Yes. Lifelong Catholic. But post Vatican II. Was raised with English Mass and females serving as altar girls and Eucharistic Ministers, Lay readers, serving in the choir and other parts of the Mass as well.
I’m not one of those Catholics who say only the Latin Mass is acceptable, or only Holy Communion received directly on the tongue is acceptable. I have no problem with Catholics who prefer the Latin Mass or Holy Communion on the tongue, that’s fine with me. But that’s not what I raised with.
The beginning of participation in the Mass is through being personally conformed to Christ, through baptism and being in the state of grace. Worthy reception is the most profound and perfect aspect of participation. (Sacrament. Car. 52-53). Liturgical participation is not merely formal and external. According to Vatican II, engagement of heart and mind in the interior person is what makes liturgical participation authentic and protects us from being mere silent spectators (SC 48). Participation is increased through catechesis since one needs to first understand what is happening in order to pray the Mass (SC 21). As St. John Paul II said, “Active participation does not preclude the active passivity of silence, stillness and listening: indeed, it demands it.” (ad limina address to the Bishops of the United States On Active Participation in the Liturgy, 1998)
Perhaps you believe Latin to have been outlawed when the Second Vatican Council in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium called for the text of the Mass to be revised. This widespread misunderstanding is actually contrary to the facts. While allowing a place for vernacular languages in the Mass, Vatican II is quite clear in its words that “the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites” (SC 36.1), and that “steps should be taken so that the faithful may also be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them,” (SC 54). If Latin is excluded from the Mass, the Council’s mandate is being disobeyed. In more recent years, Pope Benedict XVI has affirmed the continuing validity of this mandate: the 2007 Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum caritatis addressed to the Synod of Bishops endorses the Synod’s observation about the role Latin can play in promoting inclusiveness in the liturgy (Sacrament. car. 62). With regard to the use of chant, I direct you again to the Council, which specifies that among musical forms suitable for liturgy, chant must have “pride of place” (SC 116). You may be interested to know that in a 1998 address to the bishops of the United States, St. John Paul II pointedly mentioned that even as we allow the treasures of the liturgy to be opened up by greater use of the vernacular, the Latin language, especially in chanted form, is superbly adapted to the Roman rite and therefore should not be abandoned.