For more than 30 years, the traditional Latin Mass of the Roman Catholic Church has been missing from Jersey City. Since May 19, however, the Latin service has returned to Holy Rosary Church at 344 Sixth Street.
"At the first service, the attendance was 110 people," said Holy Rosary Pastor Rev. Joseph Chiang. "Since then we’ve had a little more than 70 to 80 people."
Along with the Latin Mass at 9 a.m. and the regular English language service, Holy Rosary has a bilingual Italian-English mass and a Chinese liturgy in Mandarin and Cantonese.
"People have been coming from all around the state for the Chinese and Latin services," Chiang said. "There are a lot of younger people with families who come down here."
Chiang believes the attraction of the Latin service is a greater level of spirituality. Also, there is the appeal of tradition.
One manifestation of this appeal is the veils worn by some of the women and small girls at the service.
"St. Paul said that women should cover their heads when they enter church, so many women cover their hair with veils," Chiang explained.
Chiang is among four priests who conduct the Latin liturgy at the church. One of the others is Rev. Kenneth Burke, S.J., who has been celebrating the Latin mass in New York City and New Jersey since 1989.
According to Baker, the Latin service was never officially done away with, and the English language version was originally offered as an alternative by Vatican II. Baker said parts of the English service are not part of the Latin version, including the Responsorial Psalm, the Prayer of the Faithful, and the shaking of hands in the middle of the service.
"The priest faces away from the worshipers and there are about 15 genuflections," Baker added. "The prayers are different and not in English, of course."
"The key to the whole thing is the sense of the sacred for all people," said Baker.
In addition to different prayers, the priests’ vestments are more elaborate, including the colors white, red, green, violet, and black. Chiang’s sister, a nun in Singapore, created the vestments using Chinese silk.
Ron Columbo of Una Voce, an organization dedicated to promoting the Latin Liturgy, said one of the hurdles of organizing the services is the language barrier. "We had to make sure the choir did justice to the Latin music," said Columbo. "We also had to order a batch of Latin missals."
And the service itself was a problem for some of the beginners. "One of the priests who had not done the service before had to practice by watching videos and getting a little prompting," Columbo said. "It was a little bit of a shock for him."
Columbo said he was not speaking for all Catholics, but he believes most Catholics would prefer the Latin service.
"We’re just doing what has been done for 2,000 years," said Columbo. "We’re doing what’s tried and true."
For more information on the Latin service call (201) 795-0120.