I think the author is nostalgic for something - a sense of family and ethnic tradition, connected in some way with the Church - that was rather tenuous for him, and that doesn’t exist at all for many today. I can’t find Catholic traditions among older members of my family: they’re all Protestant. I don’t have an ethnicity: I’m an American. Yes, we can adopt practices that we learn about in books or from visiting others, but they are not ours. I could dress up like a Klingon, too, but that wouldn’t make me one.
The modern American experience of Catholicism is something new in our country’s history, and maybe in the Church’s history. Among those who believe the doctrines of the Catholic Faith and submit to its moral teaching, many have no historical connection with the Church. They’ve chosen the Faith because it is true, and the Sacraments because they are the action of Christ, and the Church’s morals because they are right.
The devotional or cultural practices of ethnic communities are not the Catholic Faith. They may be aids to experiencing and following the Faith, or they may not.
The Tridentine Mass has its history and tradition tied to the Council of Trent, almost fifteen hundred years ago. Nothing since equals the deep spirituality, compelling virtue, and clear joy of all encompassing TRUTH. This cannot be denied given the millions upon millions of saved souls and thousands of inspired martyrs that developed over these multiple centuries.
Not recognizing what has occurred in history is ignorance personified.
St. Francis of Assisi in Chicago by UIC Pavilion is an Hispanic parish and their particular traditions brought a welcomed depth to my Catholicism. Since my daughter swam at UIC’s pool for several years, I was able to spend a lot of time at St. Francis (during her downtime, which is all but about 5 minutes of the 4-hour meets). Beautiful group of people; enormous faith expression, from leaving locks of their children’s hair laid at the foot of the “Bloody Jesus” statue, to hand-written letters from soldiers, to baby pictures, etc. (and the church does not remove these items, but eventually frames them behind the statue). And I’ll never forget the boiling hot (no air in this church!) day when a man and a woman came to an otherwise empty church, and on their knees “walked” side-by-side slowly down the entire long center aisle in prayer.