Genesis315:
Bulldog,
I did not say because we have TV we should change the Church and the Mass. I said TV is one of the components of the cause for people leaving the Church. The Mass is not a cause for the majority of people leaving the Church. People like yourself who have left are the exception of the rule. People do not leave because the Church is too lax, they leave because it is too strict. It demands too much of them when they are used to doing the demanding. The Church does stand firm in her Tradition, and this is why less people are becoming priests and nuns. They’ve been conditioned to believe denying oneself sex and wealth is bad. The Church says that is good. There is conflict so many do not become nuns and priests.
Do you honestly believe that bringing back the TLM exclusively would increase attendance again? People do not leave the Church to go to SSPX Masses. They leave the Church to go to liberal Protestant churches or to none at all.
What you are arguing is the Liberalist fallacy. It is what we think should happen. If ten people attend a strict church, loosen things up, make the disciplines easier, don’t be so bothered if people agree 100%, and soon you’ll have many more attending.This has been the whole philosophy behind 20th Century Liberalism.
But in reality
this doesn’t work. Either in the Catholic Church or the Protestant churches.
Liberal Protestant churches have crashed in numbers over the past fifty years. Fundamentalist protestant Churches in the US a are expanding everywhere. The terrible and frightening figures posted in this thread show what damage Liberalism has done to the Church.
It may be counter-intuitive, but people want a strong, firm Church which teaches a strong coherent Faith without fudging and cavilling, doubt and uncertainty. People want worthwhile spiritual and moral demands to be made on them - not to be told “do as you like”, anything goes here.
You also seem to be arguing both ways. You say the Novus Ordo has caused a decrease in Mass attendance, yet you claim it is used to increase attendance.
The
claims made for Novus Ordo by its pushers were that it would increase mass attendance by being easier for new people to understand.
In fact the Old Mass was quite easy to understand once it was explained to you, and it was far more reverent, beautiful, coherent and worshipful. More importantly it was an acting out of the reality and importance of the sacrifice of the mass. Kneeling to receive, reverence, priest facing the east, and the Liturgy all confirmed the
miracle of the mass, and the actuality of the real presence.
The fact is Novus Ordo is a service designed not to “offend” protestant critics. However it can easily detract from Catholic belief. In the worst cases, meeting for a sing-a-long in the round with guitars, and lining up to be given what could be taken for a shared snack, does not build up a sense of awe or honour for the real presence.
This sort of practice acts against belief in the real presence, since the sacrament is not honoured. For if Jesus were really present, would we not kneel and treat Him with reverence?
Disbelief in the real presence inevitably leads to decline in mass attendance.
As to muddle through…Latin was the in thing all of my early life…I can do most of it without a missal but I do like it when I wander into a TLM. It makes me look smart! 
Or maybe it is the Duck Tape that impresses them. 
This his how I know that true lasting love is NOT a feeling. It’s a function of iron will.
And Bishop Fabian and I think exactly alike on the SSPX. 
