
So reads the title of a Christmas Eve article in The New York Post:
Zito, Salena, “A New Generation of Catholics discovers Latin Mass 60 years after Vatican II,” The New York Post, 12/24/2022
The article is highly favorable to what it calls (without articles) “Latin Mass.” We meet two young families who have recently committed to Catholic Traditionalism. They state that they were attracted to the Traditional Mass both for its beauty and intellectual content. They attend Mass in Pittsburgh but the article is illustrated by photos of Holy Innocents parish in New York City. The article mentions how Traditional Mass communities are often found in such old, elaborately beautiful churches built by the Catholic immigrant congregations.
We learn that attendance at Traditional Masses has actually increased since the pandemic – confirming our impressions and actual data.
But the traditional Latin Mass never completely vanished; today of the 17,000 Catholic parishes in the United States 592 of them perform the extraordinary form in Latin — including at least six in New York City and four (including Most Precious Blood) in Western Pennsylvania.
This robust growth isn’t just taking place in Pittsburgh—it’s happening nationwide. A recent survey by Crisis Magazine, an independent journal covering Catholicism and Catholic issues, revealed a marked increase in TLM attendance since the beginning of the pandemic.
The author of the article does try to give a fair description of the beauty and reverence of the Traditional Mass – although she seems obsessed with the position of the celebrant. Regrettably, the article also features some inexact descriptions, misunderstandings and outright errors:
The practice of Latin Mass, which was abolished some six decades ago by the Second Vatican Council, features a priest with his back turned away from the congregation. (Caption to a photograph)
Dating back to at least the 15th century, Latin Mass is rich, mysterious, strictly arranged and (as its name suggests) conducted entirely in Latin.
Rather than facing his congregants, for instance, the priest conducts the mass with his back to them. He’s facing the Eucharist—the symbolic body and blood [of] Christ himself and the central act of Christian worship.
Last year, the Argentine-born pontiff described Latin Mass as “divisive” and imposed new limits on the service, which had been partially reintroduced over the past three decades by both of his predecessors, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. In June of this year, Francis went even further, demanding the faithful stop exploiting Latin Mass for ideological reasons…( I doubt most people would consider Desiderio Desideravi to be really “going further” in an already fanatic campaign – one that was already showing first signs of exhaustion. Nor do I think it is appropriate to leave uncommented “exploiting…for ideological reasons” as if it were a statement of fact.)
These statements reflect reliance on articles of the mainstream media – hardly an informed source. But, despite this, let us be grateful for such a nice Christmas present from the Post!

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