[Antioch]

That said, his suggestions are: More Latin in the NO (the entire Canon in Latin, for example); the priest should face ad orientem during the Canon and any parts of the Mass not actually directed at the people; the cycle of readings should be revised to make the readings not just a three-year trudge through the OT, but memorable and intelligible passages that are repeated on a yearly cycle, as they used to be in the Old Mass; the restoration of Gregorian chant; and the removal of "options" from the rite, whether they are optional readings, Canons, things to be omitted, etc.

We are so fortunate to have Fr. Robinson as one of the priests here in our parish. I attended a public talk about his book at the "evenings at the Oratory" a few months ago and he gently explained the thesis of his book. Very interesting. By the way, Mass at Holy Family parish, served by the Oratorians here, implements all the reforms of Fr. Robinson into the Novus Ordo Mass. I think most people would prefer the Novus Ordo when it is done with due reverence, soaring polyphonic chant, and without profane modernist "options."

[livius]

You're very lucky to be in his parish. I thought his book was extremely interesting (complex but excellent points about the philosophical shift that led to, among other things, the current state of the Church and her ideas about herself in society, as well as the liturgy). I think the NO is basically rather deficient, but it is certainly bearable with his suggestions.

When I go to Mass in Spain, where the translation is much more accurate than the English translation, and the priests are not so given to impromptu flights of fancy, I find it much less distressing than I generally find Masses here in the US. Sometimes here in Florida I feel like my blood pressure has gotten so high I'm about to keel over in the pew! And I have low blood pressure to begin with...