Thank you, very much, for posting this. As I have heard stated on Catholic Radio by a priest, the guitar masses are out - the goal is reverence, and achieving that reverence by directing ourselves toward the Eucharist, by realizing we are in the House of God. The rupture occurred through purposely spread confusions in the late 1960s and through the 1970s.
None of the changes associated with Vatican II were even suggested by Vatican II but the dissenters saw their chance. I watched as Catholic worship and Catholic living became less and less normative starting in the early 1970s. The understanding Catholics had of life as a whole was gradually turned upside down. The media, which by the end of the 1960s was still a welcomed guest in our homes, gradually encouraged the acting out of dysfunctional, rude, impolite and uncivilized behavior. The movies were always a few steps ahead of what was shown on TV. Chastity, virginity, dating, courtship, marriage were all gradually cast aside.
It was sad and painful to watch laws being passed that included killing the unborn and turning divorce from a serious matter to “No-Fault,” a piece of paper and a fee. Lawyers profited and it all got too easy. Where was the reverence and the kids? What were they to think about “till death do you part” when they got older? Just shack up and avoid the pain.
The further Liturgical Customs were ruptured and the reverence eroded, why bother going to Mass?
Thank God for Popes John Paul II, Pope Emeritus Benedict, and now Francis. God will not be mocked and gave us these men to right the ship. I see Pope Francis doing more, so that Liturgical Customs and the necessary reverence toward God and our active participation will begin to heal the Church. I pray for Catholics becoming communities in greater numbers. And I thank God that I was allowed too see great things come to pass.
God bless,
Ed