I know a number of very devout and holy priests who do. In fact there's a growing number of priests who do. latin is still the official language of the church so, if a priest hopes to be a bishop or cardinal someday it is in his interest to learn it, to best fulfill his vocation
Do we ditch all those who prefer to celebrate Mass in vernacular?
Nope. Just let the pope reaffirm that all priests have the right to say the TLM without their bishop preventing them from doing so. Eventually the NO will dry up on its own. If fact, why not make the TLM the normative mass and let the NO be said with an indult?
Lots of truth in your post, MurphE . . . here's a problem though, and I say this as someone who has had to teach Latin, informally, to a number of young guys who want to be able to pray in Latin . . .
The crisis in the liturgical language of the Church is tied into the crisis in the ENGLISH language in our schools.
What I mean is, when we went to school (yes, I know, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and nuns wore the habit), we were taught what I, as an educator, consider to be the most basic foundation for learning Latin (or any other language beside one's first language): how to diagram sentences.
By which I mean not only how to diagram sentences but, necessarily, the grammatical rules that such diagrams demand, pre-suppose, and in their own way teach!
To move from six years of diagram work with English into 9th grade Latin was a breeze for me - and for so many others in my age group.
Some of these poor young guys who want to be able to say Mass in Latin BARELY KNOW ENGLISH.
But be that as it may, what a tragedy that they could go through the entire pre-ordination theology graduate school and never have to take even a basic course in Latin (oh, but make sure they get Biblical Greek and Hebrew)!
Where to begin?
Far better to abolish the Novus Ordo and allow the Tridentine Mass to be said either in Latin or the Vernacular. The people will then quickly sort out how many Latin Masses are really wanted by their attendance patterns, provided all Parishes offer at least one Latin Mass per weekend. Even Sinkspur, bless his Vatican II-ized heart, told me a Catholic such as himself could see the merit in this.
Instinct tells me that among the present generation, it will work out for now to 1/4 to 1/3 of all Masses in Latin.
Your last paragraph cannot be repeated too often. That is exactly how the liturgical restoration will occur. All we need is for Catholic people to be exposed to the Tridentine Mass and for it to be available everywhere and liturgical restoration will occur since the Novus Ordo has so very few charms by comparison.