VERYONE KNOWS we don’t discuss politics here; and we’re not about to start! Nonetheless, it’s interesting to “travel back in time” to 29 June 1988, when there was barely a glimmer of hope for those with an attachment to the Traditional Latin Mass. To be very specific, the “glimmer” came from a document issued on 3 October 1984 by POPE SAINT JOHN PAUL II known as Quattuor Abhinc Annos. (You can read contemporary commentary by Monsignor Richrd J. Schuler.) In the following clip from C-SPAN, a former senior assistant to Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan addresses the issue of the Missale Vetustum on live television. Notice how Mr. Buchanan says: “I guess we didn’t know what we had until we lost it…”
History Repeats: Just as in the 1970s, there are people in 2022 who wish to wipe the Missale Vetustum from the face of the earth, in spite of the strong declaration by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007: “It behooves ALL of us” to preserve the riches of the ancient Catholic liturgy.
Flawed Argument: On the one hand, they claim that those who desire the Latin Mass are “but a tiny, minuscule, insignificant group of people” and they deserve to be marginalized, punished, and disparaged. On the other hand, they advocate using a sledge hammer to crush this “insignificant” group of Catholics. Very curious.
