Parishioners welcome Missal with open mind
November 8, 2011
HOUSTON — With the Roman Missal implementation on Nov. 27, parishes from the Archdiocese have been offering formation opportunites to discuss the changes in the third edition of the Roman Missal. The Texas Catholic Herald spoke with parishioners and the following are some of their thoughts on the changes. To see videos of their full comments, visit www.archgh.org/RomanMissal/Video
Josie Alvarez, 20, St Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church
"I'm ready for it. I'm very excited that we did some changes so we can get a better understanding of what we're reading and how can we take that inside. It's just not any type of word ... it's something we can take from it, take it to your soul."
De Los Santos Family, St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church
...Now having to relearn everything is just very, very confusing to me." — Emilio De Los Santos, son
"It is confusing, but I like how it is now because it is more personal." — Julia De Los Santos, daughter
"I wanted [my children] to understand why we say what we say, why we do what we do. Years from now, you will be able to say to your own children ‘I was there also when the change came through' and [they] will pass it on to their own children." — Janie De Los Santos, mother
"Now, I'm seeing it's more of a personal thing with the ‘I' versus the ‘We.' It does bring up the fact we are here for our faith, not just an assembly." — Jimmy De Los Santos, father
James A. Garvey, 80, secretary for the Central Senior Senate, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Nicholas Catholic Churches
"I was stationed in Oklahoma City, Corpus Christi Parish … we were told no matter how much you like singing Gregorian, you will be singing English … it took a year or two, like we're in the process now, to get the idea and apply it." 
Theresa Sagan, 82, volunteer choir leader and resident at St. Dominic Village
"The way it has been explained to us, I think it's very beautiful, more prayerful and gets us back to the original words. For us old-timers, it's more to what we grew up saying."
For videos with thoughts from these parishioners, or to submit your thoughts on the upcoming changes, visit www.archgh.org or www.facebook.com/archgh