After the reading of the lessons and the sermon the page number for the creed was duly announced and everyone turned to it as instructed. Likewise, the page for the prayers of the people, for the eucharistic prayer, the prayer after communion, and so forth. The words of the entire celebration were not only said by the bishop, deacon, and other ministers, they were read by the whole congregation. By contrast, the next evening I attended the eucharist at a cultural center in a poor barrio of Managua. The cultural center is the property of a Roman Catholic Dominican Order whose mission is largely to the children and youth of this barrio.
Music lessons are a very popular offering, along with job training classes and a new library.
The mass began with half an hour of music, led by twenty or thirty teenagers playing marimbas, recorders, and guitars. There was a song sheet with words to most of the songs printed on it, but only the other visitors like myself seemed to need it. Most people appeared to be singing from memory. After the singing, the priest who was presiding at this liturgy stood up from where he had been sitting, put on a vestment, and began the opening prayer. There were very few written texts throughout the celebration, certainly none that were put into the hands of worshipers.