Traditional Latin Mass recalls centuries of faith

Each Sunday, Mary Jo and Bob Brummer of Genoa drive through Carson Valley, Carson City and Washoe Valley, a 25-minute drive, just to attend church at Holy Spirit Catholic Mission in Washoe City.

For the Brummers, it's worth the extra effort because of what the mission offers that other Catholic churches in the region do not - a traditional Latin Mass.

"It's the old Mass that we grew up with, Latin," Mary Jo Brummer said. "It's beautiful. It's really about worshipping God in the vertical. It's not about the congregation, not about the priest. It's about worshipping God in the vertical."

The Rev. Lorenzo Torrente, known to his congregation as Father Loy, administers the sacraments to about 70-80 people who come from all over Northern Nevada, including Carson City, Reno, Lake Tahoe, and even Yerington.

Torrente, a native of the Philippines, came to the United States in 1989 and succeeded Friar Cyril Apassa a year ago at the mission. He continues the tradition of the Latin Mass, which is also known as the Tridentine Mass after the Council of Trent (1545-1563), which standardized the Mass in response to the rise of Protestantism in Europe.

The Tridentine Mass was the most common form until the 1960s when Pope Paul VI, during the Second Vatican Council, allowed Mass to be recited in the common tongue. More recently, Pope Benedict XVI, elected to the papacy in 2005, encouraged more congregations to use the Tridentine form.

Torrente remembers the Latin Mass fondly from his own childhood serving as an altar boy in the Philippines.

"I've known Latin (Mass) since when I was a kid," said the 60-year-old priest. "It's an extraordinary form of liturgy based on traditions (of the church)."

Torrente was serving in Las Vegas when he was appointed by the Diocese of Reno's Bishop Phillip Straling to minister to the congregation, an assignment he welcomed and also requested to be closer to family in Reno.

Torrente also serves as chaplain at Renown Regional Medical Center and the Veterans Administration Hospital, both in Reno.

On the church website at www.holyspiritcatholicmission.org, the priest emphasizes what the church is about: "This is not about me, it is about Jesus Christ."

For Brummer, that's the essence of the Latin Mass.

"It's not about the personality (of those ministering)," she said, "it's about the Holy Sacrament."

The Holy Spirit Catholic Mission's Easter Sunday Mass schedule is High Mass at 8:30 a.m. and Low Mass at 10:30 a.m. Regular Mass schedule is at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on Sundays. It is located at 695 Highway 395 North, about a quarter mile south of the Chocolate Factory. From Carson City, it's just beyond the highway lane barrier to the left.

For more information, call 775-849-7764.¿