Responding to Questions About the Experience at Mass

Most of the inconsistencies are things that can be personal preference and are not essential elements of the mass to be specified. I could address some of them, but they aren’t especially important in the big picture.

I think the more important comment I’d like to make is that I too have attended many different Latin Rite churches, in addition to studying theology for many years at a Latin Rite Seminary. Not every Latin Rite church mass is as close as you are making it seem. There are just as many variations in sitting, standing, kneeling (not all Latin rite churches even have kneelers!), some will say certain prayers in Latin, some in English. At some parishes, the sign of peace will be shared with those immediately surrounding a person quietly, and at other parishes, they’ll go across aisles and around corners to give the sign of peace to as many as possible. Some parishes will have more traditional songs, and some will have more modern songs. Some pastors choose to celebrate according to the Novus Ordo mass, and some will celebrate according to the Traditional Latin Mass. Some priests will face the congregation during the Eucharistic prayers and some will face the cross. Some parishes will have congregants in shorts and flip flops and no one bats an eye, and some will be filled with women wearing long dresses and veils.

My point is that there is just as much variation at Latin Rite churches as there seems to be at Chaldean Churches. And all of these variations are valid. There is diversity as well as universality in the Catholic Church, as well as within each branch of the Catholic Church, and this is what gives it beauty. Rather than be absolutely uniform, it allows for some amount of variation, because the Church is made up of a diverse group of people, with different needs, and different cultural backgrounds.

If you ask me, it would be pretty boring without all this flavor

– Kristina Awdish