It’s a total slap in the face to rip out communion rails and high altars, turn the priest the wrong way, stick communion in the hand, observe the near abandonment of Benediction (I was raised in the early 90’s, never encountered it once in my childhood, had no idea what it was) not only make the Mass basically devoid of Latin, but give us utterly banal vernacular (the new translation still lacks a sacred English) …and say nothing really changed, deny there was a revolution of sorts there.
And even if the vandalism against the sanctuary was not mandated by the reforms, they still rendered some of the most important and beautiful treasures of the sanctuary totally useless.
What happened to the altar servers? When I observe the Traditional Mass, I see them execute their duties with beautiful precision. Kissing the sacred vessels, genuflecting in unison, giving form to a sacred and unseen order.
When I was an altar boy in the 90’s they could train us to do our duty in 10 minutes.
Tradition is not just words and doctrines to assent to. **Small “t” tradition is as imporant as TRADITION **. Sacred tradition is a practice.
it is a way of life. It is a mode of worship handed down to us by our ancestors that embodies the dogmas of the Faith in the most miniscule gestures.
That way of life was assaulted with the hierarchy’s own assent to the point of near extinction. This is simply objectively the case. It is one thing for small “t” traditions to die out organically. It is quite another for a Pope to take an axe to that ancient, venerable and holy tree and say “I’m going to plant a new one”.
The Archbishop spoke well:
**
Far be from me to set myself up as a pope. I am simply passing on what I received
**
The transmission of the Faith was deeply hindered. Any excesses and extremes in the Society not withstanding (I am not even a member!), the Archbishop knew that loyalty is not to the person of the Pope and his potentially destructive whims.
He knew the role of the Pope is that of a servant of tradition. For goodness sake, the Office exists only because tradition has handed it to us!
Whatever the excesses of the Society, they had the sanity to see that what was happening was gravely against essential Catholic principles and corrosive to the faith.
I am glad Benedict understands this to an extent as well.