The great strength of the Catholic faith (properly taught) is the capacity for hope and the ability to see everything in perspective and in a positive light. It is not a religion of negativity. What is more positive than to hear the promise of the Resurrection and to see its fulfilment? What can engender more hope than to see Our Lord rise from the tomb? During His teaching ministry His absolute concern was for our redemption and the salvation of souls - all souls. And for this purpose He left a legacy of epistles and gospels and a teaching authority under Peter.It is no secret that the Church is currently in crisis. Perhaps the greatest reason for this is that too many people in the Church, who should know better, no longer accept the authority of the Pope. Where there is dissent and where personality and self are uppermost, there is decay and lapsation. Where the traditional life of the Church is allowed to flourish unhindered, and Christ and obedience are to the fore, then the spiritual life of the Church flourishes, parish life flourishes, priestly and religious vocations flourish, and the vitality of the faith flourishes. The evidence for this is becoming overwhelming. This may be distressing to those with a modernist outlook who deride the attractions (and magnetism even?) of Tradition but they are allowing their own human rationale and agenda to blind them to the startling growth before their very eyes. They wilfully refuse to see what is becoming incontrovertible. It is like a gravestone in a cemetery that contains the final words of the deceased - "I am not ill." The fact that God may have a different agenda to theirs does not appear to be a consideration.
The signs, increasingly, are hopeful. We cannot express it more strongly than this. But Tradition is no longer fighting a losing battle; it is no longer just holding its own, it is now making quite clear progress. It may not be spectacular, but the evidence is there. The positive public statements by Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos (page 7*), the wide-ranging article by Madeleine Beard (page 9), Fr Bisig’s speech at our AGM (page 13), the ordinations at Gricigliano (page 16), and the Wall Street Journal report (page 26), are clear signs of the restoration and resurgence of Tradition.
How often in modern times have we seen people protesting about some cause or other and they link arms to form a human chain. They do this out of solidarity and to bond together in a public show of strength and conviction. We traditionalists are like this; but we are linking hands not only with our friends around the world in the Una Voce movement, but with our ancestors down through the centuries to the time of Christ on earth. We are refusing to loosen our grip and abandon our parents and grandparents, our great saints and humble sinners. We are adamant that we will not consign their lives, their faith, their liturgy, their fortitude in adversity, to some empty vacuum of history; something to be read about in a detached manner in some dusty history book. Tradition is a living thing and cannot be cast aside: it is impossible. Tradition is the lifeblood that flows through the veins of the Church and without it the Church will die. It is as simple as that. Our faith lives as it has lived for 2,000 years and we will not dishonour the memory and steadfastness of our forbears by casting it aside like some worn-out trinket in favour a glitzy new model; no matter how many times we are told that the glitzy new one is better for us. We would not abandon our family in life and we will not abandon them in death. Our bishops have to realise that this is our mentality and we cannot, and will not, change it.
Leo Darroch. Editor.
[Taken from the Latin Mass Society's November 2000 Newsletter.]
*of the newsletter distributed to members of the Latin Mass Society.