I had a feeling it had something to do w/ making it more populist. When I was young there was a very large Catholic family across the street from us. I would be invited to go to church w/ the twin girls who were my age. I always loved how silent and serious the atmosphere was and the incense. It was just a very holy place. I remember being in awe. I did love those times. This was back in the late 60’s.
I also remember that when I had dinner w/ them on Fridays they ONLY had fish!
Thank you for the explanation. Were the majority of Catholics happy about the change or unhappy w/ it? To be honest, all of the Catholics I know (including my husband, his father remains the only practicing Catholic in their family) are lapsed Catholics.
“Were the majority of Catholics happy about the change or unhappy”
I’m too young to know for sure...but based on how poorly we catholics adhere to the rule during lent, I’d say alot were already violating it anyway, and were happy to see the change.
I grew up in the 1970’s; and, our catholic church had some long-haired hippy types playing acoustic guitar and tambarines. The new building was very modernistic...and the decision was made to use ‘chairs’ instead of pews (no kneelers!). So the church was definitely in flux at that time (at least in the US).
Today, the church has lost the hippy band, and the building has been quadrupled in size...and its now a catholic version of a southern (Alabama) megachurch. Quite a departure from the traditional catholic model.