Verso l’alto, or “to the top,” the motto of the saintly mountaineer Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, was much on the minds of the 17 students of Thomas Aquinas College, California, who ventured to Yosemite National Park with Chaplain Rev. Jorge Lopez and Dr. Sarah Kaiser (’02) over Columbus Day weekend to conquer the park’s formidable Half Dome.
The contingent departed the California campus after classes concluded Friday afternoon, arriving at Yosemite in the early evening. The following morning, they embarked on the 14-mile hike to the base of Half Dome, where they set up camp and enjoyed each other’s company around the fire, praying a Rosary together before bedding down beneath the open sky. “We talked about and enjoyed how vast and beautiful the stars were,” recalled James Hirota (’24).
The hikers rose early on Sunday and began the arduous uphill hike “to the top” of Half Dome. Closing the last 400 feet with the aid of cable and wooden stairs, the mountaineers caught sight of the Sierra Nevada in all its autumn splendor. Fr. Jorge offered Mass for the intrepid climbers at the summit, 8,839 feet above sea level. The hiking did not stop there, however. After a brief rest, they returned to the base and walked another eight miles before bedding down for a well-earned night’s sleep.
Rising on Monday, the group hiked the remaining distance to the trailhead. Before returning to campus, however, they drove to the world-famous Glacier Point. Seeing Half Dome in the distance, the mountaineers saw both the scale of their Sunday-morning accomplishment — and the beauty that had surrounded them the entire time — with fresh eyes.
I don’t agree with celebrating Mass in a place like that. Sure, go on a hike, but keep Mass in a church.
Celebrating sacraments in a church is, of course, the norm. Yet, St. John Paul and many others, including military chaplains, have celebrated Mass outside. Sometimes Mass is offered for major league sports teams in a hotel ballroom, so that athletes may attend.
The Latin Code of Canon Law indicates in Canon 932: §1 The Eucharistic celebration is to be carried out in a sacred place unless in a particular case necessity requires otherwise; in such a case the celebration must be done in a decent place.
Some translations render the Latin “a respectable place.”
Papal Masses are often outside and Archbishop Fulton Sheen, who was bi-ritual, presided at Divine Liturgy (Mass) outdoors at a pilgrimage in Pennsylvania in 1955.
Since it was not an incident where they hiked just to say Mass but were out hiking for a few days that included Sunday, I think the Mass was appropriate. Thanks to Deacon Craig for the CCL.
It was a perfect setting. Many priests have celebrated the sacred Eucharist in God’s wilderness, vastness and many other locations. The church is nice, but is not critical and these students will remember this Mass for the rest of their lives. Kudos to Father Jorge Lopez for giving them the experience of their lives and his blessing in God’s house (the great outdoors).
Really? What’s the difference between this and that Mass picture that showed a priest saying Mass waist-deep in the ocean, using an inflatable mattress as an altar? Trads lambasted that priest and picture as a liturgical abuse. But this is okay? Why? Don’t believe me? Read it here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/07/28/italian-priest-apologises-holding-mass-sea-lilo-altar/
I’m sure the students at the ocean Mass will remember that one for the rest of their lives too. You can’t get more vast than the ocean, which is also the great outdoors. So explain why the ocean Mass is wrong but the Half Dome Mass was okay.
Because the so-called “Ocean Mass” was done in irreverence and with a desire to be “innovative”.
There is a long tradition of the celebration of the Mass outdoors, outside of a church. When Catholics were persecuted by the British in Ireland, priests were forced to celebrate mass on rocks, not unlike at Half Dome. In the trenches of wars, Mass was celebrated in tents. Even many traditional leaning Catholics celebrate mass in the wilderness, whether it be for a hike or a walking pilgrimage. If there is no church nearby (and there isn’t in Yosemite, I’ve been), and there is a priest, and the Eucharist is sought, then it is permissible.
I’m not sure where the pearl-clutching on masses in the beauty of the outdoors is coming from, but it’s not particularly rooted in anything. It is not in any way, shape, or form even an iota equivalent to what that priest did in the water.
Or is it because the Half Dome Mass was celebrated by a priest and group from the sacred cow of TAC, which can do no wrong?
You have been presented with an ecclesiastical, traditional, religious, historical, rational, and magisterial explanation for why outdoor masses like this are permissible, and you reject them, only to indulge in your own bullheadedness and folly.
I am in constant shock and awe as to how Catholics can be dregs of humanity inasmuch as you have displayed, because living the purpose of a faithful Catholic requires a certain intellectual understanding of the Church that I cannot say that you possess.
Almost a century ago, Fr. John Crowley (for whom Crowley Lake is named) celebrated Mass at the summit of Mt. Whitney. There’s a good photo in his biography. If it was OK then . . .
This was reported to have occurred over Columbus Day weekend. That Sunday was October 8, 2023, which was the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, whose liturgical color is green. Why, then, is Father pictured wearing a white chasuble?
I don’t understand why em dashes were used in the last sentence. I think correct punctuation would have been to omit the em dashes and let the phrase that begins with the conjunction “and” be connected more immediately to the phrase that precedes it. It is especially poor punctuation considering that the main clause employs the word “both,” so the reader is expecting two items to follow. In this case, the two items were two phrases. An em dash is properly used to signify a break in a sentence’s thought; it is not properly used in this example, to distinguish two closely related phrases.
A man decided to go hiking in Yosemite National Park and reached the top of Half Dome, a famous granite formation. He was so amazed by the view that he decided to pray and thank God for his creation. He knelt down and said, “Lord, thank you for this wonderful day and this amazing scenery. You are truly great and powerful.” As he finished his prayer, he heard a loud voice from the sky saying, “You’re welcome, my son. But next time, please don’t climb on my bald spot.”
Mass is wonderful in the open. Priests have celebrated Mass for 2,000 years in the open. I’ve done it on numerous occasions. The first Priest celebrated Mass in a common “Upper Room” as there was no Church, Basilica or Cathedral available.
Our parish priest always said mass each morning when camping with our Scout troop – out in the open air, among God’s creations. He wore his Scout shorts and tee shirt with a stole.