Lately I've noticed that instead of saying "The Mass in ended...." our new pastor has started to say " The Prayer is ended..." Could someone explain why the difference in words?

Yes, your pastor is violating the Rubrics of the Mass. He has illictly changed the words which is not allowed.

Pax Christi

Greetings,

In the sacramentary the priest is given three options:

A. Go in the peace of Christ.

B. The mass is ended, go in peace.

C. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

There are no other options in English given in the sacramentary.

In Latin it gives only one choice:

Ite, missa est.

and the people respond: Deo gratias

peace

So he should not be saying "The prayer is ended. Go in the peace of Christ."?
I usually attend at a different time, but over the last month I've attended a later one when it's our actual pastor presiding. Will someone correct him? Should it be brought to someone's attention?

That remains the same in Latin in the latest version of the Roman Missal.

By the way, if a deacon is present, the deacon, not the priest, says the End of the Mass.

You might ask him, extremely politely. Just say you noticed that he was doing it and had never heard it before. You might even mention that you can't find that option in the missalette.

He might well tell you that he was taught it was OK to do that, and he might well have been. If you want to pursue it further, you'd probably have to write to the diocese.

I've noticed in some parishes a seeming allergy to the word, "Mass." Often they substitute "liturgy." I tend to smell an agenda (sometimes hidden, sometimes open) whenever someone feels a need to change the traditional wording, but here, I can't fathom just what that agenda might be. Anybody have in idea?

The Roman Missal or the Sacramentary, the very book the celebrating priest uses, give exact words for a priest or a deacon to say the equivalent in native language for ITE, MISSA EST. Except where permitted, such words cannot be changed even by a priest. This is a rule set up by the Vatican II Constitution document Sacrosanctum Concilium:

Sacrosanctum Concilium

In particular:

Mass is more specifically Catholic, perhaps? They are afraid of alienating, say, Anglicans (who aren't Anglo-Catholic/Papalist), Lutherans, Orthodox, and other liturgical Christians who don't use the term "Mass"?