Father Guy Selvester who has the Shouts in the Piazza blog has a good post today on the memorization issue. Many of those opposed to the changes (still unknown) that were approved yesterday because the faithful in the pews had the old ones "ingrained in their memories" and it would be too difficult for them to learn new ones. And the switch from Latin to English was easy? Father Selvester writes:
Well, who said the the prayers are suppsoed to be ingrained in your memory? I'm serious. Hasn't it occured to anyone that part of the reason too many Americans find mass a boring exercise each week is that they have learned it off by rote and just parrot it out each week instead of paying attention and actually praying it? Every now and again I like to see who really is paying attention and I use the second form of the penitential rite (you know the one where the response to the second verse is, "And grant us your salvation"?) About 90% of the congregation says nothing while a few mumble the correct response. Why? Because they've learned the mass by rote and since so many priests do the exact same thing at every single mass many of them don't even know that form of the penitential rite exists! So much for all the rich diversity that was supposed to be in the liturgy after Vatican II. We used to have a mass where things could only be done one way. Now we have a mass where there is much more freedom to use various forms and most priests still do things only one way. So, the people have come to see the mass in the same light. [snip] More Here
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