Do you like to use a missal/ette? And does your parish have them?

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Are you the kind who feels lost without a missal or a missalette at Mass? Do you have a nice Missal of your own, or use the parish’s missalette, or follow along without one? Does your parish priest support or frown upon the use of missal(ette)s?

Also, does the layout/structure of the missal you use matter to you? At the parish I grew up in and am returning to, they always had the Pray Together missal. I mean for decades. I found it very easy to follow. Then they switched recently to Today’s Missal which seems harder to follow - it may just be that it’s all black and white print whereas Pray Together had red and black.

The parish I attended last year in another part of town didn’t have missalettes in the pews, and I only found out before I moved away that there was a stack of them at the back that you could use. But they had the Sunday Mass readings as part of the hymnal. I guess the missalettes were for daily Masses.

Then when the wording of the Mass changed last year, that parish used a supplement in the hymnals for the parts of the Mass with new wording.

I wanted something that had all the Eucharistic Prayers, the new translation, and the readings, all together in one place, so I purchased a St. Joseph paperback missal of my own. They only go for one year and just Sundays, not weekdays. But I liked it and bought another one for 2013, which started today since it’s now Advent.

Some people can pay attention without a missal. I admire those people. My mind wanders! :rolleyes:
 
I have to use one now for the Credo in the new translation. Hopefully in a year or two more I’ll be able to say it unaided.

Also, I always use it at daily mass for two things. I can either remember the psalm response or I can listen to the psalm being read. I can’t do both. So I listen to it being read and use the missalette to say the response. Also, you need it for the congregation response of the day at communion. That changes so you can’t memorize it.

Oh, I suppose I also use one for those times when the congregation reads something, like on Palm Sunday or one of those stately poem-like things, I can’t for the life of me remember what they are called right now. A sequence???
 
I own the Roman Missal 1962, the Daily Roman Missal, and then I have a missalette (Order of Holy Mass, The Holy Eucharist [Anglican Use] Rite One), which I do use that one for Mass. I find it easier to read along.

BTW the missalette can only be found at Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church, Houston, Texas. They publish it themselves if my memory serves, and I got one because I meet the shop lady and I wanted my own copy instead of using the ones in the pews. Namely I wanted to take it home with me.

One day if I can wake up early enough and make the drive I will attend a Latin Mass and put the 1962 Missal to use.

Also remember the Missal can be utilized for catechesis and for prayers. There is way more then just the liturgy in a Missal.
 
My Parish, St. Stanislaus, in Manhattan, NYC has Mass in both Polish and English, thus, they provide Missalettes in both languages.
I use the Missalette for the English language Mass.
 
I get distracted, so I like them. At the same time, I’m a lector, a choir singer, and an usher so I try my hardest to tune in, so missals help me. Our parish St. Mary in Cranson RI is mostly Italian so we have our own missal as well as the one from the company, and ours is just filled with extras. Mostly Italian and Latin songs, and my favorite Theres Just Something About That Name
 
Never used to use one but need to since this time last year… I don’t mind what I use as long as the Creed & Gloria are in it. Our parish doesn’t provide Missalettes but has “Celebrate in Song” & pew cards for those who need help with the new responses. I never follow along with the readings – too distracting.
 
The main value I find in having a missal (I have the new Daily Roman Missal) is to be able to read the Scripture before Mass in order to preapre myselfnfor hearing it within the context of the Mass, or to reread something later to clarify my understanding.
 
It’s very helpful to have te misalette. before when I went to Church, I would daydream or not focus on the readings. Now I get the Misalette before mass, and when the readings are being read, I feel more in touch because I know what is going on.
 
I use the missalette in my parish and have used lots of different versions over the years, starting with a St. Joseph’s when I first learned to read.

I don’t use it after the Creed but I am the kind who doesn’t take in as much when I only hear something so I especially like following along with the readings. I also can sing the psalm response by folowing the notes in the missalette - otherwise, it’s about the 3rd or 4th verse until I “get it”… :o

Oh, and on those rare occassions when we do the common prayers in Latin, I need the hymnal since our missalette only has the Latin in the Spanish edition. 🤷
 
I do. But it’s the Order of the Mass and the lectionary in e-book format on my Kindle.
 
I used to enjoy reading the first and second readings and the psalm from the missalette. (Never could keep the response in my head for very long without something to peek at.) Growing up, my mom always made up put our missals away for the gospel, so that’s the habit I picked up… I never used it for anything else, except for the communion antiphon for daily Mass.

I live in the South, so sometimes the lectors’ accents can get in the way of the message. 😉 Being able to read it helps me focus properly.

But now, with toddlers, having that luxury is a thing of the past.
 
Missalette at church. Its hard to hear in our church since its open air, near a highway. I also go to church with my two young kids (both under 2). Distraction city!
 
I have an assortment of missals, but tend to alternate between two due to the print being too small in some of my others.
 
Liturgically there should be only one proclamation of the Gospel by the priest or deacon, not a crowd of people reading it by themselves.

The priest/deacon in the person of Christ proclaims the Word to the assembled faithful.

(…and they read along in their little books - kinda spoils the scene;))

However, with distraction (or distractibility), or hearing issues, or learning differences/different learning preferences a missal may be helpful.

However, I would suggest that sitting closer to the altar would help too, but if that doesn’t work and hearing the Word Proclaimed is a problem then a missal may be appropriate.

Personally I use a missal to pre-read the readings and Gospel.
 
I think a good missal is very important.

When we take in a message by more than one sense we generally take it in much better. Reading the words as they are read aloud strengthens our taking it in. We are there to take in the word of God.

Often, for a any number of reasons, the lector, deacon, or priest is hard to understand. Miss a word or phrase and it is lost because it is not repeated. A good missal allows us to take in what ever we missed in oral reading.
 
My parish has never had them, except floppy paper ones for Palm Sunday and the Easter Triduum. We used the same missalettes from 1976 until the new translation (I know, because that’s the year they included on the description of the Paschal candle), and last Easter we got new ones from the diocese (with a printing error that we’ll presumably have to manually alter over the decades!). Those missalettes don’t require any flipping between different places, and also come with a variety of hymns printed in the places where hymns are usually sung.

I have a missal I was given when I made my first Communion, which I haven’t used during Mass for many many years. I used to find it useful, but don’t any more. We have cards with the people’s responses, that we got last year, and I mostly only occasionally use it for the Creed and Gloria: I’m trying to ween myself off it.

The weekly bulletin has the entrance antiphon, the verse numbers for the readings, the psalm, the Gospel acclamation, and the Communion antiphon all down the side, so for Sunday Mass you don’t need a missal for the responses.
 
I’m neutral. Sometimes I’ve used it, sometimes not. When my son was first starting to read, I got back in the habit of using one to sit with him & follow along. It helped with both his reading skills & his ability to be more focused & know more of what was going on.

I don’t own one; see no need for it, personally. If I want Scripture, I’ll pick up my Bible. Just my preference.
 
I have always used a missal. Since childhood, in the days before VII, I had a Sunday Missal. As the Mass changed, I updated my missal - at one time I had a Sunday Missal and a Weekday Missal. Then, about 12 years ago I invested in the Daily Roman Missal. I now have the latest Daily Missal, from the Catholic Truth Society, since I live in a country that uses the bible version used in the UK.

I would not be without it. I read every word of the Mass. I follow the readings and the Gospel in my Missal. Why? Because - sometimes the reader is not very clear, but mostly because we internalize far more via reading than we do via listening. So, I listen and follow the words in the Missal.

Further, the prayers in the new translation are so much better that those in the 1973 Missal, so they are a joy to read. The only con - it is very clear to me when Father Ad-Libby is ad-libbing!
 
When the pastor at my original parish arrived, the congregation was in need of a few pep talks. It’s amazing how Father has really graced the parish with enthusiasm and better participation. He has gotten at least a good portion to “come early and stay after” and to read the readings in preparation for mass. 👍 Go, Father! I kind of had the habit of doing that anyway, but that reinforced it in my mind.

Recently when I moved and was packing books, I found that I have quite a little collection of older Missals. Plus one newer paperback for the EF Mass which has been being said for some years in our diocese. I was thinking, should I give away some of these but all of them have some nice prayers or something that I like. Maybe I will pick one eventually and share the others. I find them at bookstores and thrift stores and the pro-life fundraiser book sale in our city. (Find lots of great Catholic books there! :bounce:)

My theory is that one’s preference for a missal or not is tied in with whether one is a visual type or an auditory type, and also attention span. I have ADD and am a visual learner and have an auditory processing “glitch” - so naturally I’m going to gravitate towards following along in a text, both for comprehension and concentration. 😉 However, we do have good lectors most of the time, so I haven’t had too much trouble. I have a harder time when it’s younger people; some of them talk faster than I can listen - but some are getting the hang of the pacing. Bless them, I’m glad they want to do it! :yup: Can’t expect them to sound like someone with years of practice.
 
I only use the missalette for the hymns. Otherwise I just listen.
 
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