Pope Francis calls for mass in people's own language, not Latin!

thecolorsblend

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I know there is a strong opinion in the Orthodox church that liturgy is inviolate and that to change the liturgy would be as offensive as ripping books out of the Bible would be to the Protestant groups. Perhaps Catholics have just become more accustomed to change; but we view liturgy as being a sliding scale, with it being effective in different ways to express our worship. The thought at VII was that the liturgy after 450 years had become stale and that it needed to be more participatory to the laity. The hope was that in being more responsorial, it would be more engaging. This, of course, yielded varying results and opinions. To us, liturgy is something to be studied and improved, not to be preserved just for the sake of historical continuity. I can see your viewpoint on this though.
I've never completely related to that mentality. I rather enjoy the TLM. I prefer it to Novus Ordo, really.

One big reason is because the TLM doesn't require the faithful to engage with each other, shake hands with strangers and all that stuff. Maybe it's just because I'm an introvert though.
 
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Knee V

It's phonetic.
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I will agree that many Orthodox overstate the case for the changelessness of the Liturgy. Our Liturgy has certainly evolved over time. There is even some variation in the Liturgy between certain historically Orthodox regions. Ours just changes more slowly and less often. We even have three distinct Liturgies used throughout the year.

I know there is a strong opinion in the Orthodox church that liturgy is inviolate and that to change the liturgy would be as offensive as ripping books out of the Bible would be to the Protestant groups. Perhaps Catholics have just become more accustomed to change; but we view liturgy as being a sliding scale, with it being effective in different ways to express our worship. The thought at VII was that the liturgy after 450 years had become stale and that it needed to be more participatory to the laity. The hope was that in being more responsorial, it would be more engaging. This, of course, yielded varying results and opinions. To us, liturgy is something to be studied and improved, not to be preserved just for the sake of historical continuity. I can see your viewpoint on this though.
 
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FireDragon76

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Whatever language the liturgy is in is acceptable, as long as the Gospel is preached.

Here in the US, using a variety of languages is perfectly normal in churches, and it should not be restricted to a particular language. If people prefer Latin, that's OK in my book. Latin is still taught in US schools and it's not hard to follow with a little education.

"Hoc est corpus meum" is still true whether it's in Latin or English.
 
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