The Economy of Mass: A Matter of Tastes?
Worship in the Catholic Tradition
Fr. Mark Broski
January 1, 1997
Just to show that they know a Little Latin, economists like to say "de gustibus non est disputandum," which, roughly translated, means, "Don't waste your time arguing about tastes." Some people have a taste for formal and traditional liturgy; others prefer something a bit more contemporary. Over time, an economist would confidently predict, successful churches would learn to tailor their worship to the needs of their members. Those most successful in this adjustment process would be rewarded with increasing "market share." Those less adept at reading the market's "signs of the times" should wither up and go away. This should be especially true when religious participants are young adults whose tastes seem to shift markedly from generation to generation. What worked in 1962, or even 1982, might fall flat today. When tastes are assumed to be perfectly subjective, not only is there no sense in arguing about them, but the law of "The customer is always right" becomes the only credo that matters. The Mass of the Catholic Church seems incapable of meeting this market test. For many, many people, including not a few Generation Xers, the Mass seems to be constitutionally backward, distant, and inflexible—not to mention sexist. Too often today many well-intentioned Christians are, |perhaps unknowingly, Grafting their services according to the influence of human fashion. Indeed, these Christians are often the Mass's toughest critics; they attempt to explain everything that's wrong about the Mass, their arguments couched in an economic language of marketing and consumerism. These brothers and sisters can explain everything that is wrong with the Mass, except one thing—that its influence continues to thrive. My point is that ...
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