Dear Forum,

At Mass today I was surprised to see, in the parish newsletter, the priest asking (effectively, telling) people to stop using their missals or other printed service sheets to follow the Scripture readings and listen instead.

Surely the use of missals is perfectly permissible? Otherwise, why would the Church issue them with Concordats, etc and sell them in its shops? And why do some Churches proivide printed service sheets if we're not meant to use them?
What's more, research has shown that if one reads text, or listens to something, then one has a certain level of recollection, but if one does both than that recollection level is greatly increased. So surely reading as well as listening enhances, not detracts from, one's understanding of the readings?

Moreover, today's Mass was especially aimed at children about to start preparing for their first Communion and the level of noise from the children was such that I couldn't hear most of the first Reading and part of the Gospel; the second Reading was omitted altogether. Had I not had my missal I would have been clueless as to what the Word of God was today - surely it is better to read and understand, than try to listen only and miss most of it? And how can we listen to a Reading if it's not even read out! I have used a missal throughout mass since I was a child - is it now wrong to do so, at least for the Scripture Readings?

Which brings me to my second point. The second Reading, as I say, was omitted altogether, as was the Profession of Faith, with no explanation. At Masses in other parishes recently I have regularly come across priests changing the words of the Roman Missal, often significantly (for example, in the Eucharistic Prayer), missing parts out altogether, such as antiphons, or inserting completely new parts altogether. In one parish, parish notices are now announced in the middle of Mass before the offertory procession, rather than at the end, and some members of the congregatation have even started interjecting their own prayers (out aloud) after Communion. Do priests really have this level of discretion about what should be said and by whom? At the weekly mass at my university campus, both the Gloria and the Profession of Faith and never said.

I have not come across this outside the city where I live, at least to anything like this extent, and can't help thinking that this may in part be an attempt to incorporate elements that the largely immigrant congregations may be used to in their native countries.

Can you please advise me as to how much of this is permissible discretion and how much is simply abuse of the liturgy as clearly set out in the Roman Missal?