Tea at Trianon: You Cannot Kill Tradition

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, July 18, 2021

You Cannot Kill Tradition

From The Catholic Gentleman:

With all the possible problems in the church that the Pope could have addressed strongly and firmly, it is staggering that the growth of tradition is what he chose to clamp down on. Where is the mercy, tenderness, and pastoral care for traditional Catholics? This measure is by all definitions draconian. Moreover, this strong rebuke to Summorum Pontificum was promulgated while the pope’s predecessor is still alive, an act which shows a grave disrespect for the former pontiff and what he was trying to accomplish. There was a time when Popes at least attempted to show continuity with their predecessors on faith and morals. It seems that is no longer worthy of striving for. (Read more.)

From The Spectator:

Third, we all know deep down that this is a desperate last stand by the 1960s generation of clerics, a generation that is about 10 years from losing its grip on power. The seminaries are full of young men who want to say the Old Rite. In many cases, Francis' action will seem like a terrible blow to their vocations because it strips them of a right they assumed they would be free to exercise, sending the message that they cannot trust the Vatican not to change the rules of the game at a moment's notice (what's next?!). But they should stand their ground and persevere, because that Sixties generation, the type that go weak at the knees when you whisper the words ‘Robert F Kennedy’, are not long for this world, and when they finally go, all the baggage of their era goes with them. What they do not realise with this last ditch attempt to kill the Old Rite is that they are poisoning the legacy of their own agenda. There's a lot that Francis is correct about: he has changed my mind on the environment and nudged me back to the Left in economics. But by tying that progressive agenda to a narrow cultural politics, liberals will alienate natural allies.
They will also leave the wider world scratching its head in confusion. Why, in the middle of a pandemic - with child abuse dogging the church and communist China suppressing religion - launch a crusade against a pretty liturgy that is said in very few places and does no harm to anyone? Because liturgical wars, like debates over art or architecture, are a cover for ideological obsession. We betray ourselves by our priorities.
Liberalism once promoted diversity; now it is in power, it has hardened into orthodoxy, a design for life that we must all follow. The conservatives used to run the Church and were often nasty with it, that's true: but they lost the war. Now that they are out of power, all they want is the right to be left alone. Well, they can't have it, and it's naive to think peace is an option. The reason why what Francis has done matters is because some day the kind of liberalism he embodies will come for you - for the simple, sweet thing you were doing that wasn't bothering anyone else but, by its mere existence, was an existential threat to the governing regime. You are next. (Read more.)

From Catholic World Report:

Nearly buried last month in the hubbub surrounding the U.S. bishops’ debate over who is and isn’t worthy to receive communion was a colloquy between two bishops concerning something that may prove of far greater importance in the long run.

Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens of St. Paul-Minneapolis had reported on plans for a project called the National Eucharistic Revival and was fielding questions. Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles, a prominent media evangelist, urged that instead of starting next year, the project begin sooner because of the urgent need for it. Bishop Cozzens replied that dioceses could start earlier if they wished, but the revival needed careful planning if its impact was to be “lasting and deep.”

Both bishops were right. The need really is urgent. And one can only hope this project has significant results. Familiar numbers underline the need. Fifty years ago nearly 60% of American Catholics attended Mass weekly, but by 2019, the last pre-pandemic year, the figure had dropped to little more than 21%. Not only that—recent survey results showed that two-thirds of all U.S. Catholics, and nearly a third of weekly Mass-attenders, do not believe that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist.
Reacting to these disturbing figures, the bishops last year voted overwhelmingly in support of the Eucharistic Revival in hopes of promoting faith and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. Bishop Cozzens, chairman of the planning committee, presented a progress report at the spring assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. (Read more.)

UPDATE: More HERE, HERE and HERE.