PARISH CHERISHES THE OLD WAYS : CHURCH REJECTS CHANGES TO MASS.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Christmas is a holiday deeply rooted in traditions, many of them dating back 2,000 years. Worshipers at a local church look a generation or two into the past for the traditions they embrace.

The priests, nuns and parishioners of Queen of Angels call themselves and their small Newhall Avenue church Catholic, although they aren't aligned with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles or the pope in Rome, for that matter.

The Rev. Dominic Radecki, pastor of Queen of Angels, celebrates Mass in Latin and faces the altar, rather than his congregation. Their brand of Catholicism shuns the modernizations instituted by the Roman Catholic Church after the 1965 conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, which liberalized the liturgy.

So, while mainstream Catholic churches and Queen of Angels' ``traditional'' church have been lighting one Advent candle each week during the monthlong season that leads up to Christmas, Radecki's flock has also been reciting novenas - groups of prayers, said on nine consecutive days before Christmas.

The 39-year-old pastor said St. Alphonsus, an Italian bishop who lived in the 1700s, wrote many of the novenas. ``They beautifully portray the spirit of Christmas and (illustrate) how we should prepare for this special event,'' Radecki said.

``After Vatican II, a lot of the devotional practices were dropped. Prior to that, the Christmas novena was one of the most important,'' he said. ``The Advent season is a joyful time, but we spend our time preparing our lives, our souls for Christmas.''

The 125 families from all over Southern California who make up Queen of Angels' congregation left their mainstream Catholic churches for reasons that generally boil down to tradition. Queen of Angels, Radecki said, is one of about 500 such Catholic churches in the United States and Canada that do things the old way.

Women wear veils to cover their heads. Holy Communion is given on the tongue, not in the palm of the hand. Post-Vatican II customs like the handshake and greeting of peace and the hand-holding among parishioners during recitation of the Lord's Prayer aren't observed during Mass.

Parishioners follow the Latin Mass with prayer books in which the English translations of liturgy and Bible passages are much different from those in mainstream Catholic churches. Radecki conducts the Stations of the Cross every Friday, a rite observed in mainstream Catholic parishes only during the Easter season, and leads Queen of Angels parishioners in the recitation of the rosary before daily and Sunday Mass. Radecki wasn't in Newhall for Christmas - he was in Wayne, Mich., caring for his ill twin brother Francisco, also a ``traditional'' priest. Christmas Masses were celebrated by the Rev. Gerard McKee, a San Fernando Valley native who was visiting from a ``traditional'' Catholic parish in Spokane.

In Radecki's absence, the parish's two nuns, Sister Mary Bridget Thomas and Sister Maria Kazimiera Puskorius, tended to the last-minute holiday decorations inside the church and out. Puskorius, the daughter of Lithuanian refugees, grew up in Canoga Park.

Along with morning Masses, Queen of Angels offered midnight high Mass, a Christmas Eve staple that Radecki said dates back centuries and is sometimes known as the Mass of the Shepherds because they were the first to see the newborn Jesus.

``The midnight Mass was begun by St. Francis of Assisi. He made it popular for all the priests. Before that, in the early centuries of the church, midnight Mass was reserved for the pope alone,'' Radecki said.

Indoor and outdoor Nativity scenes decorate Queen of Angels, and Radecki also credited St. Francis for starting the tradition of manger displays in 13th century Italy.

``Another custom we have is the children's procession with the Christ child,'' Radecki said. ``In many European countries, they do this. They have the children dressed up as the Blessed Virgin (Mary) and Joseph and the shepherds and the angels.''

In another difference, Radecki said he and his congregation will mark the 40 days of Christmas - rather than the 12 days that end Jan. 6, called Epiphany. At Queen of Angels, he said, the Christmas season will last almost until Ash Wednesday in February - the beginning of Lent that leads up to Easter.

Radecki, a native of Toledo, Ohio, said his parishioners aren't the ones who have strayed from ``regular'' Catholicism. He and other traditional Catholics say that Vatican II marked a fork in the spiritual road that they choose not to follow.

``A lot of these things used to be done in all of the Catholic churches, but they've gotten away from it,'' he said. ``We haven't changed anything. Our beliefs, our doctrines - it's the same Mass, the same traditions, the same sacraments. We just kept it the same. They changed it to something different.''

Even the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Radecki notes, now offers a Latin Mass at one of its parishes every week.

``The Latin Mass is the closest thing that we have to a tape recording of the Last Supper, and if Jesus established it that way, then we should keep it that way,'' Radecki said. ``A lot of (Catholics) remember the beautiful traditions of the Latin Mass. They come to Queen of Angels and they stay (because) they find what they're looking for.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1--ran in SAC and CONEJO editions only--color in SAC only) Sister Maria Kazimiera Puskorius, left, and Mary Schmitz work on the manger scene outside Queen of Angels Church in Newhall.

(2--ran in SAC only--color) After decorating the altar for Christmas Masses, Marietta Waters, left, Mary Schmitz and Sister Mary Kazimiera Puskorius pray.

(3--ran in SAC and CONEJO editions only) Sister Maria Kazimiera Puskorius displays the missal in Latin.

John Lazar/Special to the Daily News