The notion that the central ritual of a religion should be incomprehensible to its practitioners is an odd one to say the least.

That's just it. It wasn't incomprehensible. Every Catholic knew and understood it. Whether they were in Boston or Belgrade.

Nobody has to be a Catholic. The Church only has the power its members grant it. The Vatican doesn't have an army or the power of taxation enforced by guns. If you don't want to be a Catholic, you don't have to be one. Many have made that choice.

So I'm not sure how decentralizing power, if indeed such has occurred, has helped the Church.

A religion is just a set of beliefs. You don't have to hold those beliefs, but if you don't I can't see how you're a member of that religion. You're just creating a new religion to satisfy yourself.

Cafeteria Catholicism is bullshit. As crazy and destructive as Islam is, at least Muslims have principles.

I didn't get the latin mass thing. That was weird.

Latin Mass is a lightning rod within the Catholic Church. Especially in the US where it has become quite popular in some cities, (St John Cantius-Chicago) for instance.

It is the battleground of changes in the Church that liberal vs traditional Catholics so to speak, argue or fight over constantly.

The board's biggest Latin mass supporter ever would surprise you.

They don’t understand it in English either. Hey-O!

That's no joke.

I just sat there, zoned out, and counted down the seconds until it was over when I regularly attended mass, so it might as well have been in a different language.

I just sat there, zoned out, and counted down the seconds until it was over when I regularly attended mass, so it might as well have been in a different language.