Pronoun Trouble

Hi there, I'm also linking over from copperbadge's RFM post. If your purpose is to compile the changes that Steve Rogers would notice the following changes are probably the biggest.

Smells and Bells: pre Vatican II the Mass included a lot special effects. Bells were rung at specific points, candles were lit and carried in procession, and incense was not only burnt it was wafted over the congregation in a censor. Almost all of this has been stripped from the US Masses.

General formality: People used to get dressed for Mass. No one would show up in jeans, no female would be seen in pants. Dresses and suits were the norm - even for children. And all women wore hats or veils (depending on age and culture).

The number of people involved in the Mass: There would have been many more church staff present on the Altar, maybe two or more priests, lots of altar servers, etc. And they would all have been male and they would all have been in surplices (at least). There were no women and no lay men on the Altar.

Congregation participation: There would have been almost none. The congregation would maybe mumble along with the major prayers, but the kind of call and repeat and congregation participation that exists now didn't happen. If there was a choir the choir sang. If there wasn't a choir - no one sang.

The wide variety of nationalities and languages among the congregation at a single Mass. In the 1930's and 40's each parish was the center of it's neighborhood and the neighborhoods were very specific to nationality. The Poles went to a Polish church, the Italians went to an Italian church, the Irish went to an Irish church etc. Most of those barriers (but not all) have been broken down and now the congregation at most urban Masses is a polyglot.

Nuns in full habits. US nuns, by and large, no longer wear the traditional habits. So while they are still present at many Masses (and participating on the Altar) they are no longer obvious. Their absence would be noticeable.