Liturgical Reform- a personal view 6

The fact that I was able to happily attend that mass offered in the German language in Berne was thanks to my familiarity with mass in Latin but perhaps even more so to having been introduced to the old rite before the reforms. In short I had been taught to pray at mass without being engaged by the celebrant. I often wonder what the experience of younger people, who have not had that kind of foundation, must be like when attending mass in a foreign language.

The experience for me on that occasion was, nevertheless, not unmixed as, not for the first time, I found myself irritated by aspects of a reordered sanctuary. Why, when the altar had been moved forward, had it been thought appropriate to place the organ in the apse? Were the clergy responsible for this marked gesture aware of what it appeared to be saying? It seemed strange as if done either by someone desirous of making a point or by someone completely blind to the meaning that would naturally attach to it.