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The candlestick comment was just so "over the top" it took a moment for me to even realize what her point was. The other gal at the table, (and one of my students) started to laugh and said that candlesticks were pretty and she wouldn't mind being one. I agreed and then she turned on me and complained that I had no clue what it was like before Vatican II. Which is true because I didn't become a Catholic until the late 70s, but I have been to Tridentine Masses and I certainly felt very much like I was participating in the Mass. Prayer is a wonderful part of our participation but of course I never think to say these things when I'm in the midst of an awkward situation.

Sopranos and vibrato can be a real problem. If you sing demanding music with lots of high notes their voices just get tired and they tend to push the sound out. Someone needs to work with them to get them to lighten their sound, they should sing as if they are about 8 years old, it works!

We've gotta bunch of old ladies and some Broadway types . . . the choirmaster is working as hard as he can!

(He's good - he's stopped me from tanking over everybody with my chest voice!)

I wasn't officially a Catholic pre VCII, but I went to a lot of Masses . . . had a lot of Catholic friends, plus whenever we went to the Caribbean or Latin American during school holidays and there wasn't an Anglican church, my dad would fast-talk the local padre into letting us receive (he could sell walk-in freezers to Eskimos, my dad.) So I hung around then, and I LIKED it. It was like the High Anglican service, only in Latin . .. and I studied Latin so no problem (even though it was Classical and not Church).

(You can see why the transition from ECUSA to Catholic was not a big problem for me, and indeed was something of a relief. Should have done it years earlier, but I was worried about my ex-Methodist husband - then HE suggested it -- I had forgotten that his Mom was raised Catholic, she married a Methodist PK (Preacher's Kid).)