It isn’t really accurate to say that no one knew what was going on in mass before 1950. Firstly the homily was still usually in the native language and often the readings were repeated in the native language during it.
Secondly in pre-Vatican 2 era Missals (which almost all Catholic parish’s had in the pew and many Catholics owned) it specifically lines out exactly what is being said and what is going on. All someone had to do was read the book in front of them if they really didn’t know any latin./…/
You give little reason for me to think that you were one of us there in the preconciliar period, and under the
vetus ordo
We didn’t have homilies…we had sermons, which are a different genre
Often, in opposition to what you say, the readings were not repeated in the vernacular…if one takes account weekday Masses and contrasts that to the numerically fewer Sunday Masses
I find so often that it’s people who were not there who announce what our lives were really like – and so blithely recount stories completely made up
Like the trope that we all had missals in the pews and we owned them as well. IT WAS NOT SO
There were parishes that had them but many did not; it varied
There were people who owned missals, or had been given a missal as a gift, but there were many people who did not or were not given the opportunity to use them
Those not fortunate enough to be part of the liturgical movement, and have opportunity to experience dialogue Masses, heard very little of low Masses…at all
Many people prayed the rosary or they had prayer books/manuals of pious devotions that they brought with them and read to themselves while the priest was silently at the altar reading his Mass, with the help of his altar boys
This was one of many reasons why popular devotions, such as novena services, were so popular. They engaged the laity and satisfied the devotional life of people as priest and congregation prayed together and sang together
The Council Fathers did not write the critiques on the
vetus ordo from thin air but from their lived, profound experience of how disconnected things were. There was not one part of the liturgy – not one aspect – that did not need
overhaul, according to their determination…the Mass, the Breviary, each and every one of the sacraments, blessings, sacramentals, ministry, art, music…everything.
As I think back to those years, I have no trouble understanding exactly why the Bishops of the world…all of them…wrote about a laity who were present at the liturgy as
strangers or silent spectators. The phrase was most apt. There was rather to be a true collaboration between the priest reading the Mass and a congregation vibrant with full, conscious and active participation
*48. The Church, therefore, earnestly desires that
Christ’s faithful, when present at this mystery of faith, should not be there as strangers or silent spectators; on the contrary, through a good understanding of the rites and prayers they should take part in the sacred action conscious of what they are doing,
with devotion and full collaboration. They should be instructed by God’s word and be nourished at the table of the Lord’s body;
they should give thanks to God; by offering the Immaculate Victim, not only through the hands of the priest, but also with him, they should learn also to offer themselves; through Christ the Mediator, they should be drawn day by day into ever more perfect union with God and with each other, so that finally God may be all in all.
- For this reason the sacred Council, having in mind those Masses which are celebrated with the assistance of the faithful, especially on Sundays and feasts of obligation, has made the following decrees in order that the sacrifice of the Mass, even in the ritual forms of its celebration, may become pastorally efficacious to the fullest degree.
- The rite of the Mass is to be revised in such a way that the intrinsic nature and purpose of its several parts, as also the connection between them, may be more clearly manifested, and that devout and active participation by the faithful may be more easily achieved.
For this purpose the rites are to be simplified, due care being taken to preserve their substance; elements which, with the passage of time, came to be duplicated, or were added with but little advantage, are now to be
discarded; other elements which have suffered injury through accidents of history are now to be restored to the vigor which they had in the days of the holy Fathers, as may seem useful or necessary.
/…/
- By means of the homily the mysteries of the faith and the guiding principles of the Christian life are expounded from the sacred text, during the course of the liturgical year; the homily, therefore, is to be highly esteemed as part of the liturgy itself; in fact, at those Masses which are celebrated with the assistance of the people on Sundays and feasts of obligation, it should not be omitted except for a serious reason.
- Especially on Sundays and feasts of obligation there is to be restored, after the Gospel and the homily, “the common prayer” or “the prayer of the faithful.” By this prayer, in which the people are to take part, intercession will be made for holy Church, for the civil authorities, for those oppressed by various needs, for all mankind, and for the salvation of the entire world *
The reason the Bishops emphasise these points is because they were lacking in the vetus ordo – and I do not ever forget what it was like to live under the vetus ordo in comparison to the great gift God gave us in the novus ordo, in all its wonderful aspects.
Were his choices limited. Anyway, Fr. Reihl apparently upset the apple cart pretty good. That, to me, indicates rigidity, or a lack of pastoral care for the members of *that *parish which he was assigned to. Maybe I’m wrong, but I just can’t believe that a small mountain parish would become an apostate parish overnight headed by a small group of women.
