Woooooo! Right on! Yeeehaw! Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah! [panting] Yay!!! In your face, liberal Bishops! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! [gasping for breath] Yahooooo! Woohooooooooooooo...ooo......oo......o..................... [inhale] okay, I'm done.
So, the confetti has been swept up. The first fruits have been enjoyed. The first battle, the battle that all else turned upon, the battle to liberate the Traditional Liturgy of the Latin Church has been won. We are at a crossroads, a crucial point in the history of the Church. Now what? What does it mean to us? To those of us who have the TLM? To those who don’t? To those who have a Traditional Parish? To those who don’t?
What drives us? What unites us? Who are we?
We cling to the convenient term of Traditionalist, but what we really are is Catholic. Like every good Catholic who loves his Holy Mother the Church, we wish to see her restored to her once-great glory. We are Restorationists. This is the first distinction that must be made. The eclectic mix of TLM supporters includes people who see the TLM as just another option, or a refuge from liturgical abuses. Going forward, we may see some of these erstwhile allies cease to support us, perhaps even turn against us, for they do not share our goal.
What is our goal?
It is the same goal as every true reformer of the Church - from St. Benedict to Guéranger. What we aim for is the full Restoration of our Holy Mother the Church. Her full return to Tradition. Just as with every successful reform, the method we propose is holistic, dedicated, fully Catholic (and therefore, ipso facto fully traditional, fully radical, fully counter-cultural) communities, communities that will draw people in and then spread.
But what is our next step? How do we aid in the restoration?
We at TiR would like to kick off a frank discussion of the goals and aims of the traditionalist movement (aka Catholic Restorationists), and how we should get there. To that end, we'll be serving up installments of a new series: "Marching Orders." Look for the first installment later this week or next.
Posted on the Feast of our Lady of Loreto, a.D. MMVII
