What I do when an appointment doesn't show...

I raced back from Columbus this morning for an appointment; but the couple failed to show. Not the first time (for this couple).

So, I worked on something else: some handouts that will make it easier for folks to participate when we use Latin prayers at Mass.

I worked up two things:

An eight-page booklet that provides all the responses, with English translations, for everything except the Gloria and the Credo, which can be found in our hymnals; for the Eucharistic Prayer, I provided just the Latin text of the Roman Canon, since the English text can be found in the Missallette. I plan to run off about 50 of these, and we can have them handy.

I also took the Latin texts that we have used at Mass otherwise in English, as well as some others we are likely to attempt in years to come, and prepared a handy, half-page sheet, formatted so it could easily be pasted to the inside cover of our hymnals. Then all people have to do is flip the cover. That's pretty easy, isn't it?

(Actually, most of these prayers are already in the hymnal--yes, even the Gather Comprehensive!--a fact I point out to the surprise of those who mistakenly think Vatican II "abolished Latin." But I hope this will make it far easier to refer to them.)