When bells toll on Sunday morning, the final seats of Catholic churches are being taken. Preludes are on their final chord, the priest and altar servers are at the back of the aisle, and the morning sun causes the stained glass of the windows to glow. These are true for all of the La Crosse diocese, but some masses have practices that have not been seen for decades. Women wearing veils, incense filling the church, and Gregorian chant echoing from the choir loft.
In La Crosse, Catholic culture is vibrant and very much alive among people of all ages but is rising especially in the younger generations. Students from three universities attend mass at the Newman Center, designed to enrich the faith of young people. However, many of these men and women also crave the beauty of old rite Catholic traditions. This is seen with young people flocking to not only the Cathedral but also St. James the Less and the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. All of these places of worship have traditional practices at their core.
At St. Joseph the Workman, high masses have incense, begin with the Introit chant for the mass, are often ad orientem (the priest faces away from the congregation), and many women choose to veil their heads. At St. James, there are more of the same practices that are found at the Cathedral but also include the priest wearing a Roman chasuble. Finally, all of these are found at the Shrine, including hosting what is known as the Traditional Latin Mass, or TLM.
Viterbo University has always expressed dependency and devotion to her Catholic values and roots. Crucifixes are found in many classrooms, statues of important Franciscan saints around campus, icons of Our Holy Mother and St. Joseph in the hallways of Murphy, a lively campus ministry, and the ability to go to adoration just across the street at the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Convent. However, traditional practices are not that present.
If more young people want to experience the rich traditions of their faith, it should be represented more, and Viterbo should take up this feat. With a Catholic institution in a Catholic city, perhaps Viterbo should reflect on her practices and what her students want.
This is not to say that Viterbo University is lacking in her faith or ignoring it altogether. Rather, with more college-age students wanting more out of their religion, and with Viterbo being a Catholic institution, there is more that can be done. Returning to what young people want, traditionalism could be a way for Viterbo to combat its current enrollment issues. After all, if tradition is what young Catholic adults want out of their faith, why not cultivate that on campus? What is wanted and needed is the love that Catholicism promotes, especially during a time of loss on campus and friction in society.
With a centralized focus on including more traditional practices, this unites and draws in traditional Catholics and helps other Catholic students become aware of the history of their faith. For example, one woman may be wearing a veil during a mass, and another may not be. In this proximity, the woman not wearing a veil could start a discourse with the one who is and deepen her own faith.
Furthermore, this could cause all types of Catholic students to go to mass on campus, instead of going elsewhere. Offering different types of masses, whether it be Novus Ordo (the common liturgy of the mass), the TLM, or somewhere in between, students’ favorite mass types can keep them feeling at home on campus. They will feel loved, knowing that their faith is being fully represented.
This can also help students who are still discerning their beliefs. By observing the modern and traditional practices of Catholicism, especially those blended on campus, they can see what the faith is truly about, loving one another and finding companionship in shared values. College is a time to understand where one belongs and who they are, and the Catholic faith can easily clarify this.
Overall, Viterbo should look at herself and develop ideas on how to center her faith to unite the students on campus. Catholicism, especially its traditions, calls all to love one another, and find peace and hope in faith. Faith fuels hope, which then blooms into love. As said in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”
