Cardinal Gregory, Restore The Mass NOW

He presented his conclusions (such as they are) in the Catholic Standard.  After stating the obvious fact that participation and membership has declined in the past generation, he quickly states that the pandemic has exacerbated the decline.  We all know that isn't exactly correct.  The bishops' craven reactions to the pandemic have caused that.  When the bishops literally barred their flocks from Church buildings and deprived them of the Sacraments for fear of temporal illness, they betrayed their own lack of supernatural faith and devotion to their mission of saving souls from hell and helping them towards heaven.

Notice how he tried to discredit those of us who decry the abuses that escalated in the wake of Vatican II.  He neglected (maybe on purpose) to mention that the decline in the Church, hence the saving of souls, predated the pandemic.  The deterioration of Catholic life accelerated after Vatican II:

• Shrinkage of Mass attendance
• Decline in religious vocations while already-professed/ordained priests and religious abandoned their vows in droves
• Drop in numbers of Catholic weddings, with a corresponding rise in couples fornicating
• Growing rebellion against the Church's moral teaching

The Church's problems happened long before the pandemic.  The headline of the Standard article mentions that the Church "must return to its central mission".  Do the bishops (including the pope) even acknowledge what the Church's central mission is?  It is the salvation of souls, for whom Our Lord died on the Cross.  The mission of the Church is not "social justice".  It is not physical safety from the pandemic or other temporal malady.

If Cardinal Gregory and his colleagues in compromise repent and remember their true calling, that is, the salvation of souls through Holy Mother Church, they will see real vitality return.  Just witness what is happening in places where the Traditional Latin Mass is celebrated.  The churches are full, and with a healthy percentage of young and large families to boot.  I will post now a talk by Father Zuhlsdorf entitled "Save The Liturgy, Save The World".  Listen to it.