Although I am not a member of the SSPX, I want to applaud them publicly and thank them for putting forth the authentic teaching of the Church and magisterium as regards participation at the Latin Mass.

I might also add that their presentation and official policy on this question on their American website here is also in perfect harmony and agreement with that of the early Liturgical Movement, the preconciliar popes, Sacrosanctum Concilium, as well as the teaching of Cardinal Ratzinger and Pope Benedict XVI regarding the liturgical reconciliation of the two forms of the Roman rite.

(The very thorough and exemplary article on their website was written by Fr. Michele Simoulin, the former rector of the SSPX Seminary in Econe, Switzerland.)

I think it is ironic that our SSPX friends are reminding the whole Church of the fact that Vatican II's call for the people "to say or sing in Latin those parts of the Mass that pertain to them" also applies to the Extraordinary Form as it is abundantly clear that Vatican II's call to do that was only reflecting what the preconciliar popes had called for in their liturgical documents.

What is incredibly ironic about this is that our SSPX friends are reminding the Church of Vatican II's insistence that the laity's active participation in the Mass is not a function of a disciplinary concession of the Church but rather is intrinsic to the baptismal dignity of the laity in which they share in the royal priesthood of Christ.

One has to ask why is it that we need SSPX to remind us of the Church's desire that the people actively participate in the EF Latin Mass by saying or singing the responses when in certain officially approved Latin Masses there is not the slightest evidence that anyone is trying to do the same? In fact, it would seem to me that in certain places, the active participation of people in the Latin Mass is, in fact, actively discouraged.

So, in this respect, and on this one specific issue, I say kudos to our friends in the SSPX for leading the way and following Pope Francis' call to move forward and not backwards in the area of the liturgy.