text: We were told nothing would ever change and that we would surely spend eternity in hell if we did not attend Sunday Mass  .  We just got so used to having no hope we gave up .  It was almost a century since a Council so we figured what could they be doing except congratulating themselves over there in  Rome .  Triumphalism ruled:   Holy Mother Church was declared in sermons and Jesus came in second if he was lucky  .We were not readers of Sacred Scripture .  Actually told not to  .
  Rosary beads rattled against pews all during mass .  Altar boys and priest interrupted one another's lines  .  How well trained they all were .
  You would not imagine how the priests rattled off the Latin and distributed Holy Communion  !  
  They raced along the rail where we knelt and seemed to think they were dealing cards with our tongues as the card table and the hosts , cards  .
  At confession the little window was slammed shut as we recited the act of contrition .  
  A funeral ? Dies Irae...........no hope