"Liturgy" derives from Greek words meaning work of the people, but in Roman Catholicism it often seems to be exclusively a job for priests. Compared with most Protestant denominations, in which congregations participate in the service with hymns and responses, Catholicism at prayer is a church of silence. Enter almost any Roman Catholic church in Manhattan or Mantua or Manila: the priest at Mass will be standing at the altar, his back to the congregation, mumbling almost inaudibly in Latin, while the laymen in the pews silently finger rosaries or flip through the pages of their missals to find...
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