The battery in Rocky's car died and because he had to wait for a rescue from AAA we missed our regular Sunday Mass and had to go to another church. It was interesting. The choir was large and they could sing but oh man.... they sang dreck. At one point during the first ooey-gooey teenage pop love song I thought, "Are they singing about a dude or the Lord?" It was just revolting. The Communion song was better but since its lyrics were written to sound like Jesus talking to us I wasn't comfortable with it. Something just didn't feel right about putting words in Our Lord's mouth. The psalm sounded like the chorus from the musical, "Cats". The choir also sang a Gloria so long that Rocky raised an eyebrow, babies wailed and even the priest looked like a restless little boy.
Before Mass a lector announced what the readings would be and gave us a mini homily of what they all meant. This always irritates me. Did this nice, well meaning lady think that we were all illiterate and couldn't read the missal or had she been told that the folks in the pews were too stupid to figure out what they were hearing and needed it broken down to easily digested mental pap?
After this we were instructed to rise and greet our neighbors. We, and the people around us did as we were told but we all seemed somewhere between bemused and embarassed about it. After this pre-liturgy rite, Mass finally began. The priest, thank God was serious and gave us a fine homily. This wasn't the worst Mass we've ever been to and I'm just glad we were able to fulfill our Sunday duty.
The Novus Ordo already comes with options so why do liturgists have add all this extra, unapproved stuff? Do they think they're defying the bishop? Please! As long as there's no scandals, the bishop doesn't care. Do they think they're defying the Pope? The Holy Father will never know about the antics of one suburban parish in America. Are they thumbing their noses at conservative or traditional Catholics? Neither group would set foot in this parish unless they had to. I just don't get it and I wonder how the newly corrected translation of the Mass will go down with this particular parish.