variety should be the name of the game.

Here's a little "variety" for you, Tes. Enjoy it.

Case study

That's what I mean: variety should be the name of the game. I don't say that the Mass in Latin should not be, FAR FROM IT. I only mean that we shouldn't have the Mass ONLY in Latin. When you want to go to a Latin Mass, there should be the possibility for you to do so. But when you want to go to an English, or a German, or Polish-Finnish-French Mass, that should also be possible. Live and let live... As for me, I dream of a Mass, NOT a five-hour-drive away, where the closest Catholic Church is... Thank goodness ofr the Internet - and on the Internet I watch the Mass in English, because there is no Mass in Finnish And I'm grateful to know English well enough, in order to understand the Mass!

Why do we argue about the languages: Jesus didn't speak Latin! Most of the texts we read are translations, books too. All the people who can't speak Russian but want to read Dostojewsky, read translations. The Bible is also a translation, the world's most widely translated book. So why do we argue about languages? The Mass is a translation from Latin - well of course it is! But when a Finn who doesn't speak Latin hears the Mass in his own language, he hears the Mass in Finnish and does not worry about Latin. And that's how it should be! Most of us also read and quote (spelling?) the CCC in our own language, not in Latin - although the CCC does exist in Latin. We should accept the variety of languages on this Earth and be proud of Our Mother Church, for there is no other Christian movement (I mean the protestants) that operates in as many languages and cultures as the Catholic Church does!

She would not have understood Latin no more than French. I understand what you mean though, but if our Mother Church has made the decision that the Mass does not have to be in Latin, then it doesn't. And since Charlene Wittstock comes from South Africa and has only recently become Catholic, Latin wouldn't have made her feel any more at home. IT's just like by myself: IN my home country Latin is not tought at school, so now that I've become Catholic, I can't speak Latin. being Catholic doesn't mean that you understand Latin! I'm trying to learn tha prayers and the Mass in Latin, but it's slowly, because I don't undestand the language. Even though Latin is a holy lnaguage, it's not a living one and most of the poeple can't speak Latin. I think it's important that we can hear Mass in our own languages, that way we can really and truly learn God's word. I know there are many Catholics who would now be ready top chop off my head and say that I'm not a real Catholic. Well, too bad for them, ofr I'm sure that God doesn't see it that way. If God did not accept any other language than Latin, HE would not have let the language die out as a living language. It is nobody's native tongue anymore.

It did not belong in the Mass, but as I understood it, since she was South-African and did not understand one word of French, it was a gift form him, so that she would at least have one part in the ceremony that would come from her old country. It must be hard when you don't know the language and everything around you is in French. You get married once in your life, it's the high-light-moment of your life and you don't understand one word of it. We should try to understand them a little. It wasn't part of the Mass, and truly, they could have played it at the gala-dinner, that's true. But it was his gift for her, at least something South-African in the ceremony. Maybe that can calm our anger a little bit, even though it doesn't change the fact that it was not part of the Mass, and as such not right. We should pray for the newly weds and not be furious about the ceremony, that's what I think.