Well, is this not, in fact, the case?

Kidding aside, liturgists have been opposed to missalettes for years saying that there is no need for them since people can understand the language. They should only be given to people who are hard of hearing.

Missalettes are representative of our throw away culture. What a contrast with hand Missals which in some cases were/are passed down from generation to generation. Even if they are no longer used they still have value to the owner.

Great post, Clara.

To connect to the point, the very fact that we’re all trained to throw these books away is a very bad thing, and supports Clara’s points.

I’d also note that the Catholic Bishops and OCP have a financial motive here — subscriptions to missals are a nice cashflow business with stable operating income that doesn’t require much marketing or novel product designs to sustain; in other words, OCP can make far more money reselling cheap books for years than it could selling one good book once. And it’s a scandal worth noting that the USCCB makes a sizeable amount of money from licensing its ridiculous non-standard version of the New American Bible for the lectionary and compelling everyone to use it; and that translation is in flux, remains in flux, and has little hope of becoming stable anytime soon. Some English speaking countries have begun to allow the use of the Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition which is in the public domain and would therefore make for cheaper Missals which also, ahem, contain far better translations.

Even now, you see missals scattered around through the congregation at most Traditional Latin Masses. At a Novus Ordo Mass they’re virtually unheard-of. Which means that, in the minds of people raised in that Mass, there will be a strong impression that liturgy = missalette. That’s what I mainly want to avoid.

Maybe Arturo’s right that people basically ignore them after awhile. The Novus is pretty easy to follow even without a book. But in that case I’d propose just getting rid of them completely, or having a dozen copies available in the vestibule for newcomers or others who want them. When they’re sitting around in every pew, there’s too much tendency to think of them as “where the liturgy comes from.”

If we object to missalettes as “disposable” it’s not clear to me where we draw the line. Can magazines not include excerpts from scripture?

You’re on to something here. I find it bizarre that many Catholic pundits (the “neocons”) think that it is perfectly alright to have license to experiment with liturgy (within some vaguely set limits) and yet expect people to march lock-step when it comes to doctrine/morals. Does a Steubenville Charismatic service with drums and bass guitars really invoke a world where moral behaviors don’t change and doctrine is static. There is certain cognitive dissonance going on there. If people have choice and a mutable order in the most basic Christian action (worship), why are they to be expected to have a static one in terms of doctrine/ethics?

To be fair, however, growing up we basically ignored the missalettes, at least in my parish. After a while, you just didn’t feel like singing along, or if you did, it was always the same songs and you didn’t need to look at the words. And I never felt compelled to pick one up because it’s not like the language of what was being said was Shakepearean English. I suppose one could use it in order to not get distracted, but the Mass now is pretty darn transparent and doesn’t require much reference to the “user’s guide”.

http://www.cornellsociety.org/2008/02/get-a-missal/#more-2115

Finally, perhaps one of the best changes made in the Liturgy for the OF is the fact that God’s Word is now supposed to proclaimed. But how can it be fittingly proclaimed if everyone is reading alongside during the proclamation?