Traditionalists Should be welcoming….

From Rorate Caeli we have this.

Traditionalists here are admonished to emulate a priest who celebrates the “Mass of Paul VI” and then reaches out to those who “walk in the door.” Supposedly this is in contrast to the conduct of Traditionalists. I must confess never to have encountered this “welcoming” behavior of anyone who celebrates the mass of Paul VI – other than now and then in more limited communities such as certain college chaplaincies or in Opus Dei events. I have encountered it at the Russian Catholic chapel in New York, at the traditionalist services of St. Mary’s parish in Norwalk, Connecticut, after the public events and liturgies of various traditionalist organizations in New York (such as this one), at the Traditional parish of St Sebastian, Salzburg etc.etc.

It is the case that various traditionalist communities – particularly under the prior Indult regime – seemed to display indifference to visitors. But here they were sharing the attitude that prevails in the rest of the Roman Catholic church, not departing from it. It is an attitude that some never had and which I find in remission since Summorum Pontificum. For now traditionalists understand that the traditional Roman rite is a treasure for the whole Church and indeed fror the whole world, not the possession of a remnant. Evangelization is part of that realization. Traditionalists do need to make a special effort to reach out to those who walk into their midst. And they do need to restrain those who carry on about women who wear trousers or who don’t wear stockings or who rage against families with noisy children. But they have been making tremendous progress over the last eight years. And let’s not fantasize that they have anything to learn in this regard from the mainstream Church – on the whole, one of the most off-putting and indifferent institutions on this earth.