One of the bizarre things is that Americans are getting punished for being so patient and faithful. The SSPX didn’t really get established here because traditional Catholics actually tried go through channels, request the indult mass, and make themselves take that 3 or 4 hour drive every Sunday at 4:30 a.m. to get to the inconvenient place (and time) where the TLM was scheduled by the grudging bishop. Or if the bishop refused, Americans just kept going to the NO and writing to Rome. We’re too nice and obedient!
And now of course, they’re making us jump through hoops to request a TLM in our parishes, regardless of what the Pope has said. In my diocese, one parish jumped through unreasonable hoops (200+ signatures) and the pastor simply said he can’t do it and the bishop didn’t even bother to respond. This despite the fact that we have young priests who would be willing and qualified to say the TLM.
But we’re still quiet and patient and jump through the hoops. It’s like the fairy tale where every time the hero fulfilled a task to win the princess, he was set another task that was even more impossible. And yet, precisely because we’re doing all they ask, they say we don’t really want the Tridentine Rite...
We don't even have hoops! Of course, now there's something for the Ecclesia Dei commission actually to enforce. They're planning an explanatory statement, and I guess they've been following responses. I'd love to see a real smackdown -- but failing that (and they're just a lot nicer than I am), at the very least a clear, words-of-one-syllable ultimatum!