I generally find his blog quite interesting and balanced, unlike a certain R***** C**** which shall go unnamed.
But I agree with you that we shouldn’t confuse local enthusiasm with a nation-wide (or, much less, a world-wide) movement. Support for the Traditional Mass will grow (which is good), but I predict that it will find a way to co-exist peacefully with the Ordinary Form of the Mass, and that the “howls of outrage and protest” that gave us the SSPV, etc… will eventually be a thing of the past.
And in some countries, a vernacular liturgy actually helps, not only with people who are less educated, but in dispelling misconceptions among those of other faiths (especially when Catholics are a numerical minority.)
I would say that the United States is one of those countries that benefits from a vernacular Mass.
Many of us continue fantasizing that we are the best-educated country in the world. But over and over, testing among young people demonstrates that we are actually pretty stupid.
Our average reading level is 6th grade (the average newspaper, but not the New York Times, which is too advanced for most of us). We still have a fairly-large segment of the population that is illiterate.
More importantly, even among educated people, there is a decided dearth of knowledge and lack of appreciation and respect for history, music, art, literature, culture outside of the U.S., and foreign languages.
Although citizens of many other countries are fluent in languages other than their own, most Americans know very little of any language other than English, and many of us have a hard time understanding the dialects of our own fellow citizens in different parts of this country!
To the frustration of intellectuals and those who are more advanced in their education, what all this means is that we must cater to the lowest common denominator, or we will lose them. They simply won’t comprehend and they will walk away. The music will be “above them”, and any references that require a knowledge of history, literature, culture, geography, etc. will go right over their heads, and possibly even be misinterpreted.
I don’t see this changing in the U.S. as long as the majority of the people attend public schools and as long as we allow our children to spend so much time playing online and video games. I think people in the U.S. will get even stupider.
Perhaps this will drive a return to the EF Mass, as it was used for centuries among peoples who were mostly illiterate.
But more than likely, the OF Mass will continue to be “simplified” for the sake of those who are victims of being born in the U.S. in this time and Age of Ignorance.
I think that “traditional Catholicism” requires more knowledge and understanding than most Americans possess. Also, I think that an EF Mass requires more “work” from people, and nowadays, most of us are too impatient (part of our stupidity!) to do that work. Even in the OF Mass, most people do not even bother to pick up the hymnal and do the “work” of following along, and singing–well, the number of those who actually sing the songs is getting smaller as more and more people graduate from school without knowing how to read a line of music.
It would be wonderful to see an intellectual revival beginning and continuing in the Catholic Church (or anywhere, for that matter). I do think that many Catholic primary and secondary schools provide a higher level of education than the public schools. Unfortunately, many Catholic parish schools do not have enough space for the children in their own parish, and certainly can’t admit non-Catholics who are seeking a better education. And with the cost of college going beyond the means of most American families, it is unlikely that a majority of them will choose private Catholic colleges over cheaper community colleges and state universities.
JMO, all.
My point wasn’t that I think FSSP seminarians outnumber diocesan seminarians, not sure how you came to that.