Catholic priest whose style split NC mountain parish is leaving

[kurtmasur]

The pastor of a Catholic church in the N.C. mountains whose conservative leadership style split the congregation and drew national media attention has resigned.

In a Facebook post, the Rev. Christopher Riehl of St. John the Evangelist parish in Waynesville wrote that he was “worn out or burned out” and for his own well-being needed to take a sabbatical.

He did not mention the rancor at the parish, where he’s been pastor for nearly three years, or the petition by more than 100 members to have him removed. It was sent to Bishop Peter Jugis, who leads the 46-county Catholic Diocese of Charlotte.

The National Catholic Reporter published a January article on the clash between Riehl and many parishioners in the church of about 250 families. Some of those members have left St. John’s.

The article cast the divide as one of a new pastor who preferred traditionalist approaches to the liturgy and church governance versus parishioners who cherished what had been St. John’s post-Vatican II style of a greater role for the laity and more modern worship and music.

Vatican II refers to the Second Vatican Council of the early- to mid-1960s, when the Roman Catholic Church, for example, permitted the use of local languages for a Mass that had traditionally been celebrated all over the world in Latin.

According to the National Catholic Reporter article, Riehl threw out popular hymns and replaced them with the ancient Gregorian chant. When the music director was relieved of her duties, the article said, most of the choir resigned.

A group calling itself Appalachian Catholics in the Smoky Mountain Region said in a statement earlier this year that Riehl and some other conservative priests assigned by Jugis to small parishes in the mountains “seem to be more intent on taking the church back to pre-Vatican ll days rather than minister to the people. They seem to be steeped in doctrine and theology, but are unwilling to participate in ecumenical activities, and are lacking in compassion, love and mercy. They are doing the job of the theologian, but not the job of the pastor. This is directly opposed to what Pope Francis and Vatican II are teaching us.”

But Riehl and like-minded priests had support from conservative Catholics.

“This is sad and quite disturbing,” Thomas Raffo wrote on St. John’s Facebook page, below the news about Riehl’s resignation. “It is my belief that Father Riehl was run off by some snooty Liberals who didn’t care for his traditional approach to the Mass.”

In his June 4 Facebook post to members of his “parish family,” Riehl wrote that his leaving was not prompted by anything other than his own need to take some time away from parish ministry.

“It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that I have decided, of my own free will and my own instigation, to resign my position here at St. John’s,” he wrote. “I have found that I am worn out or burned out and for my own well being need to take a sabbatical. There was no incident or event, just a feeling that I need some time away from full parish ministry. I have absolutely no questions or doubts about my vocation to the Priesthood of Christ.”

It seems likely that Riehl will leave the Diocese of Charlotte, too. Asked if Riehl, who had previously been assigned to a diocese in Tennessee, will get another assignment from Jugis after his sabbatical, Hains said, “I don’t think so.”

Hains was also asked whether Jugis had directed Riehl to resign. “What (Riehl) has in the statement is self-explanatory,” Hains said.

Besides the petition sent to Jugis, critics of Riehl also wrote to Pope Francis and to Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the pope’s representative in the United States as Apostolic Nuncio of the Holy See.

Ann Simmons, who left St. John’s because of Riehl and has been attending a Catholic church in Maggie Valley, said in a statement Tuesday that “As a prayerful people, we pray (Riehl) is restored to good health and the reconciliation of current and past parishioners of St. John’s will begin to take place.”

But parishioner Christine McQueen Ryan, who stayed at St. John’s, thanked Riehl in a Facebook comment: “Sending Love, Prayers, and thankfulness for all of your efforts to draw us closer to our Lord and our God. May your journey be filled with the peace of our Lord. Pax Christi.”

charlotteobserver.com/living/religion/article154629939.html

 

[kurtmasur]

I’m afraid that I myself have been witness to a situation similar to that of the above article back in the day when I was an alter server.

To make a long story short, a visiting priest from a different diocese had been assigned to our parish on a temporary basis (how long? I don’t know, but I’m guessing his assignment was for at least a year). Anyways, he was very conservative-minded, and this included barring women from the sanctuary, including altar girls, female lectors and female EMHCs.

You can only guess what happened next: it ruffled the feathers of the above women who subsequently felt excluded. I don’t know exactly what followed exactly, but apparantly it had caused enough conflict that the priest suddently announced during a Sunday mass that he was leaving. Unlike the priest in the above article, he never hid the reason for his leaving and even mentioned something about the devil being present in the parish and the ultimate reason to cause him to resign. He mentioned being sad for the events that happened, but at the same time happy for the little amount of time he was able to spend with our parish community. I didn’t realize it at the time as a young boy what exactly was going on, but now that I reflect upon this, I wish I could go back and support this brave, traditional-minded priest.

 

[USMC_Convert]

I feel bad for the guy, may God’s will be done!

 

[ChurchSoldier]

I will keep both priests mentioned in my prayers.

 

[pianistclare]

Having worked in parishes for over 25 years…the bullying of priests has always happened. People are just way more vocal now.
I know of a parish whose parishioners put Monopoly money in the collection baskets with notes that read" Dear Bishop So and So: When you send us a real priest, I’ll give you real money".
I know of a parish where parishioners accused the priest of being a cross dresser because he ministered to the homeless in the inner city.
And those things are only 2 examples of what goes on. If you don’t think it does, you’ve never been on a parish council, a finance council or a church employee.
The beat this guy to a pulp.
So much for encouraging vocations.
On the other hand, it pays not to make sweeping changes. Everything good happens gradually, not overnight. The wisest Monsignor I know told me that when he gets transferred to a new parish, he does nothing for a period of 6 months. He says that in that amount of time, he can observe who just has an ax to grind, or who has an agenda, and who are the people who truly want to serve the church and are honest. He spends the time building trust. Then, he moves slowly with the top priority items to work on, with these core people who are truly dedicated at the helm of the projects. Within 3 years, the entire parish tends to be on board. It also helps that the first night there, he kneels before the Altar and literally gives the parish to Our Lady. He says “it’s your parish. Tell me how you want to run it, and I will do what you feel is best.”

It works.
But one has to know their flock before making huge changes.
Throwing out the hymnals was silly.
I offer to introduce chant and teach it to the congregation at every parish I work in. Not one pastor has ever taken me up on it. Why? Because the majority of people don’t want it. It’s not the norm in this era. They don’t understated it, they don’t read music, they are not familiar with it, and they don’t want to put in the work. They want the familiar.
Maybe a lot of you are shocked at this, since CAF seems to be a gathering of Latin fans. But the average parish? Not at all.
A faith community, a parish…is a living organism. Introduce something foreign and watch the people scatter. Even parishes with a huge influx of immigrants have plenty of gripers and people who run to the next parish. Worse when you get a priest with an accent.
“I can’t understand a word he says” is the common complaint. Little is said about his piety, his Mass, his homiles, beyond I can’t understand him with that accent.

Face it.
People shop for what they like. We see it all the time around here. “Should I switch parishes???” And what is always the common response: “YES! DRIVE 45 miles to another parish to your liking!”

I’ll never understand that.

Sorry, but this article just made me feel really sad.

 

[Tablefor9]

^^^This. It’s interesting to me that it was the priest’s style, not the hardness of people’s hearts, which is credited with the split.

Generally, there are some missteps on both sides, but that doesn’t seem to be acknowledged very much.

 

[MaryT777]

I feel bad for the guy, may God’s will be done!

I do too and I will pray for this priest.

Gee, and people wonder why we have a lack of vocations to the priesthood; go figure.

Maybe when people can appreciate the priest they have been sent and treated at the very least with respect we will see a rise in vocations.

Mary.

 

[EqualinHim]

In this case, I think that the people might have had some enmity towards the Priest because of the music director being relieved of duties. Consider the fact that the music director might have been there for several years. People might have bonded with her, and then seen the new Priest as an ‘interloper’ of sorts. I am not saying that it would be right or fair to view the Priest as an interloper, but sometimes it can happen. I’ve heard of some Protestant churches that get new Pastors and almost immediately, the church is divided between loyalty to the lead Pastor and the music director or the youth minister. Certainly, his actions towards her do not seem that charitable but we do not know the full story and therefore, should not judge. I know that it may seem harsh that they ran him out and opposed him, but he did make a lot of radical changes in a short amount of time.

I see a lot of people concerned about the Priest, but no one expressing any concern for the music director. Her job might not be as important a the Priest’s but if we were able to get more information about what transpired between the Priest and the music director, we might be able to better understand the situation.

 

[jeannetherese]

Well, the news article is getting a lot of its information from the national catholic distorter- maybe we are getting less than the full story? The quoted source notes that many of its own sources declined to be named…

Praying for the priest and his bishop who shepherds the diocese and its parishes. May they act in conformity with God’s most holy will and may those they shepherd respond to His call.
Amen.

 

[Stat_Crux]

What a hypocritical group of parishioners, the double standard in their reaction against the “rigid priest” is shameful.

So he didn’t like the same hymns, or preferred a bit more reverence at Mass. And what was the response? Take the moral high ground? Patience? Charity? No, they decided they needed to destroy him and were willing to damage their own parish community in order to do it.

In twenty years most parishes won’t have priests or the Mass. Is that what they prefer?

 

[Holy_Warrior]

Our Father, Who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name;
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace.
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning,
is now,
and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

 

[redbaron162]

Firstly everyone keep in mind the source, the “National Catholic Reporter” is a left leaning organization whose orthodoxy is very much in doubt.

Secondly sounds like that Priest should come to my parish. I would welcome him with open arms. I love how the article says the parish wanted to institute a Vatican 2 worship style and then rails against Gregorian chant which Vatican 2 indicates is the official music of the Church…

I pray for this parish and parish’s like this. What happened to Obedience to your priest? I would bet this parish will be a lifeless husk in 50 years while a parish that does embrace revenant liturgy will be growing exponentially for another hundred years or more.

 

[Dorothy]

Firstly everyone keep in mind the source, the “National Catholic Reporter” is a left leaning organization whose orthodoxy is very much in doubt.

Secondly sounds like that Priest should come to my parish. I would welcome him with open arms. I love how the article says the parish wanted to institute a Vatican 2 worship style and then rails against Gregorian chant which Vatican 2 indicates is the official music of the Church…

I pray for this parish and parish’s like this. What happened to Obedience to your priest? I would bet this parish will be a lifeless husk in 50 years while a parish that does embrace revenant liturgy will be growing exponentially for another hundred years or more.

Thank you for your insightful post.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

’The clericalism has been canonized’

While Francis regularly lambastes clericalism, with the famous injunction that pastoral shepherds should take on the smell of their sheep, the Charlotte diocese has instead been filled with the smell of incense, the sounds of Latin chant, and what some Catholics describe as a less than welcoming stance to those not accustomed to traditionalist ways.

“The whole diocese is messed up right now,” Fr. James Cahill, who says Mass regularly for the Church in Exile parishioners, told NCR. A former pastor in the diocese, at 87 he’s been officially retired for 14 years.

He said the pattern of what he described as restorationist pastors infiltrated the region when he was still active. But the Waynesville parishioners, he said, were the first to take a public stance.

“I am very proud of these people,” he said. Cahill emphasized that the Mass he celebrates on Sunday avoids discussion of church divisions, and instead is focused on the readings and sacrament.

Other diocesan priests over 50 describe what they call a movement to take the diocese back to pre-Vatican II piety, with a focus on externals, such as elaborate vestments and liturgies concentrated on Latin chant and prayers. It is a movement encouraged throughout the diocese.

Related: Parishioners join priest in breakaway denomination in Bend, Ore.

Some priests in the diocese describe a situation that is flourishing on the surface, with the regular influx of new Catholics from Latin America and other parts of the U.S., but which is corroding from within due to deep divisions among the clergy.

Younger clergy here, most of whom are trained at the Josephinum Seminary in Ohio, “are arrogant, judgmental and infected with a sense of self-importance,” said one post-Vatican II priest. The diocese is in the process of opening its own seminary.

Most of the priests requested anonymity for fear that Jugis could make their life difficult.

Full clergy get-togethers are rare and, when they do occur, the young traditionalists rarely speak to their older colleagues. Older priests report that their younger colleagues have placed the blame for the church’s problems squarely on them.

“A graphic message is that I am not like a layperson,” said one priest about his younger colleagues who focus on the clerical state as an exalted one.

Another older priest said that diocesan authorities keep clergy formed in the post-Vatican II era because of the need for priests.

“I feel that I am tolerated. Someone of my generation is suspect of not being fully Catholic. They would likely retire us if they had enough young ‘true’ Catholic priests,” he said.

Jugis, say a number of older priests, has communicated by his actions that he encourages the restorationist trend among his younger priests. The Cathedral of St. Patrick offers a Latin Mass and other traditionalist liturgical themes. Some older priests say Jugis encourages a cult devoted to external practices and costumes.

“The clericalism has been canonized,” said a religious sister active in parish ministry in the diocese who also did not want to be named for fear of incurring the wrath of the bishop.

According to some older priests, Jugis has promoted restorationist practices, but not in a public way. The result is confusion.

“We have no direction. We have no mission. What are we supposed to be doing?” said one priest.

Meanwhile, Jugis rejects the notion that there are deep divisions among the clergy in the diocese along a restorationist/Vatican II divide.

ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/north-carolina-church-exile-battles-restorationists

This new trend is disturbing to me - out with faith, hope and love … in with appearances of reverence. I am glad these parishioners fought back against this movement of clerical snobbery. I get the sense that some of these younger priests just want to say Mass in what they perceive to be a reverent, or legal, style, without parishioners. It seems like they are removing the communion part of the faith. I hope priests like this can see that their approach is deeply flawed.

I am now starting to understand why our Holy Father talks so much about clericalism, rigidity and legalism in the Church.

 

[animalis]

“The primary way to foster the participation of the People of God in the sacred rite is the proper celebration of the rite itself. The ars celebrandi is the best way to ensure their actuosa participatio. (114) The ars celebrandi is the fruit of faithful adherence to the liturgical norms in all their richness; indeed, for two thousand years this way of celebrating has sustained the faith life of all believers, called to take part in the celebration as the People of God, a royal priesthood, a holy nation (cf. 1 Pet 2:4-5, 9) (115).” (Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, 38)

 

[billy15]

This new trend is disturbing to me - out with faith, hope and love … in with appearances of reverence. I am glad these parishioners fought back against this movement of clerical snobbery. I get the sense that some of these younger priests just want to say Mass in what they perceive to be a reverent, or legal, style, without parishioners. It seems like they are removing the communion part of the faith. I hope priests like this can see that their approach is deeply flawed.

I am now starting to understand why our Holy Father talks so much about clericalism, rigidity and legalism in the Church.

What a horrible, biased article you’ve quoted from so approvingly. This writer for a very heterodox publication makes “the smell of incense, [and] the sounds of Latin chant” sound like a horrible thing, and implies the two things are synonymous with an unwelcoming atmosphere. How absolutely ridiculous!

You’re only getting one side of the story here. Are allyoung priests really “snobby”. In what way does it seem that young priests are “removing the communion part of the faith”? Why is it that faith, hope and love are incompatible with reverence? The two are not mutually exclusive. There is a focus on externals in this “breakaway group” described here as well; the externals they exude is a bland minimalism. They also externally reject any legitimate and pious traditions of the Latin Rite. And they do so in a way that is not seen in, say, the Byzantine rite, or the East and West Syrian Rites.

St. John Paul II told my Ukrainian Catholic cousin priest in a private audience “Keep your traditions”. Those traditions include not only the prayers specific to the Byzantine Rite, but also the traditions of beautiful vestments, no women in the sanctuary, Communion only on the tongue, and lots and lots of incense, as well as lots of polyphonic chanting. How would these “Church in Exile” members feel about walking into one of these Byzantine parishes? Would they feel like they had “walked into the dark ages”, as one member comments in the article you posted? What a childish reaction to the legitimate traditions of the Church. Again, why cannot the valid traditions of the Latin Rite not be compatible with “faith hope and love”?

Two other things I noticed. Look at the crowd in the pictures of the “Church in Exile” breakaway group (as NCR describes it… so much for obedience if they style themselves as such). See all the graying hair and elderly? There is a reason why the young are not there. There is a reason why these “younger priests” want to bring reverence and traditional piety back to the Mass. Millennials and some in the generation before we denied these traditions in many instances and simply want a hermeneutic of continuity with the past, not a hermeneutic of discontinuity or rupture, which Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI describes quite accurately, and can rightly be ascribed to these members of the “Church in Exile”, going from their comments:

The hermeneutic of discontinuity risks ending in a split between the pre-conciliar Church and the post-conciliar Church.** It asserts that the texts of the Council as such do not yet express the true spirit of the Council. It claims that they are the result of compromises in which, to reach unanimity, it was found necessary to keep and reconfirm many old things that are now pointless.** However, the true spirit of the Council is not to be found in these compromises but instead in the impulses toward the new that are contained in the texts.

Our traditions of the Latin rite aren’t pointless and just because they give an external appearance of reverence, this does not mean that an internal reverent attitude is not present as has been implied here. Indeed, thee external signs move us towards that internal disposition; we shouldn’t be saying that these external signs are leading young people, especially young priests astray.

And the second thing I noticed was this. An interesting quote from the article that you did not share:

We felt like the early Christians, gathering together out of fear," said Paul Viau, a member of the Church in Exile.

Others gave up entirely on their Catholicism and joined the Methodist and Episcopalian churches.

How telling is this of the faith that those had that disagreed with Fr. Riehl’s approach? Was their faith so weak that a simple priest, who tried to bring some legitimate traditions back to a parish that had lost them, was all it took to make them apostatize and leave the barque of Peter? How truly sad.

Again, I wonder how such people would react to their brothers and sister Catholics in the Eastern Rites. Well… maybe I don’t have to wonder. If this is how they treat those that embrace the traditions of the Latin Rite (and I’m not even talking about the EF specifically), it’s easy to see that my Ukrainian Catholic family members would be mocked as “want[ing] to go back to the 16th century”, as one “Church in Exile” member had said.

So I say, " ‘clerical snobbery’ my foot!" Why don’t we try listening to some of the 39 year-old Fr. Riehl’s homilies before we judge him as being a snob. Perhaps he could’ve implemented some changes more slowly, but he’s been putting up with this for over two years now. We should stop throwing these charges of “rigidity and legalism” around so flippantly. Fr. Riehl hasn’t done any of the things that Pope Francis has denounced. Again, listen to his homilies to see how deeply he cares for his flock; that he has not tossed “out faith, hope, and love.” I’m not surprised that he’s tired out. He and his parishioners, especially the ones that left the Catholic faith need our prayers.

 

[pnewton]

Well, the news article is getting a lot of its information from the national catholic distorter- maybe we are getting less than the full story? The quoted source notes that many of its own sources declined to be named.

This is the most important thing to remember. I hope readers here will not be taking sides based on what the news media reports. Was there a failure? Sure. That this is even printed shows some failure on someone’s part, maybe on many people’s part. But we do not know who. That is for the bishop do dissect and take remedial action, and God alone to judge.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

What a horrible, biased article you’ve quoted from so approvingly. This writer for a very heterodox publication makes “the smell of incense, [and] the sounds of Latin chant” sound like a horrible thing, and implies the two things are synonymous with an unwelcoming atmosphere. How absolutely ridiculous!

You’re only getting one side of the story here. Are allyoung priests really “snobby”. In what way does it seem that young priests are “removing the communion part of the faith”? Why is it that faith, hope and love are incompatible with reverence? The two are not mutually exclusive. There is a focus on externals in this “breakaway group” described here as well; the externals they exude is a bland minimalism. They also externally reject any legitimate and pious traditions of the Latin Rite. And they do so in a way that is not seen in, say, the Byzantine rite, or the East and West Syrian Rites.

St. John Paul II told my Ukrainian Catholic cousin priest in a private audience “Keep your traditions”. Those traditions include not only the prayers specific to the Byzantine Rite, but also the traditions of beautiful vestments, no women in the sanctuary, Communion only on the tongue, and lots and lots of incense, as well as lots of polyphonic chanting. How would these “Church in Exile” members feel about walking into one of these Byzantine parishes? Would they feel like they had “walked into the dark ages”, as one member comments in the article you posted? What a childish reaction to the legitimate traditions of the Church. Again, why cannot the valid traditions of the Latin Rite not be compatible with “faith hope and love”?

Two other things I noticed. Look at the crowd in the pictures of the “Church in Exile” breakaway group (as NCR describes it… so much for obedience if they style themselves as such). See all the graying hair and elderly? There is a reason why the young are not there. There is a reason why these “younger priests” want to bring reverence and traditional piety back to the Mass. Millennials and some in the generation before we denied these traditions in many instances and simply want a hermeneutic of continuity with the past, not a hermeneutic of discontinuity or rupture, which Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI describes quite accurately, and can rightly be ascribed to these members of the “Church in Exile”, going from their comments:

Our traditions of the Latin rite aren’t pointless and just because they give an external appearance of reverence, this does not mean that an internal reverent attitude is not present as has been implied here. Indeed, thee external signs move us towards that internal disposition; we shouldn’t be saying that these external signs are leading young people, especially young priests astray.

And the second thing I noticed was this. An interesting quote from the article that you did not share:

How telling is this of the faith that those had that disagreed with Fr. Riehl’s approach? Was their faith so weak that a simple priest, who tried to bring some legitimate traditions back to a parish that had lost them, was all it took to make them apostatize and leave the barque of Peter? How truly sad.

Again, I wonder how such people would react to their brothers and sister Catholics in the Eastern Rites. Well… maybe I don’t have to wonder. If this is how they treat those that embrace the traditions of the Latin Rite (and I’m not even talking about the EF specifically), it’s easy to see that my Ukrainian Catholic family members would be mocked as “want[ing] to go back to the 16th century”, as one “Church in Exile” member had said.

So I say, " ‘clerical snobbery’ my foot!" Why don’t we try listening to some of the 39 year-old Fr. Riehl’s homilies before we judge him as being a snob. Perhaps he could’ve implemented some changes more slowly, but he’s been putting up with this for over two years now. We should stop throwing these charges of “rigidity and legalism” around so flippantly. Fr. Riehl hasn’t done any of the things that Pope Francis has denounced. Again, listen to his homilies to see how deeply he cares for his flock; that he has not tossed “out faith, hope, and love.” I’m not surprised that he’s tired out. He and his parishioners, especially the ones that left the Catholic faith need our prayers.

According to Zaffrann, the rebellion at St. John’s parish is comprised of roughly 20 percent of its year-round members, but most of that isn’t made up of hostile parishioners who would really like to see Fr. Riehl booted. All in all, the demands for Riehl’s removal, along with all the alleged grievances, are being manufactured by a total of five women. The rest have apparently, according to Zaffrann, “pressured and coerced the rest to follow along.”

“What really happened, I believe, is that a small group of people convinced others to just reject him and convinced them — or tried to convince them — that if we just band together we can get a new guy,” Zaffrann recalled, “because obviously they chose not to like him from the day he walked in the door.”

churchmilitant.com/news/article/postponednc-parishioners-demand-removal-of-pastor-for-defying-spirit-of-vat

These claims cited by the Church Militant are unbelievable. Five women coerced 140 people out of a parish of 250 families to sign a petition…I supposed to believe that? They disliked him from day one…?

Anyway, you’ve failed to take my comments at face value. These parishioners are not Byzantine Catholics. And you should apply your own statements about the faith of the parishioners who left to the pastor who left.

 

[ARSpade]

Riehl threw out popular hymns and replaced them with the ancient Gregorian chant.

"This is directly opposed to what Pope Francis and Vatican II are teaching us.”

I find these two statements interesting.

They don’t like that there’s Gregorian chant, but they want what Vatican II taught? Have they not actually read what Vatican II teaches and asked us to implement?

Methinks that somebody’s never actually read the Vatican II documentation.

 

[exnihilo]

I offer to introduce chant and teach it to the congregation at every parish I work in. Not one pastor has ever taken me up on it. Why? Because the majority of people don’t want it. It’s not the norm in this era. They don’t understated it, they don’t read music, they are not familiar with it, and they don’t want to put in the work. They want the familiar.

I don’t know the majority of people don’t want it. It could just be that a very vocal, angry and demanding group don’t want it. It seems to me there is a certain generation that is intent on making the Catholic Church into a church more in the style of Protestant churches with a heavy emphasis on hymn singing and less formal liturgy.

I do ageee with your point about it being wise to be gradual. Then again I know a priest who approached it that way and was still run off.