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As I understand it, the Latin Mass was not actually instituted until sometime in the Middle Ages, Greek being the predominant language during the early years of the church. The question I have, with no disrespect intended, is this: Why perform a worship service in a language you don’t understand? At the time the Latin Mass was instituted, Latin had spread widely thru the known world. However, it is little used or known in our society today. I would think you would want to approach The Lord in a way you can actually understand and truly communicate with Him instead of reciting sounds you do not understand. There seems to be some differing ideas as to whether or not Latin is some sort of Holy language. I mean no offense by any of this...it’s simply a question.

The great thing about a "dead" language is that the meanings of words are fixed forever. There is no further "evolution" of the language.... meaning that, in future years as vernacular languages change, no one can use the changing meanings of words as an excuse (or a back-door) to corrupt doctrine. Once folks get this idea into their heads, it's but a short step to "new translations" etc. We saw it happen with Luther, Henry VIII, and again in the 1960s. "Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it."

Additionally, uniformity of language means worldwide uniformity of worship. Break it up into dozens or hundreds of vernaculars, and you no longer have "One" church, but a bunch of squabbling nationalistic or linguistic parochial groups, each with a different agenda and a different way to "worship." A new protestantism -- which is what exists now, and has existed for nearly 40 years.

> in a way you can actually understand

"The people" are not the intended audience of a valid and properly offered Mass; the Mass is a sacrifice offered to God on behalf of the people. God is the only One Who "needs to understand."

> instead of reciting sounds you do not understand.

I have no problems following in my Latin-English missal -- in fact, I've learned quite a bit of Latin, and my English vocabulary and comprehension have vastly increased as a result. All this without ever having taken a Latin class in my life. Same for my friends. Same for the 7-year-old kids. If all of these people are able to follow along, then the lack of understanding comes from those who have chosen not to understand.

Good points!

Have you ever heard a mass in Latin? It is quite beautiful.

At my parish, we have one Latin mass a month, and it is very well attended.

As for myself, hearing the mass In Latin reminds me of when I was a little boy and just learning about my faith. It is a touchstone to the past, but it is not meant as a return to the past.

We pray for ALL people, everywhere in the world; and all leaders everywhere at every mass. It is our hope and prayer that we all grow closer to God in our everyday lives and practices.

Using Latin in the mass is merely another way to approach those goals.

How’s that?

...your question is complex, to the extent that Catholic theology places a premium upon tradition as a means to truer understanding of Our Lord, and also to the extent that the populace should not be ignorant of the actual text of the Latin Mass, as it is immutable and not particularly difficult to learn...you mention also reciting sounds not understood...I submit that it’s no better to recite sounds that you do understand, the salient point being that mere recitation instead of involvement is the detriment to comprehension, not the matter of grammar and syntax...

As I understand it, the Latin Mass was not actually instituted until sometime in the Middle Ages, Greek being the predominant language during the early years of the church. The question I have, with no disrespect intended, is this: Why perform a worship service in a language you don’t understand? At the time the Latin Mass was instituted, Latin had spread widely thru the known world. However, it is little used or known in our society today. I would think you would want to approach The Lord in a way you can actually understand and truly communicate with Him instead of reciting sounds you do not understand. There seems to be some differing ideas as to whether or not Latin is some sort of Holy language. I mean no offense by any of this...it’s simply a question.

First, Greek is still used in the Catholic Church in some of the Eastern Rites - even Aramaic. While Greek was common throughout the Eastern rite in the Church's formative stages, Latin had become the prominent language of the Church in the 5th and 6th century. That's also the same time as the translation into the Latin vulgate.

The main problem Catholics have with Vatican II is that the Tridentine Rite didn't just "pop-up" out of nowhere. It was the fruit of 2000 years of evolution. There were modifications, to be sure, but it was the culmination of the worship of the Latin Rite over 2000 years.

Not so with the Novus Ordo.

Regarding your second question, who says no one understands Latin? When I pray to our Lord in Latin, I am very cognizant of what I am saying to him. Furthermore, simply because a prayer is in a vernacular language doesn't automatically mean its better comprehended. There are Catholics who will rattle off a rosary in English at 300 words a second and are completely oblivious to what is really being said in the actual prayers. They would have been better off just praying it in Latin anyway.

What most of the non-Catholic, and even Catholic, population fails to recognize is the importance of Tradition. If a Polish family moves to America, it would be absurd to make them forget the language of their ancestors and lose all their former traditions simply because they're in America now and no one does that. One of the most beautiful things about Latin and the Church's tradition is that it is a tradition that unites the whole of the universal Church - it transcends all nationalities and borders. When I pray in Latin, I am praying in the same tongue as St. Francis de Sales and even the great St. Augustine of Hippo. To worship Christ in the same language is one thing that unites us as a family, as the body of Christ.

Simply because some Catholics don't care or refuse to understand the language doesn't change that fact.

Latin is the official language of the Church and you’d be surprised as to how many of the laity understand it.

1) There is no document of the Second Vatican Council that "banned" the older Latin Mass.

(I like referring to it as "The Mass of Blessed John XXIII" and not "The 1962 Missal" or even "The Tridentine Mass." To the ignorant ear, "1962" sounds like "Poodle Skirts" and "Tridentine" sounds like "Inquisition! Counter-Reformation! BWA-hahahaha" if not some kind of chewing gum. But "Blessed John XXIII" --- even someone who knows very little, would still get the impression that that's a wonderful thing.)

But it was thrown out later by Liturgical Wreckovationists (may they be forced to listen to "Gather Us In" for eternity -- a tune, by the way, that was ripped off from the "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald")

Many would not want to attend a Mass of Blessed John XXIII every week, yet value it so highly that they would travel, say, 50 miles each way to go once a month. I'm in that category.

Otherwise, I would like to have the Kyrie (Greek), Gloria, Credo, Sanctus/Benedictus, Agnus Dei, and Pater Noster sung regularly by the congregation, that is to say, at English Masses. A big plus in beauty and dignity, and it makes things truly universal, i.e. Catholic.

How is that? Because it is no one's national language anymore, it can all the more be all Catholics' universal language. Even a little parish like mine in Upper East Tennessee has parishioners whose language-in-the-home is Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, or one of the many languages of Africa. In Latin we are all speaking the same language, a sacral language, which has an immense treasure of exquisite music, and a library of patristic scholarship and spirituality which are our patrimony.

Let the Scripture readings and the sermon be in English (and Spanish, Vietnamese and/or Tagalog, when the occasion requires it.) That's excellent: the best of both words.