When I was growing up in the 1950s, what ordinary Catholics experienced was nothing like the curated, elite Latin liturgies that traditionalists enjoy today. The fact is, most Catholics always get their ongoing catechesis (if any) from the Mass.

Early in the Mass, the priest – chanting in Latin – leads the congregation into a prayer of repentance. The faithful respond: “Confíteor Deo omnipotenti et vobis, fratres, quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo, opere et omission,” which in English ...