I like Fr Dwight but he has missed the point on the traditional mass...

Those of you who read Fr Dwight Longenecker's blog, "Standing on my head", will, like me I am sure, enjoy much of its content and style. Fr Dwight is a convert from Yankee Protestantism, then Anglicanism and is now a married Catholic priest doing good work at St Mary's, Greenville, South Carolina.

But....

He cheated on the issue of the Latin Mass - big time.

He began well with a series of reasonable and honest questions about the traditional Roman rite, asked in all humility by someone who, coming from a Protestant background, honestly admitted he did not know that much about the traditional rite.

He even said "These are honest questions by someone who is seeking to understand".

Some of the questions were, however, tendentious e.g. "If the Latin language is so wonderful, why is it inaudible on purpose?" - clearly he has never been to a Sung Mass!

However, this could be overlooked if he were really interested in honest answers.

There were then no fewer than 66 comments on his blog many answering his questions fully and explaining, sometimes in careful detail, exactly what he said he wanted to know.

Fr Dwight then ended the discussion and purported to summarise it but did so in such a manner that he appeared not have read any of the detailed comments that his questions elicited. Indeed, he simply issued a paean of praise for the Novus Ordo Missae, re-affirming the very mistakes he had made earlier.

He got answers in abundance but did not seem to read them or else didn't seem to like them so just ignored them. Either way, this was unsatisfactory.

The Catholic Church is about truth or it is about nothing. When one embarks on the journey to find the truth then one doesn't stop half-way but follows it right through to the end.

This is especially so as a convert. I, too, am a convert and have followed a similar path.

But it also applies to born Catholics who start to take an interest in their Faith. The truth must be pursued for its own sake because it leads us to God.

No-one ever found God by agreeing to accept less than the truth or untruths.