Pardon me while I play Devils Advocate…
I recently engaged in a conversation with a fellow Traditional Catholic who commented that objectively AB Lefebvre’s request to Paul VI to allow the “Experiment of Tradition” has failed. It appears as if Tradition has not flourished much if any, and is plagued with ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖity and pedophilia much like the NO. There are no Traditional Catholics known for heavenly apparitions and the majority of children raised in Traditional Catholic homes do not retain the faith. Hence, the “Experiment of Tradition” has failed, with very little statistical difference than the Novus Ordo.
What say you?
What???
Are you kidding???
You who have been around in Tradition for 30 years can say this???
"The experiment of Tradition" was an extraordinary success. I became traditional in 1980 at the age of 14, and Tradition back then, and for many years after, was a very lonely life for a young man, or for older parents, all of whom found themselves very isolated and with very few friends indeed, not to mention limited availability of the Mass and sacraments, ceremonies in private homes, the proverbial garages, rented venues... perhaps you arrived on the scene just as things had improved somewhat.
Archbishop Lefebvre asked of Paul VI to be allowed to conduct this experiment, hoping that Rome would see the good fruits and return to Tradition, seeing how the Council and the reforms had produced only bad fruits. This was refused him, and so the experiment took place outside of the "Official Church" and without Rome's approval. Those of us who lived through this period would never have believed it possible that the Traditional movement could enjoy such extraordinary growth and vitality in so few years. Yes, indeed, it was a great success and we saw all the wonderful fruits in large, holy families, living the Faith and the life of grace in this wicked world, conversions, religious vocations, the multiplication of churches and religious institutions, Catholic printing houses, the ready availability once again of traditional books, images and devotional items. The revival was truly amazing. How blessed we have been, and how different it might have been!
And this is the great evil of the neo-SSPX
vis-a-vis modernist Rome. They pretended to be only doing what the Archbishop was doing. Yet this experiment he requested had already taken place without Rome's approval. Rome saw the unequivocal and undeniable good fruits in abundance, and still they continued relentlessly with their reforming madness and their crusade to destroy Tradition.
"Tradition is not blessed any greater than other religions". It is the NO that should be your comparison, not "other religions", and it is not just numbers we are talking about, but the spiritual manifestations of the Faith - not the fantastic that you seem to be seeking, miracles and mystical phenomena and the like, but keeping and living the Faith in a world that makes it nigh impossible: Catholic families, religious vocations, churches, seminaries, religious houses. What is the wonder if other false religions prosper that pander to the flesh and man's fallen nature in a world where even "Catholic" authority is used to promote such a false notion of religion?
The survival and expansion of Catholic Tradition in this world without the help of Catholic authority is a miracle in itself. All praise and thanks to God for His mercies!