[Aloysius]

Attentive children will hear the words "may the Lord accept the SACRIFICE at your hands..." during Mass, plus the references to offerings during the eucharistic canon.

That's the problem. Attentive children will hear and see a lot more than "may the Lord accept the SACRIFICE at your hands..." . Attentive children will see priests who don't genuflect. Attentive children will see a slew of lay people on the altar handling the Real Presence as if they are poker chips. Attentive children will hear the horrible, banal music that, by itself, could drive people from the Church. Attentive children will see imodestly dressed people who talk, chew gum and hold hands during the Mass.

The danger with the Novus Ordo is that children may pay attention and have their souls corrupted.

[SoothingDave]

That's the problem. Attentive children will hear and see a lot more than "may the Lord accept the SACRIFICE at your hands..." . Attentive children will see priests who don't genuflect. Attentive children will see a slew of lay people on the altar handling the Real Presence as if they are poker chips. Attentive children will hear the horrible, banal music that, by itself, could drive people from the Church. Attentive children will see imodestly dressed people who talk, chew gum and hold hands during the Mass.

That's the problem with the "Latin Mass" types. You overstretch your arguments. If you were content to list these abuses of the NO Mass and demand that they be corrected, then we would be on the same side. And I agree with you that the NO Mass, on paper and in reality, shows less physical respect for the Real Presence.

But you have to go further, with the ridiculous arguments that the "Altar" (though called an altar) is not an altar. And that the sacrificial nature of the Mass (though referred to as a sacrifice) is missing. These arguments are silly.

Everything you listed is an abuse, not a condition of the NO Mass. Priests are supposed to genuflect. They do at my Church. Extraordinary ministers are used all the time. The hippie music is awful.

But not all NO parishes are like that, and until you realize that the NO does not have to be what you have seen, and that people are capable of recognizing a prayer to God, regarless of the way the priest is standing, you shoot yourself in the foot.

Give me some credit for understanding what is going on, and I will give you some likewise.

Spare us the boilerplate "it's a table, not an altar" stuff.

SD

[k omalley]

My children were appalled by the things that you mention: the irreverent handling of the Eucharist, the banal music, the sloppy or immodest dress, loud talking before Mass. At the time I defended what our particular parish presented as the N.O. because I honestly believed that it was mandated by the Vatican, even the Holy Father himself. I mean, that's what our priest told us. Now they are adults and for the most part avoid the Catholic Church. They do like the High Latin N.O. Mass at St. Matthew's in D.C. and will attend when they are there. But they complain that the whole atmosphere in most of the Catholic churches they have attended conveys an attitude of "this isn't really serious or all that important." Especially when most of the people show up in shorts or jeans.