Header image: Detail from the cover of the Sunday Pictorial Magazine by the St. Paul Pioneer Press, December 27, 1964. Used with permission. To view the full-size image, click here; to view the entire magazine cover, click here.
This article was originally published on September 2, 2025.
The “New Mass” of 1964
Popular reception of the first post-conciliar liturgical changes
This multi-part study seeks to explore how the laity experienced and reacted to the very first post-conciliar liturgical changes. Using a wealth of primary sources, many of which have been neglected for decades, this study will reconstruct how the church in the English-speaking world understood and received the “interim” liturgy between 1964 until the revised Roman Missal of 1970.
A brief summary of this research was originally presented as a paper at the Legacies Conference–The Legacies of Nicaea I and Vatican II: An Inheritance Unfolding–on September 6, 2025 at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
SERIES SUMMARY
This series will have six parts.
Introduction to the series.
Part 1 – A New Liturgy: How the ‘reform before the reform’ was understood. This installment explores how the first liturgical changes were understood and received by the laity. Were these “interim” liturgical changes viewed as minor modifications to the familiar pre-conciliar Latin Mass, or something more significant? How were the “interim” liturgical changes viewed in relation to the larger, more substantial changes which were introduced in 1970?
Part 2 – Polls & Surveys: Assessing popular opinions on the reform. This installment explores how popular the initial liturgical changes were. Did the laity like and support these initial “interim” liturgical changes? Did the clergy? Did the success of the initial modest liturgical changes drive interest or demand for further, larger changes?
Part 3 – “Missal-bound resistance”: A study of lay & clerical reaction. This installment explores if and how unhappiness with the initial liturgical changes drove active resistance by Catholics in their normal parishes, unrelated to any of the nascent traditionalist movements. When did active resistance begin, end, and what forms did it take? Was it limited to the laity, or did it extend to parish priests?
Part 4 – “What went wrong?”: Pastoral Accompaniment, Disillusionment, and Blame. This installment explores how the church provided pastoral care and accompaniment to the laity during the initial liturgical changes, and how the laity and clergy dealt with confusion, frustration, shifting expectations, and feelings of failure.
Conclusion to the series
READ THE ARTICLES
Click the posts below to read each installment in the series:
The “New Mass” of 1964: Introduction
The “New Mass” of 1964: Part 1
The “New Mass” of 1964: Part 2
The “New Mass” of 1964: Part 3
The “New Mass” of 1964: Part 4
The “New Mass” of 1964: Conclusion
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