[american colleen]

People who attend the New Mass will tell you that it is the People of God gathered together to celebrate their community, presided over by a "presider" who is the representative of the community.

Wha??? I'd never tell you that and I attend the New Mass. My kids wouldn't tell you that and they attend the New Mass. I know a bunch of people who wouldn't tell you that and they attend the New Mass.

Why do you make such sweeping, broad generalizations?

[Maximilian]

I'd never tell you that and I attend the New Mass. My kids wouldn't tell you that and they attend the New Mass. I know a bunch of people who wouldn't tell you that and they attend the New Mass.

Unfortunately, the General Instruction on the Roman Missal WOULD tell you that. Here is an excerpt from Cardinal Ottaviani's objections to the New Mass:

Let us begin with the definition of the Mass. In Article 7 of the General Instruction which precedes the New Order of Mass, we discover the following definition:

The Lord's Supper or Mass is the sacred assembly or congregation of the people of God gathering together, with a priest presiding, to celebrate the memorial of the Lord. For this reason Christ's promise applies supremely to a local gathering together of the Church: ‘Where two or three come together in my name, there am I in their midst.’ (Mt. 18:20).

The definition of the Mass is thus reduced to a "supper," a term which the General Instruction constantly repeats.

The Instruction further characterizes this "supper" as an assembly, presided over by a priest and held as a memorial of the Lord to recall what He did on Holy Thursday. None of this in the very least implies:

The Real Presence.
The reality of the Sacrifice.
The sacramental function of the priest who consecrates.
The intrinsic value of the Eucharistic Sacrifice independent of the presence of the "assembly."

In a word, the Instruction's definition implies none of the dogmatic values which are essential to the Mass and which, taken together, provide its true definition. Here, deliberately omitting these dogmatic values by "going beyond them" amounts, at least in practice, to denying them.

The second part of Article 7 makes this already serious equivocation even worse. It states that Christ's promise, ("Where two or three come together in my name, there am I in their midst") applies to this assembly supremely.

Thus, the Instruction puts Christ's promise (which refers only to His spiritual presence through grace) on the same qualitative level (save for greater intensity) as the substantial and physical reality of the sacramental Eucharistic Presence.