Subscribing to pessimism seems to be the purview of traditionalist catholics. Attending traditionalist masses also excludes participants from the reality of life around them. Like you, I support traditional marriage and believe that communion should be denied those remarried without a church annulment. Looking at the "real world" around me, however, indicates that many catholics follow a more secularist lifestyle and are either ignorant of or dismiss church teachings. Let me cite an example from the small townhouse community where I reside.
We have several young 'families' on the block. One is a twice divorced (catholic) mother of two children (the youngest is 7) from different fathers. She has moved a new boyfriend into the 'nest'. Another 'family' consists of a divorced (catholic) dad, his 5 year old son (who attends catholic school) and his fiancee. Yet another is a blended (catholic) family of grandparents, children and grandchildren. These children all play together and often talk to me when I walk the dog. As young as they are, they all know the 'cast of characters' in each other's lives, right down to the proper terminology. None of them has ever experienced life in a traditional family. For them, this lifestyle is normal.
Pope Francis' commented: "The problem of family pastoral care is very broad." Judging from what I see around me, I totally concur. These families rarely attend mass yet consider themselves catholic. The pope and the synod must discuss the "reality" of contemporary society and the relativism that has contributed to it. This is not a cut and dry issue with a quick fix statement. Most catholic pastors are confronted with these blended catholic families and look to the Holy See for some guidelines on how to deal with these "real world" issues.
The catholics who attend the TLM, are those who understand and choose to practice the tenets of their faith. It is commensurate on them and us to pray for their brothers and sisters in the faith, who have lost their way. More importantly, your prayers are needed for the pope and the upcoming synod.
And subscribing to such absurd optimism as a "New Springtime" and a "New Pentecost" and "atheists can go to Heaven" and "prosleytism is solemn nonsense" in the current Devastation in the Vineyard seems to be the purview of novus ordo catholics.
Attending traditionalist masses also excludes participants from the reality of life around them.
So 1500 years of Catholics, including popes, were excluded from the reality of life around them, until some bugger named Bugnini opened the eyes of contemporary catholics to "reality"?
Would you please clarify that statement before I pop a blood vessel?
We have a Pope who pointedly references Orthodox practices, reacts positively to Kasper's heretical theology, allows Kasper to speak in his name, makes a cold call to a woman living in adultery and gives her the green light, and staffs his inner circle with like minds who have also been very busy spouting off to the media. To assume none of this is relevant to the potential outcome of the synod is to bury one's head in the sand.
Attending traditionalist masses also excludes participants from the reality of life around them.
Seriously? How, pray tell, does the Holy Mass one attends have any bearing on one's awareness of "the reality of life around them"? Intentional or not, your post comes off as a gratuitous and stereotypical attack on traditional Catholics. It implies that we've constructed our own reality, and are out of touch with the big picture. Nothing could be further from the truth. Personally, I don't know any Catholics whose families have been spared the effects of the post-VII moral collapse. I have seen the destructive effects of divorces (and easy annulments) on my nieces and nephews. Any change in praxis which further undermines the Sacrament will lead to an increase in broken homes.
Most catholic pastors are confronted with these blended catholic families and look to the Holy See for some guidelines on how to deal with these "real world" issues.
If that were the only focus, why the full court press by the Pope and his hand-picked acolytes to promote the idea that "changes" must be made, and that 50% of marriages are not valid (by their criteria, I would have to include mine, although I didn't know it until I heard what Cardinal Kasper had to say :-0!). I think people ought to be forgiven for taking these prelates at their word rather than spinning a Pollyanna interpretation of their widely publicized comments, which taken together appear to telegraph a very definite agenda).
The catholics who attend the TLM, are those who understand and choose to practice the tenets of their faith. It is commensurate on them and us to pray for their brothers and sisters in the faith, who have lost their way. More importantly, your prayers are needed for the pope and the upcoming synod.
Ironically, though the Pope has publically mocked traditional Catholics, and in the case of the FFI, is brutally persecuting them, traditional Catholics are, as a group, the ones most likely to pray regularly and fervently for him and his intentions.