Traditional Latin Mass directory - "come and see"

Thank you for posting this.  

Sacrosanctum concilium was not infallible, unchangeable doctrine, it was merely the Church's best efforts, at the time, as to how the liturgy might be reformed to inspire greater piety and holiness amongst the faithful.  It would be no more incongruous, here sixty-odd years later, for the Church to say "while everyone's heart was in the right place, and we were willing to give various reforms a try, it didn't quite turn out the way we expected or hoped, and it was a mistake to go in and change as much as we did, to tamper with a canon of Scripture readings that went all the way back to St Gregory the Great (if not before), and to implement changes that have turned out to be a de-sacralization", than SC was in the first place.  The Novus Ordo Missae basically makes the whole congregation into acolytes, which is not necessarily a bad thing --- I have no issue with Pius XII's "Dialogue Mass" (many traditionalists do, but the SSPX fosters this in some places) --- but it has the effect of forcing everyone to be acolytes, and that's not good. 

There seems to be an undercurrent of "let's get everyone excited about Jesus", after the fashion of Protestant "praise and worship" services, but not everyone is of the same temperament, and some people just want to be left alone with their thoughts and prayers.  Catholicism is not a religion where everyone experiences a "conversion moment" from unfaith to faith, and is filled with fervor and zeal after that defining moment, no, Catholics are by and large raised in their religion from infancy, and they never know such a moment --- it's something that has just "always been there". 

There are differences in the cultures and even temperaments of different peoples as well.  What works in Africa or the Philippines might not be such a good fit for northern Europe or the US Midwest.  I have noted many times before, in a quote that I cannot find online, that Bishop Sheen thought the Byzantine Rite would have been more appropriate for Africa and Asia.  I never saw anything more cringe-worthy than at a suburban parish on the East Coast where the priest and his retinue (acolytes, probably readers and possibly even Eucharistic ministers) processing to the sanctuary singing "Shine Jesus Shine" with a relative lack of fervor.  It was truly painful to watch, a lame attempt to transfer a nice, bouncy popular song onto the framework of the Mass. (That priest was later laicized for what I am assuming were entirely honorable reasons, he was fully orthodox in the Faith and is now married with a family and a thriving business, and so far as I am aware, he is a faithful and practicing Catholic.  There were problems in that diocese and I suspect he was on the "wrong side" of those who sought to perpetuate those problems.)

And I would not be opposed to a Tridentine Mass translated into the vernacular.  While I have no overpowering urge to assist at Mass in English (and, it is fair to note, the Novus Ordo can also be offered in Latin, it's okay but something is missing, can't quite put my finger on it), I realize that many do, and that was never an insurmountable stumbling block even in pre-Vatican II days.  The traditional Anglican Mass closely resembles the Tridentine Mass, and it is very inspiring.  It would be worth a try.  In fact, liturgical "reform", if such a thing were needed (and that's debatable) could have consisted of three simple changes that, unless one wants to nitpick over translation being a "change", would have done no violence whatsoever to Quo primum:

• Provide dignified, literary translations into the vernacular, slavishly adherent to the Latin (even if that adherence makes the language awkward in places, e.g., "consubstantial" and "and with your spirit")
• If there is such a crying need for additional Scripture readings (though if one attends daily Mass, that's a huge treasury of Scripture right there), create a lectionary that could be used by the priest, at his option, as part of the homily for that Mass, while retaining the Gregorian readings
• Allow for inculturation, consonant with reverence and piety, in the way the laity respond and participate in the Mass.  For instance, while applauding at the consecration would appear jarring and even irreverent to Westerners, in Africa, it is a manifestation of piety and adoration.  So far as I am aware, the rubrics of the Tridentine Missal don't forbid such things.