“Traditional Liturgy Flourishing in the Bible Belt”

The following is an excerpt from a fantastic article in Catholic World Report:

Catholic World Report:   What reactions have you received from parishioners?

Fr. Christopher Smith:   There was a little bit of concern at the beginning—especially because I was coming in new—from people thinking we were going to completely change it over into an Extraordinary Form parish. But when they saw that we were not taking away anything, but just adding more opportunities to go to Mass, I believe that that helped alleviate those concerns.

Catholic World Report:   What did you expect when you began this assignment leading a parish, and what have you learned over the nearly two years since?

Fr. Christopher Smith:   When I first started, what I thought was those who are already going to the Sunday Traditional Mass might choose to go to daily Latin Mass. We have a lot of homeschool families, so I thought they might go to that Mass.

What I didn’t expect — but which has been very, very wonderful in our parish — is that a lot of people who swore two years ago they would never darken the doors of the Latin Mass now go every day because it is a Latin Mass at noon and they have grown to respect it, appreciate it, and love it. Also, we have members of the Latin Mass community who would previously never go to an English Mass, and they now go periodically because it is celebrated according to the mind of the Church and it is celebrated in the same manner as the Extraordinary Form.

I didn’t expect that to happen and I certainly didn’t think it would happen that quickly.