I’d like to see us go to the 1965 Missal and start over again. For those who don’t know or weren’t there, 1965 was basically just a good translation of the 1962 missal into the vernacular, with a few changes made (elimination of some duplications or parts that had sort of accidently worked their way into the regular liturgy, mostly through monastic practice). It was not mandatory to turn the priest or the altar to face the people (in fact, it is not even mandatory today in the Novus Ordo).
I find even a well-done Novus Ordo to be somewhat flat and lacking, but certainly if it’s well done, it’s not unbearable. However, the biggest problem with the 1970 Missal (the so-called Novus Ordo, or New Rite) was that in a sense, there really wasn’t a “Standard Novus Ordo.” It permitted way too many options and gave way too much leeway to bishops and priests to add their own “touches” to the Mass, including new canons (some of them have since been suppressed, because they were heretical) and practices never dreamed of even by the creators of the Novus Ordo. It has been very hard to put that back in the box, no matter how hard Rome tries.
Not that the Pope has asked my opinion, but I think the only solution is to proclaim an entirely new rite, which would essentially be the 1965 Missal (although with the some of the ordinary back in Latin and not in the vernacular - the Agnus Dei, the Kyrie, etc. - to provide more of a sense of continuity with the pre-1965 Tridentine Latin rite).
Also, I’d like to see the old calendar come back, complete with Rogation Days and other traditional liturgies and feasts. Just add the new saints to it and we’d be good to go!
Having spent my childhood in the pre VCII RC Church, I can appreciate your interest and desire to see that liturgy restored in its fullest. Moreover, it fit that era when Sundays were considered days of worship. Across the US, supermarkets and stores were closed; even baseball games were scheduled for later in the day, if at all. Sunday was when we gathered as a family to worship God and return home to eat as a family. Marriage was sacrosanct and families lived within proximity to each other. Women stayed home to raise their children. Television programs run on a limited number of local stations.
Flash forward to contemporary society. Sunday worship has been replaced by shopping and sports. Women have careers and panic at the thought of losing a caregiver. Many families have dispersed to various parts of the US. Electronic devices and instant messaging are rapidly replacing postal mail and newspapers. Television is now universal and runs on hundreds of stations.
I began this thread by agreeing with the notion that this truly is the Golden Age of Worship. For those of us who prefer to worship God with no time constraints, we have the TLM and the awesomely beautiful Eastern Catholic liturgies. For those who view Sunday as a small blip on their personal radar screen, the NO provides them the opportunity to do so in a more abbreviated format.
We are witnessing in our lifetimes, a dramatic shift away from any form of worship. More and more people now identify as non practicing. The Catholic Church provides a panoply of opportunities for all of us to worship our Lord. For that we should all be most grateful, do you agree?
Considering for me, I was way too young to remmeber, and all I knew was the newer mass.