Since we’ve been in a mood for analyzing the Novus Ordo Mass of late, I thought I’d mention one other thing that seems to be preventing it from reaching its full potential: missalettes.

If my personal experience is any guide, the vast majority of parishes in America use those OCP missalettes, published four times a year and left in the pews of most Catholic churches. I expect this is done mainly for reasons of convenience. Missalettes are easy to use. Mass producing them brings the cost down, and when every parish uses the same missalettes, people become familiar with them and have no trouble following along when they’re visiting in a new parish. These are tangible benefits.

The downsides are pretty serious, however. Some relate to content. For example, by having a monopoly on missalettes, the OCP is able to keep a stranglehold on Catholic music in America and keep everyone singing Eagle’s Wings and Here I Am, Lord. But even without that problem, missalettes should not be used as a constant and permanent way for lifelong Catholics to follow along at Mass. As a “starter kit” for beginners, they’re fine. As a permanent fixture of Catholic life, they shape the sensibilities in exactly the wrong way.

The bottom line is that a missalette is a disposable book. It has the precise dates on the cover, so it’s clear that it will be used for a few months and then chucked into the recycling bin. That’s a powerful image right there. Think of the reverence that Jews have for the Torah. Think of the reverence that we used to have, and sometimes still do, for the Book of the Gospels. Think of the great affection that people historically have had for their family Bibles. And then think of those trashy little OCP Missalettes, God’s words packaged in a convenient form, intended to be used once and thrown away. I’ve heard stories of rabbis running into the burning synagogue to save the Torah. I can’t imagine anyone running into a burning church to save the missalettes.

This is unfortunate on so many levels. In the first place, it just doesn’t instill respect for the Mass. From childhood we are disposed to take a beautifully bound gold-leaf book more seriously than a flimsy little paperback. Continual use of missalettes will inevitably instill in people the general impression that Word of God is cheap. But furthermore, as so often happens with deliberately dumbed-down sources of information, missalettes leave people ignorant. Since the Masses are listed by their calendar date, there isn’t any need to keep track of the liturgical year per se. With a permanent missal, you have to keep better track of the weeks, and you become much more aware of liturgical seasons. By going through the same exact book over and over again, you begin to see how the liturgical year has a logic of its own. Missalettes, by using the calendar year as a crutch to keep people oriented, tend to obscure this.

Perhaps the worst thing about missalettes, though, is their impermanence. In a media-drenched culture like ours, we implicitly understand what sorts of things are published in periodical format. Phone books. News. Stock prices. Things that change. By keeping people reliant on missalettes, you leave them with the impression that it isn’t worth printing permanent books because the liturgy might change any day. No wonder so few Catholics have a real respect for the liturgy as an expression of the faith affirmed by the Church throughout the ages. No wonder so many feel they can “weigh in” on truths of faith and morals as though these could somehow be put to a vote. By their very impermanence, missalettes encourage people to think of the Church (with the help of the OCP) as yet another service provider looking to satisfy a particular market within our “consumer culture.” (And unsurprisingly, if you go to the OCP website, one of the first things they promise concerning their missalettes is that they are “always up to date!”)

I recognize that printing permanent missals is more difficult in the Novus Ordo Mass, on account of the expanded lectionary. It would need to include three years’ worth of Mass readings instead of just one, which would mean either three missals or else one very thick one. Also, with the new (and more accurate) translation of the Roman Missal due to be introduced soon, it might not make sense to invest in a good Novus Ordo Missal until the new ones are printed. (Though that may take a frustratingly long time — the present timetable sets the release for 2010, but it wouldn’t be at all shocking if it got extended for a few further years.) In the long run, though, missalettes need to go, or at least to be put on the back burner as a stopgap for beginners or travelers who forgot their missals at home. It does not befit the Sacred Liturgy of Holy Mother Church to be issued as a quarterly by the Oregon Catholic Press.