[Notwithstanding]

In my Novus Ordo parish: "everything is done to alert the faithful to His actual presence on the altar. Bells are rung. People fall to their knees. A hush descends."


As an analogy:
I have been to the traditional Latin Mass and sat in the back and noticed that few people were paying much attention to what was going on throughout the Mass. Is that a reason to condemn that form of the Mass? Of course not.

[Catholicguy]

and, it is worth noting that many folks just used to pray the Rosary during Mass and many Masses were said in under 30 mins. My old priest in Vt, could say the Mass in 18 mins :)

[Catholicguy]

and, it is worth noting that many folks just used to pray the Rosary during Mass and many Masses were said in under 30 mins. My old priest in Vt, could say the Mass in 18 mins :)

[ultima ratio]

Bells may have been rung for your Novus Ordo, but in a thousand different ways it is a Mass that is closer to a Methodist Worship Service than it is to a traditionally Catholic Mass. It has erased all mention of Christ's sacrifice and focuses on the eucharist as a meal. This is not Catholic tradition. It is Protestant. It did not evolve over the millenia but is a concoction that was written by a Catholic freemason and six Protestant clerics--and it shows. Is it any wonder that in a single generation the notion of a Real Presence is denied by a great majority of Catholics?

I don't know what traditional Mass you have attended, but the one I attend is nothing like the one you mention. Perhaps the inattentive people you saw were visitors like yourself. Where I attend people remain in the pews after Mass to give thanksgiving. They are in no hurry to leave the church. What they have experienced was virtually no different from that which was experienced by the ancients Roman Christians. If Saint Augustine walked into an SSPX Mass, he would be right at home.