The movement afoot isn't about any one person. It isn't about me. It isn't about you. It isn't about Father who is celebrating Holy Mass. It is about knowing the truth of Catholicism. How we apply the consistent teachings of Holy Mother Church to today. One of the great faults of the ecclesiology which followed Vatican Council II is that it created cults of personality. This is a Protestant idea. The Church is about knowing the truth and assenting one's will to it. Far too often since the 1970s we've seen priests take on cults of personality. A clear example is Fr. Pfleger in Chicago. It isn't a particular brand of Catholicism and it isn't a particular brand of spirituality which exists. The diversity of the Church is made manifest in that regardless of the celebrant, homilist or theologian the truth of Catholicism is most important.
As I was driving back, I was listening to the podcast of Patrick Madrid. He was interviewing, Francis Card. Arinze. His Eminence made a very clear statement, it is the Church we should be concerned with. Bishops will come and go. Popes will come and go. Priests will come and go. The Church remains. When we approach the altar rail we should remember that.
I think there is great wisdom in that. Far too often we put our eggs into the so-called clerical basket. I have a friend from my days in the Cities who has made it a habit to befriend and support (prayerfully and sometimes with a meal or a small gift) seminarians. He has done this with many over the years. He doesn't expect much in return, but he does expect the friendship to remain. Now, he is quirky. He has spent his entire life taking care of his mother (who recently passed away, at age 90) and brother who (at age 53) has Down's Syndrome. He never married and he lived at home his entire life. As it is, the majority of the time these seminarians are ordained and they completely forget about my friend. Some stick around for a few years, but by and large they pass him by. This is the great sadness of his life. He feels betrayed and he feels abandoned by these men. He has a point, to a point.
The reality is this....priests come and go. That is part of their vocation. We need to be prepared to let priests come and let priests go. Their life is hard enough, we don't need to be complicating it with our own worries and our own "dramas."
As traditionalists, we have a very hard job ahead of us. It is going to fall on us to correct the erroneous mentalities which have dominated the landscape since the close of the Council. We have to rely on our priests for the Sacraments and for sound theology. But we need to let them do that and we don't need to be attaching ourselves to them, to the point where we are following them everywhere they go. Look at what it has done to my friend in the Cities. He has a life full of regrets over priests who could not reciprocate.
When we adhere to tradition, we adhere to the Church. We have the right to 4 things:
1. The Mass properly celebrated and authentic worship
2. Proper Ecclesiolgy
3. The Authentic Ordinary Magisterium as has existed from the beginning until today
4. A proper understanding of the Catholic role of Religious Tolerance and what we can do to further that.
Outside of that, any priest, who is orthodox can give us the answers we need. So rather than hanging our hats on a particular priest or priests, we should hang our hat on the Church. In the long run it will allow our priests to do what they were ordained to do and it will allow us to fulfill our mission within Holy Mother Church, which is to promote the four things I just listed. Everything we have is bound there within the Church. If we promote those things, we cannot go wrong....
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