in south Louisiana, where the Latin Mass has enjoyed a growing following in recent years, and where the various dioceses have allowed it with some restrictions, the controversy surrounding the practice is muted.

“For those who are devotees, the traditional Mass is not a controversial thing,” said the Rev. Brent Maher, pastor of St. Agnes Catholic Church in Baton Rouge.

“Vatican II brought change,” he said. Many people appreciated it, he added, but some did not.

Maher said St. Agnes, which offers Latin Mass on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings and is the lone church in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge authorized to do so, often draws 250 people or more.

“We have a good mix of people, but a large number of them are young families,” Maher said.

Also called the Tridentine Mass, Latin Mass became increasingly rare following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Among the most notable differences between Latin Masses and contemporary Masses is that the priest spends much of his time with his back to the worshippers and, of course, most of the Mass is said in Latin.

Pope Francis reimposed restrictions in 2021, concerned that the growing use of Latin Mass might divide the Church.

Those restrictions spelled out when priests must use the vernacular, or the common language of the place where the Mass is being said, and allowed bishops to decide whether and where to have Latin Masses in their dioceses.

But many Catholics, particularly traditionalists, find comfort in the rituals, motions and language used in the Latin Mass.

“It’s important to recognize the complexity,” said Tom Ryan, chaplain of Loyola University in New Orleans, who is also a professor of theology and ministry. “The beauty is the Latin. There’s tradition in Latin. Latin can also be a unifying source.”

Ryan also said that residents of New Orleans and south Louisiana often hold tighter to traditions, religious traditions among them.

“I do think Catholicism here is a bit more traditional than other places,” he said.

On the other side, Ryan said, some might use the Latin Mass as a way to separate themselves from others in the church or to suggest that it somehow holds a deeper meaning. Also, he added, “the appeal can be limited. There’s only so many people who will do what it takes for the effort to understand it.”

Maher, meanwhile, said the theological issues between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X go much deeper than the Latin Mass. Ryan agreed and added that it’s likely a broader issue of power.

There are a few Society of St. Pius X-affiliated churches in the region, but efforts to contact them for comment were not successful.

An Archdiocese of New Orleans spokesperson, Sarah McDonald, said new Archbishop James Checchio has not issued any formal statements on the Latin Mass, which a small number of archdiocesan churches offer. The Latin Masses the archdiocese recognizes are not those affiliated with the Society of St. Pius X, McDonald noted.

Checchio was scheduled to attend a Latin Mass on Sunday at Our Lady of Mount Carmel near Covington.

‘Each little gesture’

Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s Latin Mass services have grown in popularity in recent years. The church’s pastor, the Rev. Damien Zablocki, was not available for comment for this story.

Inside St. Patrick’s, a Gothic-style church built on Camp Street in New Orleans in 1840 as a place for Irish immigrants to worship in splendor and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975, snippets of the Rev. Garrett O’Brien’s Latin words floated over the pews early Wednesday morning.

Around 25 people attended. Most appeared to be middle-aged or older; many of the women wore chapel veils covering their hair. The weekday Masses are usually faster, with less singing, than the High Latin Mass offered on Sundays.

O’Brien declined to talk to a reporter following the Mass, saying that he thought any comments regarding the Latin Mass should come from the archdiocese.

Maher, 41, recalls the first time he attended a Latin Mass. The Denham Springs native was 20 at the time and in the seminary. He said he tagged along with a friend who asked him to help serve at the Mass.

“I walked out and said, ‘What in the world was that?’” he recalled. “It was very, very different.”

But he embraced it and now loves saying Latin Mass.

“Each little gesture has a value and a purpose and a meaning. There’s a lot of chanting — it’s part of the obligation,” he said. “And your Latin has to be up to snuff.”

Franatovich said it’s often easy to spot first-timers sitting in the pews of a Latin Mass. 

“It’s so interesting to watch them,” he said, adding that the reactions are often a mix, with some seeming to enjoy it and others not so much.

It’s not for everyone, he says.

“You’re less focused on the words, and more on the actions and motions, I think,” Franatovich said.

This story includes reporting from The Associated Press.