Thanks for the welcomes and the thoughful comments. I felt the Church was wounded by LeFebvre, but was very glad the excommunications were lifted and the rift was healed. That is not to say that I was happy that the grace and beauty of TLM was compromised by the NO. Still, it was not the intention of Vatican II for Masses to be celebrated in the vernacular except in some circumstances. What happened in the US was that liberal Church leaders jumped on any opportunity to jazz up the liturgy. The Mass wasn't broken; it didn't need fixing. I feel that the time is ripe for a return to TLM, as there seems to be a greater need for it than ever. There is a growing hunger for it even among devout younger Catholics. The upcoming revisions in the liturgy reflect translations more in line with traditional liturgies.
I think it is still too early to tell if Vatican II "failed." We trads must always be aware that the Holy Spirit is guiding the Church and will correct Her course as needed. This post-concilar period has been very difficult for those of us who love the Church, but I am hopeful that a course correction is coming and pray that the Church will prevail in the modern world. God bless you steadfast and faithful Catholics.
In the days of Nestorius, Catholics were mortified enough to call heresy heresy. Now we're so confused we're saying it's too early to see if heresy has failed. I can tell you, Vatican II didn't fail, it did exactly what it had set out to do. Set up a new religion and leave Catholicism in ruins. You are correct, however, in saying the Holy Ghost stays with the Church. The difference is that the Church does not need correction, She needs resurrection.
Stating that the Church needs "resurrection" strongly implies that the Church is dead. I shouldn't need to remind you that can never happen. Perhaps you mean the "official structure," the human element of the hierarchy can be called "dead," which I could partially agree with, but I would say barely clinging to life amidst the institution of the new religion of Vatican II. There are some in the official structure of the hierarchy that are not proponents of the new religion, although there are not many. But the true structure of the Church, the structure that can never lead astray or never die, is the spiritual structure. The proper way to put it is that the spiritual structure needs to be reunited with the official, human structure - so that people can no longer be confused, for enemies have usurped the official structure, kicking out the spiritual structure. This alone is the cause of the confusion, for the bishops within the structure of the hierarchy should be promoting the true religion of the spiritual structure of the Church, not promoting a foreign religion using the positions they hold. The Arian Crisis show us that the official structure of the Church can most definitely be overtaken by enemies of the Faith - but as St. Athanasius stated, those who remain true to Tradition, even if only a handful, are the true Church of Christ. Unfortunately, that "handful" may or may not include the pope and the majority of the clergy.
