I'd say no. If you have the needed people, time, and skills to do a high Mass, you ought to. The Low Mass was and is a concession for the impossibility for every Mass to be a high Mass.

Likewise, the same principal applies to high vs solemn. If for example, you have two capable clerics sitting in choir and the available vestments, there ought to be a Solemn Mass, for the same reason.

Lastly, I'd take serious issue with the statement about simplicity. Lent and advent have austerity, not simplicity. In reality, this sort of thinking stems from the idea that singing the Mass is just a nice add-in, not something important to the liturgy.

We have had sung Masses with one cantor and one server (Low Mass ceremonies!) During the week (on Feast days) the one, two or three member (male) choir sing on the sanctuary to help out the two or three servers.

We almost always have a sung Mass when we can, but I know other places prefer the low Mass.

Anyway I prefer the low Mass when I have to get to work or get back to work after Mass.

If you are trying to get people interested in the EF, probably the worse thing to do is have a Low Mass : all it does is make it impossible for new people to follow along, and just reinforcing the idea that the Vetus Ordo was just the priest mumbling in Latin with his back to the people. If you have a High Mass even people who are not familiar with the EF will still probably be familiar with the words Kyrie Eleison, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, and will be able to follow along -- and even if they can't follow in a Missal, they can at least be edified by listening to the Chant of the Mass.

Okay.
Both are respectful, both are awesome.
If you like silence the Low mass is for you.
If you like noise then the High mass is mighty fine.
If you like organ then an organ low mass is out there in some places.

My friends often like doing low masses at this time of year because then they get the shock of all the splendour of the high mass. Personally, all that is fairly romantic thinking really.

I do both on the same day often. It often saves up the singers prior to Christmas events. Especially because we do High masses each day of the Christmas season.

but he chose to do a Low Mass in keeping with the simplicity of the Advent season

No, this is completely wrong. The Solemn Mass is the normative form of the Mass. There are reasons to prefer a low Mass sometimes, for example in deference to people's desire to attend daily Mass, but their need to also get to work on time, but simplicity of the season or the lower rank of the day are not reasons to turn a Solemn Mass into a Low Mass. However, if you have limited resources, it would be legitimate to "spend" them on enhancing the feast days. So you might say, "it's still Advent, we'll have a Low Mass" if you have a limited budget for singers or such, because you're *boosting* Christmas, but not because you're simplifying Advent.

There is already a reduction of music anyway during advent because you can't play organ during this time except on gaudete and feasts etc.

Not a reduction in sacred music, but a limiting of options. Organ is never required for a high Mass.

Comparing the stripping of organ to switching a High Mass to a Low Mass is to fundamentally misunderstand the role of both chant and organ in the Catholic Liturgical tradition.

Some worshippers prefer low mass and actually I know priests who are more comfortable with low mass. But that's due to familiarity not due to romantic ideals.

I know organ is not compulsory for high mass... but it can be a great thing to bring in after advent if it is that you want to emphasise simplicity during advent and then grandeur after. You don't have to resort to changing the whole mass around this idea. There is simplification already put into place!
I know some people who don't do any polyphonic motets during advent and that can be nice because then you get lots of chant and it is really nice. But would I call that simplified? No, just not as much going on and a little more silence which doesn't hurt anyone especially when you're rehearsing your choir for the huge Christmas octave.

Appropriate simplification might be to not hand out biscuits with tea after masses on non feast days during advent. Or not contributing to the vast number of crazy over the top parties that go on around this time of year and WAIT til Christmas actually starts.

The liturgy is important during this time because it tells the how and the why for Christmas. It is the part that gives us reason for waiting. It's already going to get grandeur when you bring back the organ and you add Christmas carols to the mix of options.

Low mass is always a great option but I don't think the reason of simplification is a great one in this instance because I actually find low mass to require complex contemplative prayer from the congregation, and also a more switched on congregation.

I pray that this isn't nit picked with a fine tooth comb...

[purple] Please take note: in Australian parishes, the Knights of Columbus have biscuits and tea fundraisers after Mass. [off]

There is a reason the Low Mass is also called a "Privated" Mass - not because it can be said when alone, but because it is lacking... The, largely, Low Mass culture of the US before the council has made it nearly impossible for the average parish to bring back the sung propers unless within the context of the TLM. Even the DM of the Cathedral in our Diocese gets odd looks from his choir members for wanting to do just a Communio in addition to the hymn... "Why would you want to do that??"

We have a daily Missa Cantata in our Parish: 1-3 singers, 2 servers, no incense. It works just fine. It seems silly to forgo a Sung Mass if you have someone in the general area who can sing... right?

@noel: for what it's worth, in the late '50's/early '60's my parish had a daily 6AM LOW Mass and a daily 9AM (or so) HIGH Mass. The 9A Mass was attended by the school chilluns and sung by them (as a congregation). Many of those Masses were Requiem Masses (commemoratives)--a practice which has apparently been proscribed.

But there were regularly celebrated Low Masses, too.

To some extent, it depended on *where* - for example, Irish-dominated parishes in the Northeast versus German-dominated parishes in the Midwest.

Also, daily requiems could be in the form of a Missa Cantata for which the organist received part of the stipend, but an actual solemn high mass would require more clerics to pull off.

Noel,

Add Dr. Mahrt's testimony to my evidence list.

CGZ - I doubt that you understood M's posting.