Thanks for the link. Always looking for fresh material. My husband and I are to be on the newly formed liturgical committee at our parish. I think of it as “liturgy by consensus”. I know this much – they are going to be in for a huge shock when my husband and I show up with every official document printed out and organized in a large notebook. Plus all pertinent quotes from people with a lot more letters after their names than I have. It’s is going to be way too much fun. LOL

At the parishes served by the Oratorians in Toronto, the Kiss of Peace is omitted, and I have to say I prefer that to the way it is practised at other parishes I have visited, where it turns my attention to the horizontal just at the moment when I would most like to focus on the vertical. Both horizontal and vertical have their place, of course, but if the passing of the peace were moved to a different point in the liturgy, I think I would appreciate it more.

The essay was interesting. I hadn't been aware of the various inspirations for the practice.

I love when the KOP is skipped.

I am also relieved when the so-called kiss of peace is omitted. It just ruins the continuity of the Mass. And sometimes we are asked to greet the people around us at the beginning of Mass anyway so it is redundant. And I have seem an almost explosion sometimes with folks crossing the aisles and hugging and chatting while Our Lord is there on the altar, not receiving attention.

My teenager has even sat in the narthex to avoid the touchy-feeling of glad handing everyone around him at Mass!

Well the most prevalent heresy of the age is the belief that we are - each of us - Christ. Not metaphorically. Not as part of a spiritual body but literally. This is why it is more important to hug and talk than to fall down in adoration before that Eucharist thing...

I'd advise caution on crowing too much over this. The Rite of Peace is not optional, but the method of expressing peace is left to the local ordinary or the bishops' conference.

At my most local church: before Mass the din of chatter by the congregation is absolutely off-putting; that is then repeated at the KofP; repeated again after Mass. Therefore both 'preparation' and 'thanksgiving' are de facto precluded. How were these people educated?

"Therefore both 'preparation' and 'thanksgiving' are de facto precluded."

Does the preparation have to take place at church? Many people prepare in the quiet of their home. Some places fortunate enough to have a Blessed Sacrament chapel have an already-quiet place for recollection before and after Mass. For many Catholics, the thanksgiving opportunity is during Mass.