Let these sheep return freely to the sheepfold
Dom Alcuin Reid
When family members are estranged hardly a day goes by without those separated feeling pain. Pope Benedict XVI feels the rift with the Society of Saint Pius X deeply, and has done since the break of 1988. “Let the Society know that resolving the problem of the Society is at the heart of the priorities of my pontificate,” he is reported as saying. Yet in spite of years of effort they remain in a canonically irregular position.
SINCE the Second Vatican Council in 1962, the Roman Catholic church has striven to adapt to the modern world. But in the West—where many hoped a contemporary message would go down best—believers have left in droves. Sunday mass attendance in England and Wales has fallen by half from the 1.8m recorded in 1960; the average age of parishioners has risen from 37 in 1980 to 52 now. In America attendance has declined by over a third since 1960. Less than 5% of French Catholics attend regularly, and only 15% in Italy. Yet as the mainstream wanes, traditionalists wax.
