20100503 Question: Catholic Missal

8: What is a Catholic Missal? (It was on Jeopardy: which president was sworn in with his hand NOT on a Bible, but on a Catholic Missal. Lyndon B. Johnson was the answer, on Air Force One after JFK’s assassination.)

8. The Catholic Missal was a book commonly used at the time by Catholics to pray along with the Mass. It would have the Scripture readings and the prayers in both Latin and English in a side-by-side fashion. "Praying the Mass with Missals" was something of a rallying cry for Catholics in the United States in the fifties and early sixties. It was encouraging Catholics to, rather than be occupied with other prayers, be more fully engaged in the Mass itself, what the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council would call "full, conscious, and active participation." LBJ remains the only president known to have been sworn into office on a book other than a Bible, though we do not have records of precisely on what many of the earlier presidents were sworn in. It is worth pointing out that Daily Roman Missals for post-Vatican II Mass (generally called the Novus Ordo Mass) are also available for use nowadays and can be very useful for praying the Mass. http://www.bookschristian.com/books/james-socias/daily-roman-missal/319085 is just one place they may be found. If you are interested in one, I would recommend shopping around as prices may vary.