In England and Wales, diocesan inspectors are charged with assessing the overall quality of Catholic education provided by Catholic schools. As part of this assessment, inspectors are required to give an account of the liturgical life of the school. Often the reports which result from these inspections refer to the degree of students' "active participation" in liturgy. This terminology has its roots in Biblical and patristic theological literature. Its meaning has evolved over time and has been used to describe a wide range of seemingly diffuse human behaviours. This article casts light on the meaning of "active participation" in the context of Diocesan inspectors and offers some reflections on how this term could be refined in order to make diocesan inspections more informative.