Replies

‘First and foremost, I would point out that any TLM arrangement in a “mixed” Novus Ordo parish is far from ideal anyway, and it was only a matter of time before these arrangements disappeared anyway.’

I respectfully disagree. I feel like the “mixed” arrangement works well at my parish. The TLMers and Novus-ers get along and attend the same parish dinners, anti-abortion marches, etc. Having the TLM integrated into regular parish life has drawn the curious from the Novus Ordo to check it out and also exposed them to TLM people who are “normal,” not the fire-breathing weirdos that Bergoglio and company imagine. I’m not going to name names, but my parish is one that featured in the recent “Mass of the Ages, part 1” documentary film. It’s precisely the success of co-existence that has the Vatican all in a tizzy and working feverishly to crack down on us.

From a functional standpoint it might “work,” but there’s a fundamental distinction between the two rites — beyond just the rubrics of the Mass — that is obvious to anyone who looks at them closely. The Novus Ordo has far more in common with modern Protestant services than with the Tridentine Mass. Anyone who visits a parish with both of them is bound to notice the stark differences, and — importantly — they’d wonder why two different “religions” are using the same church.

In my experience, there seem to be an inordinate number of conversions from High Anglicanism among the TLM people I’ve known. After speaking with them I can tell you that they never would have converted to Catholicism if the “Novus Ordo church” was the only option for them.