Once again, Michael Voris has some great insights –
actually, some evidence from his own experience – about the value of the Traditional Latin Mass.
His premise in this episode of the Vortex is that the “incredible need to
evangelize and spread the Faith” that we are hearing so much about, is actually happening in Catholic
communities where the Traditional Latin Mass is offered. (Tantum Ergo has comments on this Vortex, too.)
From the script for the “Latin Anyone?” episode of the
Vortex:
We do a lot of traveling, around
the US and the world. We meet thousands of Catholics in dozens and dozens of
different settings, from every race and nationality you can imagine.
In just the past six months
alone, we’ve been invited to speak to parishes and other groups in Denver,
Colorado; Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Toronto, Ontario;, Ottawa Ontario; Cleveland,
Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Lafayette, Louisiana; Manila, Cebu, Bacolad and Davao
City, The Philippines; Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Abuja, Nigeria; Washington DC;
Sacramento, California; Minneapolis, Minnesota; New Jersey; Rome; Evansville,
Indiana; Rome, New York; El Paso, Texas; San Diego, California; Tulsa, Oklahoma;
Clearwater, Florida; and Toulon France.
… In the next months, we’ll be
adding to those numbers traveling to Auckland, New Zealand, as well as
Melbourne, Canberra, Wagga Wagga, and Sydney in Australia.
…[T]he near constant thread we see running
throughout all these locations and people is a great love for Tradition, especially the Traditional Latin Mass.
Michael Voris notes, too, that even if the TLM is not
readily available in some of the places he’s visited, there is still “a great
curiosity about it and a desire to know more about it”. And when he attends
Mass with his hosts, it is often a TLM, and when it is, he says:
What strikes you almost
instantly is the large proportion of young people, especially young males, as
well as young families. Sure there are old people there, but the more liberal
party line coming out of chanceries across the Catholic world that the
Traditional Latin Mass is like a senior citizen home is pure hooey.
I know. I’ve been to these
Masses on three and soon to be four continents, multiple countries, and dozens
and dozens of cities across the United States. London England, for example has
a splendid and lively group of young Catholics called Juventutum, which is Latin for “youth”.
…What’s curious about all this
is this. When you look around the Church these days, practically anywhere, this
is where you see all the growth and excitement and energy.
The parishes that are “emptying out and closing” are not
those that have the Traditional Latin Mass. Rather, they are:
[t]he parishes that are mired
in their stale, boring lives of dull liturgies complete with lifeless
unchallenging homilies or even worse, Protestantized emotional liturgies – which
is to say the large number of Catholic parishes in the west…
…The average Catholic knows
little about his faith and cares even less. That’s why parishes are closing.
Sure the other factors have some impact. But the number one reason is lack of Catholic identity.
Oh oh, but not in these
traditionally minded circles. No siree! They are churning out vocations, are
packed with young L-A-R-G-E families, have a parish-wide sense of community,
socialize as well as pray together, generally tend to home-school their
exorbitant number of kids and center their lives around the one true faith
established by Jesus Christ – the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
They know their faith, make
sure their kids know the faith. They live the faith and most importantly LOVE
the faith. Practically all the action in
the Church these days, from excitement and devotion, to vocations and young
people involvement to large families - ALL of it – is coming from the
Traditional Latin Mass quarter of the Church.
Again, I’m not reading this in brochures
or promotional videos – as if such things even existed in the first place. I’m
seeing it with my own peepers, almost everywhere I go.
As the establishment Church of
the last half of the 20th century turns old and grays, one can only
hope that its liberal and decidedly non-Catholic approach to the Church’s
mission of saving souls dies with it.
As you look around at who’s
clogging the ranks of seminarians these days, as Father Z pointed out on his
superb blog earlier this week, it’s not hard at all to see where the Church
will be in the next 20 years.
Here’s a clue: it’s gonna be
very hard to hear the drums and tambourines over all that Gregorian Chant.
And here’s a shout out to the
liberal Catholic crowd – the few of you that are left: If you can’t beat ‘em,
join ’em. After all, you made a living fomenting revolution in the halcyon days
of the 1960’s and ‘70’s.
Well, here’s the newest
revolution you can sign up for. And never forget, what’s old is new again.
Here's the video:
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