Amen, brother -- that "folk" church music was the pits! Made me most reluctant to admit that I even *owned* an acoustic guitar back when I was a Catholic college student.

In theory, of course, changing the language of the Mass from Latin to the local vernacular was a good idea, making the words and their meanings accessible to all. In practice, however, the whole business just seemed to become more prosaic upon translation in to English. The loss of all those beautiful and time-honored Latin hymns was perhaps the worst aspect of the whole changeover.

Funny how something we don't understand (e.g., recitations and singing in Latin) seems more "spiritual" because of its aura of mystery. Making the ceremonies more understandable also made them less impressive, less elevating. Perhaps this shouldn't be so, and is symptomatic of a shortcoming on the part of the rank-and-file folks in the pews, but it seems to have been (and to still be) a very real problem.