Embarassmet in church

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I was really embarrassed this morning during Holy Mass when the entire congregation (I inclusive) failed to recite the apostle’s Creed:o.
Our main celebrant today was a priest who, most of the time is out of the country, mainly based in the United States but this time he was from Rome. Often he stresses that as Catholics, we should be able to respond during mass according to the new order of liturgy (which some are not yet acquainted with). Today he surprised with the Creed; he started, and we followed mumbling, then I can’t tell whether intentionally or not, he went quiet, and there, we were exposed, dead silence in church. I felt like hiding under the seat because, seriously! How could the entire congregation go blank?
Even though I also couldn’t recite the Creed (don’t how the one recited during Mass is called), am scared for us and really ashamed.
The problem if I were asked, is too much singing, a friend of my from Tanzania once told me the most of their dioceses prefer the Creed and the Father recited and not sung; Now I think I understand why.
I would thus love to know what approach your congregations out there have used to master the Creed, and if you do sing, then how do you know the people can recite the Creed off head (of course and other prayers, but, the Creed!)
 
That is why I always keep the missalette open to the page. 😉
 
I recite the Rosary at least once a week and it begins with the Apostle’s creed. It took me a while, but I learned it. God Bless You. Since I am a convert, I often times don’t know all the prayers and responses, so I understand your predicament. God Bless You!
 
Is your parish extraordinarily poor or in a crime-ridden area? If not, you should suggest that the pastor provide materials on paper so that people can worship effectively with the new translation. At the very least, there are attractive card-stock sheets that can be ordered with all the essential parts of the liturgy in the new translation. Or, you could provide missalettes with a subscription. The most cost-effective and permanent way to go is by investing in permanent missals for the pews. There is a good one from Corpus Christi Watershed, and my parish uses one from Illuminare Publications called the Lumen Christi Missal. With a permanent hardback missal, you have a solution that actually saves money in the long run and you can avoid litter in the building and throwing away the Word of God after the missalette term expires.

At the very least, the faithful can purchase and bring their own hand missals. If you do not have one then I recommend that you invest in it. It will teach you the new translation, and if you purchase a permanent one then it will serve you well for years or decades to come.
 
I plan on learning to pray the rosary myself, that way I will also learn the Creed. 🙂
 
Micosil said:
I plan on learning to pray the rosary myself, that way I will also learn the Creed. 🙂
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That won’t quite prepare you for a typical Catholic Mass. We mostly use the Niceno-Constantinopoltian Creed, which is longer and more detailed. The Rosary almost exclusively uses the Apostles’ Creed, which is another option for the Mass, such as in the OP’s case.
 
Elizium23 said:
That won’t quite prepare you for a typical Catholic Mass. We mostly use the Niceno-Constantinopoltian Creed, which is longer and more detailed. The Rosary almost exclusively uses the Apostles’ Creed, which is another option for the Mass, such as in the OP’s case.
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Ah, I see. 😃
 
Elizium23 said:
That won’t quite prepare you for a typical Catholic Mass. We mostly use the Niceno-Constantinopoltian Creed, which is longer and more detailed. The Rosary almost exclusively uses the Apostles’ Creed, which is another option for the Mass, such as in the OP’s case.
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We almost exclusively use the Apostles’ Creed in our masses; the only time I’ve heard the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed recited was the evening that the Creed was “presented” to me during the RCIA procees (and on that evening, the priest instructed the congregation on where to find it in the hymnals).

I committed the Apostles’ Creed to memory by reciting the rosary; if I need the Niceno-Constantinopolitan, I’d have to find it in one of our books.
 
On Sundays the Nicene Creed is professed except during Lent. Correct me if I am wrong. It is longer. If one doesn’t have a missalette, there usually is the order of the Mass inside the songbook which has the Nicene Creed. I don’t have the Nicene Creed memorized so I need a book to follow along. I have the Apostle’s Creed memorized
 
We say the Nicene Creed, and I could not say it without the book. I could recite The Apostle’s Creed with no problem. The two are similar, but I can never quite remember all the words to the Nicene Creed.
 
7_Sorrows said:
On Sundays the Nicene Creed is professed except during Lent. Correct me if I am wrong. It is longer. If one doesn’t have a missalette, there usually is the order of the Mass inside the songbook which has the Nicene Creed. I don’t have the Nicene Creed memorized so I need a book to follow along. I have the Apostle’s Creed memorized
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The Creed is also required on Solemnities, which Sundays are also considered to be. The priest has a legitimate option to choose either of the two Creeds, but the Apostles’ Creed is suggested for best effect during the Easter Season, not Lent.
 
Elizium23 said:
The Creed is also required on Solemnities, which Sundays are also considered to be. The priest has a legitimate option to choose either of the two Creeds, but the Apostles’ Creed is suggested for best effect during the Easter Season, not Lent.
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We have been saying the Nicene Creed since Easter.
 
In the Archdiocese of Washington DC we use pew cards which have all the responses changed in 2010 as well as the Nicene Creed.
 
Our parish has the nicene creed and other parts of the mass printed and pasted inside our humans. If your parish cannot afford missalettes or pew cards, one could look up the prayers on copy them off to carry. I carry lots of prayers like to say in my purse, but they could go equally well in pockets!
 
Ohana said:
Our parish has the nicene creed and other parts of the mass printed and pasted inside our humans. If your parish cannot afford missalettes or pew cards, one could look up the prayers on copy them off to carry. I carry lots of prayers like to say in my purse, but they could go equally well in pockets!
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Humans?
 
Micosil said:
I plan on learning to pray the rosary myself, that way I will also learn the Creed. 🙂
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I actually knew a priest who* literally *proclaimed the Gospel from memory each week–that is, when he was the priest giving the homily, he would not look at the Book of the Gospels at all, but recited the Gospel for that Mass from memory. He always took out the missal for the Creed! When a child in the parish asked him why, this was his answer: “I can say the Apostle’s Creed fine for the Rosary, but at Mass when it can be either the Apostle’s Creed or the Nicene Creed, I sometimes mix them. So I read it.”

The scene described is hardly that unusual. The parish needs missals with both versions of the Creed in an easy-to-find place. Most priests will announce when they are using the Apostle’s Creed instead of the more-typical (and therefore more automatic) Nicene Creed, because so many people will find themselves driving in the rut of the Nicene Creed at Mass, even when the Apostle’s Creed is being recited.
 
Ohana said:
Our parish has the nicene creed and other parts of the mass printed and pasted inside our humans. If your parish cannot afford missalettes or pew cards, one could look up the prayers on copy them off to carry. I carry lots of prayers like to say in my purse, but they could go equally well in pockets!
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Actually, you can’t do that without a license to reproduce the copyrighted materials. ICEL holds this copyright, and they license the rights to various publishers of pew cards and missalettes.
 
Ohana said:
Humans was meant to be hymnals! Spell check struck again! 🤷
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Oh hymnals! I couldn’t figure out what word you were thinking of.
I don’t like it when spell check takes over either!! 🙂
 
Elizium23 said:
Actually, you can’t do that without a license to reproduce the copyrighted materials. ICEL holds this copyright, and they license the rights to various publishers of pew cards and missalettes.
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I am not sure that ICEL holds the copyright to prayers that are century old. They might hold a copyright to the pamphlet but I do not see how they can hold a copyright for the prayer itself. That would mean anyone reciting the Our Father or Nicene Creed could not do so. Do you really mean that I couldn’t write out these prayers because somehow they own them?
 
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