However, that said, these old ladies can be vicious. I hate the NO mass, but I go to it because there is no Byzantine rite parish around here. I love daily Mass, but I really can't go because of the Eucharettes. I refuse to hold hands and do the wave at the end of the Our Father (you know, where everybody lifts their hands and those of their neighbors, even if said neighbors are standing in front of them at the end of the row and having their arms wrenched out of the socket by the wave folks).
The Eucharettes are staked out in the pews until just before Communion. One of them came over and slapped me on the shoulder because I had my hands pressed together and wasn't holding her hand. I thought she was having a stroke and had fallen on me...then I realized she was simply really PO'd...
Things only got worse after that and she refused to shake my hand at the "kiss of peace." Then she left to do her Eucharette duties...
Actually, my parish has the eucharettes problem in reverse. The pastor and the associate go for reverence and liturgical correctness. Suddenly, we're using a lot more candles, particularly at Easter, and the BIG, beautiful monstrances have come out of storage. On All Souls, the younger priest actually wore an old vestment that was black. It was really beautiful.
There are LOTS of little old ladies and older gentlemen who like the holding hands and the ad libbing and the priests refuse to do it. Listening to the people complain about having a bishop and priests too tied to the Vatican is pretty funny. And none of them show up for Adoration and I haven't see a one in a line for Confession, either, not that that means anything.
The music is better than most places, but a different organist would make a world of difference. Right now he's going over the Missa de Angeles with the congregation and it will be used later this year, like in Advent.
It's an interesting time. Whoever thought that there would be a vice of watching little old ladies squirm?