The Worst Failure

The second Vatican Council was not all bad. Yes, it was problematically vague, and at times seemed to make statements that were contradictory (some modernists said that was intentional!). Yet, there were a few things that came from it that were actually good (in spite of the many things that happened afterwards that did not actually "come from" Vatican II).

One of the things that was a good intention of the second Vatican Council was the focus on active participation of the laity. Many of the laity by the late 1950's were virtually not paying attention to anything in the Mass, and something needed to be done about it. The problem, however, was that this is also one of the greatest failures of the second Vatican Council. The laity largely became more busy during the Mass after the approval of the modern Roman Missal, but not because of an actual active participation in the Mass.

And now, some fifty years later, we find the majority of the laity in your average Catholic parish are even less active in their participation than the laity were back in the 1950's! Yeah, that did not work out too well. Vapid music, with nursery rhyme lyrics, kindergarten homilies, and a shmooze-fest attitude in the Mass has only led to people tuning out even more. I have visited a number of Catholic parishes and spoken to a number of priests about their situations, and it is largely the same everywhere; people want to be entertained, but they do not want to participate in the liturgy. What else can you expect though: they were taught to do this by the very clergy who were supposed to teach them the fear of God!

Thus, the real solution to a lack of active participation is not to make the liturgy more "fun" or "happy clappy", but rather to teach people what it means to be reverent (and also the damning consequences of irreverence). Once people begin to grasp better Who God is, and what it means to worship Him, then they will want to be active; they will desire a true and holy participation in the Mass. The priest is not supposed to be an entertainer, and the people are not spectators. We are gathered together to show honor to the Almighty Creator and Judge of all men. Let us act like it.