Lay people don't have any rights, and the clergy can do whatever they like... right?

On the contrary, it is the right of all of Christ’s faithful that the Liturgy, and in particular the celebration of Holy Mass, should truly be as the Church wishes, according to her stipulations as prescribed in the liturgical books and in the other laws and norms. Likewise, the Catholic people have the right that the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass should be celebrated for them in an integral manner, according to the entire doctrine of the Church’s Magisterium. Finally, it is the Catholic community’s right that the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist should be carried out for it in such a manner that it truly stands out as a sacrament of unity, to the exclusion of all blemishes and actions that might engender divisions and factions in the Church.

Redemptionis Sacramentum 11

But we don't have a right that Bishop's do anything about anything? Do we?

Christ’s faithful have the right that ecclesiastical authority should fully and efficaciously regulate the Sacred Liturgy lest it should ever seem to be “anyone’s private property, whether of the celebrant or of the community in which the mysteries are celebrated”

Redemptionis Sacramentum 18

It is the right of the Christian people themselves that their diocesan Bishop should take care to prevent the occurrence of abuses in ecclesiastical discipline, especially as regards the ministry of the word, the celebration of the sacraments and sacramentals, the worship of God and devotion to the Saints.

Redemptionis Sacramentum 24

Do we have the right to a decent liturgy?

It is the right of the community of Christ’s faithful that especially in the Sunday celebration there should customarily be true and suitable sacred music, and that there should always be an altar, vestments and sacred linens that are dignified, proper, and clean, in accordance with the norms.

Redemptionis Sacramentum 57

All of Christ’s faithful likewise have the right to a celebration of the Eucharist that has been so carefully prepared in all its parts that the word of God is properly and efficaciously proclaimed and explained in it; that the faculty for selecting the liturgical texts and rites is carried out with care according to the norms; and that their faith is duly safeguarded and nourished by the words that are sung in the celebration of the Liturgy.

Redemptionis Sacramentum 58

Any clergy reading?

Have you respected our rights?

Let each one of the sacred ministers ask himself, even with severity, whether he has respected the rights of the lay members of Christ’s faithful, who confidently entrust themselves and their children to him, relying on him to fulfil for the faithful those sacred functions that the Church intends to carry out in celebrating the sacred Liturgy at Christ’s command. For each one should always remember that he is a servant of the Sacred Liturgy.

Redemptionis Sacramentum 186

In this weeks Catholic Herald there is an interview with Archbishop Vincent Nichols. One of the questions asked was "Does it really matter therefore whether we receive him in a Mass celebrated in the ordinary form or in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite?" to which the Archbishop rightly responded that "frankly the form of the Mass doesn't matter in comparison to that mystery which it provides."

He then went on to say this...

...most troubling of all to my mind is the mindset that somebody might get caught into, because perhaps they don't like some aspect of how the Mass is being celebrated or the music that's been chosen or something, that they begin to turn their back on the Church's ordinary pattern of prayer, the ordinary form of the Mass and say: "I can't accept that."

That's really quite serious, because if they can't accept that then they are inexorably distancing themselves from the Church.

[Catholic Herald]

Here's what's "really quite serious"...

In every diocese, in hundreds of parishes across the country, every Sunday there are priests who "turn their back on the Church's ordinary pattern of prayer".

They "turn their back on the Church's ordinary pattern of prayer" when they change the words of the prayers at Mass to conform with their own personal interpretation and ideology. They "turn their back on the Church's ordinary pattern of prayer" when they actively encourage laypeople to take part in those parts of the Mass normally reserved for the priest like the Per Ipsum. They "turn their back on the Church's ordinary pattern of prayer" when they allow it to become the norm that the propers of the Mass are something most people barely even know exists let alone something actually heard and sung. They "turn their back on the Church's ordinary pattern of prayer" when they discourage use of the sacrament of confession. They "turn their back on the Church's ordinary pattern of prayer" when they break the bread at the line "he broke the bread" instead of waiting for the proper time. They "turn their back on the Church's ordinary pattern of prayer" each and every time they choose to modify the liturgy according to their own whim and fancy.

More seriously than that though are the Bishops who "turn their back on the Church's ordinary pattern of prayer" when they turn a blind eye to the priests they know to be doing the above. When they respond to letters from laypeople with words of assurance but do absolutely nothing of substance and leave such priests in place for years and years to wreak untold harm on their congregations. They "turn their back on the Church's ordinary pattern of prayer" when they take part in the abuses themselves!

But the biggest kick in the teeth?

The Archbishop who after years of silent assent with the above turns around now and has a go at laypeople who quite understandably after years of being treated like turds say something like "to hell with it, let's just go to a traditional Church where they do things properly"

I am definitely most at home with the ordinary form of the Mass but there are many things in the Masses as celebrated in our Diocese to which I have to say "I can't accept that" or to use the official language: "the perpetration of liturgical abuses has become almost habitual, a fact which obviously cannot be allowed and must cease" (RS 4)

It is not that I "don't like some aspect of how the Mass is being celebrated or the music that's been chosen or something" as though this is a matter of personal preference. It is not a matter of personal preference, "The Mystery of the Eucharist “is too great for anyone to permit himself to treat it according to his own whim. (RS 11)

Who is turning their back on the Church's ordinary pattern of prayer?

Look no further than our very own Bishops.