text: I agree that Vatican II put some new emphasis on all the baptized having some participation in the Mass; however, the references in the Vatican II documents and in the Vatican Catechism for "in the person of Christ" all refer specifically to ordained priests, not the people in general. Since this business of the priest acting "in persona Christi" is not in the Baltimore Catechism (as far as I know), my impression is that "in persona Christi" was what some fundamentalist or reactionary clerics inserted into Vatican II texts. I don't see any evidence that this idea of priest-as-god-representative goes back into history but for like one sentence in Aquinas, and Pius XII played with it (Mediator Dei 1947). Are you old enough to remember how it was before? I don't recall any of this "in persona" stuff being taught in my Catholic schools when I was young. We learned the Baltimore Catechism. Bro, you are making me doubt my understanding of history and I admit I'm not an expert, far from it.