uh boy, was I ever brainwashed in that cult.
I grew up in an area that did not have a TLM for hundreds of miles. No one at the n.o. churches ever spoke of it, so I was completely oblivious. I yearned for the holy at Mass and knew a lot was missing, but I thought it was ME.
So I threw myself into research and private devotions (only post V2 info available at the parish bookstores and libraries) - that, and volunteering at the parish, thinking if I was closer to helping the priests, etc., it would rub off or something, and the yearning would stop.
So, at a very young age I began "lectoring" and other assistance... after a few years, I was really pressured to join the eucharistic minister gang, to visit people at home and in the hospital.
I resisted. I didn't know why I didn't want to obey, but I didn't (thank you Holy Ghost). After enough pressure - again, thinking it was ME and I was being disobedient - I went to their classes, even bought a pyx. The Holy Ghost finally triumphed over my confounded state and I backed out, and after that never went to a E.M. for Holy Communion at Mass. It was a good 10 years later that I found the TLM. Surprise! A real Mass and sacraments and all the holiness I was yearning for!
Through those good priests and ardent study I discovered all the travesties of the new rite. I was wracked with guilt, but when I described the confection of the host to my priest, he alleviated my conscience - one of the parishioners at that n.o. parish baked the hosts herself and used yeast and sweetened the hosts w/ brown sugar!
You can't make this stuff up.
Michaela and Cheryl, for what it's worth, I have a "docuмent" prepared (you can keep copies at home, car and wallet perhaps?) that I can give to a visiting E.M. at home or hospital, specifying that I am a traditional Catholic, and with a short explanation why I only accept sacraments/Holy Communion from a priest, and a traditional priest at that.
I have a few quotes too, i.e., from St. Thomas:
"Secondly, because the priest is the appointed intermediary between God and the people, hence as it belongs to him to offer the people's gifts to God, so it belongs to him to deliver the consecrated gifts to the people. Thirdly, because out of reverence towards this sacrament [the Blessed Sacrament], nothing touches it but what is consecrated, hence the corporal and the chalice are consecrated, and likewise the priest's hands, for touching this sacrament. Hence it is not lawful for anyone to touch it, except from necessity, for instance if it were to fall upon the ground, or else in some other case of urgency" (SummaTheologica, III, Q. 82, Art. 13).
and have a reference Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei.
It sounds like it may be long and convoluted, but not - just short and sweet. I do not want to get into an argument at a time like that, so I figure handing them some instruction is more efficient all the way around.
Fortunately, wherever we've moved, we've arranged to live close to a TLM parish and the priest is on speed dial for just this type of situation, but I like to be prepared.